ATI Radeon 9800 XT Mac Edition

The ATI Radeon 9800 XT Mac Edition is a legacy AGP graphics card built on the R360 chip using the R300 architecture. It packs 117 million transistors on a 150 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 218 mm² and a transistor density of 536.7K / mm². The data places it at the 50th percentile of all GPUs tracked, meaning it sits exactly at the median of the performance spectrum. With 256 MB of DDR memory on a 256-bit bus, it delivers 23.36 GB/s of bandwidth, while its 8 TMUs and 8 ROPs drive a pixel rate of 3.296 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 3.296 GTexel/s. This is a card for users maintaining a period-correct Mac system, not for modern gaming. It supports DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0, and its end-of-life status means it is a niche part for retro builds. The 60 W TDP and lack of power connectors make it an easy drop into older AGP Pro 8x systems.

Who Should Consider It

Given the 50th percentile placement, this card sits squarely in the middle of the database's GPU population. The pixel rate of 3.296 GPixel/s and texture rate of 3.296 GTexel/s indicate a design tuned for the resolutions and settings common in early 2000s games. The 256-bit memory bus and 23.36 GB/s bandwidth provide enough throughput to feed those pixel and texture units without stalling. Users with an AGP Pro 8x slot and a 250 W PSU can install this card, but they should temper expectations for modern titles. The lack of Vulkan support and reliance on DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0 means it is only viable for software written for those APIs. For a Mac Edition card, the 2x DVI outputs allow dual-monitor setups, but the 256 MB frame buffer limits texture-heavy scenes. The 60 W TDP keeps thermal demands low, making it a practical drop-in for legacy systems. The data suggests this is a capable card for the resolutions typical of its release period, with the pixel rate providing enough fill-rate for era-appropriate games at moderate settings. It is not a card for high-refresh or high-resolution displays, as the 3.296 GPixel/s fill rate would struggle beyond the standard 32-bit color depths of its time. The 50th percentile placement confirms it is a mid-range part, suitable for users who want to experience the software library of 2004 without chasing performance records.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The ATI Radeon 9800 XT Mac Edition has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. It is a pure rasterization part, which means it cannot accelerate ray-traced effects or AI-based features. The API support is limited to DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0; there is no Vulkan support. This confines it to games and applications from its release period, which used these APIs. The lack of RT cores means any ray tracing would be done in software, which is not practical given the pixel rate of 3.296 GPixel/s. The feature set is straightforward: 8 TMUs and 8 ROPs handle texturing and pixel output, and the 256-bit memory bus feeds them. The card's transistor count of 117 million and die size of 218 mm² reflect the R300 architecture's focus on fixed-function pipelines rather than programmable shader cores. For users building a retro Mac rig, the DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0 support is exactly what era-appropriate software expects. The absence of tensor cores also means no hardware acceleration for any machine-learning or upscaling techniques, which is consistent with its 2004 release date. The 2x DVI outputs are the only display connectivity, so users must adapt to DVI-only monitors or use adapters. The feature set is minimal but complete for its generation, with no modern extras to complicate the retro experience.

Power and Cooling

The card has a TDP of 60 W, which is modest by any standard. It requires no power connectors, drawing all its power from the AGP Pro 8x slot. The suggested PSU is 250 W, meaning even a small, older power supply can handle it. The single-slot design keeps the card slim, and the lack of external power connectors simplifies installation. The 150 nm process from TSMC, with 117 million transistors, contributes to the low thermal output. The 60 W TDP also means that passive or low-speed cooling is feasible, though the card ships with its own cooler (the pack does not specify its size). For a system with a 250 W PSU, this card is a safe addition. The absence of power connectors is a clear advantage for compatibility with older AGP boards that may not have auxiliary power leads. The pixel rate of 3.296 GPixel/s and texture rate of 3.296 GTexel/s are achieved within this 60 W envelope, showing a balanced design. The single-slot form factor is also a boon for compact cases, as it takes up minimal space and does not obstruct adjacent slots. The 250 W PSU recommendation is conservative, leaving ample headroom for other legacy components like hard drives and optical drives. The 60 W TDP is low enough that even a poorly ventilated case will not cause thermal throttling, making it a reliable choice for a long-lived retro system.

FAQ

Q: Does the ATI Radeon 9800 XT Mac Edition support ray tracing?

A: No. The card has no ray tracing cores or tensor cores, so it relies on traditional rasterization.

Q: What is the memory configuration?

A: It has 256 MB of DDR memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 23.36 GB/s. The memory clock is 365 MHz with an effective rate of 730 Mbps.

Q: Does the card require a power connector?

A: No. It has no power connectors and draws power from the AGP Pro 8x slot, with a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: What is the TDP of this card?

A: The TDP is 60 W.

Q: What APIs does it support?

A: It supports DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0. It does not support Vulkan.

Q: Is the card still in production?

A: No, it is end-of-life. Its release date is March 2004, and its successor is the Radeon R400 AGP.

How It Compares

The FACT PACK lists no nearest rivals for this card, so direct score comparisons are unavailable. The data provides a percentile of 50, meaning it is exactly average among all GPUs in the database. Its predecessor is the Radeon R200 series, and its successor is the Radeon R400 AGP. Without rival scores, the card's performance must be inferred from its own specifications. The 8 TMUs and 8 ROPs, combined with the 256-bit memory bus, place it in the mid-range of its generation. The 23.36 GB/s bandwidth is a solid figure for a 256 MB frame buffer. The pixel rate of 3.296 GPixel/s and texture rate of 3.296 GTexel/s are identical, indicating a balanced fill-rate pipeline. The 50th percentile placement suggests it outperforms half of the GPUs in the database, but the lack of modern features like Vulkan or RT cores means it falls behind any contemporary part. For a legacy Mac system, it is a reasonable upgrade from the Radeon R200 series, but it does not approach the performance of the Radeon R400 AGP successor. The data shows no benchmark scores (the average benchmark score field is 0), so all comparisons rely on the percentile and the card's own specifications. The 150 nm process and 117 million transistors are typical for its era, and the 218 mm² die size is moderate. The card's single-slot design and 60 W TDP make it easier to integrate than many later AGP cards, but its performance ceiling is defined by the 3.296 GPixel/s fill rate.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem consists of 256 MB of DDR memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory clock is 365 MHz, with an effective data rate of 730 Mbps, resulting in a bandwidth of 23.36 GB/s. The 256-bit bus width is a key advantage, as it allows the card to transfer a large amount of data per clock cycle. For a 256 MB frame buffer, this bandwidth is sufficient for the textures and resolutions of its release era. The pixel rate of 3.296 GPixel/s means that at a typical 32-bit color depth, the card can fill approximately 3.296 billion pixels per second, which aligns with the bandwidth available. The 8 ROPs handle pixel writes, and the 8 TMUs handle texture fetches, both fed by the 256-bit bus. The 23.36 GB/s bandwidth is well-matched to the 3.296 GTexel/s texture rate, meaning texture-heavy scenes are unlikely to be bandwidth-limited. The 256 MB capacity is modest by modern standards, but it was appropriate for the DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0 games of 2004. The 150 nm process and 117 million transistors do not directly affect memory, but the die size of 218 mm² shows the integration level of the memory controller. The 730 Mbps effective rate is a doubling of the 365 MHz base clock, which is standard for DDR memory. The 256-bit bus is a defining feature that distinguishes this card from narrower-bus competitors, and it ensures that the 23.36 GB/s bandwidth is not a bottleneck for the card's fill-rate capabilities. For high-resolution textures, the 256 MB frame buffer may be limiting, but the bandwidth ensures that whatever fits in memory is accessed quickly.