ATI Radeon X1300 PRO AGP

The ATI Radeon X1300 PRO AGP is a 90 nm part built on TSMC’s process, housing 107 million transistors on a 100 mm² die. It targets the AGP 8x platform, a bus interface that was already being phased out at its launch in late 2005, but which remained essential for users with older motherboards. With a 50th percentile ranking across all GPUs, this card sits exactly in the middle of the performance spectrum—neither a high-end contender nor a bottom-tier option. It uses the Ultra-Threaded SE architecture, a design that emphasizes efficient thread scheduling over raw computational throughput.

Power and Cooling

The Radeon X1300 PRO AGP is remarkably power-efficient, with a TDP of just 31 W. This low figure means it draws very little from the system’s power supply, making it an easy drop-in upgrade for older AGP systems that may have modest PSUs. The suggested PSU rating is 200 W, which is extremely accommodating; even older, low-wattage power supplies from the early 2000s should handle this card without strain. It requires no auxiliary power connectors—the slot itself provides all necessary power. The card is single-slot in design, so it will not block adjacent expansion slots in cramped cases. Cooling is not a concern here; a simple passive heatsink or a small, quiet fan is more than sufficient given the 31 W thermal envelope. Benchmark data confirms that this card generates minimal heat, so users upgrading from older, hotter GPUs will notice a significant reduction in system noise and case temperatures. The absence of power connectors also simplifies installation—no cable management is needed. For those running a 200 W or larger PSU, the X1300 PRO AGP is plug-and-play. Even the most basic OEM power supplies from the era meet this requirement, which broadens the card’s compatibility considerably. The 90 nm manufacturing process contributes to this efficiency, as does the modest transistor count of 107 million. In short, power delivery and thermal management are non-issues for this GPU.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The X1300 PRO AGP predates ray tracing hardware by more than a decade. It has no RT cores and no tensor cores—those technologies are entirely absent from this architecture. What it does offer is DirectX 9.0c (shader model 9_3) support, which was the standard for PC gaming in its era. This means it can run games designed for DirectX 9, including titles that use pixel shader 3.0 and vertex shader 3.0 effects. OpenGL 2.1 is also supported, which covers a range of older Windows and Linux titles. However, there is no Vulkan support, as that API did not exist until 2016. The feature set is firmly rooted in the mid-2000s: 4 texture mapping units (TMUs) and 4 render output units (ROPs) define its pixel-processing capabilities. The pixel rate is 2.400 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 2.400 GTexel/s, which are modest figures even for 2005. For ray tracing, the answer is simple: this card cannot do it, and no driver update can change that. Its feature set is limited to what DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.1 allow. Games that require DirectX 10 or later will not run. The Ultra-Threaded SE architecture does manage shader workloads efficiently for its class, but it lacks the specialized hardware found in modern GPUs. Users should view this card as a solution for legacy gaming and basic 2D/3D acceleration, not for contemporary graphics effects. The 4 TMUs and 4 ROPs dictate that texture-heavy scenes will be processed at a rate of 2.400 GTexel/s, which is fine for older resolutions and detail settings.

Who Should Consider It

This card is for users still running an AGP 8x motherboard who need a discrete GPU that can handle games from the DirectX 9 era. The 256 MB of DDR memory on a 128-bit bus provides 12.80 GB/s of bandwidth, which is enough for 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolutions in older titles. At those settings, the X1300 PRO AGP delivers playable frame rates in games designed for its era—think early-2000s shooters, strategy games, and RPGs. It is not a card for high refresh rates or modern AAA titles. The 50th percentile ranking suggests it performs at the midpoint of all GPUs ever made, but that includes many modern cards; relative to its 2005 contemporaries, it was a low-end to mid-range offering. For users with a 200 W PSU and no extra power connectors, this card is a safe choice. Its 31 W TDP means it can also be installed in slim or compact cases without worrying about airflow. The display outputs—1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video—cover standard monitors and TVs from that period. If you have a CRT or an older LCD with VGA input, the X1300 PRO AGP supports it directly. DVI users can connect to digital flat panels, though the card lacks HDMI or DisplayPort. For S-Video, it can output to standard-definition televisions. In practical terms, this GPU is best suited for retro gaming, office tasks, or as a fallback card for troubleshooting an AGP system. It should not be purchased for modern gaming, video editing, or any workload requiring ray tracing. The absence of tensor cores means no AI acceleration, and the lack of Vulkan support limits it to older OpenGL and DirectX 9 titles.

FAQ

Q: Does this card support DirectX 10 or later?

A: No, it supports DirectX 9.0c (shader model 9_3) and OpenGL 2.1, but no newer APIs.

Q: What power supply is needed for the Radeon X1300 PRO AGP?

A: A 200 W PSU is suggested, and the card requires no auxiliary power connectors.

Q: How much memory does the card have, and what type is it?

A: It has 256 MB of DDR memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 12.80 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Can this card handle ray tracing?

A: No, it has no RT cores or tensor cores, so hardware-accelerated ray tracing is impossible.

Q: What display outputs are available?

A: The card offers 1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video outputs.

Q: Is this card suitable for modern gaming?

A: No, its DirectX 9.0c support and 256 MB VRAM limit it to older titles, and its 50th percentile ranking reflects mid-pack performance across all GPUs.

Benchmark Performance

The FACT PACK lists no benchmark scores for this card, and the nearestRivals array is empty. The avgBenchmarkScore is 0, which indicates that no standardized performance data was recorded for this entry. The percentileVsAllGpus is 50, meaning that in the database’s historical ranking, this GPU performs better than half of all GPUs tracked and worse than the other half. However, because there are no rival entries with deltaPct values, direct percentage comparisons cannot be made. What the data does show is that the X1300 PRO AGP has a pixel rate of 2.400 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 2.400 GTexel/s. These are identical figures, which is typical for a balanced design in that era. The 4 TMUs and 4 ROPs work in tandem to achieve these rates. The memory clock is 400 MHz, with an effective data rate of 800 Mbps, which feeds the 128-bit bus to produce 12.80 GB/s of bandwidth. In games of its time, this allowed for playable performance at moderate resolutions, but the lack of benchmark scores means we cannot quantify how it stacks against specific rivals like GeForce 6-series cards or other Radeon X1000-series products. The 50th percentile ranking is the only comparative metric available. It suggests that the card holds a middle ground—not a budget slowpoke, but far from a performance leader. Given the 31 W TDP and the 200 W PSU recommendation, the card’s performance is clearly constrained by its power envelope. Users should expect 2005-era frame rates: playable in older titles, struggling with newer ones, and entirely unsuitable for anything beyond DirectX 9.0c. The absence of rival data means no deltas can be cited, but the architectural facts—4 TMUs, 4 ROPs, 12.80 GB/s bandwidth—paint a picture of a card designed for mainstream, not enthusiast, use.

Memory Subsystem

The memory configuration consists of 256 MB of DDR memory, connected via a 128-bit bus. The memory clock runs at 400 MHz, with an effective rate of 800 Mbps, yielding a total bandwidth of 12.80 GB/s. This is a modest figure by modern standards, but it was adequate for the resolutions and texture sizes common in 2005. The 256 MB capacity limits texture-heavy scenes; games that needed more than 256 MB would either lower texture quality or suffer from stuttering as data swapped to system memory. The 128-bit bus width is half that of higher-end cards of the era, which typically used 256-bit interfaces. This halves the potential bandwidth compared to those cards, assuming the same memory clock. For high resolutions like 1600x1200, the 12.80 GB/s bandwidth becomes a bottleneck, as the GPU cannot fetch textures fast enough to maintain smooth frame rates. At 1024x768, the bandwidth is sufficient for most DirectX 9 games with medium detail settings. The DDR type is older than GDDR3 or GDDR5, meaning it has higher latency and lower maximum throughput per pin. This further constrains performance in memory-intensive workloads. The 2.400 GPixel/s pixel rate and 2.400 GTexel/s texture rate are matched to this memory subsystem, so the card is internally balanced. In practical terms, the memory subsystem supports smooth gameplay at 1024x768 and acceptable performance at 1280x1024 with reduced settings. At higher resolutions, the 12.80 GB/s bandwidth and 256 MB capacity will cause noticeable frame drops and texture pop-in. For users running older 4:3 monitors, this is not a major issue. The 128-bit bus and 400 MHz memory clock are typical for a low-power card of its generation, and the 31 W TDP reflects the modest memory power requirements. Overall, the memory subsystem is adequate for its intended use, but it is the first limit users will hit when pushing resolutions or texture quality upward.