ATI Radeon X1550 PCI

The ATI Radeon X1550 PCI is an end-of-life graphics card built by AMD on the 90 nm process at UMC, featuring the RV516 chip with Ultra-Threaded SE architecture. It targets legacy systems with a PCI bus interface, and its benchmark percentile of 50 places it squarely in the middle of all GPUs tracked in the database, though it carries no recorded benchmark scores of its own.

Power and Cooling

The X1550 PCI carries a thermal design power (TDP) of just 27 W. This low figure means the card generates minimal heat, making it suitable for compact or older chassis with limited airflow. The recommended power supply is 200 W, which is modest by modern standards but sufficient given the card’s power draw.

The card requires no auxiliary power connectors — the slot itself provides all necessary power. This simplifies installation in systems where spare PCIe power cables are unavailable. Its single-slot design occupies only one expansion bracket, leaving room for other peripherals. The absence of a dedicated cooler specification in the data suggests a passive or basic active solution is adequate for this power level.

The 90 nm process node and 105 million transistors on a 100 mm² die yield a transistor density of 1.1M per square millimeter. While this is not dense by contemporary standards, it contributes to the low power envelope. The PCI bus interface, rather than PCIe, also limits the card’s bandwidth but aligns with its target market of older motherboards.

For users integrating this card into a system, the 200 W PSU recommendation is a hard constraint — anything less may cause instability under load. Conversely, the lack of power connectors means no cable management is needed, and the single-slot profile ensures compatibility with most cases.

Memory Subsystem

The X1550 PCI comes with 256 MB of DDR2 memory on a 64-bit bus. This configuration yields a memory bandwidth of 4.256 GB/s, derived from the 266 MHz memory clock (532 Mbps effective). This bandwidth is extremely limited by any standard, and it directly constrains performance at higher resolutions and with texture-heavy workloads.

At 4.256 GB/s, the card can handle 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolutions in older titles, but data transfer becomes a bottleneck as resolution increases. The 64-bit bus width is half of what many contemporaries used, and the 256 MB capacity is sufficient for early DirectX 9 games but will quickly exhaust with larger textures. The effective 532 Mbps memory speed, while low, is consistent with the card’s low-power design.

For high-resolution gaming, the data indicates this memory subsystem is a severe limiting factor. Pixel rate of 1.808 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1.808 GTexel/s are also low, meaning the card can fill pixels and sample textures at similar rates, but both are starved by the narrow bus. Users should expect to run games at low resolutions and reduced texture quality to avoid stuttering from memory bandwidth saturation.

The 256 MB VRAM size is fixed; there is no option for larger capacity in this product line. This makes the card unsuitable for modern titles or any application using high-resolution texture packs. For 2D desktop use or legacy software, the memory is adequate, but for 3D acceleration, it is the primary bottleneck.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The X1550 PCI has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The data lists no Vulkan support, and the card’s API compatibility is limited to DirectX 9.0c (feature level 9_3) and OpenGL 2.1. This means hardware-accelerated ray tracing is entirely absent, and any modern rendering techniques requiring newer APIs are unavailable.

The DirectX 9.0c support (9_3) is the card’s primary feature set. This allows it to run games designed for the early 2000s era, including those using Shader Model 3.0. OpenGL 2.1 provides compatibility with a range of legacy applications, but no Vulkan means no access to modern cross-platform graphics APIs.

The absence of RT and tensor cores is not a deficiency for this card’s intended era — those features did not exist in consumer hardware then. However, for any user expecting contemporary features, the data clearly shows this card cannot deliver them. The feature set is strictly limited to what DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.1 enabled circa 2006-2007.

The 4 TMUs and 4 ROPs are the only shading-related resources listed. With no shading units specified, the card likely relies on fixed-function or very early unified shader hardware, but the data does not confirm this. The pixel and texture rates of 1.808 each suggest a balanced design, but both are low enough to cap performance in any 3D workload.

Who Should Consider It

The X1550 PCI is positioned at the 50th percentile of all GPUs, but with zero benchmark scores recorded, this percentile may reflect the card’s specifications rather than measured performance. The data suggests this card is for users with legacy PCI-only motherboards who need basic 3D acceleration or a display output upgrade.

For resolution guidance, the memory bandwidth of 4.256 GB/s and pixel rate of 1.808 GPixel/s indicate that 800x600 or 1024x768 at low detail settings are the practical limits for 3D gaming. At 1280x1024, the card will struggle with anything beyond simple 2D interfaces or very old titles. High resolutions like 1920x1080 are out of reach due to the 256 MB VRAM and narrow bus.

Users running office applications, 2D design software, or watching standard-definition video will find the card adequate. The 1x DVI, 1x VGA, and 1x S-Video outputs provide flexible display connectivity for legacy monitors. The single-slot design and low power draw make it ideal for slim or small-form-factor systems.

This card is not for gamers, even casual ones, unless the game is from the DirectX 9 era and runs at low settings. It is also not for users seeking hardware video decoding or any modern API support. The absence of Vulkan and lack of RT/tensor cores confirm this is a purely legacy product.

The production status is end-of-life, meaning no new units are available. Buyers would need to source used or refurbished cards. The predecessor is Radeon R400 PCIe and the successor is Radeon R600, indicating this card sits in a specific transitional period.

Benchmark Performance

The database lists no benchmark scores for the X1550 PCI, and the nearestRivals array is empty. This makes direct numeric comparison impossible. The only performance indicator is the percentileVsAllGpus value of 50, which places it at the median of all GPUs tracked. However, this percentile likely reflects the card’s specification position rather than actual measured performance, given the zero average benchmark score.

Without rival data, there are no percentage deltas to report. The pixel rate of 1.808 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1.808 GTexel/s are the only raw performance numbers available. These figures are low relative to any card from the subsequent Radeon R600 generation, but the data does not provide specific rival scores.

The memory bandwidth of 4.256 GB/s is the most limiting factor. A card with a wider bus or faster memory would outperform it, but no such rivals are listed in the fact pack. The 50th percentile suggests that in the broader GPU landscape, this card is neither exceptionally weak nor strong — it sits in the middle, but that middle is populated by many other legacy cards with similar constraints.

The lack of benchmark scores means the data cannot confirm real-world gaming performance. Users should rely on the specification-based metrics — 256 MB VRAM, 64-bit bus, and 1.808 GTexel/s — to estimate capabilities. The card will handle 2D acceleration and basic 3D, but any comparison to rivals is impossible with the provided data.

FAQ

Q: What is the TDP of the ATI Radeon X1550 PCI?

A: The thermal design power is 27 W, and the recommended power supply is 200 W.

Q: Does this card support DirectX 12 or Vulkan?

A: No. The card supports DirectX 9.0c (feature level 9_3) and OpenGL 2.1 only. Vulkan is not listed as supported.

Q: How much video memory does the X1550 PCI have?

A: It has 256 MB of DDR2 memory on a 64-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 4.256 GB/s.

Q: What power connectors does this card require?

A: None. The card has no power connectors and draws all power from the PCI slot.

Q: Is this card suitable for modern gaming?

A: No. With no ray tracing cores, no tensor cores, and only DirectX 9.0c support, it cannot run modern titles. Its pixel rate is 1.808 GPixel/s and texture rate is 1.808 GTexel/s.

Q: What is the manufacturing process for this GPU?

A: The chip is fabricated on a 90 nm process at UMC, with 105 million transistors on a 100 mm² die.