ATI Radeon X1650 AGP

The ATI Radeon X1650 AGP is a legacy graphics card built on the 90 nm process at TSMC, featuring the RV530 chip with 157 million transistors on a 150 mm² die. It occupies the 50th percentile of all GPUs in the database, placing it squarely in the middle of the performance spectrum for its era. The card is end-of-life, succeeded by the Radeon R600 series, and this analysis covers its power requirements, comparative positioning, feature set, and memory architecture based strictly on the provided data.

Power and Cooling

The Radeon X1650 AGP is a single-slot card that requires no auxiliary power connectors, drawing all its power directly from the AGP 8x bus slot. For system integration, the suggested power supply unit is 200 W, which is modest and indicates low overall system draw. The absence of external power connectors simplifies installation in older systems, but it also limits the card's headroom for aggressive overclocking. The 90 nm process node and the transistor count of 157 million contribute to a thermal profile that a single-slot cooler can manage, though the card's end-of-life status means replacement cooling solutions may be scarce.

The card's memory operates at 400 MHz with an effective data rate of 800 Mbps, and this clock speed directly influences the memory bandwidth figure of 12.80 GB/s. Since the card has no TDP value listed in the data, the 200 W PSU recommendation serves as the primary power constraint. Users upgrading from older AGP systems should verify their power supply meets this 200 W threshold, as older units may degrade over time. The single-slot design and lack of power connectors make it a straightforward drop-in replacement for many early 2000s motherboards.

How It Compares

The FACT PACK lists no nearest rivals for this card, and the benchmark results array is empty. Consequently, direct numerical comparisons against competing products from the same generation or adjacent tiers cannot be made from the available data. The percentile ranking of 50 indicates the card sits at the median of all GPUs tracked in the database, but without specific rival scores or delta percentages, relative positioning must be inferred from architectural characteristics alone.

The Radeon X1650 AGP is part of the Radeon R500 AGP generation, with its predecessor being the Radeon R400 AGP. The jump from R400 to R500 architecture brought the Ultra-Threaded SE design, but the data does not provide performance deltas between these generations. The successor, Radeon R600, represents a later architectural leap, but again, no comparative scores exist in the provided facts. Therefore, any claim about being faster or slower than a specific card cannot be substantiated — only the 50th percentile standing and the architectural lineage are factual.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Radeon X1650 AGP does not include ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as these are absent from the FACT PACK's field entries (both are null). The card's API support is limited to DirectX 9.0c (feature level 9_3) and OpenGL 2.1; there is no Vulkan support listed. This means the card is confined to legacy DirectX 9 titles and cannot run modern APIs that rely on DirectX 11 or later, nor any ray-traced workloads. The feature set is firmly rooted in the mid-2000s, with the Ultra-Threaded SE architecture handling shading and texture operations via 4 texture mapping units and 4 render output units.

The pixel rate is 2.000 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 2.000 GTexel/s, which are identical figures and indicate a balanced pipeline for the era. The lack of hardware ray tracing or tensor cores means any modern AI-accelerated or ray-traced effects are entirely unsupported. For DirectX 9.0c titles, the card can deliver the expected feature set, but it cannot leverage any of the later API extensions that games from the late 2000s onwards began to use.

FAQ

Q: What is the memory clock speed of the Radeon X1650 AGP?

A: The memory runs at 400 MHz, which translates to an 800 Mbps effective data rate.

Q: Does the card require any additional power connectors?

A: No, the card has no power connectors and draws power solely from the AGP 8x bus, with a suggested power supply of 200 W.

Q: What is the maximum API version supported?

A: The card supports DirectX 9.0c (feature level 9_3) and OpenGL 2.1; it has no Vulkan support.

Q: How much video memory does the card have and what type?

A: It comes with 256 MB of DDR2 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 12.80 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What display outputs are available?

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

Q: Is the card still in production?

A: No, it is end-of-life and was succeeded by the Radeon R600 series.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark data for the Radeon X1650 AGP is limited: the average benchmark score is 0, and there are no entries in the benchmarks array. The percentile versus all GPUs is 50, which suggests that in the database's historical tracking, this card performed better than half of the GPUs ever recorded. However, with a score of 0, this percentile is likely based on a broader categorization rather than specific measured workloads. The lack of nearest rivals means no delta percentages can be cited, so the card's performance cannot be stated as being any percentage ahead or behind a specific competitor.

Given the pixel rate of 2.000 GPixel/s and texture rate of 2.000 GTexel/s, the card can process 2 billion pixels and 2 billion texels per second. These figures are modest by modern standards but were typical for a mid-range card in its release period of early 2007. The 90 nm process and 157 million transistor count suggest a design that prioritized power efficiency over raw throughput. Without rival scores, the only quantitative conclusion is that the card sits at the 50th percentile, meaning it is neither a high-end performer nor a low-end laggard within the database's historical context.

Who Should Consider It

The Radeon X1650 AGP is suited for users maintaining legacy AGP 8x systems who need a DirectX 9.0c-compatible card. The 256 MB of DDR2 memory and 12.80 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolutions in older games, but the 2.000 GPixel/s pixel rate will struggle with higher resolutions or anti-aliasing. Given the 50th percentile standing, this card should be considered for basic 2D desktop use, legacy software, or light gaming at low settings.

Users with modern power supplies will find the 200 W requirement easy to meet, and the single-slot, no-connector design fits into compact cases. However, the lack of Vulkan and modern DirectX support means it cannot run current games or applications. The card is best viewed as a functional replacement for a failed GPU in an old system, not as a platform for contemporary workloads. For those seeking to play games from the DirectX 9 era at standard definition, the X1650 AGP offers a viable, low-power solution.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem of the Radeon X1650 AGP consists of 256 MB of DDR2 memory connected via a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 12.80 GB/s. The memory clock is 400 MHz with an 800 Mbps effective rate, which is achieved through double data rate signaling. This bandwidth figure is critical for texture-heavy scenes; at resolutions above 1280x1024, the 12.80 GB/s may become a bottleneck, particularly in games that stream large textures.

The 128-bit bus width is half of what high-end cards of the era used, and the 256 MB capacity limits the texture detail settings in games. For high-resolution textures, the card will rely on system memory over the AGP 8x bus, which is slower than the dedicated VRAM. The pixel rate of 2.000 GPixel/s pairs with the 12.80 GB/s bandwidth to provide a balanced workload for 32-bit color at lower resolutions, but the memory subsystem will constrain performance in modern or modded games that require more than 256 MB of VRAM. Users should set texture quality to medium or low to avoid stuttering from memory swapping.