ATI RADEON X850 XT 512MB Technology Preview @ Firing Squad

“Since memory modules of the same density are used, ATI had to retune the R480’s memory controller to properly address the additional memory with a minimal performance impact, without this the added memory would have introduced additional latency, hampering performance. Physically, you’ll see the return of double-sided memory, as the 512MB X850 XT card has memory modules on both sides of the board’s PCB. Other than this change however, the X850 XT 512MB HD looks practically identical to previous X850 XT boards, right down to the same dual-slot cooling.”

It’s going to be interesting to see how this card performs compared to it’s 256MB counterpart. ATI claims that it gives considerable performance increases in games like Doom III, HL2 and FarCry. Check out the full report over at Firing Squad.