Even though our review methodology had two flaws – we didn’t get a GeForce 8800 GTX or a GeForce 8800 Ultra from nVidia for comparison and also we didn’t run any DirectX 10 benchmark – we found some interesting results.

Let’s recap what we found out.

On 3DMark03, which simulates older games based on DirectX 9 (Shader 2.0 model), Radeon HD 2900 XT with no image quality settings enabled achieved the same performance level as GeForce 7950 GX2 and was 43-50% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 56-61% faster than GeForce 7950 GT. However, when we increased image quality settings, GeForce 7950 GX2 was 30% faster, but Radeon HD 2900 XT was 43-50% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 56-61% faster than GeForce 7950GT.

On 3DMark06, which simulates games based on DirectX 9.0c (Shader 3.0 model) and puts a lot of weight on High Dynamic Range (HDR), Radeon HD 2900 XT was 31% faster than GeForce 7950 GX2, 24-25% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 100-107% faster than GeForce 7950 GT.

Quake 4 continues to be AMD/ATI’s Achilles’ Heel, even thought Radeon HD 2900 XT improved a little bit on this game: it achieved the same performance level as GeForce 8800 GTS at 2048x1536. At 1600x1200 GeForce 7950 GX2 was 7-8% faster and GeForce 8800 GTS was 14% faster.

On F.E.A.R. with no image quality settings enabled, Radeon HD 2900 XT was 25-30% faster than GeForce 7950 GX2, 53-55% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 117-119% faster than GeForce 7950 GT. However when we maxed out the image quality settings, the new video card from AMD achieve the same performance level as GeForce 7950 GX2, being 42-55% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 50-52% faster than GeForce 7950 GT.

On Far Cry with no image quality enhancements enabled, Radeon HD 2900 XT achieved the same performance level as GeForce 7950 GX2 and GeForce 8800 GTS at 1600x1200, being 13% faster than GeForce 7950 GT on this same resolution. At the other two resolutions we tested, GeForce 7950 GX2 was 6-8% faster, but the new video card from AMD was 8-12% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 30-36% faster than GeForce 7950 GT.

When we enabled image quality settings, Radeon HD 2900 XT achieved the same performance level as GeForce 8800 GTS at 1600x1200 but was 29-54% faster on the other two resolutions we tested. Here, however, all other video cards we included in our comparison were faster than Radeon HD 2900 XT. GeForce 7950 GT was, for example, 45-50% faster.

And finally on Battlefield 2142 with no image quality settings enabled, Radeon HD 2900 XT achieved the same performance as GeForce 7950 GX2, was 26-31% faster than GeForce 8800 GTS and 72-77% faster than GeForce 7950 GT. When we maxed out the image quality settings, GeForce 7950 GX2 was 26-29% faster than Radeon HD 2900 XT, while the new video card from AMD achieved the same performance as GeForce 8800 GTS at 1600x1200 but was 16-19% faster on the other two resolutions we tested, and was also 30-34% faster than GeForce 7950 GT.

Is Radeon HD 2900 XT a good high-end video? Yes, especially for its price range: with a maximum suggested price of USD 399 for the North-American market it makes a terrific option for those who want more performance than a GeForce 8800 GTS can deliver and don’t want to pay for a GeForce 8800 GTX.

However, we got this feeling that AMD is late for the party. As we got close to the Radeon HD 2900 XT launch date, nVidia released GeForce 8800 Ultra, leaving nVidia once again ahead of the game. And we think that when AMD comes with a competitor to this new nVidia threat, nVidia will probably come out with a new product line.

It is not only that. Radeon HD 2900 XT is the only DirectX 10 product from AMD, while nVidia has currently a complete line of DirectX 10-based video cards, and competing products from AMD are expected to reach the market only by the end of June – giving nVidia plenty of time to do whatever they want, including launching more models.

Whether this huge delay is a reflex of the merger between AMD and ATI is still a mystery to us.

Also, we can’t help thinking about GeForce 7950 GX2. This video card was released one year ago and when we maxed out image quality settings it achieved a superior performance on several games – this video card isn’t DirectX 10 and its HDR capability is really limited compared to newer products, though.