With graphics engines evolving quicker than CPUs, even top products from 3 years ago start to show their age with almost every new software release (or hardware upgrade like a high resolution monitor). I craved more resolution and upgraded my 17" monitor (1280x1024px) to a 20" monitor (1600x1200px). However with that extra resolution more GPU power was needed than my trusty Radeon 9700Pro was willing to give in the most demanding applications (i.e. Doom3).
The MSI RX800Pro-TD256E is kind of an odd-ball in the bunch of Radeon x800 series boards. It's the only PCI-Express version of the x800Pro that I am aware of. Since I needed PCI-e and could not afford the x800XT (PE) version, I finally decided on this graphics board.
INSTALLATION
The Rx800Pro is very easy to install like most other boards in the market. Just make sure you're grounded well enough not to damage the sensitive components and the power supply is unplugged. Now you're ready to connect the included power cable to the card and the other end to the power supply. Then slide the graphics card into an available PCI-Express slot and then secure the card with either a screw or quick snap depending on your case design. PCI-e is not compatible with a standard PCI slot! The included quick installation guide doesn't even offer that much information and is pretty useless. The same is true for the actual manual which hosts a collection of meaningless summaries for all the different Radeon cards made by MSI. Looking for specific information? Don't look in the manual!
Booting your your computer will now recognize the card as a standard VGA and allow to log in and install the driver. The version on the disc is pretty old (October 2004) and online updates are somewhat behind the ATI releases. (The included update tool doesn't work as it doesn't recognize the Rx800Pro as an MSI board (Listed manufacturer is ATI!). However, since it's identical to the ATI reference card, you might as well go to www.ATI.com and download the latest driver from there. Right now that would be Catalyst 5.2.
With the driver installed, you will have to reboot one more time and after that can adjust all the parameters to your preference.
Note: I found that the ATI Control Center increases system boot time and feels slower. So I removed it and rely on the traditional control panel.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
It really was that easy ... until about 6 days later my motherboard suddenly claimed: "System failed VGA test". Nice to hear it talking but it was a devastating moment when I realized that my spanking new x800Pro just joint its predecessors in computer heaven. Arrrgh!
As an early adopter it's currently hard to find anybody locally who can help debugging a PCI-Express graphics card as none of my friends nor any of the local computer repair shops had a proper setup available. So I tried my luck with MSI's technical support. The answer took only one day but was relatively useless and consequentially not helpful. (MSI suggested to bump my power supply up to 450W and implied that my sustained 400W are not enough despite the rated peak of 500W. Not enough to even recognize the VGA during the basic startup? Very unlikely!!! So I contacted the dealer I bought this from (www.zipzoomfly.com) and they agreed that this must be a bad graphics card and issued a RMA immediately. Ten days later the replacement board was at my doorstep, this time in good working order and I will have yet to see for how long.
Speaking of technical support, I also inquired with Asus regarding the same problem and did not receive any answer! Customer is king, indeed.
HARDWARE
Since this is basically an identical twin to ATI's reference x800Pro board, I will refer to the manufacturer's list of features at this point. There is nothing missing or extra on the MSI version, and that's good since it guarantees maximum compatibility therefor independence from MSI's mercy of updating drivers etc..
If you want to indulge in the long list of features, please use this link ...
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=RX800PRO-TD256E&class=vga
In a nutshell, the x800Pro has everything current games and applications crave. There are two exceptions that currently don't mean that much but might in the future. (1) The x800 series does not support the Shader 3 (as found in DirectX9.0c), but the only game I know that supports it is FarCry (patch 1.3.x) anyway. (2) No Radeon graphics board supports SLI as of February 2005. So even if you wanted to dish out another $400, it won't give you SLI unless you choose nVidia's GF6800.
Note: The PCI version is marked by the 'E' in MSI Rx800Pro-TD256E and comes in two versions, the TD and the VTD. The latter has both S-Video input and output whereas the TD (as tested) has only a S-Video output (HDTV capable).
* ... SplinterCell is supposed to be included in Asia only and the US version technically should have 'Prince of Persia'. However, I tried demos for either game, I was actually happy with the 'mix-up'.
Game Demos: Praetorians, Black Hawk Down, YAGER, Joint Operations Typhoon Rising, Heaven & Hell, Comanche 4, Divine Divinity, American Conquest, Etherlords2, Commandos 3 Destination Berlin, IL-2 Sturmovik, Beach Life, Splinter Cell, Deus EX Invisible War
Bundle Software: Virtual Drive 7 Professional Version, Restore It 3 Professional Version, MSI 5.1 Channel DVD Player, Foreign Language Learning Machine, Photoshop® Album SE, 3D Album SE, MSI 3D Desktop, MSI Live Update Series ( Live VGA BIOS & Live VGA Driver), 3D! Turbo Experience, GoodMen, LockBox, WMIinfo, ThinSoft BeTwin, MSI Secure DOC, E-Color, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2000, Microsoft DirectX 8.1
The selection is huge at first but gets much smaller once all the incompatible or outdated titles were sorted out. For instance, stay away from most of the system tools if you're running an Athlon processor. (Most tools work only proper with Intel CPUs.)
But hey, this is an awesome graphics card and the included 3 full games may be a little dusty but a great value nevertheless. In fact, XIII, URU: Ages Beyond Myst, and SplinterCell: Pandorra Tomorrow all show off basic power of the x800 GPU very well and represent a value of at least $50. Uru boasts incredible detail when cranking resolution up to 1600x1200 and the cartoonish character of XIII really gets smooth in that resolution as well without being a major drain for your system.
Beyond the system tools (, their immediate removal), and the mentioned games, I did not install any other included software since I either own more recent versions or more powerful programs. For instance, why install DirectX8.1 (!!!) if DX9.0c is out for a while and the hardware really is made for DX9 anyway? Or why bother to install 'MSI LiveUpdate' if it doesn't even recognize the card as a MSI product and refuses to even look for updates. (The card identifier reads ATI.) Or why jeopardizing an Athlon 64 installation with 'GoodMen' if it turns your system into molasses (due to incompatible memory management)? And these were only the ones I tried. The 'MSI 3D Desktop' sounds like an interesting idea but I just could not get myself convinced that this actually improves anything, especially after the experience with 'GoodMen'
PERFORMANCE
The MSI Rx800Pro is virtually identical with the reference layout by ATI and benchmark tests reveal the same results. That makes the MSI version the most powerful x800Pro for the buck since it's considerably cheaper than other manufacturers. Add the 3 included games ($30 value each) and it's a very good offer. Nevertheless, it's still expensive and only recommended for enthusiasts.
I am sure I don't have to reinvent all the tests you've already seen, but in case you have not and crave the raw numbers please refer to ...
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-04.html
Nevertheless, I tried several demanding games in my monitor's native resolution of 1600x1200 and most games excelled even with all features turned to maximum. Half-Life2, Need for Speed: Underground 2, Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament 2004 really shine. Even the demo for the upcoming 'StarWars: Republic Commando' played very smooth in maximum settings. However, Doom III turned out to be still a little much in maximum settings but just tuning the options down a little (i.e. AA off, VSync off) already made it very playable despite monster resolution. FarCry (1.3.1) turned out to be somewhere between Doom3 and the stellar performers above.
For office applications, there is enough power for 3D applications like Pro/Engineer, but be aware that even WildFire 1.x is very picky regarding supported cards and OpenGL drivers, especially on ATI Radeon cards. The demand of other applications like DreamWeaver MX2004, Flash MX2004, CorelDraw! 12, PhotoShop CS, Office XP and Vue Esprit 5 is so low compared to the power of an x800 that there should be virtually no issues even at higher resolutions than my tested 1600x1200.
Taking into consideration that I may just be a little bit disgruntled by the early failure of my first card after only 6 days, you may rate this product higher based on price and performance of the actual hardware.
However, the included software package is good regarding the games but forgetable regarding the included tools. Granted that drivers usually are outdated on any included CD, but the tools (i.e. GoodMen) don't check for hardware compatibility and may wreak havoc on an AMD Athlon setup.
In the end I got it all sorted out and I am very pleased with the performance of the card which is identical to the ATI reference board x800Pro (AGP). The decision towards the PCI-Express bus was driven by my motherboard and does not (yet) result in noticeable performance improvements. So don't upgrade to PCI-e just yet if your AGP motherboard does fine. (There is no performance difference between the AGP version of the x800Pro and the PCI-e version.)
Nevertheless, the RX800Pro-TD256E is a great interim step for future upgrades, as PCI-Express will and SLI might become the standards for the next 4 - 5 years. The x800Pro is quite capable to carry the load until ATI's R5xx series emerges (with SLI and Shader 3) ... or whatever nVidia is going to answer with (other than making the 6800 Ultra affordable). Most game developers most likely will wait another 2 - 3 years before relying on the bandwidth advantage and until then AGP will do just fine.
Note: As an early adopter to PCI-Express you may find yourself in the situation that trouble shooting becomes a hassle since virtually nobody else has another system where you could test your components. This is especially significant for small towns.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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