Hynix memory chips of 4ns access time, which corresponds to 250 (500) MHz, but the chips are clocked at 200 (400) MHz. The core works at 250 MHz, which is a standard clock speed for RADEON 9000 (9200), and has 4 active rendering pipelines with one texture unit on each. 

In spite of similarity with the RADEON 9000, the Gigabyte's RADEON 9200 has some differences which are well seen on the photos. 

Now take a gander at the cooler. 
 

Gigabyte MAYA II RADEON 9200 128MB VIVO
An unsophisticated pin heatsink. Well, the chip clocked at such frequency doesn't need an active one. Quiet is a rare thing and much coveted today :-)

Under the cooler you can see the processor itself.  Gigabyte MAYA II RADEON 9200 128MB VIVO  That's all I have to tell you about this card. We are not estimating VIVO today because the VIVO arrangement of this card is identical to the RADEON 9000, and its Video-In will soon be reviewed by M. Androsov.  Look at what's there in the box:

Gigabyte MAYA II RADEON 9200 128MB VIVO
User Guide, CD with drivers and utilities, CD with CyberLink PowerDirector, and an obsolete version of Serious Sam, VIVO adapter/splitter, DVI-to-d-Sub adapter, TV-out extenders.

Gigabyte MAYA II RADEON 9200 128MB VIVO
The box is typical of Gigabyte. The design is in the style of the Maya cards, which was expected judging by its name.

Overclocking

Note that 

• Overclocking requires additional card cooling (for its memory, in particular): 

 

 
 








• Overclocking depends on a certain sample, and you shouldn't extend single-card results to the entire series or trade mark. Overclocking results are not obligatory characteristics of video cards. 

Testbeds and drivers

Testbeds: 

• Pentium 4 3066 MHz based computer: 
• Intel Pentium 4 3066 MHz CPU; 
• ASUS P4G8X (iE7205) mainboard; 
• 1024 MB DDR SDRAM; 
• Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB hard drive; 
• Windows XP SP1; 
• ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21"). 
• ATI drivers v6.307. 

VSync off in drivers, texture compression off in applications, texture detail set to High Quality. 

Test Results

Before we start examining 2D quality, I should say there are no complete techniques for objective 2D quality estimation because: 

1. 2D quality much depends on certain samples for almost all modern 3D accelerators; 
2. Besides videocards, 2D quality depends on monitors and cables; 
3. Moreover, certain monitors might not work properly with certain video cards. 

As for the sample tested, together with the ViewSonic P817 monitor and BNC Bargo cable it showed excellent quality at the following resolutions and clock speeds:

Test Results

Test applications: 

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (MultiPlayer) (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Checkpoint-demo, maximum test settings, S3TC OFF, the configs are available here
 
• Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Grand Cathedral demo, test settings: quality, S3TC OFF 
 
• Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo v.1077 (Final Release) (Digital Extreme/Epic Games) - Direct3D, Vertex Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, default quality 

 
• 3DMark2001 Pro (MadOnion/Remedy) - DirectX 8.0, Hardware TCL, Game1, Game2, Game3, Game4, Low, High detail levels

 
• RightMark 3D (one of the game scenes) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing, shadow buffers, vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4).

March 2003 summary diagrams of videocards performance with the latest drivers

Overclocked cards are marked red, clock speeds follow 'o/c' sign. 

For the summary diagrams we used drivers v43.45 for NVIDIA cards, v6.307 for ATI cards, v3.10.58 for SIS cards and v1.03.01.002 for Matrox cards. 

• 1. Return to Castle Wolfenstein - 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1600x1200 
• Windows XP, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 


 

• 2. Unreal Tournament 2003 DEMO - 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1600x1200 
• Windows XP, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 


 

• 3. Codecreatures Benchmark Pro 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1600x1200 
• Windows XP, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 


 

• 4. 3DMark2001, Game2 Low Details (Dragothic) 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1600x1200 
• Windows XP, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 


 

• 5. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1600x1200 
• Windows XP, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 


 

• 6. 3DMark03 
• 6.1. 3DMark03, standard tests 
• Windows XP (January 2003) 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, 3D Marks 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game Test 1 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game Test 2 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game Test 3 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game Test 4 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, 3D Marks 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game Test 1 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game Test 2 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game Test 3 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game Test 4 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, 3D Marks 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game Test 1 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game Test 2 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game Test 3 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game Test 4 


 

• 7. RightMark 3D 
• Windows XP 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1280x1024 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1600x1200 
• Windows XP, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 
• Tests on Pentium 4 3066 MHz,1024x768, AntiAliasing+Anisotropy 

As expected, all scores of the RADEON 9200 are identical to the RADEON 9000. 

The card demonstrated good quality; it worked stably and flawlessly. 

Conclusion

It's clear that this is the same RADEON 9000 just under another name. Thankfully, Gigabyte has equipped its card with VIVO to differentiate it from the previous RADEON 9000. The price is at the level of the older 9000 cards. 

However, the situation is not as simple as it should be for customers because the RADEON 9200 is slower than the RADEON 9100 (former RADEON 8500LE), and the higher index of the 9200 may confuse them. 

Highs:

• Good 3D performance for the entry-level sector, and full DirectX 8.1 support; 
• High build quality; 
• Reliable and stable operation; 
• Decent overclockability; 
• VIVO support; 

Lows:

• The 128MB card has the same performance as the RADEON 9000, and it makes no sense to rename the card because of the born-dead AGP 8x function; 
• RADEON 9000, 9100 and 9200 may be confusing consumers. 

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