Gigabyte's GV-RX60X128V
Make mine VIVO

Gigabyte is one of only a handful of manufacturers to offer PCI Express graphics cards based on both ATI and NVIDIA designs. The company has a full line of GeForce PCX cards in addition to a wide selection of Radeon PCI-E products, all of which slide into a PCI-E x16 graphics slot. Today we're looking at the GV-RX60X128V, a mid-range card based on the Radeon X600 XT. The GV-RX60X128V carries on a proud Gigabyte tradition of horribly cryptic product names, but the card packs more than enough appeal to transcend its awkward name.

An awkward name isn't the only Gigabyte tradition the GV-RX60X128V carries on. Like most Gigabyte graphics cards and motherboards, the GV-RX60X128V comes in a lush shade of turquoise blue.

Gigabyte accents the blue board with a muted gold heat sink that's just a buffing short of bling.

There's nothing particularly wild or interesting about the cooler, which resembles the Blue Orbs of old. Gigabyte seems content to leave the card's memory chips free of heat sink-assisted cooling, too.

Speaking of memory, the Gigabyte card uses 128MB of the same Hynix memory chips as the Abit card. As on the Abit, the memory chips are clocked at an effective 742MHz. However, the Gigabyte's core clock speed is 500MHz, standard for the Radeon X600 XT. The Gigabyte card is packing something the Abit card can't compete with, though: video in and out (VIVO) capabilities. Thanks to an ATI Rage Theater chip, the Gigabyte X600 XT can capture video streams from S-Video or composite video sources. That's not quite as slick as an All-in-Wonder card with a TV tuner, but for basic video capture, it gets the job done.

Despite its VIVO capabilities, this card's port cluster is as standard as they come.

The card's video input and output ports are elegantly handled by the single splitter cable Gigabyte provides. Gigabyte also includes a DVI-to-VGA adapter, but sadly, neither composite nor S-Video cables.

Gigabyte saves face in a big way by packing its X600 XT with worthwhile software. In addition to copies of PowerDVD 5 and PowerDirector 3, the software bundle includes full versions of Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, and Spell Force. Although I've never heard of Spell Force, the other two games are definitely big-name titles. According to current prices at EBgames.com, these three games retail for a combined total of $104.97, bringing tangible value to this game bundle.

In addition to a strong game bundle, the Gigabyte X600 XT also has a decent warranty. The card is covered for two years for both parts and labor, which I prefer to the Abit and Albatron three-year warranties, whose coverage degrades after 15 months or one year, respectively.