Immediately noticeable is that PowerColor did not change from the reference design; everything is standard to an ATI 9800pro. This means we can expect benchmarks typical of built by ATI cards with the benefits of the package from PowerColor. Here is a closer look at the reverse and lable confirming it is indeed a 9800pro 256M.

I feel I must make a note of some initial findings while inspecting the card. The included ram heatsinks are of course aluminum but cut with many, many small fins. The reason for this goes well beyond looks as you will see. Originally a lot of noise was made over the heat output of the Geforce FX 5900 and 5800 Ultra cards. This new generation of graphics cards is one of high-heat producers, and the 9800 pro is no different. Upon initial use and testing of this card, I attempted to check the temperature of the heatsinks with my finger: warm would be an understatement; these small heatsinks were near hot. Having tested a 5900 I can attest that this card is nearly silent in comparison to the 5900 ultra series, but it runs nearly as hot.

Now for some comparisons.

Shopping Matches for Powercolor Radeon 9800 Pro 256 Mb: