Modern high end videocards can draw more power than the PCI Express bus can provide, so it's often necessary for manufacturers to equip their graphics cards with an auxiliary power source. Generally this is a six-pin 12V power socket at the top right hand corner of the videocard PCB. This extra power connecter allows the videocard direct access to the power supply, and in most situations this cable has to be connected for the videocard to operate.

According to MSI documentation, a powersupply of at least 350W is recommended for use with the MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E. Based on PCSTATS experience, we would suggest that gamers equip their computers with a power supply in the 450W+ range with at least 30+ amps available on the 12V line. Anything less than that opens up the door to possible instability from an overloaded power supply. As only recent power supplies feature the native six-pin power connector (or two if the PSU is SLI rated), MSI has included a molex-to-six pin cable converter in the package.

For the purposes of this review, we selected the 510W PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510 SLI powersupply to use with the MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E-based test platform. It provides up to 34 amps on the 12V rail which will do nicely.

High Definition Output

Hidden under the rather large cooling solution is an ATi Rage Theatre chip which gives the MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E its VIVO capabilities. The ATi Rage Theater supports high quality TV-output via Composite or S-Video cables and supports NTSC/PAL display modes from 320x200 on up to 800x600. According to ATi, the Video-In features include composite/S-Video analog inputs for NTSC, PAL or SECAM formats which are converted into high quality, low noise digital videos for a clear image.

The ATI Rage Theater also supports VBI services such as Teletext, Closed Captioning and Intercast. As expected, MSI includes all the cables a user will need to take advantage of the videocard's VIVO capabilities. The break-out cables are in two separate groups, so users will be able to use the component outputs or s-video/composite in/out feature, but not at the same time.

The MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E sports dual DVI outputs, which mean you can connect up to two digital LCD's at the same time. Analog monitor users are not out of luck, MSI bundles in a pair of DVI-to-analog converters within the package contents. ;-) Right in between the two DVI connectors is the circular video connector which supports VIVO as mentioned earlier as well as component output break-out cables.