G80 being out for a while, it's now AMD's turn to bring new generation of video cards. For that however, you will have to wait another month or so before we even see first R600 cards being sold. Meanwhile, AMD partners are going stiff and are seeking fresh blood to feed their customers. I would assume the madness that's going on as they can't deliver new cards thus make no money. Forget that for a while and let's move back in time to R500 era.

Back in October 2006, I've had a chance to check out PowerColor X1950 PRO running Arctic Cooling system. Ever since that day, we haven't seen anything new from AMD except for boiling X1550 SCS which brought nothing new except for name change. So what can AIBs do about not being able to get AMD's piece of the pie? The answer is release another SKU of the most popular card.

What I have for you today is PowerColor X1950 PRO SCS3. The card itself should be somewhat familiar, though 'SCS3' suffix explanation might be needed. You probably gathered from our previous PowerColor reviews what SCS stood for, if not than read along. Silent Cooling System is what PowerColor used for the first time with their Bravo X700, X800 XL SCS2 512MB and then with X1550 SCS. Now it's time for something completely fresh.