What you get

Opening up the colorful HIS X850XT IceQ II iTurbo VIVO package, I’m reminded of ASUS’s Deluxe motherboard line with all the goodies included inside.  Plenty of cables and extras to take absolute full advantage of the HIS card are found here.  Included is an S-video cable, composite video cable, DVI to VGA adapter, extended Molex Y-splitter line as well as a VIVO cable.  The VIVO cable is a big plus that you HTPC types will love.  Aside from the extra hardware, is a to the point manual and a very nice software bundle.  The bundle includes a demo/shareware disk containing Dungeon Siege, PowerDirector 3 SE Plus, Power2Go 4, 3D Album Picture Pro, PowerDVD Copy, MediaShow 3, PowerBackup Trial, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, Half Life 2, Act of War, Tribes as well as Axis and Allies.  That's just on the 'extras' CD.  In addition to this is a copy of PowerDVD 5, HIS's iTurbo Overclocking Tools, HIS Radeon X850XT driver and utility disk and a full copy of the highly addictive Flat Out game.  Flat Out is the first bundle game in a while that is so much fun that I play it routinely now.

The card

Let me point out what iTurbo means before we get to far.  The standard X850XT is clocked at 520/540MHz on the core and memory respectively, while the X850XT PE version runs at 540/590MHz.  With HIS's elaborate and effective IceQ II cooling system mounted, the iTurbo is clocked as the PE version is without hitting you up for the premium cost associated with the X850XT PE.  HIS gets a nod from us on giving their card a boost in performance with out a reciprocating boost in price.  Factory overclocking - you gotta love it!

The HIS X850XT IceQ II iTurbo VIVO card is not exactly easy to miss.  Sporting HIS’s IceQ II Cooling Technology, this is a two slot VGA product.  An oversized clear acrylic assembly with an 80mm eleven blade blue fan on one side allows for several cooling functions.  Air is pulled in from the IceQ II's fan and channeled over a series of aluminum convection fins running lengthwise inside the plastic housing.  Hot air is blown off the fins and channeled outside the case from the vent you see in the middle picture below.  You can also see in the center pic below the standard 15 pin VGA connector, S-Video and DVI connectors giving you lots of options for connectivity.

Not only does this cool the card but it cools the case as well.  If you have a halfway decent intake fan in the front of your case then you get the benefit of reasonably cool air being fed in to keep your HIS card nice and comfortable.  What's more is that the fan speed can be set in auto mode, adjusting itself depending on the card's need.  Two of HIS's big marketing points they make is the cooling capacity of their IceQ II system and how quiet it operates.  HIS totes with pride the assertion that the IceQ II system decreases VGA temperatures by 11 degrees Celsius while keeping the sound level below 20 dBA.  The more we played with the card, the more respect we had for how very very well the IceQ II system works to both these ends.