Overclocker Cafe - HIS Radeon X850XT IceQ II AGP Review

Overclocking

The HIS X850XT iTurbo is already overclocked at the factory to run 540/1180MHz. Using the ATi Tool and gameplay afterwards we explored the limits of the card clock on the VPU and its memory. Disappointingly, we were only able to get another 7MHz out of the memory before artifacts started showing up. The core however gave us a nice little 27MHz bump. The gains weren't record breaking but they did provide some return. In 'speed' mode at 1600 resolution this translated into about a 10% increase. Take a look at Doom3 for more.

Conclusion

HIS has taken a great card in the Radeon X850XT and made it better. The visually pleasing and very functional IceQ II Cooling assembly gets high marks for its raw cooling power and the near silence that it does it at. Releasing the card in its iTurbo form gives the end user the power of the X850XT while saving them a good $50. Our benchmarking shows that the pixel pushing power of the X850XT is phenomenal. The downside of this level of performance is price. Like many other things speed is a question of money, how fast do you want to go? However, there is another way to look at this. How much would a new high end VGA card, processor, mainboard and possibly memory if you are thinking DDR2 cost you? The HIS Radeon X850XT iTurbo VIVO card breaths new life into fast but dated AGP systems and I for one am thrilled about it.

Pros

Extraordinarily fast
IceQ II Cooling Technology
Near silent operation
Performance oriented cooling power
Very nice bundle
VGA, DVI and S-Video connections
UV Reactive

Cons

May be out of reach for some folks pocketbooks

BACK HOME

Pg 1 - Introduction
Pg 2 - The Bundle and the Card
Pg 3 - The Card and what's inside
Pg 4 - HIS OC Tool and Benchmarking Setup
Pg 5 - Far Cry / Half Life 2 (Speed settings)
Pg 6 - Doom3 (Speed settings) and Image Quality
Pg 7 - Half Life 2 / Doom 3 (Quality settings)
Pg 8 - 4xFSAA/8xAF vs. 6xFSAA/16xAF performance
Pg 9 - Overclocking and Conclusion