Test Bed & Rig Specifications:

The MVKTECH test platform that we are going to use today is state of the art technology utilizing a motherboard sponsored by DFI. Let's go ahead and take a look at the specifications and hardware we are going to use for this portion of the review.

• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester
• DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR
• 1 x Gainward 6600 GT GS GLH
• 1 x HIS X800 GT IceQ II Turbo
• 1 x 120GB Maxtor SATA HDD
• 1 x LG 16X DVDRW Multi-format
• 2048 MB Mushkin DDR400 Redline
• Swiftech TEC Water Cooling Kit 
• Thermaltake 480 watt TWV
• Thermaltake Armor case (Courtesy of Xoxide)

Additional Specifications:

First we will grab some sample information from Everest Ultimate Edition and get some feed back on the the video card sub system. Lavalys was nice enough to allow us to evaluate there software for this review. I really like the wealth of information this utility gives us and we thank Lavalys for there support. We ran some tests using Everest and this is what we got.

We can already notice that the IceQ II cooling does not interfere with surrounding motherboard components. The IceQ II is a low profile design and while being slightly bigger than the actual video card PCB the IceQ II fits perfect in out case even with a thermoelectric water cooling kit, we have plenty of room.

From another angle you definitely get a better view on the HIS graphics card installed on the DFI main board. Although this is still a rear view it gives you a very good impression on the size of the card and the IceQ II cooler. The HIS X800 GT fits nicely in the yellow PCI Express slot of our DFI board.

Let's move a bit down and see from the top how this looks. What can you derive from this view? Yeah, you are right this IceQ II cooling solution that HIS is using takes up an additional expansion slot. This is a dual slot design by nature. The video card takes up one slot and the IceQ II takes up a second. We feel this is still one of the best cooling systems on a retail product for the fact it purges warm air outside of the case, regardless if its a dual slot design.

Wanted a closeup? Well you got it. On this I would focus my eye on the backplate of the HIS X800 GT graphics card. Now you can see the IceQ II back plate and its fasteners. The back plate secures the IceQ II to the VPU and allows retention and thermal dissapation on the back side ram modules. I like this design alot and it looks as good as performs.

This is the back of our Thermaltake Armor series case. Here we can see the dual slot design the HIS X800 GT IceQ II Turbo expansion slots and how the IceQ II bracket works with the cooling system. The ventilation bracket allows the IceQ II to push hot air outside the case lowering system temperatures. Looks good and now we will take a look at the UV sensitive features this card has to offer. Turn out the lights and hit the next page...