Introduction

HIS adds to their arsenal this last quarter, with another mainstream VPU within the X800 series. Introducing the HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo. Extending the life of the X800 architecture once again, the HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo is mid range milestone with an extra punch of performance thanks to the extra bandwidth created in enabling 12 pixel pipelines. Last month we reviewed the HIS X800 GT IceQ II Turbo and found the R423 VPU to be quite a performer under eight pixel pipelines.

Will the new 12 pixel pipeline and R480 VPU live up to the best bang for the buck theory? Since we have both the Radeon X800 GT & X800 GTO specimens on hand, we can see just what kind of performance gains we get between the two models. Both cards look identical on the outside, but under the hood we see a couple of small differences, namely the 12 pixel pipelines and the R480 core. Let's move on.

Powered by the ATI Radeon X800 R480 VPU, the core pumps out 400MHz, utilizing 256MB of 256-bit 1.6ns GDDR3 at 980MHz. Twelve pixel pipelines and six parallel vertex engines make up the core attributes. Taking the VPU and incorporating iTurbo software, the core cranks out a hefty warranty covered 500MHz engine and 1GHz memory clocks. How will the extra pixel pipelines play in performance over the eight pipeline X800 GT? Well MVKTech will stack up the GTO in comparison to the GT model we reviewed last month using the same exact test bed and find out exactly what kind of bang for the buck we are looking at.

"HIS X800 GTO features 1.6ns ultra fast GDDR3 memory, virtually runs as high as 1.2GHz memory speed, plus the extreme IceQ II and iTurbo cooling technology." said Peter Yeung, HIS Marketing Manager, "This is definitely the best price performance product for mainstream segment after HIS X800 GT."

First off, let's crack the box open and get a look at what the potential HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo end user will encounter. We suspect a similar bundle and content, but a much better performing card, lets see what we got here. At first glance it looks just like the HIS X800 GT IceQ II Turbo bundle.

And yes indeed you can see for yourself, just by looking at the content of the box you can't really tell the difference. So what is included? Of course the HIS X800 GTO graphics card is taking up the most space, and next to that we can also spot a manual, some CD-ROM's (with the drivers, some games and software), cables (S-Video cable, RCA cable and HDTV Output cable) and two converters (Mini-DIN to RCA and DVI to VGA adaptor). This is an extended bundle as we are used to from HIS.

Let's just face it, when you get a fully loaded package, you want to know in detail what you are getting. The HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo comes with several CD's going from the drivers for the card to some games and software. You will get iTurbo in this bundle which will give you factory authorized one touch over-clocking and hardware monitoring. Let's just list it all up.

• HIS Drivers CD
• Games
  • FlatOut
  • Dungeon Siege
  • Guild Wars
• Software
  • 3D Album Picture Pro
  • PowerDirector 3 SE Plus
  • Power2Go 4

When we look further we see the IceQ II ventilation bracket that is part of the IceQ II cooling system. This is a dual slot card that will utilize a slot for the VGA/DVI and the IceQ II cooling system. For best results you will install this bracket in the proper slot first, followed by the HIS X800 GTO IceQ II Turbo graphics card.

So what else does this box contain? Ah yes, we almost forgot to mention a full set of cables. The package consist of a TV-Out S-Video cable, a RCA cable, a conversion connector Mini-DIN to RCA, a HDTV Output cable and a DVI to VGA adaptor.