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HIS X800 Pro IceQ II VIVO LE Review |
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Written by Mavke
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Thursday, 21 October 2004 |
Guru3D has published another review, this time it was all about the HIS X800 Pro IceQ II VIVO LE. HIS is short for Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong company that has been growing rapidly in Europe. They offer products with a reputation, products that set themselves aside from the competition.
 HIS X800 Pro IceQ II VIVO LE Review
Well sorry but this is basically going to be the same conclusion as the XT was...why? Well, this is the same product! Except for the 4 missing pixel pipelines and slightly slower memory (at default) this is 100% the same. But, you can run this card at XT speeds easily and I'm pretty confident that the success rate of enabling the extra 4 pipelines is very high with the help of the proper XT BIOS. Remember, if you decide to pursue that you will need a VIVO version of this card. If not, well... ATI managed to strike back very sufficiently towards nVidia's Series 6 of GPU. Compared to the 6800 GT both cards have some advantages and disadvantages. But make no mistake, considering it's equal price the GeForce 6800 GT simply has the lead performance and better features (Shader Model 3 + 16 Pixel Pipes). When you are in doubt what to buy, well look at the results as they speak for themselves.
Again I just really like HIS products and this demonstrates a really good product. Normally the GeForce 6800 GT (which is priced the same) would be the better product to choose from. But with the exceptional cooling, overclockability and a reasonable possibility of enabling the 4 extra pipes this has to get my preference.
So for who is this product then? Well, you need to be the enthusiast gamer with the high-end rig. We already demonstrated that the x800 series have an extraordinary hunger for powerful CPU's. You really need a 2.6 GHz P4/Athlon equivalent or faster system to benefit the most from this Pro model card.
With this card at default games in the upcoming 12 months will run at a performance level that is really good, especially when you look back at the previous generation graphics cards (9800). When ATI converted their technology from 8 towards 12/16 pixel pipelines, together with nVidia they made the biggest performance jump in the history of graphics cards. Looking at the graphics core features, nothing much has changed besides performance and additionally temporal AA and 3Dc though.
Then there is IceQ-II cooling, some of you will dislike the sheer size of it, others will love the look. But from a reviewers point of view I need to state that such a cooling solution simply works. Overclocking was fantastic, and in combination with this form of cooling everything just seems to be right. We did not receive an engineering sample. This was the real deal, a production line board. We really like the software package and VIVO functions. A little free bonus is PictureEZ Premium Digital Photo Suite. Yes I know it's title sounds dull... Installation was as easy as a breeze, no problems at all. Stability then, it never crashed even once. All in all a job extremely well done from HIS!
Both the Pro and XT's from HIS are simply breathtaking, and with a good chance of enabling the 4 missing pipes + it's overclockability + the total package with it's software this product is just feels 100% right. There are a lot of manufacturers selling x800 cards right now, HIS is offering one of the best boards available in a very interesting bundle.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 October 2004 )
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