AMD's current high-end graphics card series is the Radeon HD 3870 video card. HIS has heavily modified the AMD reference design to include a better cooler and higher clocks for improved performance. This means that HIS has once again applied their well know IceQ approach to make a better card than the default version. This is becoming an habit, and we can't really blame HIS for doing so as they each time are able to make a better version which is capable of just that little extra performance that we are all seeking for. Once again HIS is using their IceQ3 cooler and also tuned the clock speeds to some Turbo levels. All that will aid to make the IceQ3 Turbo edition meet our espectations. - techPowerUp!

HIS Radeon HD 3870 IceQ3 Turbo Video Card Review

The package has a small window where you can inspect the merchandise before buying it. Also the potential buyer is informed of the major features listed on the front and the back. The cooler on the HIS Radeon HD 3870 is the IceQ3 cooler that looks very similar to an Arctic Cooling series, but is not made by Arctic Cooling. Total height of this card is two slots, just like almost all other Radeon HD 3870 offerings. The output configuration follows today's standard, namely two DVI ports are available and both are dual link capable. Also included with the package is an HDMI adapter to connect you HDTV directly.

At first sight the cooler looks pretty cool, it has copper and heatpipes and hot air is going outside of the case. When we cleaned up the baseplate though we noticed that the part that makes contact with the GPU core is made from aluminum? After scraping around a bit on the cooler we found out that the whole metal piece is made from aluminum and just painted in copper color. Even though it is just aluminum, the cooler does a fine job at keeping the card cool. The memory cooler is also a painted piece of aluminum with a number of fins on it. Near the back of the card you find a single 6-pin power connector.

Right now the Radeon HD 3870 IceQ3 Turbo version from HIS can be found online for under $200. The HIS Radeon HD 3870 IceQ3 512MB is a very solid offering on the Radeon HD 3870 market. It comes with the special IceQ3 cooler and runs at clocks that are among the highest available. Given that the factory clock is already very high, we saw only limited additional overclocking, but still better than the Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 Toxic for example. The HIS cooler works good at idle, keeping the card cool and quiet, but when the card is heavily loaded it becomes a bit noisy, but still at a quite acceptable level.

With the recent AMD price drops, this card can be had below $199, at Newegg for example it's only $189. Since an HDMI adapter is included in the package, this card could also be used for a media and/or gaming PC combo because it has both AMD's UVD for accelerated video playback and 3D rendering power for the latest games.