We have companies who make the efforts to send their product so of course we make the effort to check these. At launch however, we have got many companies who want the coverage, but most of the time the only difference between these cards is a sticker and sometimes a game in their bundle. And when it comes to performance, with these cards following the same clock speeds there isn't really going to be much of a change when it comes to the numbers. Apart from a little bit of fluctuation, there is not going to be a whole lot of difference. What we need to do when it comes to looking at the performance of the board is to mix it up in how we compare it, and this mainly in relation to the other brands. - TweakTown

HIS Radeon HD 5870 1GB Video Card Version Review

While we knew that HIS were sending over the Radeon HD 5870, when we saw the parcel we thought that the company had decided not to send us a full retail package card. This was mainly due to the fact that the shape of their package was quite thin. Opening up their package and having a look at the box for the first time, we can see why it looked so thin. HIS has opted for a new box design and you initially get the feeling that it seems more orientated towards a low-end card than the new high end model from ATI. While the box might look small, we've got all the information we really need with the main important features.

Having an look at the board now, we can see that HIS has of course added their own sticker to the card to let us know what brand and model it is. Across the middle we have got a red strip with the fan on the right side where HIS has again added their own sticker. At the back of the card we have our two vents which have quickly become known as the batman vents which resemble the vents of the front of the original batmobile. We've actually heard few people say that these don't do anything for airflow, but the numbers we got from the second card when running CrossFireX tends to make us think they're helping the card in some way.

When it comes to performance the first thing we have to say is that the only time the GeForce GTX 285 is able to get a leg up on these Radeon HD 5870 is in Far Cry 2 with anti-aliasing on. Now, what is worth noting is that the numbers that we see out of this GeForce GTX 285 are still lower than the thirthy frames minimum that we need to see. The only board able to get these figures was the GeForce GTX 295. On the topic of these GeForce GTX 295, for the most part it is able to outperform the Radeon HD 5870 in just about every benchmark, the only times it doesn't get a win is under CineBench which for a lot of people won't matter.

The bundle is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the HIS offering. We like the fact that they've chosen to include the cool little toolkit, but we're annoyed that at the moment it's exclusive to Newegg customers only. With that said, though, we did ask HIS about it and they said they are working with more retailers and e-tailers to get it included in the bundle which we're happy about. The HIS Radeon HD 5870 for the most part performs as you would expect with stock clocks to perform. If HIS is the only version you're able to get, there's nothing wrong with it and bar an extra game or something you're not going to be missing out on much.

What we are looking forward to is HIS taking the Radeon HD 5870 to the drawing board and giving us an Turbo or iCooler edition that moves away from the norm. The Radeon HD 5870 is only going to get better and we have faith that HIS is one company that is going to make it better in the coming months.