HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 256MiB GDDR3 CrossFire evaluation

Graphics

Published: Monday 21st August, 2006 | Author: Tarinder Sandhu
Products: HIS X1600 XT Iceq Turbo
Companies: HiS Graphics (All HiS Graphics content)
External reviews: HIS X1600 XT Iceq Turbo

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Next page: Card examination and CrossFire musings

Introduction

HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 256MiB GDDR3 CrossFire evaluation

Nearly two months' ago we took a look at a bunch of ATI Radeon X1600-based PCIe graphics cards that retailed at around the £100 mark. Some IHVs decided that a silent model was best, others offered a bountiful bundle, and one, HIS, decided to raise default clock speeds on its iTurbo version.

Indeed, looking at the mixture of price, performance and bundle, HIS' X1600 XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 256MiB GDDR3 was one of the better versions, offering slightly more performance, excellent cooling and a keen price in one package.

Performance from a single card, when evaluated on our midrange testing platform, was reasonable enough from a ~£95 SKU. What we wondered was just how well two cards would function in dongle-less CrossFire mode. HIS was kind enough to send us another identical card, and some CrossFire testing ensued.

Read on to find out if the additional performance from the second card is worth an extra outlay of around £95.

Next page: Card examination and CrossFire musings