HIS X1600Pro IceQ Turbo DL-DVI DVI 128MB GDDR3
We've got two cards from HIS in this round-up, this being the first. It's got the same 587/1386 clocks as the majority of cards on the test, despite specifying the slower X1600 Pro GPU.
HIS has used its IceQ cooler, which is a cooler designed by Arctic Cooling, who has made a name for itself by producing large, quiet and effective graphics card HSFs. Indeed, two slots are required by this card as a result, but heat from the card is expelled from the case immediately, rather than lingering around for some other exhaust fan to get rid of it. If size isn't a problem, this is an excellent cooling design to have.
The heatsink has only four screws holding it to the card, but that proves to be all that's needed. If you haven't read it yet, note the label on the back stating that 128MiB of memory is in place on the card. That saves money, but could cause some stuttering at high resolution with high detail textures in place, when the framebuffer can't provide data fast enough to the card. It might also be a problem if you've got a big display and are considering using this card with Windows Vista, when it finally comes out.
The size of the IceQ cooler really hits home when you take a look at it from this angle. Make sure you've got plenty of room for this one! Once again we have two DVI connectors (at least one is dual-link) and a video-out connection. It's interesting to note that HIS' specifications for this card show it to be equipped with a DVI and D-SUB port, rather than two DVI.
Bundled is the full game Flatout, Catalyst 6.3 drivers and volume 2 of HIS's Bonus DVD. There are two DVI-DSUB adapters in this bundle, along with an extra fan grille if you feel the need to fit it. Cabling includes component video, plus an S-Video cable with S-Video-to-composite adapter.
