Overclocking

We stuck with ATI's Overdrive utility as HIS' utility was more or less the same in regards to the end result. Previously, we managed a core overclock of 583MHz and a 601MHz memory result with the reference card. Given the enormous cooler HIS provides, we had some high hopes that we would net better results.

After some extensive tweaking, we ended up with a 587MHz core overclock, and a 605MHz memory OC. While these results were an improvement over our last results, we were a bit disappointed we weren't able to achieve more.

	Overclocked	Stock
HIS X850XT-PE	75°C	61°C
ATI X850XT-PE	83°C	76°C

One thing to point out was the Arctic Silencer cooler was still whisper quiet and kept our VPU at a relatively chilly 75°C. While this was not the 20°C improvement HIS claims on their box, it is still very good. Keep in mind that this was at overclocked settings, and at stock speeds, we saw an improvement of 15°C over ATI's card which is closer to HIS' claims.

Image Quality

There is nothing new to report here that we haven't already covered in the ATI X850XT-PE review. Overall, the image quality was very good, especially the 2D image quality. Considering most of our computing time is spent working on a desktop, this is an area we feel is somewhat underrated, but needless to say, the X850XT-PE is a strong performer in this area. 3D quality is topnotch, and as we've mentioned in the past, there does not seem to be a big difference between Shader Model 3 and 2 when it comes to gameplay.

Final Words

You can pretty much grab what we've said about the ATI X850XT-PE and apply it here with the HIS X850XT PE IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO. What we would like to talk about is the Arctic Silencer cooler HIS uses and what we've learned from it.

In a nutshell, the cooler is considerably better in performance over ATI's stock cooling. It is also quieter overall since it does not spin up anywhere near as loud as ATI's cooler. However, not all is well with this heatsink as we've come across three issues with it. Since the fan portion of the cooler extends past the rear of the card by about half an inch, you'll need to make sure you have the proper clearance in your case to accommodate it. I don't expect this to be an issue with full sized towers, but desktop or small form factor PCs may have problems.

Another problem with the fan extending past the rear of the card is removing the PCI Express power dongle from the card. Putting it on is a rather simple affair, but unless you have tiny hands, there isn't much clearance between the fan and PCB to pinch the tab to remove the dongle. While this isn't really much of an issue as you can always remove the dongle from the main Molex power (leaving the PCIe power connection attached), it can be an annoyance if you are using your power supply's PCIe power.

Finally, for motherboards that have locks/tabs on their PCI Express graphics slot, the cooler's size makes it very difficult to unlatch the securing tab to remove the card. Granted, this issue will plague all two slot cooler cards, but it's something worth pointing out regardless.

Between the HIS card and ATI's card, the performance and features are identical, so the main advantage of the HIS X850XT-PE is the improved cooler. While we knocked it earlier, it does run quietly and cools on average about 12°C cooler than ATI's cooler. Other than that, deciding between the cards is going to boil down to pricing and availability. Neither is cheap, and neither is easy to find but if I were to spend the money, I'd probably lean towards the HIS X850XT PE IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO on the basis of the quieter and more efficient cooler.

Pros: Great performance, great image quality, very quiet.

Cons: Hard to find, and if you do, it won't be cheap. Not a viable upgrade if you're sitting on current generation hardware.

Bottom Line: If you're still running DirectX 8 hardware or lower, and have about $600 burning a hole in your wallet, you can't go wrong with the HIS X850XT-PE. Those of you sitting on current generation, high-end video cards prior to the X850 series can probably hold off until we see the next round of VPUs.