Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Performance
The nice thing about Need for Speed games is, despite the 'speed', you don't actually need a high framerate to play acceptably. The HIS X1600XT plays this game fine at 1024x768, with a little Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering thrown in for good measure.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Image Quality
I do love the visuals of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and the HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo renders it beautifully.
Overclocking - iTurbo
We have already gotten into iTurbo with other reviews, but a quick recap; all of the HIS Turbo edition cards come supplied with HIS' overclocking software called iTurbo. iTurbo will sit in your tray and can be set to apply your overclocked settings upon windows startup.
The GUI for it is quite attractive and while at first glance it appears to be very basic, there are quite a few options in there to play with, from adjusting the polling rate to enabling various different monitoring functions. It's not quite as good as some third party software for overclocking but this comes with the card, is easy to install and of course has the all important iTurbo button. Now while you can overclock with any other software you like, the iTurbo software will with one click apply pre-set overclocked settings to your card that are covered by HIS' 2 year warranty. You can of course go higher although the lucky ones among you may find that the iTurbo software won't go high enough on the scales.
Overclocking - Results
Using the iTurbo software in combination with Benchemall, we began increasing the settings on the core first, which yielded a stable 645. Anything higher than this and random crashes/lock ups would start. The memory went to 1540 before artifacts began appearing which is a nice jump up from the 1386 defaults (1404 with iTurbo). The final combined overclock was stable at 641 for the core and 1530 for the memory.
Using Benchemall we tested how this would effect Battlefield 2 performance using the in built demo.
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Battlefield 2
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587/1386 (defaults)
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600/1404 (iTurbo)
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641/1530 (Max OC)
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FPS
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55.45
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56.08
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61.97
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From a performance stand point, the overclock provided 'out of the box' by the iTurbo software does little to the performance of the card, and since it is supported by HIS' 2 year warranty, their is little point in not using it. The max overclock we achieved here is a little less than other journalists reached, but as is the way with overclocking, results vary. Our overclock put the average FPS over the often sought after 60 fps.
Final Words
We are no stranger to hardware here at the 'Lair and we have always had a positive experience with their cards; the HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo is no exception to this, however performance when run at defaults was a little less than we hoped for. It's not that fault of HIS, and this is far from a bad card, but for just a few extra notes you could get the higher performing HIS X800GTO. There are a couple of caveats there though; the first is that AVIVO was introduced with the X1x00 series cards and the X800 series do not support it. The second is that HDR is likely to become quite popular with upcoming games, and again this is something that the X800GTO won't be able to do for you. The HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo will give you ShaderModel 3.0 support, AVIVO and even Crossfire without the need for a master card.
From a performance stand point, the card didn't disappoint for it's price point, I was just expecting a little more from the 'next generation' over an X800GTO, with the HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo providing around X800GT numbers.
Doom 3 runs fine at 1024x768, even with a little Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering.
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast obviously ran better at our chosen settings, simply because the previous generation card doesn't support HDR. That said, the resolution for the HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo had to be kept low, but on the flip side of that, image quality remained quite high.
F.E.A.R. was a little uncomfortable at 1024x768, although to be honest, the same could be said of the X800GTO we compared to, and remaining at the medium settings and disabling shadows makes it playable on the HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo.
Battlefield 2 played quite well but I (and I'm sure many others) will want to lower the in game video settings to prevent the lowest dips in framerates. 1024x768 will likely be the maximum you will be comfortable with using this card
Need for Speed: Most Wanted was also a 1024x768 game, with everything turned on in game although opting for a more median setting in the options might be enough to raise the resolution a notch.
Overall the is a good card and exudes the usual HIS quality we have come to expect but it is let down a little by the cards underlying architecture, as you are often left wondering what the card is waiting for. For the money you won't be disappointed, but you might be happier stretching your wallet for a previous generation card that will perform as well or even better in some cases if AVIVO and ShaderModel 3.0 support isn't big on your list of needs. It all boils down to the games/use you wish for the card, and how often you plan on updating your hardware.
Pros: HIS quality package, Plenty of extra software, 2 free games, Quiet cooling solution - low temperatures too, and its a UV reactive cooler
Cons: Performance is sometimes a little 2005
Bottom Line: There is no doubt that you will get a nice package and a decent card here, but if you do a little investigating into the games you play, and if you are quite frequent in your video card updates, you might be better off looking at the slightly more expensive X800GTO. It all depends on the games you play/plan to play and how often you update your hardware.
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