HIS Radeon X800GTO IceQ II iTurbo

Overclocking:

We overclocked the HIS X800GTO IceQ II iTurbo and we weren't the slightest bit disappointed. We achieved clock speeds of 588/1230MHz, which is even higher than the insane clocks we achieved with the HIS Radeon X800GT IceQ II iTurbo at the start of the month. The core is a R480 whilst the memory appears to be the same as the memory on the HIS X800GT, which probably explains why this card clocks so well.

Game Play Experience:

Generally speaking, there is nothing out in the market at the moment that can compete with the Radeon X800GTO over the wide selection of games that we have evaluated over the course of this review. We found that it was faster than the XFX GeForce 6800 Std and XFX GeForce 6600 GT Extreme Gamer Edition video cards in just about every title that we threw at it.

We guess that the big question that many people want to know the answer to is how well the X800GTO performs in the likes of Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, and the full version of F.E.A.R. We understand that the latter has gone through some minor code changes that should change the way that the game performs on all hardware. We can't really say much more about these games at the moment, because frankly, we're eagerly awaiting their release too.

In Battlefield 2, the Radeon X800GTO was faster than both the GeForce 6800 Standard and GeForce 6600 GT, and we were able to play the game quite acceptably at 1280x960 with 0xAA 8xAF and medium high details. When we enabled iTurbo mode, we were able to turn on Dynamic Lights on the HIS X800GTO while still attaining a higher minimum and average frame rate than what we recorded when the card was operating at its default clock speeds.

On the other hand, the 6800 Std and 6600 GT both performed optimally at 1024x768 2xAA 8xAF, while the X800GT at its default clock speeds was best playable at 1024x768 0xAA 8xAF. When enabling iTurbo, we could apply 2xAA to the scene too.

Lost Coast was dominated by the X800GTO, but we didn't experience image quality improvements when enabling the enhanced clock speeds. If you disregard the X800GTO, because it is clearly in a league of its own, the GeForce 6800 Std and 6600 GT performed as well as the two X800GT configurations that we've evaluated here. There was very little between the two mid-range NVIDIA parts and the two X800GT configurations and you'd be hard pushed to pick second place behind the GTO.

The story contined in much the same fashion through F.E.A.R., Far Cry, Rome: Total War, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Need For Speed: Underground 2. With the HIS X800GTO operating at its enhanced iTurbo clock speeds dominating procedings in just about every possible way.

Also, during the course of this review, we spent a long time evaluating the new NVIDIA ForceWare 81.84 drivers - something that we always try to do when we receive new drivers from either ATI or NVIDIA. It seems that the GeForce 6600 GT and X800GT perform very closely with the release of NVIDIA's Release 80 driver. There are still a few minor bugs, but we felt that the image quality was as good as the 78.03 driver that we looked at last week during our Leadtek 7800 GT Extreme review.

Maybe it isn't quite time for the 6600 GT to pack its bags yet, and that battle will go on until the stock of slightly damaged R480 and R423 cores runs out. At that point, the Radeon X1600XT should take over proceedings. We aren't expecting this video card to be available before the end of November, though.

Final Thoughts...

It seems that the Radeon X800GTO, in general, is in a league of its own at around £135-150 at the moment and the HIS Radeon X800GTO IceQ II iTurbo sits at the top of that league. This card is special, without a doubt. In fact, in some cases, the card could well keep up with a GeForce 6800 GT when using the overclocked 500/1000MHz frequencies that are covered by HIS' 2 year manufacturers' warranty.

The HIS X800GTO matches up to the XFX GeForce 6800 Std fairly well, with an SRP of around £130-140 expected. However, the HIS X800GTO operating in iTurbo mode leaves it behind in games. In fact, there are very few cases where the stock Radeon X800GTO didn't completely outpace the GeForce 6800 Std, nevermind when you factor in HIS' enhanced iTurbo mode.

Admittedly, the warranty could be a little better than two years but the quality of the video card, cooling solution, bundle and performance place this video card firmly on our recommended list. Again, as with the HIS X800GT that we highly recommended and awarded at the start of September, the card needs to be readily available as I can really see it selling like hot cakes. We've still not seen the HIS X800GT available in the UK.

It seems that the Radeon X800GTO currently has no competition, but we are not quite sure how long this card will sell for at the moment, with the expectation for X1600XT to hit the ground running towards the end of November. We're also unsure as to whether HIS' X800GTO will ever be sold in the UK either, as the GT still hasn't been spotted on the shelves here. There are plenty of other X800GTO's readily available if you feel that the baseline performance of this card is worth your money, though.

I guess the one question that people are going to want answered is whether you really require Shader Model 3.0 and everything that comes with it? In all honesty, in this price range we don't feel that there is a distinct need for Shader Model 3.0, as we could attain more than comparable image quality with the Shader Model 2.0 paths. The thing that the Radeon X800GTO has going for it is a lot of speed for not a lot of cash and if you're looking for a card to carry you over from AGP to PCI-Express, the Radeon X800GTO should be on your short list while it is available.