HIS X1950Pro IceQ 3 Turbo review

Thoughts, awards, where2buy, right2reply

It’s normal for HIS to swap out a reference cooler and add its own IceQ cooler instead. That’s a good thing too, because even the early coolers were quiet and cool running, and the third revision of the IceQ is the best so far.

In addition to the excellent cooler, the card comes pre-overclocked and it sped through all our tests like the blazes. These two facts alone bring it up to the kind of standard set by Sapphire’s excellent ULTIMATE Edition of the X1950 Pro. The Zalman cooler on the Sapphire is arguably more attractive, though.

The HIS X1950Pro IceQ 3 weighs in at around £135, which is the same as the Sapphire ULTIMATE's pricing. Considering that the HIS is very similar in performance to the Sapphire, is similarly quiet, and has VIVO, we’d be hard-pressed not to sing its praises.

It even comes with a free game, albeit not a very good one. As to whether you should choose the Sapphire ULTIMATE or the HIS, it’s more of a matter of taste as both cards are almost identical, and each comes with an excellent cooler.

Bottom line: as good as the non-reference designs are, we'd probably save the £30, buy a standard Sapphire X1950 Pro, and spend the extra on a triple-A title. Users looking for a no-fuss overclocked card could do a lot worse than opt for the HIS card, though.

HEXUS.certification

HIS X1950Pro IceQ 3

HEXUS Where2Buy

At the time of writing, you can purchase the HIS X1950Pro IceQ 3 Turbo, here for £135 including VAT.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS.net, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any of HIS's representatives choose to do so, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

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The free game is the same one I got with my X1800GTO from HIS. So they must have loads of them.

It did come in useful a couple of days ago though when my Dads friend came round with his kids. The 10 year old boy wasn't impressed by my games collection (basically Total War series, Supreme Commander and HL2). Flatout saved the day, and he enjoyed playing that for a while.

I don't really understand why this card is being reviewed now though, I thought it came out a while ago. I was a bit nasty the other day, asking how much HIS paid for that Hexus.tv article where a HIS guy was basically allowed to advertise his company's products. I know I'm being cynical.

I also can't help feeling that you should have kidnapped him and beaten him with that X1650XT until he gave you an R600 sample, though HIS may not have sent you this X1950Pro if you had done that…

When the next generation does come out, I wonder if

A: the IceQ3 cooler will need to be changed or if they will use the ATi reference cooler (HIS also ships reference X1950XTXs) and
B: if its possible to use one or two R600 based cards for graphics with an X1950 for physics?

that is a very good question can i use my standard 1950pro as a physics board in a later ati setup and when are amd now that they own ati going to release an uber amd-crossfire board……… actually that is a stupid question it will most likely be out at the same time as r600 just like 8800 and 680i

Wow! Yet another ATI X1950 pro, I know its a great card but who really wants to spend extra on a cooler unless they're going to overclock and these cards as far as my one goes do NOT overclock!

Also while I'm in a really annoying mood, what is WITH the graphics on these cards? Whats the point? When is someone going to design a graphics card with all the pretty bits on the OTHER side lol. How hard can it be?