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X1550 IceQ


Date
: 05/14/07 – 03:16:12 AM

Author
:

Category
: Video Cards

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: HIS Digita

Price
: $75.99

For our third and possibly final X1550 review at Overclockers Online, we'll be taking a look at the HIS X1550 IceQ. Unlike some of the other X1550 video cards we've looked at in the past, HIS is notorious for putting together some of the more powerful cards in the market.

The last HIS product we looked at was on an X1300 that I reviewed almost a year ago. It's quiet convenient that the X1550 replaces the X1300 so it shall be interesting to see what happens when I take the new X1550 IceQ and put it against it's older brother the X1300 512MB card.

Page 2 : Package

The HIS X1550 IceQ arrived in one of the less fancier boxes I've ever seen. This is great because the large cut out windows allows potential buyers the opportunity of seeing exactly what the IceQ cooler is.

On the face of the box we see exactly what this video card is rated at: 700 MHz GPU and 800 MHz Memory. This is pretty sweet and faster than some of the X1550s we've already looked at. Located to the right edge is a list of features: PCI Express, 256 MB GDDR2, SM 3.0, Dual Link DVI, HDTV and Platinum Pack. To the bottom left there's a sticker indicating the bonus Cyberlink DVD software.

Flipping the box over, we see another list of specifications and features.

I applaud HIS for stepping away from the boxes with scantly clad females and printing something of use to buyers. If you thought HIS was done with informing you about their product, even the sides have tiny bits of information tucked away for you to read.

While I agree that some of this is repeated information, depending on how a vendor orients their products, this may be all you see.

We will cover all of the specifications printed on the box on our next page.

Page 3 : Specifications

Specifications are never too hard to find on HIS' website. Here's a direct link to the X1550 IceQ.

HIS uses Samsung K4N56163QG-ZC25 modules for the memory. These Samsung modules, specifications here, are rated for 400 MHz operation and have a manufacture date of week 46 of 2006.

The bare core isn't all that special. The RV516 signifies the core is infact an X1550 based card.

Page 4 : Package Content

Unlike every other company out in the market, HIS does put their card inside an anti-static bag which sits inside a cardboard partition. HIS has created plastic molds that hold their video cards and accessories.

This is a great idea to me. It provides great protection for the card as everything is isolated and lets you see if everything is included in your package. It'd be hard for a vendor to steal a DVI dongle when you would immediately know based on the gaping hole in the package.

The complete Platinum Package includes a printed manual and software disks.

The video card accessories include an S-Video out cable, S-Video to composite converter, component out, a dual-link DVI to D-Sub dongle and a custom expansion bracket for you to use with the IceQ cooler.

Pulling the video card out of the plastic enclosure, we see the IceQ Turbo cooler is a touch larger than the actual PCB itself. This is pretty amazing; I hope I can capitalize on the cooler by squeezing a few MHz out during overclocking.

The cooler resembles the Artic Cooler Arctic Silencer because that's exactly what it is. HIS made a couple mods and branded it as the IceQ. If you look on the side of the cooler, a few tabs keep the cables clean and organized.

Turning the card over, we have stickers and can see the other 128 MB of memory.

I'm a little disappointed that HIS opted to go with a single DVI output and a D-sub output. As much as this may be a budget card, dual DVIs is essentially the norm.

If you're wondering about size, this card will take up a second expansion spot during installation which we will cover next.

The IceQ is held onto the cooler by four screws on the bottom side, there are a lot of little washers to balance the height so if you plan on dismantling it, don't lose any parts. Frankly, I don't know why you'd want to dismantle it in the first place. The IceQ is an excellent quiet cooler.

Stripping the card bare, here's what it looks like:

The heatsink and GPU made great contact with each other and HIS used a fair bit of thermal paste to fill any contact voids. The heatsink base was machine cut and fairly flat. There was no polishing or sanding to give the base a mirror finish.

Page 5 : Installation and Overclocking

Installation is very straight forward with any video card out in the market. With the X1550 IceQ, you need to remove the expansion slot cover directly below the PCI-E slot to allow air to be vented out the back. HIS has provided a custom expansion slot to fill the void of an open expansion slot with a grilled cover.

After you've taken care of that step, you can slide the card into the PCI-E slot and fire up the machine. No additional power connections are necessary.

With the computer booted up, I installed the modded Catalyst 7.1 In terms of getting some additional power out of the card, I didn't have any luck. It wasn't because the card was thermally hot, but HIS has already maxed out the performance of the X1550. The X1550 IceQ has a core processor clocked 100 MHz faster than any of other X1550 video cards.

Page 6 : Test Setup

It's been a little while since I've upgraded my machine so the hardware is a bit dated.

The suite of synthetic software used included FutureMark 3DMark2001se, 3DMark03, 3DMark05, 3DMark06, and SpecViewPerf8.1. For games, I put the card through Half-Life 2, Doom III, and Battlefield 2 with various resolutions and combinations of 4xAA and 8xAF.

Each application is executed three times and the final result is the average of the runs. During the performance evaluations, I did not see anything more than a 1-2% deviation in the results. Keep in mind that your system configuration will affect these results.

Let's begin!

Page 7 : Synthetic Performance

Here is a quote taken from previous reviews outlining my benchmarking process for the following pages of results:

We start off with a look at how the card performs in the 3DMark series of benchmarks from FutureMark.

3DMark2001se / 03 / 05 /06

3DMark06

All of the X1550s and X1300s get spanked by the X800 and X1650 Pro but the HIS X1550 IceQ leads the pack of other X1550 cards with the slightly faster core but half the memory.

Spec View Perf 8.1

SpecView Performance results show similarities between the X1550 performance and X1650 performance in some programs such as Catia. In others, however, the stronger X1650 Pro and X800GTO16 do show a decided advantage like 3D Studio Max and Ensight. If you are in the market for a video card for one of these programs, you will definitely want to do your research because more expensive is not always better.

Page 8 : Battlefield 2 Benchmarks

Battlefield 2 was benchmarked using the Guru 3D benchmarking application. I've yet to get Battlefield 2142 to benchmark correctly, so until then we'll stick with these results:

Relative to the other X1550 included in the benchmarking process, the HIS X1550 IceQ fares much better than the others, keeping above 50 fps without any of the eye candy on. We can credit the faster core for giving us the extra power, allowing for 1280×1024 gaming on Battlefield 2.

Page 9 : Doom III Benchmarks

Doom III is another "oldie but a goodie" as they say. With the details turned up to maximum, Doom III still has the ability to push some of the higher-end video cards out there, especially ATI-based cards. Right off the bat, ATI-based cards are hard pressed to run Doom III as it is optimized for video cards that handle OpenGL better than DirectX, which means NVIDIA based cards are at an advantage.

The higher resolutions are too much for this video card and to enjoy this game, the resolution should be limited to 1024×768 – fairly low given the the rate at which higher resolution LCD monitor prices are dropping.

Page 10 : Half-Life 2 Benchmarks

Half-Life 2 is one of the most taxing games on your CPU but definitely not on your GPU. That doesn't mean that you don't need any video card power to run it; it just means that less video card power will go a lot further in powering the game through higher resolutions. Let's see how the HIS X1550 made out.

To enjoy Half-Life 2, one should aim to have 40+ frames per second. The X1550 IceQ struggles to break 40 fps as we average 38 fps at 1280×1024. With the details lowered, it's quite possible to enjoy this game at 1280×1024, the native resolution for the common 19" LCD.

Page 11 : Conclusion

HIS has put together another package that triumphs over the other two X1550s Overclockers Online has looked at in the past. The card balances great performance to price and noise level. The only hurting factor has to be the fact that HIS does not make dual DVI a standard feature.

The ATI X1550 backbone offers users ample support when it comes to video-out enhancements, driver control through the Catalyst Control Centre, and sufficient power to do some low-resolution gaming. All in all, this is a very favourable video card for a multimedia system that won't break your piggy bank while offering more power than the standard X1550s.

Advantages

IceQ cooler offers great cooling performance
Stock clock faster than other X1550s

Disadvantages

No dual DVI output
Can't overclock any further

Overclockers Online would like to thank HIS for making this review possible.