HiS Radeon X1900XT ICEQ 3 Reviewed

[CaiNaM]

only cooled a bit better than ati's reference design, but much quieter. i want one!

Review

 

[CP5670]

AT had this card in a roundup of X1900s a few months ago, but I've never seen it for sale anywhere.

 

[Alaa]

when is ATi gonna have a partner like evga to sell their cards? i like dnt like those crappy looking cards from ATi..i hope evga sells ATi cards in the future..is there a chance? however, this cards looks fine..the only one!

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Alaa
when is ATi gonna have a partner like evga to sell their cards? i like dnt like those crappy looking cards from ATi..i hope evga sells ATi cards in the future..is there a chance? however, this cards looks fine..the only one!

Lol. Well, spend less time staring at your card and more time gaming. Problem solved.

 

[VisceralM]

Too bad it's not available anywhere.

 

[RobertR1]

"** Update - I just heard from HiS that the card will be introduced a hundred bucks lower than suggested at 459 USD !"

WOW!!!!

 

[Madellga]

Here the ICEQ3 XT is priced like a XTX. And a XTX has a 15% premium.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Alaa
when is ATi gonna have a partner like evga to sell their cards? i like dnt like those crappy looking cards from ATi..i hope evga sells ATi cards in the future..is there a chance? however, this cards looks fine..the only one!

It doesnt matter what the card looks at, and HiS is just as good as eVGA, PowerColor is good too. eVGA is nothing special.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: Alaa
when is ATi gonna have a partner like evga to sell their cards? i like dnt like those crappy looking cards from ATi..i hope evga sells ATi cards in the future..is there a chance? however, this cards looks fine..the only one!

It doesnt matter what the card looks at, and HiS is just as good as eVGA, PowerColor is good too. eVGA is nothing special.

Their warranty is.

The cooler is nicer than the stock one, but not as good as an Accellero, and the price premium is notable. Better but not perfect imo.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Madellga
Here the ICEQ3 XT is priced like a XTX. And a XTX has a 15% premium.

Then OC it to 650/1550.

 

[Alaa]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: Alaa
when is ATi gonna have a partner like evga to sell their cards? i like dnt like those crappy looking cards from ATi..i hope evga sells ATi cards in the future..is there a chance? however, this cards looks fine..the only one!

It doesnt matter what the card looks at, and HiS is just as good as eVGA, PowerColor is good too. eVGA is nothing special.

evga IS special at least in terms of good looking cards..its really very nice to have a gorgeous piece of art in ur pc than a piece of junk

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Alaa
evga IS special at least in terms of good looking cards..its really very nice to have a gorgeous piece of art in ur pc than a piece of junk

Whats the difference between the 7900GT and GTX? A sticker.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: Alaa
when is ATi gonna have a partner like evga to sell their cards? i like dnt like those crappy looking cards from ATi..i hope evga sells ATi cards in the future..is there a chance? however, this cards looks fine..the only one!

It doesnt matter what the card looks at, and HiS is just as good as eVGA, PowerColor is good too. eVGA is nothing special.

I beg to differ.

eVGA has awesome customer service. HIS on the otherhand, doesn't even accept their own RMA's, but leave that up to their distributors. I have a defective HIS and I had to get the contact info for the distributor from the guys at Monarch (no info in the HIS site). After calling them, they sent me to an RMA request form on thier site, which I filled out and faxed On Monday. So far, I haven't heard anything from them yet. eVGA usually responds to my emails in 24hrs. I've stepped up 2 cards with eVGA and RMA'ed on, and every time I dealt with eVGA I am pleased with the service I've gotten. I can't comment on the distributor yet, but so far my experiences with RMA'ing this HIS card hasn't been very successful. No matter how this turns out, I'm probably not ever going to buy an HIS card ever again.

Edit: Update, got my RMA number. Let's see how this works out.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Alaa
evga IS special at least in terms of good looking cards..its really very nice to have a gorgeous piece of art in ur pc than a piece of junk

Whats the difference between the 7900GT and GTX? A sticker.

Actually, It's a completely different PCB, memory, and cooler. The GTX and GT are two completely different cards.

As far the eVGA's being 'gorgeous', I don't really see their cards looking much different than any other NV cards, except for their 7800GTX KO. I actually removed the cheap black eVGA sticker from the HSF on my 7900GTX, since I prefered the NVIDIA 'tribal' print underneath.

 

[Alaa]

am talking about the KO specially..there is a new 7900GT KO which looks nice too..these r gorgeous compared to other cards from ATi

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Alaa
evga IS special at least in terms of good looking cards..its really very nice to have a gorgeous piece of art in ur pc than a piece of junk

Whats the difference between the 7900GT and GTX? A sticker.

Actually, It's a completely different PCB, memory, and cooler. The GTX and GT are two completely different cards.

As far the eVGA's being 'gorgeous', I don't really see their cards looking much different than any other NV cards, except for their 7800GTX KO. I actually removed the cheap black eVGA sticker from the HSF on my 7900GTX, since I prefered the NVIDIA 'tribal' print underneath better.

Follow the posts. Im not talking about the differences between the GT and GTX's themselves. But the difference between eVGA's GT and GTX's from other companies. Its just a sticker difference. They are all the same thing, as of right now. Saying eVGA has "gorgeous piece of arts", is implying they are different from others. As far as I have seen, its just a sticker that makes them different.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Alaa
am talking about the KO specially..there is a new 7900GT KO which looks nice too..these r gorgeous compared to other cards from ATi

Lol. Seriously I could care less what my card physically looks like. Your head would have to squeeze in between my graphics card and my sound card to even get a glimpse of what sticker I have on my "ugly" ATI card. Unless you have a contortionist's body and a 4" narrow head, than that is not going to happen.

 

[RobertR1]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Alaa
evga IS special at least in terms of good looking cards..its really very nice to have a gorgeous piece of art in ur pc than a piece of junk

Whats the difference between the 7900GT and GTX? A sticker.

Actually, It's a completely different PCB, memory, and cooler. The GTX and GT are two completely different cards.

As far the eVGA's being 'gorgeous', I don't really see their cards looking much different than any other NV cards, except for their 7800GTX KO. I actually removed the cheap black eVGA sticker from the HSF on my 7900GTX, since I prefered the NVIDIA 'tribal' print underneath better.

Follow the posts. Im not talking about the differences between the GT and GTX's themselves. But the difference between eVGA's GT and GTX's from other companies. Its just a sticker difference. They are all the same thing, as of right now. Saying eVGA has "gorgeous piece of arts", is implying they are different from others. As far as I have seen, its just a sticker that makes them different.

If stickers can add horsepower to cars, they can certainly makes Evga cards better than the rest. You need to learn more about the power of the sticker.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: Alaa
am talking about the KO specially..there is a new 7900GT KO which looks nice too..these r gorgeous compared to other cards from ATi

Lol. Seriously I could care less what my card physically looks like. Your head would have to squeeze in between my graphics card and my sound card to even get a glimpse of what sticker I have on my "ugly" ATI card. Unless you have a contortionist's body and a 4" narrow head, than that is not going to happen.

I agree with on this. Additonally, any cooler that exhausts the air out the back is preferable to a cooler that just circulates the hot air inside the case no matter what it looks like.

 

[Alaa]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: Alaa
am talking about the KO specially..there is a new 7900GT KO which looks nice too..these r gorgeous compared to other cards from ATi

Lol. Seriously I could care less what my card physically looks like. Your head would have to squeeze in between my graphics card and my sound card to even get a glimpse of what sticker I have on my "ugly" ATI card. Unless you have a contortionist's body and a 4" narrow head, than that is not going to happen.

wutever good looking is somehow important! u wudnt buy an iPod with wires and just the board with screen on it..u need some good looking covers..i just think that GPU's should be covered with something nice..well, not completely covered 4 sure but just to make u feel that u paid for a good engineered piece

 

[v8envy]

Originally posted by: RobertR1

If stickers can add horsepower to cars, they can certainly makes Evga cards better than the rest. You need to learn more about the power of the sticker.

Couldn't agree more. I put a 'Type R' sticker on the Bronco, and it suddenly got 20 more miles to the gallon and doubled in horsepower. (I estimate around 308 hp)

Joking aside, warranties and service DO matter to some people. Not everyone wishes to chance a $400+ video card crapping out after just 12 months, and the EVGA, BFG and other NV partners definitely make a difference.

I couldn't even find warranty information on ATI partner sites. They seem to be going with the 1 year vote-of-no-confidence ATI places on their parts. I wound up with a Sapphire, which appears to be a 2 year warranty. Card reports itself 'built by ATI.' Hope it lasts.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Alaa

wutever good looking is somehow important! u wudnt buy an iPod with wires and just the board with screen on it..u need some good looking covers..i just think that GPU's should be covered with something nice..well, not completely covered 4 sure but just to make u feel that u paid for a good engineered piece

I agree with the Ipod statement. You see that everytime you use it and it's nice for it to be
aesthetically pleasing. A video card is a whole different matter IMO, since you never see the underside of it anyway.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Alaa

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: Alaa
am talking about the KO specially..there is a new 7900GT KO which looks nice too..these r gorgeous compared to other cards from ATi

Lol. Seriously I could care less what my card physically looks like. Your head would have to squeeze in between my graphics card and my sound card to even get a glimpse of what sticker I have on my "ugly" ATI card. Unless you have a contortionist's body and a 4" narrow head, than that is not going to happen.

wutever good looking is somehow important! u wudnt buy an iPod with wires and just the board with screen on it..u need some good looking covers..i just think that GPU's should be covered with something nice..well, not completely covered 4 sure but just to make u feel that u paid for a good engineered piece

You liked to play with Barbies, didn't you?

Lol, I'm all for good looking cards, but I'm more for good looking graphics. Besides, most people put aftermarket coolers on. Most of the time, aftermarket ones look pretty good.

And, IMHO, EVGA is probably one of the best companies I've ever dealt with. Hands down their customer service is the most effecient and helpful.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

I just hope Arctic Cooling will come out with that cooler for retail soon . . .

 

[CP5670]

Back on topic, this card is actually available now. Monarch has the XTX for $550 with a $30 rebate. Maybe I should get one, given that the 7900 GTX I ordered from Dell is looking like a no show, but it's quite a bit more than the other XTXs and there is basically no warranty on it at all if you buy from Monarch.