Legit Video Card Reviews

HIS Radeon 9800Pro IceQ Video Card

Manufacturer: HIS
Product: Excalibur 9800 Pro IceQ Version Platinum Pack
Date: Fri, Jan 16, 2004 - 09:00 AM
Written By: Justin West -
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The Card:


Front of card		  
Back of card

The first thing you see when you look at this card is the huge cooling solution. This type of cooling system may look very familiar to some of you have dealt with ABIT's OTES. The big difference between the two is that this version runs much quieter than the OTES did. HIS calls their version the DHES (Direct Heat Exhaust System), or IceQ for fun. Also like the OTES, the DHES has a support bracket on the back of the card to help the card bear the weight of this heavy cooling system.

In the photos below, you can see the exhaust vent that consumes a PCI slot. There is also a switch just below the vent that allows you to change the speed of the cooling fan from normal to low speeds. The bottom of the IceQ cooling heat sink is also shown below. The surface that looks almost like a mirror finish is the portion that sits on the core. The last comment I have regarding the IceQ system is that it does not sit flush with the back panel of the card. I would think in order to efficiently remove the heat from the case, it would need to be flush so the heat does not re-enter the case, especially with the lack of air flow provided by this fan.


VGA, S-Out, DVI ports, Fan Speed Switch, and Exaust		  
HIS 9800 Pro with the IceQ cooling removed

Bottom of IceQ cooling system		  
The Core

HIS went with ATI's reference board design on the traditional red PCB. You can also see that HIS has taken into account the heat generated by the memory and has fastened heatsinks to all the memory modules. Lastly, the picture of the 9800Pro core (R350) shows that the core on our sample was manufactured during week 39 of 2003.

Moving on, let's find out how this card performs!

Next Page - Performance:


Review Index
Page 1 - Introduction:
Page 2 - The Card:
Page 3 - Performance:
Page 4 - Game Tests:
Page 5 - Image Quality: