Yea, that video card guide was very helpful. I think I found the guide before I actually found the card. I found it challenging to find HIS or "hightech" or "Hightech Information Systems" on biz rate or even their own company page. <A HREF="http://www.hisdigital.com/html/index.html" target="_new">HIS Intro page</A> It is listed on new egg as "hightech" <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-161-109&depa=1" target="_new">here</A> I am not terrribly impressed with the search features of these big computer companies either btw, lol. Try typing in p4 for example... on some sites you get nothing, on others you get every product on the site that has anything to do with p4 in the description. So in my book it is not only hard to find but also on another level..., hard to find. I hope they catch on a bit better because seem to be excellent.
Actually, the only place I have seen the regular version of the HIS excalibur 9800 pro is zipzoomfly and it has been listed as out of stock for some time now. <A HREF="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=320913" target="_new">here</A>
As far as I know, and I may not know much, it is the same card without the really nice cooling solution. I think new egg has the cooler for about $20. So if it is the same card I guess you could buy the cooler and some ramsinks which would cost another few $...but then the cost is almost what the ice q platinum model is, $239 (without the hassle). In the Tom's article which gave it the editor's choice <A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/firstlook/20031210/radeon_9800-01.html" target="_new">here</A>
the ice q platinum model performed a bit better than the reference model which is comperable in price. Seems like the best deal going to me. I bought one last week. It looks beautiful if a video card can look beautiful, that is. I haven't finished accumulating components for a new system to run it yet. Win 98 isn't supported by these newer cards so I guess I won't give it a test run on this old system either.
I did take it out of the box to check it out. They now make the fan fan controller bracket (hot air exhaust and fan high low controll) seperate to alleviate the problem of getting the switch to clear when installing in some case/mobo combinations. This now-solved problem was noted on the digit-life review <A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/his-1.html" target="_new">here</A> . The ramsinks are also now different, better looking, and better. They are larger heatsinks which bridge two ram chips rather than single individual ones.
I saw the editor's choice award article some months back and researched them more. I also saw the excellent faq quide <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=363095#363095" target="_new">here</A> and found that extremely helpful. The dealmaker for me is that the the company was formed by four Christians with the stated intent of "glorifying GOD." <A HREF="http://www.hisdigital.com/html/profile.htm" target="_new">HIS</A> It was just a bit easier for me to part with that much money on a luxury item like a video card to a company with a noble purpose.
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