HIS' X800 IceQIIs Cometh

Conclusion

As you can see, these cards offer blazingly fast performance. Both the HIS Excalibur X800 Pro IceQ II and the faster X800 XT (PE) left us with a very good impression. Nonetheless, our unrestricted recommendation for ATi fans is the cheaper Excalibur X800 Pro IceQ II. What's not to like? It offers very good 3D performance thanks to its 12 pixel-pipeline design. Also, it's very quiet because of the IceQ II cooler. Lastly, the good cooling efficiency should also make overclockers happy. If those last two factors are not as important to you, we recommend considering the Excalibur X800 Pro with the standard cooling solution, which should save you somewhere around $40 compared to the IceQ II version. The direct competitor to the X800 Pro is NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 GT, which cuts a better figure in our benchmarks thanks to its 16-pipe design.

Its bigger sister, the Excalibur X800 XT (PE) IceQ II, offers more 3D performance, as it also benefits from its 16 pixel-pipe design. It is positioned directly against NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra, and for the moment, with the drivers currently available, the two seem more or less evenly matched. Of course, like everything good, this additional performance comes at a premium price. Nonetheless, for absolute enthusiasts, the Excalibur X800 XT PE IceQ II is just what the doctor ordered.

Pros:

• Good (X800 Pro) or very good (X800 XT PE) 3D performance;
• Very good cooling;
• Very quiet during operation;
• Video-In & Video-Out;
• HDTV TV-Out cable included in bundle
• Good software bundle.

Cons:

• Texture filtering optimization can't be deactivated;
• High price;
• Size: Dual-Slot construction, protruding screws on the back of the card;
• Meager gaming bundle;
• No support for ShaderModel 3.0.