bit-tech Shopping: HIS Hightech Radeon HD 3850 H385QX512NP IceQ TurboX Video Card

Experience the power of HD with the ATI Radeon HD 3850 Series of GPUs - graphics processing designed for ultimate HD gaming. Cooler: Cool down the core temperature dramatically; Quieter: Lower noise level than original cooler. HIS has applied the ?HD? concept design on its models. Features include: high-quality gold-plated ports, black panel plate which sync. with the ?High-definition? concept of the Radeon HD Series.

bit-tech Review

"The HIS Radeon HD 3850 IceQ 3 TurboX 512MB is an interesting card that improves on the ATI reference design in many areas. In particular, the clock speed increase is an impressive one that takes the card’s performance characteristics up to a level where it’s not too far behind the Radeon HD 3870 reference card in many cases. We also like the cooling solution and for those that are fans of the Arctic Cooling Silencer coolers, you won’t have to spend extra on one if that’s what you’re looking for.

However, the problem with all of this is that it has driven the price up to a level where it’s just too expensive to represent great value for money for everyone. That’s not to say that the card is poor value for money – it’s only going to be attractive to those that see benefits in the cooling solution at over £135. Given that PowerColor’s Radeon HD 3850 Xtreme PCS 512MB (which also features a custom cooling solution and a similar factory overclock) is available for £101.64, it’s hard to recommend the HIS Radeon HD 3850 IceQ 3 TurboX 512MB.

Combine this with the fact that you can buy a Radeon HD 3870 512MB for under £130, and it means that, unless you see value in the cooling solution, there is really little reason to buy the HIS Radeon HD 3850 IceQ 3 TurboX over any other Radeon on the market today.

What adds insult to injury for the HIS card is the fact that you can pick up a GeForce 8800 GT for just over £140 now, and even BFGTech’s factory-overclocked GeForce 8800 GT OC is available for the same price on a ‘This Week Only’ offer. And I’ve not even bothered to mention the GeForce 9600 GT’s pricing here either.

It ultimately goes back to what I pointed out in my recent column – the performance mainstream market is a sea of grey at the moment and if it continues, it is going to stop board partner innovation. It pains me to say that, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with HIS’s Radeon HD 3850 IceQ 3 TurboX 512MB card—in fact, we’re very impressed with it. But in a very competitive market, the price has to hit the mark. Unfortunately for HIS, that hasn’t happened here." - 8th March 2008

Read the full HIS Radeon HD 3850 IceQ 3 TurboX 512MB review