Product type: 256 MB (GDDR3) mid-range graphics card
Manufacturer: HIS
Website: www.HISdigital.com
Estimated MSRP: USD 179

Hey everybody, it's time for a new graphics card review here at Guru3D.com, this week a retail version of ATI's Radeon X1600 XT card. A card that was received by the consumer with a "so-so" response. Even though it's packed with the latest features and decent enough performance, the consumers figured that the product was released too expensive compared to NVIDIA's latest gem, the GeForce 6800 GS. And that was a very valid conclusion.

Something has changed since the October announcement though, ATI made sure the prices where lowered and we can now get this X1600 XT product for the same price as, for example, a GeForce 6600 GT .. and that's where this product is getting more interesting. Today's tested product comes from our loyal partner HiS, they are releasing this X1600 XT product with IceQ cooling onto the market for a very attractive suggested 179 USD and that's including 256 MB of memory, a free game and furthermore a nice bundle. This means that you can chip off another 10 or 20 bucks if you order it in e-tail.

I state this so clearly as initially the manufacturer suggested retail price was 199 USD for the 128 MB version and 249 USD for the 256 MB version. You can understand that I can only applaud ATI for doing this. On the other hand, they had to do this as the 6800 GS would kill off this X1600 XT at an even better price.

Armed with the feature packed HiS solution, a new ringbus memory controller, 256MB memory, a very decently performing shader model 3 function and HDR capable mid-range graphics core, this product is called the Radeon X1600 XT ICEQ ITURBO. Not only is it a very decent gaming videocard, but is also HD ready for HDTV playback in both display, playback, en/decoding capability. Extensive anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering and the ability to connect LCD screens with resolutions up-to 2560x1600 are just some of the other features of this card. 

Next to that we can assure you that it's Crossfire ready. Let's start off this review with a look at what the X1600 entails. Following that, the bundle, power consumption, cooling, overclocking, photoshoot, benchmarks, stress-test and finally a verdict. Yes ... you should better grab something to drink while you still can because it's a known fact that our wide-ranging reviews tend to dehydrate people. ;)