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The Verdict
Okay let's face facts here ... the Radeon HD 2900 Pro is a Radeon HD 2900 XT with another BIOS, slightly revised cooling block and has another sticker on it. Now that by itself doesn't mean that all cards like tested today will get you such a baffling overclock. There are certain yields where cards can't reach these high clocks. The fact is that chances are very slim you'll end up with such a card. So for 249 USD you have one exceptional deal here. Get it, grab Rivatuner, find you maximum OC (there's a lot of headroom to play around with) and you'll have a rather extensive smile on your face. I figure that if you flash an XT BIOS into this card, you're good to go as well *coughs* did I just say that out loud? And I have to include this ... even if your card couldn't even overclock 1 single MHZ, this product still would be an excellent performer for the money. Now, the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB is not far away from this product performance and pricing wise. You've seen the results and you've seen differences. It's not a win/lose situation, the cards are competitive with each other. Performance wise I'd say the 8800 GTS is a notch fater, yet feature wise and seen over the 8600 GTS the 2900 Pro is a definitive win.
That point aside, we are Guru's ... and I know exactly what you guys like to do with your hardware, making this a true Guru product. The 2900 is feature packed, it's loaded with the latest technology. The one thing the 2900 series couldn't do was compete with NVIDIA's flagship products. Granted it does consume an extensive amount of power when you are gaming and also, it isn't the most silent card on the block, but what we see here today is pure unadulterated performance at a very reasonable price. At 249 USD you'll have a nice performing DirectX 10 compatible product, new programmable tessellation unit. It comes with 512 megs of memory. It comes with a state of the art memory controller, offers HDCP straight out of the box, and all cards have HDMI connectivity with support for 5.1 sound.
That being said, you guys are the ones to make the final decision when you are in the store. But I do guarantee it, you will be captivated with the new Radeon HD 2900 Pro if you can live with the knowledge of that power consumption and the fact that it's a noisy product. Performance wise it offers an incredible amount of bang for your bucks, nice job HiS. Expect a 249 USD price tag. Here in Europe I have already spotted the card for 210 EUR. The reality seems to be that you are buying a 2900 XT for a third less money, and you just need to tweak it a little.
I hope to see a ICEQ cooled version of this card from HiS soon, as that would kick ass for sure. Again; this is pure unadulterated performance and features at a very reasonable price. We like to thank HiS for providing this product sample with the speed of light!
Product type: 512 MB (GDDR3) mid-range graphics card
Manufacturer: HIS
Website: hisdigital.com
MSRP: 229 EUR / 249 USD
