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The graphics core of today's tested x700 Pro ladies and gentlemen is running at a tact frequency of 425 MHz and its 256 MB 2ns GDDR3 memory is running steady at 432 MHz (that is an 864 MHz effective datarate). As stated on page one already, with i's 8 pixel pipelines, the x700 series is of course the main competitor for NVIDIA's GeForce 6600 series as both are also in the same 200 USD price class. The Radeon x700 Pro from HiS is a rather large card when you first look at it. Its sheer size (does that equal sheer power?) is something you do not expect for a mid-range product. Speaking of mid range. Did you know that when you add up the mid and high end range ATI graphics cards you can choose from nine products these days ? Have a look:

*cough*

BTW the x700 XT probably is going to be replaced. Okay that being said back to business.

When looking closer you'll notice a 100% reference designed ATi Radeon x700 Pro graphics card, yet that massive cooling is making it look rather big. The same as we saw on previous IceQ coolers, the cooler comes from Artic. So when you turn on your PC from moment one you'll know it's all good. A lovely blue LED turns on and the cooling itself just doesn't make any sound. Something that you do not expect from the looks of it.

Next to that rather sizable format HiS promises it'll keep that GPU cool, which in fact it does. A somewhat downside to all this will be the price, the HiS IceQ product range, thanks to its cooling, will be a slightly more expensive. I personally don't mind this as proper cooling is so important these days. PC's are getting hot aren't they?

Let's talk a bit more in-depth about that cooling, IceQ Turbo. The IceQ Turbo of course refers to the newer model IceQ technology compared to the 9800 series and was introduced on the x800 series and thus now making its way to x700 and likely x850. The cooling solution itself comes from Artic cooling, that's not exactly a secret. IceQ-II is based on the same cooling dynamics as its older brother and people despite its sheer size, it rocks. The IceQ-II cooling system uses the air inside your PC case and exhausts warm air outside the case, this is a huge plus as the x700 series can get quite hot.

IceQ-II mounted secure onto the graphics core.

According to HiS, on average IceQ Turbo cooling will bring you an 11 °C lower cooling temperature compared to the reference cooling solution. I dare to state it's even better then 11 Degrees C. When measuring the temperature at the back of the card on this x700 Pro GPU remained at roughly 50 Degrees C at 100% GPU utilization.

Next to that, I truly have to make a flattering remark about the noise level. Why? Well you just won't hear the bloody thing. Oh before I forget, the memory has been equipped with ramsinks which is rare to see these days, a nice touch there. As stated before, everything is thought through really well!

Bundled Items
In the box we again realize we have a HiS product, it's stuffed with CD's and gear making your buy worth every penny. HiS is paying attention to the total package, we see a lot of software bundled as this is a seriously impressive package. That does translate a tad on the pricing though. Let's have a look:

• VideoStudio 7 SE
• Games Demo CD's
• Drivers + ATI Demo's CD
• Cyberlink PowerDVD 5
• 3D Album Picture Pro Digital photo software
• Arx Fatalis Game
• Counter Strike Condition Zero Full 2 Cd's

So everything you need to get started is present and oh boy, what a bundle, it's just great to see CS condition zero in there! Next to the card itself we see a plethora of cables in the form of nice long Molex power supply cable, a bracket for the fan exhaust, S-Video VIVO cable, DVI to CRT/VGA adapter so that you are able to hook up 2 CRT VGA monitors to your card. Lastly what seems to be a HDTV cable, grrrr we need HDTV here in Europe. Of course with a bigscreen Plasma or LCD you could do HDTV gaming that's seriously cool.

That's... quite an assortment !