Page 1 - The Introduction

Excalibur Radeon 9600XT TurboCompany: Hightech Information System
Website: www.hightech.com.hk
MSRP: $199.00

A while ago we reviewed the Excalibur 9800 Pro IceQ from HiS, and although it was the first product we ever tested tested from them, it surely left a strong impression. HiS, ladies and gentlemen, is short for Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong company that is growing rapidly in Europe. Product with a reputation, you see they have the tendency to get the consumer a product that differentiates itself from the competition. Today's product review is exactly that. We are reviewing the Radeon 9600XT from HiS.

The full name of the product is the Excalibur Radeon 9600XT Turbo. We've explained that naming in detail already on the previous HiS review, Excalibur ... RIGHT? King Arthur's sword people .. Anyway, the graphics card itself is targeted in the mid-range section of graphics cards. When I take a quick peek at the PCB, I can see it's closely based on ATI's reference design yet there are a few differences alright. First off memory, it's running 50MHz higher then a reference design card, this undoubtedly has a positive effect on the performance as memory bandwidth is a big piece of the pie. Next to that the graphics core of this card runs at default reference 500 MHz.

The second item that catches the eye is (next to the ramsinks) a sturdy looking cooler which is named iCooler cooling technology with a little LED built in, especially for case-modders this is  'leet' stuff. Mind you that these two advantages are only available on the Turbo model.

What gives this card even more value is the fact that you'll notice there's a Half-life 2 coupon in the box which saves you 40 bucks on the game. Now if Valve could manage to get their act together and actually release the game in this life-time we'll all be very happy. Rumors right now are slated at a release date of September 2004 :yikes:

HiS Excalibur 9600 XT Turbo