Introduction
HIS Radeon R9 290X
The Hybrid IceQ editon
In this review we will benchmark and test the HIS Radeon R9-290X Hybrid IceQ edition. The card uses liquid cooling for the GPU that runs towards a 120mm radiator. The 2816 counting Shader processors based Hawaii chip is paired with a nice 4 GB GDDR5 memory running along a 512-bit memory interface.
The HIS Radeon R9-290X Hybrid IceQ edition will be factory tweaked for you at a very fast clock frequency of 1100 MHz. Ut doesn't stop there though, as the clocks on the GDDR5 memory are set at a 6 Gbps effective data-rate (reference is 5 Gbps). Hmmm, did I just catch your attention? Yeah I figured that much. Let's go and check her out, shall we? So what does a Hawaii GPU bring to graphics cards? Oh, what about 6 Billion transistors on a 438 mm2 Die, 512-bit Memory bus with 4 GB - 6.0 Gbps GDDR5 memory, Ultra HD ready, 5.6 TFLOPS of compute performance? Not bad for keywords, eh? AMD also has been focusing strongly at gaming in Ultra High Definition (UHD), so this will be a focus in our review as well. Will we be able to play the hottest games at that whopping 8.2 Mpixels at a 3840x2160 resolution @ 60 Hz. This Lucifer amongst graphics cards is one of the more high end versions that ASUS has to offer and comes with a customized PCB, a phat dual-slot cooler and for the pro-overclockers: LN2 options. Armed with dual 8-pin power connectors and a Molex connector this board has an impressive yet silent cooler that manages to impress. The card will also have a nice backplate cover to protect the backside SMT soldered components. HIS clocked this 290X towards 1100 Hz on the GPU boost core. That combined with increased core and memory clock frequencies and nice overclock potential will make this the top 599 USD flagship product to purchase.
