HIS Hightech brings the power of graphics ‘supercomputing’ to enthusiasts with their IceQ4 cooler Radeon HD 4870 card. Built on HIS Hightech's IceQ cooling technology, this card will bring the benefits of IceQ cooling - quieter and more efficient cooling - to a wider range of users.
The HIS Hightech H487QT1GP card has 1GB of high-performance GDDR5 memory, clocked at 4000MHz and the GPU core is clocked at 770MHz. Supporting AMD CrossFireX technology, two high-speed connectors on each card allow two or more cards to be used together for enhanced performance when installed in a CrossFireX compatible motherboard.
The Radeon HD 4870 incorporates the latest ATI Avivo HD Technology for enhanced video display, and features a second generation built-in UVD 2 (Unified Video decoder 2) for the hardware accelerated decoding of Blu-ray and HD DVD content for VC-1, H.264 and MPEG-2 codecs, considerably reducing CPU load. The card’s HDMI connector supports multi-channel audio formats (up to 7.1) and combines audio and video output on a single cable for direct connection to an HDMI-ready display. Support for DirectX10.1 ensures the optimal performance and application compatibility with all DirectX10.1 applications and enables stunning 3D graphics and shading effects in the latest DirectX10.1 games.
IceQ4 Cooling TechnologyThe IceQ4 cooling system provides maximum cooling power at a significantly-reduced noise level to keep your video card running cool even during intensive gaming sessions.
TeraScale Graphics EngineThe new TeraScale engine combines over one teraFLOPs of graphics horse power, 800 stream processors and next generation GDDR5 memory, so you can enjoy the high resolutions and seamless frame rates previously only available with dual-card systems.
Full Microsoft DirectX 10.1 SupportThe DirectX 10.1 GPU with full Shader Model 4.1 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects.
Enhanced Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic FilteringEnhanced anti-aliasing (AA) and anisotropic filtering (AF) smooth jagged edges and create striking graphics with unparalleled realism so you can max out the settings of the most demanding next-generation games.
ATI Avivo HDIntegrated into ATI's next-generation ATI Radeon HD graphics processors, ATI Avivo HD is AMD's new reference for advanced HD image processing, delivering flawless smooth HD video playback with hardware-based Unified Video Decoding 2 (UVD 2) capability. ATI Avivo HD also introduces a new era in PC to CE connectivity with built-in HDMI and 5.1 surround audio, which enables a truly easy, one-cable connection to your big-screen TV or home theatre receiver.
ATI CrossFireXATi CrossFireX is the ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform, enabling two or more discrete graphics processors to work together for boosted system performance and a breakthrough gaming experience.
Pros: - This is the first ATI card I have ever purchased and it is freakin BEAST! Both in Performance and Size. - Crysis benchmarks are off the charts. - In Fallout 3 at ultra settings and 1680x1050 resolution it doesnt even flinch. - The 4870, stock, outperforms any other card at the sub $250 price range... and this one is built for overclocking.. and it is overclocked out of the box! - This is the best air cooling I have ever seen on a GPU. It is good enough to be able to push the mem and core clock on this card to get within 95%-100% of the performance of an Nvidia 260 which costs an extra $150.
Cons: Big and Loud... but I will not dock points. See below.
Overall Review: Everyone who is docking ratings here because of size and noise please consider the fact that THIS CARD IS BUILT FOR OVERCLOCKING. Fan noise: Lok's review was on the money. If you manually control the fan and switch from 30% at Idle and 60% at full-load then you will not have any temperature problems.. READ: but you must have good airflow in your case. In my case I can push the card to full load and never get the core temp over 65 C. I recommend using a tool like 'Riva - Tuner' which lets you assign hotkeys to set the fan to a specific rev %. Size: This thing is BIG because the cooling system is much more involved than any I have seen. I have not tried setting this card up in Cross-Fire so I cannot speak to the impact of having two cards. What I can say is that if I wanted to overclock this with my own GPU cooling it would be much more involved that what HIS did.