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Published: November 9, 2008 | Source: HIS | Author: Thomas Koflach

HIS Radeon 4670, 4830 & 4850 Mid Range Round-Up

Introduction
 
ATI have certainly hit back hard against Nvidia, with Nvidia seeming to struggle on all fronts. ATI and its partners however, must be rubbing their hands together; they seem to have Nvidia covered just about everywhere. One of ATI’s key partners, HIS, were kind enough to send along a couple of cards for us to look at today.
 
HIS offers a vast range of cards, from the plain looking ‘stock’ card, to overclocked power houses with crazy custom coolers. These after market coolers may seem excessive, but with cards getting hotter and hotter and gamers becoming more and more demanding, they need to ensure they can deliver 100% stability 100% of the time.
 
Formed in 1987, HIS has been around for quite some time, and certainly knows its stuff.  Here is a brief background on the company, taken from their website:
 
HIS was established in 1987 with the mission to produce the highest quality graphic cards in the industry. Besides strong devotion to excellent products and services, HIS has been conducting business with the aim to “Glorifying God”. Honesty and integrity are the two key principals of how HIS are conducted. Ethical business practice has been an everyday commitment to our clients, vendors, and investors.
 
Year 2002 marked a milestone in HIS’s history, with “Excalibur” as the encore product for the company. The “HIS Excalibur Graphics Board” proved its name by passing the vigorous and stringent testing of the widely recognized media worldwide. Not only so, but has been crowned with various honors such as: Tom’s Hardware, Anandtech and PC Magazine. In Sept 2003, HIS incorporated the state-of-the art Supreme Cooling Technology in the award winning HIS Excalibur 9800Pro IceQ which became the HIS IceQ, IceQ II and now the IceQ 3 Series. Since then, this product has been the limelight in the market for its outstanding performance and features over the other rivals.
 
Today we will be taking a close look at the following cards, courtesy of HIS:
  • HIS 4670 512mb ‘IceQ’ edition
  • HIS 4830 512mb ‘Fan’ edition
  • HIS 4850 512mb ‘IceQ4 TurboX’ editon
Whilst this may seem like an odd choice for a direct head to head, today’s review will focus on the overall value of each card, taking into account cost per frame, bundle and various other factors. This could seem fairly boring to a no budget gaming enthusiast, but with the financial climate the way it is, people need to consider their purse/wallet more than ever in their buying decisions.
 
First up, we have the 4670 512mb IceQ…