ATI Radeon HD 5870 Overclocked Round-up
HIS Radeon HD 5870 iCooler V Turbo X
Hightech Information System (HIS) is a first tier ATI add-in board partner that focuses mainly on desktop graphics. The company claims to provide "faster, cooler, quieter" products that give them an edge within the market. In addition to reference design models of the latest Radeon cards, HIS releases overclocked versions featuring upgraded cooling solutions, like the iCooler Turbo V graphics card we have here.
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HIS iCooler V Turbo X Graphics Card
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| Model H587FNX1GDG Core Clock 900 MHz Memory Clock / Size 1225 MHz / 1 GB Ports Two DVI One HDMI One DisplayPort |
Accessories Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Coupon User Manual Crossfire Bridge DVI to VGA Adapter Molex to 6-pin PCIe Power Adapter Warranty 2 years Price $500 |
Although its not the fastest card in this roundup, the iCooler V Turbo X is the top of the line Radeon HD 5870 within the HIS line up. With speeds of 900 MHz core and 1225 MHz memory, it is overclocked well beyond the reference specification and provides a performance boost for enthusiasts looking for an edge. With the card, you also get a game coupon for Modern Warfare 2, a user's manual, Crossfire bridge, VGA adapter, and PCIe power adapter. Like Gigabyte's Super Overclock HD 5870, the Turbo X will cost you $500. Unfortunately, it only comes with a 2 year warranty, while the other products in this roundup cover up to 3 years.
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Besides sporting a peculiar name, the Turbo X employs a dual slot cooler that draws air to the middle of the heatsink and transfers heat out the front and rear of the card. Its worth noting that HIS decided to go with a single fan for cooling duty while the others have two fans working in tandem. In addition, this particular model features a Modern Warfare 2 decal that spans the length of the heatsink shroud.
During our research of this product, we came across this page in the support section of HIS' website. It asks consumers who own an overclocked 58xx series card to update the BIOS in order to improve performance. The website does not state what issues the new BIOS addresses, but provides a few steps to follow in order to download the fix. First, you must verify the serial number on your card falls within the range of numbers provided. This step alone is confusing because the list of numbers do not appear to be in numerical order. Once this is verified, you must take a picture of your card which clearly shows the serial number, and email HIS customer support with the image. After verifying the card's serial number falls within the range of affected products, HIS will provide a link to download the new BIOS. Again, please note this BIOS update affects the 5850 Turbo, 5870 Turbo, and 5870 iCooler V Turbo X models and more information can be found here.
The Turbo X did not come with a overclocking utility so we had to rely on ATI's Catalyst Control Center as an overclocking tool. After poking around a bit, we found that RivaTuner and ATI Tool were not compatible with the Turbo X. We even gave OC Guru and Afterburner a shot, but neither allowed us to modify the settings of this HIS card. Unfortunately, CCC offered very little overclocking headroom on the GPU core, which maxed out at 920 MHz.
