H.I.S. Excalibur Radeon 9600XT - VIVO Edition

H.I.S. has produced a noteworthy card for the mid-range enthusiast market. While trailing in most of the speed trials of the benchmarks, the difference between it and the 5700 Ultra was never enough for one to notice. While the Connect3D card is a nice piece of hardware, the Excalibur ate it for lunch with room left over for dessert. The testing done with the FSAA and AF turned to the max, only served to reinforce this. The increased speed of the memory with it’s more aggressive cooling design has produced a product which should be on your short list of upgrades.

While nice, the VIVO option of the card is secondary to it’s image quality and game play. The only downside to this card seems to be consistent with the other ATi based cards we’ve tested here and that is the OpenGL image quality. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s not poor or bad image quality, but the nVidia based 5700 Ultra’s is better during OpenGL based applications. Of the three cards tested here today, the H.I.S. Excalibur should have the best price/performance ratio provided its MSRP is in line with the other ATi card makers. Especially when considering the results of the eye candy benchmarks we ran, the H.I.S. really shines.

H.I.S. Excalibur Radeon 9600XT - VIVO Edition @ Overclocker Cafe