HIS 7850 IceQ Turbo CrossFire
Overview
Hardware: Video CardsWHAT WE LIKED:
Great value, good performance, strong CrossFire scaling, low temperatures and noise, excellent audio bundle (limited time)WHAT WE DISLIKED:
Very large cards, VRAM buffer a bit handcuffed at high resolutionsDiscuss in the Forum
INTRODUCTION
We’ve seen many Radeon 7000 series graphics cards over the better part of this year, from flagship 7970 to entry 7750 models, and for the most part we’ve been impressed. The commonality amongst these reviews has been they’re all single card setups, with a few exceptions, and we often field questions about whether a CrossFire setup makes sense for a particular card. Adding a second card to boost gaming performance certainly has its positives, but a few potential downsides can exist.
But the real question is whether the added expenditure actually makes sense in terms of performance vs value. For example, does it make sense to sell that Radeon 7850 and upgrade to a 7970, or should you add a second 7850 instead? Good question, indeed.
Today we’re looking at just such a situation, as we put two HIS 7850 IceQ Turbo cards in CrossFire, along with a single card setup, to see what exactly to expect. We hope to answer that question, and see if two of these cards make better sense than going up to a single 7970. There are other considerations, such as driver optimizations, game profiles, heat output, and so forth, but many of those variables are dependent upon what your gaming and computer situation tends to be, and what your preferences might tilt toward. Instead, we’ll focus simply on the numbers today, in order to find out the raw horsepower and value for your hard earned money.
Let’s take a closer look at these HIS 7850 IceQ Turbo cards and see what happens. You may be a bit surprised with what lies ahead.
