HIS HD 2600 Pro - Testing continued

F.E.A.R.

Lots can be said about this game. I have played through it twice and it still scares me every time I play it. From a computer perspective, this is a very intense game. The game has great physics and the best game lighting I have seen. It put the crunch on my previous computer.

Call of Juarez

This game probably isn’t as well known as the other games. So why would I consider it? It has the next generation programming in it. It runs on DirectX 10 and this game also uses Shader Model 4.0. This will be the future of gaming because it gives the game stunning graphics. It is a very demanding game for all computers, so this test should really show where this card stacks up against the rest.

All the tests favor the HD 2600 Pro over the 8500 GT at stock settings. It becomes even more obvious when we overclock the HD 2600 Pro that this is the clear winner here. I’m very impressed; I didn’t think it would do this well.

Conclusion

I got to take a look at one of ATI’s DirectX 10 video cards, the HD 2600 Pro, from one of the better known manufacturers, HIS. The card didn’t come with any extras, such as DVI to VGA connectors. I have to hold this against it, since many low end monitors still support this connection type.

The card is designed to be really simple and clean, which gets the thumbs up from me. HIS is known for their coolers, but this doesn’t seem as great as some of their other products. They do make an HD 2600 with a high end cooler, but it costs a little more.

With all the different options and configurations available for the HD 2600, HIS looks to have picked a good balance between price and performance. This one was 128-bit and 512 MB RAM. When compared to the nVidia 8500 GT, this is the clear winner and the results give quite a noticeable edge to the HD 2600 Pro.

Overall, I feel that the HD 2600 Pro is the best bang for the buck in the $50-$75 range. Would I recommend this HIS card over the others? Possibly, but it depends on the prices. I would highly recommend at least the 128-bit memory interface. The 256 and 64 I feel aren’t worth it. As far as memory, I would stick with 512 MB. I don’t see 256 MB being that much worse of a performer, but the price of 256 MB vs. 512 MB isn’t that different.