Date: December 17th, 2003
Article by: Roger (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited By: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: H.I.S.
<--Shop for the ATI Radeon 9600SE Here

CORPORATE PROFILE

HIS strives to provide our customers the best value and service on accordance to our founding principles. Today, HIS is one of the largest graphics companies in Hong Kong and rank premier in the world of multimedia graphics. In this fast changing world and very especially in the field of PC, a flexible attribute is competitive advantage. Over the years, HIS earned its reputation worldwide as offering a flexibility that other just cannot match. HIS moves fast. HIS reacts fast.

Commitment to excellence is the bedrock of our company direction. We expand by providing our customers worldwide with the best quality and service to achieve the fundamental objective the Total Customer Satisfaction. As such our worldwide customers are very loyal to us.

PRODUCT INTRODUCTION

Choosing the right video card for your rig has become quite complicated. It's not just about Geforce versus Radeon anymore, because once you've made that decision, you still need to decide which sub-variant.

So you've decided to go with the Radeon 9600? Will that be the standard, the AIW (All-In-Wonder), the PRO, the XT or the SE?

See where I'm going with this?

This many choices means that you can choose a card that is perfect for your rig. It means that you do not need to get all of the bells and whistles if you aren't into bells and whistles (personally, I likes 'em). What it also means though, is that you had better do your homework… otherwise you will wind up with far more (or less) than you wanted.

Today I'm going to review the HIS Excalibur Radeon 9600SE. When placing it within one of the three computer peripheral markets (budget, mainstream and enthusiast), this card fits into the low-end of the mainstream category. The card offers some very nice features, such as a very quiet fan and VIVO. Considering the low price tag, VIVO is a great addition. The composite and S-Video inputs will allow people on a budget to build Home Theater PCs.

The card suffers from one major flaw however. And we'll get to that in a bit.