Date: February 18th, 2004
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: H.I.S.
<--CLICK FOR PRICES ON AN ATI RADEON VIDEOCARD IN AMERICA
<--CLICK FOR PRICES ON AN ATI RADEON VIDEOCARD IN CANADA

PRODUCT FEATURES & PICTORIAL

What standard features and extra toys does this particular 9600XT have?

First off, Hightech's version of the 9600XT has an upgraded gold plated VPU cooler than not only looks good, but was surprisingly efficient and kept this 9600XT core under 45 degree Celsius even while overclocking. But it must be noisy right? Not in the slightest. Even with my ear two inches away, the fan could not be detected over the system processor heatsink fan.

Not only did the cooler look good while the computer was turned off, but when the testing machine was fired up I was pleasantly surprised that the cooler fan had an integrated blue LED. This for sure will be an interesting feature for the case modders.

And take a look at this, a videocard manufacturer that has installed memory sinks on all onboard memory. This by far is one of the better included features with this videocard. Not only does it stabilize the standard turbo memory settings (650Mhz rather than 600Mhz on a normal 9600XT), but it will allow you to also achieve an even better memory overclock.