HEXUS.reviews :: HIS X1300 512MiB HyperMemory with 128MiB DDR2 x1 PCIe

[Steve]

HIS currently has 9 SKUs dedicated to the X1300 GPU, highlighting just how much importance it places on low-end, affordable GPUs. The newest of the bunch, the HIS X1300 512MiB HyperMemory with 128MiB DDR2 framebuffer, is, perhaps, the most interesting. Read on to find out exactly why.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6118

[chrestomanci]

That low profile bracket looks very usefull, I rember a while back having to run an nVidia card without it's bracket in a low profile PC because the card was low profile but the bracket was not.

It would be nice though if they supplied two seperate brackets instead of one double with one, as that way you can move the second VGA port so that it does not block a motherboard slot you want to use. There might also be situations where the case only has room for a single width card, and the double with bracket would prevent the card from fitting.

[chuckskull]

For gamaig, useless, for running triple or even quad displays running with a faster main card Without losing a precious PCI slot.

Wonder how ati nividia drivers react when installed at the same time.

[Rave]

A few comments/ questions for Tarinder. I do realise that spending days in the lab analysing a low-end card is unrealistic, however:

1. Was the HIS card running with it's own 128MB of RAM and another 128 via Hypermemory?
2. In any case, 512MB of system ram seems unrealistically low even for a budget system, since you can get a gig of PC4200 for under £50.
3. When I first played Far Cry it would stutter with 512MB of system RAM even with none being taken for graphics purposes. I'd suggest that the truly sucky scores for the HIS card and onboard graphics could well be a result of a severe system memory shortage.
4. Overclocking scores? DDR2 at 500MHz Effective (I.E. 4GB/S bandwidth on a 64bit bus) would seem to me to be quite ridiculously underclocked. Were you able to squeeze more speed out of it?

[chrestomanci]

Originally Posted by chuckskull

For gamaig, useless, for running triple or even quad displays running with a faster main card Without losing a precious PCI slot.

Agreed, though I wonder if windows, or the driver has a limit on the number of cards or displays it can cope with. Some boards have 3 PCIe slots, so if you stuff a system with three of these, and two regular PCIe x16 cards, you get 10 displays. Clearly not that usefull for most people, but for some niche markets, like city traders, or running loads of sign boards in an airport it could be realy usefull.

Originally Posted by chuckskull

Wonder how ati nividia drivers react when installed at the same time.

Most of the review sites tried that when the first SLI boards came out, there is no problem, with running ati & nvidia cards together, and the drivers (and windows) copes just fine.

[Tarinder]

Hi, Rave. I'll try to answer your questions

1. Was the HIS card running with it's own 128MB of RAM and another 128 via Hypermemory?

Yes, that was the case. Had the system been equipped with 1GiB of RAM, HyperMemory's 'contribution' would have risen to 384MiB, or 512MiB once the onboard card memory has been factored in.


2. In any case, 512MB of system ram seems unrealistically low even for a budget system, since you can get a gig of PC4200 for under £50.

We've taken a look at low-end PCs from a number of vendors and found that £399 - £499 PCs tend to ship with 512MiB of RAM. RAM pricing fluctuates enough for vendors to offer 1GiB as an upgrade.

3. When I first played Far Cry it would stutter with 512MB of system RAM even with none being taken for graphics purposes. I'd suggest that the truly sucky scores for the HIS card and onboard graphics could well be a result of a severe system memory shortage.

I'd agree, but the reason for using 512MiB of RAM is to keep it as real-world as possible. I'm sure the scores would go up with 1GiB, but will most users who buy this card for a spare PCIe slot be running that? I'm not so sure.

4. Overclocking scores? DDR2 at 500MHz Effective (I.E. 4GB/S bandwidth on a 64bit bus) would seem to me to be quite ridiculously underclocked. Were you able to squeeze more speed out of it?

We don't tend to overclock low-end SKUs. However, I'll get back to you with tentative overclocking results tomorrow.

Thanks.

[Rave]

Originally Posted by Tarinder

Yes, that was the case. Had the system been equipped with 1GiB of RAM, HyperMemory's 'contribution' would have risen to 384MiB, or 512MiB once the onboard card memory has been factored in.

Surely this is configurable in bios/drivers?

I still have a 128mb softmodded 9500 and I know that Far Cry plays fine at 1280x960 with 128MB of frame buffer memory. It seems to me that running the HIS card with hypermemory enabled does nothing for the graphics card while severely hampering the CPU side of things. I would not be at all surprised to find Far Cry played better than it did in your benches with Hypermemory disabled. Same goes for the other games, in fact. If so, I would think that worthy of mention in the article.

We've taken a look at low-end PCs from a number of vendors and found that £399 - £499 PCs tend to ship with 512MiB of RAM. RAM pricing fluctuates enough for vendors to offer 1GiB as an upgrade.

Point taken. Again though, the review effectively concludes (at least how I read it) that the card is not much of an upgrade over intergrated graphics for playing games. If it turns out that it performs much better with 1GB of RAM (or with Hypermemory disabled), then that might alter the overall conclusion somewhat.

I should declare my personal interest in persuing this- I recently advised my brother to buy one of the Dells you alluded to in the article with only PCI and PCI-E 1x expansion slots. So far the Intel Extreme graphics seem to be coping with his selection of 5 year old games, but sooner or later I suspect he's going to decide that he wants to play a recent game. His system has 1GB of memory.

I'd agree, but the reason for using 512MiB of RAM is to keep it as real-world as possible. I'm sure the scores would go up with 1GiB, but will most users who buy this card for a spare PCIe slot be running that? I'm not so sure.

Well you might end up telling them that this card is a worthwhile upgrade, but only if they add another 512MB of RAM at the same time?

We don't tend to overclock low-end SKUs. However, I'll get back to you with tentative overclocking results tomorrow.

Bah! I don't know, young people today, don't even know they're born, when I were a lad there was none of this £400 graphics card nonsense, if we wanted more speed we had to glue a 486 heatsink to a TNT-II and thrash the hell out of it etc. etc.

Seriously, cheap hardware should always be overclocked. Overclocking something that's already uber-powerful like an FX-60 or a 7900GTX is like putting sugar on your frosties, but 50% more speed out of an X1300 can move you from the Shredded Wheat league into the Weetabix Division.

Cheers for the replies Tarinder, look forward to your overclocking results at least.

[chuckskull]

Originally Posted by chrestomanci

Agreed, though I wonder if windows, or the driver has a limit on the number of cards or displays it can cope with.

Windows starts with a 10 display limit but you can up this using ultramon or something similar.

[PD HEXUS]

Originally Posted by Rave

...when I were a lad there was none of this £400 graphics card nonsense, if we wanted more speed we had to glue a 486 heatsink to a TNT-II and thrash the hell out of it etc. etc.

Bah! I don't know, young people today, don't even know they're born... when I were a lad there was plenty of this £400+ graphics card nonsense, but if we wanted more speed we sprayed chewing-gum remover onto the CPU to freeze it and then thrashed the hell out of it etc. etc.

[Zak33]

pah.....you lot don'tknow you were even conceived, let alone born.

When I were a lad, and wanted more speed, I had to cycle to the local quarry, mine the ore, smelt it meself and create my own heatsink from a large lump of pig iron, and grind it to shape with my own teeth.

Then, stealing my mum's only piece of silver (Argos Elizabeth Duke), I'd have to crush the silver in a pestle and mortar, blending it with animal fat to make a thermal compound, and then wait 10 years for the GPU to be invented.

Kids these day...................


pah

[chuckskull]

When I was a kid we still used live mice

[Rave]

P.S. NS400R PD? Very nice.

[PD HEXUS]

Originally Posted by Rave

P.S. NS400R PD? Very nice.

heh, yes!

that avatar is created from a HONDA library shot, though the ‘new’ HONDA NS400RF in Rothmans livery i acquired (just before HEXUS missioned out to Taiwan and beyond) looks identical…

i really should get round to snapping some nudies and upload 'em in HEXUS.automotive… so mebbe if the sun comes out this weekend...

[dunkreid]

Very helpful review.

I'd like to buy one of these but can't find it anywhere. The HIS website points to ebuyer and overclockers as UK retailers for the card, but I can't find it on either site, nor ebay. Do you know if it's retailing in the UK yet?

Cheers
D

[BoomAM]

As above.
And also, is it possible to disable hypermemory at all?
I have no interest in using it as a gaming card, i want it to run a 3rd display, that will occasionally have video on it.

Thanks in advance.

[SirKuz]

Can anyone tell me the physical length of the card? I am trying to figure out if it will fit on the Asus A8n32 motherboards x1 slot because of the heatpipe sitting behind that slot...any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
Kuz