Verdict: A good idea ruined by a below-par GPU

The HIS is no ordinary X700 Pro, because it sports a rather splendid Arctic Cooling Silencer HSF, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Unless you have very astute hearing, you'll barely hear this over the noise of even the quietest PC. Not only is it quiet, but it also does a damned good job of keeping the GPU and RAM cool.

HIS guarantees the clocks speeds of 460MHz for the GPU and 480MHz (960MHz effective) for the memory - 10 per cent faster than the standard ATi settings.

However, with a little tweaking we managed to overclock it further - 470MHz for the GPU and 520MHz (1.04GHz effective) for the memory, which is a tad more than we achieved with the Connect3D. However, the HSF takes up two expansion slots so it won't fit inside many small form factor cases.

Adding even more weight to the HIS card's list of plus points is its ViVo features, which means it can capture an analogue video signal. The bundle is excellent, with a good-quality S-Video cable and all the converters you're likely to need. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, the single-player version of Counter-Strike, will interest some people, but with Counter-Strike: Source now available it does look dated.

Thankfully, this card is a 256MB X700 Pro, so it outperforms the 128MB versions, such as the Sapphire, by over 50 per cent in Far Cry. ATi claims that the problem with the 128MB X700 Pro will be fixed in a new driver release, but we'll have to wait and see if and when this happens. However, even with 256MB of memory, the X700 Pro still can't keep up with the GeForce 6600 GT at medium resolutions with a little AA and AF enabled.

The bigger cooler and ViVo features add to the card's cost, and at £182.12, the HIS is roughly £35 more than other X700 Pro cards and slightly more expensive than the superior X800. It's a well-executed product but it's hobbled by an underperforming GPU.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

• AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition - Processors
• Shuttle XPC SX48P2 Deluxe - Desktop PCs
• SilverStone Raven - Peripherals
• Raptor Gaming M3 Platinum - Peripherals
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 - Processors
• ATI Radeon HD 4670 - Graphics cards
• DFI Lanparty JR P45-T2RS - Motherboards