HIS Radeon R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC Overclocked Video Card Review

Introduction of the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC

It's been non-stop here since about a week before the new X99 platform launched, which was one of my biggest launches in years. Not only did the X99 launch bring a new chipset and CPU, but the launch also bought the jump to DDR4. In addition, AMD released the R9 285 just days later, and NVIDIA is getting ready to announce its new 900 series cards. It really doesn't feel like this onslaught is going to stop any time soon.

Still, it's never a bad thing. At times like this, I make an effort to try sharing the love across multiple categories I tend to. Coming off of a bunch of X99 content that covered the new motherboards and some mighty impressive DDR4 kits, I'm making the jump back over to the video card testbed to see what's going on with this new R9 285 2GB AMD has recently released.

While I'm not all that happy with how AMD handled the launch of this product up, I still can't deny the simple fact that it is a great product that hit at a great price. Dollar for dollar, when it came against NVIDIA offerings, NVIDIA really had nothing that could touch the new AMD based card. Throwing two into the mix yielded some strong performance numbers, and showed us just what kind of performance you can get out of a $500 setup.

While we've still got another Sapphire R9 285 2GB on hand, today we're going to be checking out the R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC offering from our friends over at HIS. The IceQ X2 series of cards have always done an excellent job, and I'm sure that's going to carry over to the latest AMD model to hit us.

Package - What comes inside the box

Looking at the box, you can see the standard HIS IceQ X2 box design with nothing out of the ordinary being shown. We've got the IceQ X2 logo in the middle of the box, while the bottom has the model name, and some of the main features that include 2GB of GDDR5 and 4K support. Across the top of the box, you can see the HIS logo, along with mention that we're dealing with an OC model of the card.

Turning the box over, you can see that HIS expands a little on some of the features, including Full Solid State Capacitors and Dynamic Phase Control PWM IC. The main features are listed along with mention of the connectivity which includes HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort. We'll have a closer look at this on the next page.

Moving inside the box, you can see we don't have much going on, and the sample came to us so early that even the driver comes on what is essentially a blank CD. Along with that, we've got our Quick Install Guide, and case sticker to round things off.

PRICING: You can find the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC retails for $265.99 at Amazon.