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

We're moving away from X99 motherboards to check out the newly released HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC video card. How does it perform? Check out our results.

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Updated
Manufacturer: HIS Digital
16 minutes & 18 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 90%
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Introduction and Package

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

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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.

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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.

Video Card Details and Specifications

Close up with the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC

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Taking the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC out of the box, you notice a design that looks fairly familiar. The IceQ X2 cooler is pretty large, and as you can see by looking at the bottom, it shoots past the PCB by a decent margin. We've got two fans sitting over the center of the card, which have a really large heat sink sitting behind them, with a number of copper heat pipes coming out of the top of the card.

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Taking a look around the card we can see the two 6-Pin PCIe power connectors needed to get the card up and running. We also get a good look at just how far the heat sink goes past the card, and we get a closer look at the number of heat pipes that are present here.

While we would normally move towards the front of the card to check out the CrossFire connector, or possibly a BIOS switch, this card has neither. One of the cool features of the new R9 285 is that it has implemented the same bridgeless CrossFire technology seen on the R9 290 offerings.

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Finishing up our look at the card, we head over to the I/O department. It's a pretty standard affair here, with two Dual-Link DVI connectors, one DVI-D, and the other DVI-I which sits alongside a HDMI and DisplayPort connector.

Specifications

Out of the box, this already overclocked card carries a core clock of 938MHz, while the 2GB of GDDR5 comes in at 5500MHz QDR. Today we figured we'd take the time to see how overclocking went on the card to see if we could yield some more performance out of it.

However, after firing up MSI Afterburner, we noticed that it had issues detecting the clock speeds, and didn't allow us to adjust the voltage of the core.

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Because of the issues we had under MSI Afterburner, we headed into AMDs Catalyst Control Center instead, and thought we'd just use the built-in overclocking abilities.

Looking above, you can see we managed to push the core up to 1095MHz, and we pushed the 2GB of GDDR5 to 6200MHz QDR. This is a decent overclock that should yield some strong performance gains. We'll see how the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC performs at these speeds in just a moment.

Test System Setup & FPS Numbers Explained

Test System Setup

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We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASUS, and Corsair.

We've got an absolute ton of cards in our graphs today. Sitting alongside our HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC, which will be running at 1095MHz on the core and 6200MHz QDR on the RAM, we have the HIS R9 270X IceQ X2 Turbo Boost 2GB OC, Sapphire R9 285 Dual-X OC, GIGABYTE R9 280 WINDFORCE 3GB OC, Sapphire R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC, and HIS R9 290 4GB IceQ X2 Turbo to round off the AMD offerings.

As for the NVIDIA offerings, we've got the ASUS GTX 750 Ti 2GB, MSI GTX 760 MINI-ITX Gaming, reference GTX 770 2GB, and ASUS GTX 780 ROG Poseidon Platinum 3GB OC to round off our collection of cards for today.

The comparisons that we'll be paying the most attention to today are most likely going to be the pre-overclocked Sapphire R9 285 2GB Dual-X OC, and heavily pre-overclocked GIGABYTE R9 280 3GB WINDFORCE OC.

The FPS Numbers Explained

When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Second (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother. There are three numbers we're looking out for when it comes to our benchmarks:

30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS, making sure that you can continue to aim easily, or turn the corner with no dramas.

60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better, and as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.

120 FPS - This is the newest number that we've been hunting down over recent months. If you're the owner of a 120 Hz monitor, to get the most out of it, you want to get around the 120 FPS mark. Moving from 60 FPS / 60 Hz to 120 FPS / 120 Hz brings with it a certain fluidity that can't really be explained, but instead has to be experienced. Of course, if you're buying a 120 Hz monitor to take advantage of 3D, an average of 120 FPS in our benchmark means that in 3D you will have an average of 60 FPS, which again means you should expect some smooth gameplay.

Why are some graphs incomplete?

Adding new game benchmarks is a long, tedious, and time consuming task, as every video card has to be re-tested in those new benchmarks. For that reason, we have always just reevaluated our benchmark line up every six months. To stay up-to-date and current with the latest benchmarks and games available, we've changed our approach to adding new benchmarks.

Our benchmark line up will progress and be updated as newer, more intensive games with benchmarks comes to light. While this will mean that initially you may only see a single video card in those particular graphs, as the weeks go on and we test more and more video cards, the results will quickly grow. This will help keep our benchmark line up as up-to-date as possible as we introduce and remove games on a constant basis.

Benchmarks - 3DMark

3DMark 11

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1

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Starting off with 3DMark 11, we can see that our HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC manages to separate itself from the Sapphire R9 285 2GB and GIGABYTE R9 280 3GB in both presets.

You can see we're actually able to come out ahead of the R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC from Sapphire at the lower resolution Performance preset. However, when it comes to the higher resolution Extreme Preset, you can see the higher-end R9 280X 3GB manages to get a nice little jump.

3DMark Fire Strike

Version and / or Patch Used: 1

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Looking at Fire Strike, we can see the overclock we've achieved on the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC really helps separate the card from the R9 280 3GB and R9 285 2GB, which sit very close to each other.

Benchmarks - 3DMark Sky Diver & Catzilla

3DMark Sky Diver

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1

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Sky Diver really manages to make excellent use of the overclock here; as you see, the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC manages to outperform even the Sapphire R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC in this situation.

Catzilla

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.3

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Looking at Catzilla performance, we again see the overclock we managed to achieve on the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC really helps separate the card form the R9 280 3GB and the R9 285 2GB. At the lower resolution 1920 x 1080 preset, you can see we almost manage to line up with the higher-end R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC.

Benchmarks - Unigine Heaven & Phantasy Star Online 2

Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3

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Heaven continues the trend of the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC seeing some great gains when overclocking is thrown into the mix. While we're not quite at the same level as the R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC from Sapphire, you can see we've got a decent boost that really helps separate the card from the R9 280 3GB and R9 285 2GB.

Phantasy Star Online 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

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PSO 2 has always benefited from strong gains when overclocking is thrown into the mix, and here is no different. Looking above, you can see the overclocked HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC helps close the gap between the R9 280 3GB / R9 285 GB and the higher-end R9 280X 3GB.

Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2 & Just Cause 2

Lost Planet 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

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Lost Planet 2 sees some great gains from the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC when overclocked. We manage to climb up behind the higher-end R9 280X Vapor-X OC at the lower resolutions, and finally manage to sneak just past it at the highest 2560 x 1600 resolution.

Just Cause 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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Just Cause 2 sees some great performance gains across the board with playable numbers being no issue at any resolution. While we still sit behind the R9 280X 3GB, you can see we get a decent little jump over the R9 280 3GB and R9 285.

Benchmarks -Metro: Last Light & Nexuiz

Metro: Last Light

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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Metro: Last Light sees a great little performance gain across the board. Unfortunately you can see the bump at 1920 x 1200 isn't quite enough to hit that 60 FPS number we want. With that said, you can see the R9 280X 3GB also struggles to hit this number, falling a few FPS short.

Nexuiz

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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Nexuiz sees a bit of a performance increase across the board, but looking above, you can see we continue to fall short of that 60 FPS number we're on the hunt for at all resolutions.

Benchmarks - Sniper Elite V2 & Sleeping Dogs

Sniper Elite V2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

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Sniper Elite V2 numbers look great across the board, and you can see the extra MHz we achieved on the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC really come in handy as we see the 2560 x 1600 FPS average jump to just over 60 FPS with a solid 61 FPS being shown. Looking above, you can see both the R9 280 3GB and R9 285 2GB fell short of this number.

Sleeping Dogs

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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Sleeping Dogs sees a nice performance bump across the board, and at the highest resolution, you can see we're 10% higher than the heavily pre-overclocked R9 280 WINDFORCE 3GB OC from GIGABYTE.

Benchmarks - Hitman: Absolution & Tomb Raider

Hitman Absolution

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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Hitman: Absolution numbers are great. Just like we saw under Sniper Elite V2, at the highest resolution we manage to break into the 60 FPS barrier again, something that the R9 280 3GB and R9 285 2GB couldn't do out of the box. This is exactly the kind of performance gains we like to see when throwing overclocking into the mix.

Tomb Raider

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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Tomb Raider also manages to see some great performance gains, and while we fall short of that 60 FPS number at 1920 x 1200, because of the strong minimum and the fact we're only 2 FPS off that number, we'd say you're not going to have an issue getting a smooth gaming experience. On the other hand, the R9 280 3GB and R9 285 2GB score averages of 56 and 55 FPS respectively.

Benchmarks - BioShock Infinite & Battlefield 4

BioShock Infinite

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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BioShock Infinite sees a great performance increase, which actually puts us in line with the R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC at 1680 x 1050, and ahead of it at the higher 1920 x 1200 and 2560 x 1600 resolutions. However, as you can see above, we don't quite get the FPS we need at the highest 2560 x 1600 resolution, with an average that falls shy of 50 FPS.

Battlefield 4

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Origin Update

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Battlefield 4 sees some great gains, and at the highest resolution you can see the extra MHz offered are actually enough to break our 2560 x 1600 average into the 60 FPS realm. Combined with the 41 FPS minimum, this is some great looking performance.

Benchmarks - GRID Autosport

GRID Autosport

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

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GRID Autosport continues the trend, showing some nice performance numbers. The 56 FPS average at 2560 x 1600 is solid when combined with the 46 FPS minimum. We would probably prefer an extra couple of FPS, though, just to make us feel 100% comfortable. Although, being so close, the smallest detail drop would get us those few FPS we need.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF

High Quality AA and AF Testing

While we test all our games with maximum in-game settings, turning on Anti-Aliasing (AA) and Antistrophic Filtering (AF) helps take the intensity of our testing to another level.

Here we see video cards go from playable FPS to unplayable FPS, and the real power houses continue to help break that 60 FPS mark we always aim for to provide a smooth gaming experience.

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While we see a bit of positive movement, the FPS numbers are just way too low here for us to even consider playing the game at these settings.

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GRID Autosport sees some great gains, and at 1920 x 1200 we get a bit more breathing room thanks to an extremely solid 68 FPS average. While 2560 x 1600 sees a bit of a performance bump as well, the 49 FPS average is just too low.

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While we do see a bit of positive movement that draws us close to the R9 280X 3GB OC here, you can see overall the FPS numbers are just too low.

Benchmarks - 4K - 3840 x 2160 Testing

4K - 3840 x 2160 Testing

4K monitors are the next step for gamers demanding the best in image quality. With 4x the pixels of a standard 1920 x 1080 monitor (meaning 4x the intensity), 3840 x 2160 brings a new level of intensity to video cards.

To make sure that you're buying the right video card for a monitor that offers such a large resolution, we test the latest and greatest video cards in a couple of benchmarks to give you an idea of just what kind of setup you require.

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Cranking up the resolution, you can see the overclocked HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC brings a bit of a performance boost, which sees the model extend its lead over the R9 280 3GB. You can see we still manage to sit a decent chunk away from the R9 280X 3GB, though.

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Thanks to the extra MHz on the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC, you can see that we're able to come out ahead of the R9 280 3GB and R9 285 2GB by a minimum of 10%. Overall, the FPS aren't where they need to be, and sit in the 40 FPS range.

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Under Hitman: Absolution, we can see the overclock really does nothing to performance. The minimum comes slightly below the Sapphire version of the R9 285 2GB, while the average sits slightly higher. Again, overall the FPS continue to be too low to be playable.

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We see extra FPS when it comes to the average. However, we continue to see numbers that are just too low for us to even consider them playable.

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We finish off our video card testing with GRID Autosport, and we continue to see numbers that are just way too low. These mid-range cards just can't deal with the massive 4K resolution.

Temperature & Sound Testing

Temperature Test

The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run of 3DMark Vantage at the Performance preset.

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Looking above, you can see the temperature numbers on the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC are pretty solid. Even when overclocked, you can see we're a decent chunk into the bottom half of the graph here.

Sound Test

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter, we quickly find ourselves yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that, we get a bit more serious, and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode), and in load (3D mode).

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When it comes to noise numbers, you can see the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC sits in the middle of the pack. Overall, this is a pretty solid place to sit considering the temperature numbers are quite impressive.

Power Consumption Testing

Using our PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 -or "Power Thingy" as it has quickly become known as to our readers- we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated video cards installed. Keep in mind that it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember, though. While our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen the power being drawn as much as ten percent more in particular tests. We test at the exact same stage every time, so tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum -only a SSD is used, with a single CD ROM, and minimal cooling fans.

So, while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items will result in a higher draw.

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Even when overclocked, we see the HIS R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC come in at just under 400 watts. We'd recommend something in the 600 watts range for a setup like this, just to make sure you don't run into any problems.

Pricing, Availability, and Final Thoughts

Coming in a little over the $250 mark, the HIS version of the R9 285 2GB carries a slight premium when compared to the reference card price. This doesn't come as a surprise, though, and it's only a small price increase. Having looked at the R9 285 2GB just the other week, our opinion hasn't really changed on the model.

This is a good, solid model that performs well for its price. I can't deny the fact that the naming scheme continues to even confuse me though, as I found myself writing R9 285 3GB and R9 280 2GB. You just expect the R9 285, a number that is higher than the R9 280, to offer more onboard video memory; because of that, I find my brain telling my fingers to write the number 3 after R9 285.

Still, I've expressed my annoyance with the naming scheme multiple times, and there's no point in really discussing it anymore. Well, at least no more in this review. The HIS variant of the R9 285 2GB is solid, and that comes as little surprise.

We know the R9 285 2GB is pretty strong, and we also know that HIS tends to do a great job when it comes to the IceQ X2 line of cards. Put those two factors together, and you end up with a great performing card, not only in the FPS department, but also in the cooling and noise areas as well. What HIS lacks in bundle, they make up for with the actual product.

When overclocking is thrown into the mix, you can see that we really manage to get some crucial performance gains that pull us out of an unplayable area and bring us into a playable area. With overclocking we get within a stone's throw of 60 FPS, or just mange to straight out get past it. Other times, we saw the Sapphire R9 285 2GB just sneak into the 60 FPS area, but when overclocking was thrown into the mix, we managed to get a bit more breathing room. Breathing room is always appreciated.

For the price, the R9 285 2GB from HIS is a nice purchase. After looking at the Sapphire cards in CrossFire, we would also say that buying a second doesn't hurt. For a pinch over $500, you're able to get yourself a really nice video card setup. If you do want a solid performer at $250, though, this is an excellent option. Although, I must admit I would like to see the ability to adjust the core voltage. With a bit more voltage, and some more MHz, the value of this card is really going to jump up and stand out.

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.

TweakTown award
Performance (including Overclocking w/a) 90%
Quality 95%
General Features 95%
Bundle and Packaging 80%
Value for Money 90%
Overall 90%

Bottom Line With a decent base already from AMD, HIS expands on a new strong mid-range model. Bringing it in as part of their popular IceQ X2 range has helped the R9 285 2GB stand out for all the right reasons. If you're looking at a card that offers good bang for buck and just all round strong performance, the HIS R9 285 2GB IceQ X2 OC is a great option.

PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.

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Shawn takes care of all of our video card reviews. From 2009, Shawn is also taking care of our memory reviews, and from May 2011, Shawn also takes care of our CPU, chipset and motherboard reviews. As of December 2011, Shawn is based out of Taipei, Taiwan.

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