HIS Radeon HD 7790 Turbo 1GB Graphics Card Review

Its safe to say that I have looked at many HD 7790’s up to this point and with HIS coming in a little later than others to my hands, their card has with out a doubt had its work cut out to impress me in some way given the tight playing field that all the 7790’s run around in. My first hands on impressions were to say the least a bit bland. The plastic cover to the cooler could in my eyes do with a bit more styling and I can’t quite figure out why it overhangs the end of the card by such an amount as it increases the overall length (an consequently for some the compatibility with ultra compact chassis) and it also restricts the power connector a little when trying to remove it. I’ve seen some nice looking card from HIS in the past and it feels like they’ve drifted to sleep a little here.

The heat sink also surprised me a little, with a design that is loosely comparable to an Intel stock cooler and this then started to get the mind whirring as it made me wonder how well its going to handle the thermals and consequently how well it will overclock further down the line. To my surprise though, this card didn’t just beat my expectations, it has left me quite surprised. Right throughout the test suites, HIS’ card as been right at the top of the 7790 performance list, either matching the top performing card, sitting a frame or two behind and in the instance of 3DMark 11 taking the top spot with the best performance figure for the Bonaire core that I’ve seen to date.

On the cooler front, I’m left a little sad that they’ve used such a basic design as this would have made a whole heap of difference to the cards thermal and acoustic and consequently a bit on the power front as well. Whilst these figures are nothing to be alarmed over, it would have been nice to see a card that runs closer to 60c at full load and a bit less at idle. Similarly this would in turn mean that the fan speed could be lowered, reducing the acoustic performance and maybe a bit on the power front as well.

The other area where this card has impressed me is on the overclocking front, given my initial thoughts on the cooler that HIS have stuck on the PCB, I’m happy to say that this card has got one of the highest sets of clocks that I have seem from the 7790 to date, and with a price of around £120 its well priced as well.

Bottom line, HIS have got a card that may look a little rough and unfinished around the edges, but its performance is certainly not in the same boat. If looks are not a concern to you then give this a try, you may just be as surprised as I am.