HIS Excalibur 9600XT TURBO VIVO EDITON

The HIS Excalibur 9600XT TURBO VIVO EDITON is a great mid-priced card. It has full DirectX 9.0 support, 128MB DDR, and it's a good performer, with a great bundle. I’m reviewing the VIVO Edition, which means it has the optional Video In/Out. The non-VIVO version has an MSRP of $199; I haven’t been able to determine the price of the VIVO Edition, but It’s likely to be only a little more expensive.

Oh and by the way, it comes with a coupon for a free copy of Half-Life 2.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s about the best possible bundle, although Doom 3 would be a close second. I’m glad to see a real top-tier game bundled with a video card again. That means that if you were planning to buy HL2 anyway, the "true" cost of the Excalibur is more like 150 bucks.

The box is reasonably attractive and features some sort of chrome medallion in the center. Or maybe it’s a shield. It’s not a sword, which is odd, given the name of the card. The box is literally covered with stickers; I counted 8, including the bar code. Here’s a pic:

The box is decent, and the contents arrived undamaged. What more is there to say? Let's open the box and take a peek inside...

This card comes with a great bundle! It includes a coupon for Half-Life 2, which rates to be Game of the Year, in my opinion. The coupon makes the whole package a much better value, since you will save yourself the time and expense of having to buy a copy of HL2 when it finally hits the stores.

There are 5 CDs: A driver disk, PowerDVD 5, PowerDirector Pro 2.5 VE, a game called Zanzarah - The Hidden Portal, and a Games Collection CD which includes demos of the following games: Vietcong, Railroad Pioneer, Neighbors From Hell, Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, and Aquanox 2: Revelation. This is a newer, fresher set of games than I’ve seen bundled with the cards I’ve reviewed lately.

Of course there's a manual, and it's pretty good but a little skimpy (the English section is only 9 pages). There are German and French sections too. It covers hardware and software installation as well as "Using Video Out" and "Using Video In." The manual is well-written (the English section is written by someone who can actually speak English). Lately, I’ve noticed some real improvement in the manuals for the video cards I’ve reviewed. Let’s hope this trend continues!

There's a good selection of cables: A VIVO splitter (both S-Video and composite), an S-Video extension cable, and an S-video to RCA female adapter cable. There's even a DVI to VGA adapter, in case you wish to hook up 2 analog monitors.

All-in-all this is the best bundle I’ve ever received with a video card.

Specifications

• Powered by ATI RADEON™ 9600 XT Visual Processing Unit
• 500MHz Graphics Engine Clock
• 128/256MB-650MHz DDR memory (TURBO Model Only)
• 128-bit memory interface
• Dual integrated 10-bit per channel palette DACs operating at up to 400MHz
• AGP 8X / 4X
• VGA, S-Video, and DVI-I connectors

• Features ATI's TRUFORM™2.0, SMARTSHADER™2.0 and SMOOTHVISION™2.1, and HYPER™Z III+ technologies
• SMARTSHADER™2.0 technology supports DirectX?.0 and enables more complex and realistic lighting effects
• Sharper-looking 3D graphics with ATI SMOOTHVISION™2.1 technology
• TRUFORM™2.0 technology that makes the outlines of 3D characters and objects look smoother and more natural than ever before
• Dual display support with HYDRAVISION™
• Integrated TV-Out support up to 1024 x 768 resolution
• Integrated DVI-compliant TMDS transmitter
• VIVO model available