HIS Digital iClear: snake oil hardware

It’s not too surprising that eventually we would see purely useless, snake-oil hardware devices in the same vein as $3,000 audiophile power cables. But I am surprised that Newegg would list such a thing. This is dumber than the KillerNIC, which at least does function as a network card. The iClear does nothing, and could not possibly do anything given that it’s an empty PCB with some capacitors.

Dansdata thinks the card could possibly do something, however:

I’d be interested to see what happened if you just plugged a completely blank card into the slot between the video card and the tuner, though. As long as the card has a ground plane and one lousy contact hooking that sheet of featureless copper up to the system ground, I suspect you’d see a similar reduction of noise at certain frequencies.

And from the HIS Digital Company page:

HIS has been conducting business with the aim to “Glorifying God”. Honesty and integrity are the two key principals of how HIS are conducted. Ethical business practice has been an everyday commitment to our clients, vendors, and investors.

If your company mission statement says this explicitly, chances are it’s a lie.

For bonus laughs, check out the specs page.