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The HIS Radeon HD 6950 IceQ stands out in a crowded marketplace for having one of the most gaudy ‘in your face' coolers we have ever seen. That said, we have reviewed several cards in the IceQ range before and have always been impressed with the overall cooling proficiency. The latest HD6950 doesn't disappoint thanks to HIS lifting the cooler from their HD6970 and porting it over to the lower specified model.
The appearance of the card certainly won't appeal to everyone, but I have grown to like it over the last year, as the cards have always left me with positive feelings. They might appear to have fallen hard from the ugly tree hitting every branch on the way down, but technically these are actually some of the best coolers currently available.
When idle, it is basically impossible to tell the card is active and when under gaming load, the noise emissions rise to around 32 dBa, which is a class leading result for a HD6950 graphics card. The fan spins between 800 rpm and 1,400 rpm which translates to an almost silent experience.
Currently the card is retailing exclusively with Overclockers UK for £221.99 inc vat. When we factor in that the cooler is worth £20, Dirt 3 £30 and Deus Ex Human Revolution £30 … the HD6950 hardware is basically costing around £140, which is a heck of a deal.
Pros:
- Dirt 3.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
- quietest performance HD6950 yet.
- bags of overclocking headroom.
- very good value for money.
Cons:
- It could never be classed as pretty.
- ‘Weight lifter' concept is not needed for this card.
- We have no idea why HIS supply it at reference clocks.
Kitguru says: An excellent, high performance HD6950.
Very nice, shame it looks like a fisher price toy …
Ordering one, my friend has a IceQ card and I agree its basically silent.
Simple fact is, once it is shoved in a case you never see it again. its not that bad though. its different I like different
wow quite surprised it was that good, my HD6950 hits 88c in furmark 🙁
Whats their UK warranty like. no info on it? do you return it to OCUK or not? they shafted me before with a motherboard and no one helped.
It shows that a small fan isnt necessary bad. they have used massive heatpipes and a huge venting area to ensure it spins slowly. nice idea. shame they dont do a black cooler version. I have a case window mod with lights and this would look hideous in it. (all red lighting in my case)
seems like a very good product indeed
Seems to be the best 6950 around. You didn’t point it out, but the fact that this is also a rear exhaust card makes it pretty amazing.
And I think some black paint might help it out a bit.