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The HIS HD6970 IceQ Mix Edition is certainly an impressive card. The gaudy appearance of the cooler might not appeal to everyone, however technically it is hard to fault. It cools much better than the reference design and emits less noise, delivering a heady combination for a prospective customer. Sadly however, the main talking point is also the product's greatest weakness.
Yes, before we go any further I need to address the elephant in the room – Lucid Hydra is a waste of time. I've said it before, I've said it today and undoubtedly ill have to say it again in the future.
It is a useless addition to a motherboard, but to include it on a video card is one of the most pointless extras we can remember in recent years. No one buying this card will want to pair up with a GTX570 or GTX580. A customer with a GTX580 will want another GTX580, and an AMD user will just purchase two HD6970's and run them natively in Crossfire.
For those who feel the need to pair up a GTX580 and HD6970 (is there anyone, seriously?), then we can only say that it just doesn't work well at all. We managed to get 3dMark Vantage working once and it crashed half way through the benchmark. Everything else hardlocked, ran worse, or just crashed to the desktop, so unless you want a healthy dose of instability then we suggest you aim for a true CrossfireX configuration.
Avoiding Lucid Hydra is most certainly the best option and if we do so then the discrete solution becomes a much more enticing proposition. It overclocks well, runs cool and is quiet. Fulfilling this trinity of ‘must have' enthusiast demands earns it bonus points. Obviously every card will overclock to a different level, but for HIS to not even apply a modest overclock out of the box seems like a basic oversight, especially with the headroom we experienced.
We have been informed just before going to press that this card will cost around £325 inc vat in the UK, a modest premium when compared against a reference board (around £300). The cooler alone is worth that.
Pros:
- Cooler is exceptionally good
- looks are certainly eye catching
- very quiet
- good power consumption
Cons:
- not overclocked ‘out of the box'
- cooler appearance will alienate a portion of the audience
- Lucid Hydra is just a waste of time
Kitguru says: a very good card, just forget about Lucid Hydra and focus on Crossfire if you need more power.
Nice card, but that cooler really is ugly as all sin.
His produce some good designs but i see no logical reason to include lucid on such a card. Its probably adding 15 to the price too……
Their iceq cards are really very good models but i dont think they have a good reputation in the uk at all. No one i know has even contmplated buying one of their products.
Id love to kmow their uk warranty system, have they a dedicated team handling rmas ?
I thought it would cost more due to the Lucid crap installed, but its not much more than a card with a standard cooler. seems pretty good all round, although I dont know why they didnt overclock it to something better
If the price was higher then it would deserve a lower score, but regardless of how sucky hydra is. its £25 more than a reference card (I saw a sapphier one on OCUK with dirt 3 for £300). If you feel the cooler is worth £25 then its a pretty good deal.
Don’t HIS always overclock their ICEQ cards however? bit weird on that front
The cooler is very good, ive read reviews of it on other cards and it seems about 10-20c lower than stock cooler, depending on the card.
bizarre idea, but it looks like HIS aren’t charging much for hydra. thank god, no one give a toss about it.
Id love to know who thought that was a smart move. would anyone have a GTX580 laying around, not being used? even a GTX570 or GTX560? cant get my head around it.
im looking at it from two ways. first, its a talking point. people are talking about it already. people in the know will immediately think ‘this wont work, it never does!’. and right enough it doesnt.
So it won’t be used, and the price is the deciding factor. I would guess the cooler is costing HIS £8 extra over a reference cooler (en masse). they can sell it for £15 more and still make a profit. £10 would pay Lucid for Hydra.
The consumer is getting hit a little with the extra chip. Its daft, but I still think its reasonably good value as an overall product.
That said, It would prove to me however that HIS really don’t have their finger on the pulse for this audience. Not like Sapphire or XFX.
I have a 5870 and would like an upgrade, but don’t feel like shelling out too much, and dont feel like buying an extra 5870, so I’m wondering how this card would be in crossfire with my 5870….