HIS HD6950 IceQ Crossfire Review

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When we see so many boxes that are covered with giant fantasy figures or extreme artwork designed to catch the eye, it’s refreshing to see something so minimalist from HIS.

The IceQ HD6950 itself perfectly replicates how you’d imagine a card taken fresh out of the freezer would look. Of course looking frosty when you’re called the IceQ could be considered a given, but how often have we seen things that don’t replicate what they’re called (the Sapphire White motherboards for instance).

      

Power is drawn from two 6pin PCIe connectors, and at the business end there is a wealth of output options, with two Mini-DisplayPorts, two DVI and a HDMI.

      

A beefy amount of heatpipes ensure that the card remains cool, although the decision to retain the waterwheel style fan is a little odd. Don’t they make a lovely pair.

      

The heatpipes are the direct contact type, ensuring that the heatsink has the maximum ability to soak up the heat from the Cayman GPU.

Although the colour of the PCB is a minor concern when considering whether to purchase a particular brand of card, it’s good to see the HIS HD6950 IceQ has a blue PCB to match the general ‘cool’ theme. A red one would have been very jarring indeed.