HIS HD6850 ICE Q X Review – the ultimate HD6850 ?

The card is shipped in a distinctively shaped oblong box, however there is no ‘sword' image on the front which we would usually associate with HIS.

The bundle includes a driver and installation guide, a Crossfire connector, video adapter and power converter cable for those people with older power supplies.

The card itself is strikingly designed with an almost luminous ‘aqua' cooler enclosure taking centerstage. We think this will meet with mixed feelings within the enthusiast community as it is very ‘in your face'.

The fan is an HIS design and features 11 angular blades which force the air downwards over the substantial heatsink below.

Unlike some of the other overclocked HD 6850's on the market today, this card only requires a single 6 pin PCIe power connector. Hopefully it won't affect the overclocking results later.

The heatsink underneath is an impressive design, being formed from aluminum with a copper contact base. There are four series of heatpipes which pass transfered heat over a mirrored area of aluminum fins, cooled directly from above by the fan.

Connectivity is well catered for, with dual DVI ports on the right and both HDMI and Displayport to the left. Both of these are full size so there is no need to fiddle around with converters.

The PCB is a similar eye catching  ‘Aqua' blue colour, matching the radical cooler design.

Above, the GPUz screenshot showing the overclocked speeds. The reference card ships at 775mhz on the core and 1000mhz on the memory. Giving this card a 45mhz core clock increase and a 100mhz (400mhz effective) GDDR5 speed boost.

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