The HD6950 has proven very popular due to its good cost per frame value and while this card is a little more expensive than a reference design, it still offers fair value for money considering it is priced around the same as its custom cooled competitors. Unfortunately, due to the card not being of a reference design it is unknown whether the card could be unlocked to a full blown HD6970 so you will have to make that judgement yourselves. I have my doubts due to this being a more recent GPU core and likely being locked down to the core rather than early revisions which were simply BIOS locked.
The performance of the card, while falling below that of the GTX570, is still a force to be reckoned with. It cut through the majority of games with relative ease at 1920x1200 and even put in a good display (pun intended) at the highest resolution runs. Adding AA had less of an effect on the HD6950 compared to the GTX570 thanks to the 2GB of GDDR5 used so if you like your image quality feel free to pile on the AA with this card!
I was left frustrated with the overclocking of the HIS HD6950 IceQ as this card has so much more to offer in the overclocking department. The card was clearly held back by the software based overclocking which when you have a custom cooled card that performs so well only compounds the frustration. It did hit the maximum available on the core and never once skipped a beat without requiring any voltage increase. The heat produced because of this overclock (and with voltage maxed even though it wasn't needed)was still well within safe parameters and thus the acoustics did not suffer as the fan rarely surpassed the test setup fan noise. The excellent choice of Hynix memory proved itself as it overclocked past HD6970 levels and was rock solid throughout our suite of benchmarks.
Aesthetically, the card is identical to other IceQ models we have reviewed previously so the love it or leave it looks are still present thanks to the massive IceQ cooler. The package, while not full retail, was very good and HIS get a big thumbs up for including a quality game in the form of Codemasters DiRT 3. So it's all good then?
The decision will come down to whether you feel comfortable settling for second best I'm afraid. The HD6950 falls just short of its bigger brother, the HD6970 IceQ Turbo and further still behind the GTX570, however it easily outperforms a GTX560, especially at high resolutions with all the trimmings applied. Unfortunately, priced at £229 it has edged a little too close for comfort to the GTX570 and therefore is not the 'bang-per-buck' graphics card we anticipated. Were the price sub £200, the HIS HD6950 IceQ would be a no-brainer. This is perhaps the most defining factor. If you want raw performance AND you have a little extra cash, the GTX570 is the way to go. However, if you value image quality, the HD6950 takes less of a hit when AA is applied. Couple this with cool, quiet and low running costs in comparison, the HIS HD6950 IceQ begins to make much more sense.
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to HIS for providing todays review sample.
The performance of the card, while falling below that of the GTX570, is still a force to be reckoned with. It cut through the majority of games with relative ease at 1920x1200 and even put in a good display (pun intended) at the highest resolution runs. Adding AA had less of an effect on the HD6950 compared to the GTX570 thanks to the 2GB of GDDR5 used so if you like your image quality feel free to pile on the AA with this card!
I was left frustrated with the overclocking of the HIS HD6950 IceQ as this card has so much more to offer in the overclocking department. The card was clearly held back by the software based overclocking which when you have a custom cooled card that performs so well only compounds the frustration. It did hit the maximum available on the core and never once skipped a beat without requiring any voltage increase. The heat produced because of this overclock (and with voltage maxed even though it wasn't needed)was still well within safe parameters and thus the acoustics did not suffer as the fan rarely surpassed the test setup fan noise. The excellent choice of Hynix memory proved itself as it overclocked past HD6970 levels and was rock solid throughout our suite of benchmarks.
Aesthetically, the card is identical to other IceQ models we have reviewed previously so the love it or leave it looks are still present thanks to the massive IceQ cooler. The package, while not full retail, was very good and HIS get a big thumbs up for including a quality game in the form of Codemasters DiRT 3. So it's all good then?
The decision will come down to whether you feel comfortable settling for second best I'm afraid. The HD6950 falls just short of its bigger brother, the HD6970 IceQ Turbo and further still behind the GTX570, however it easily outperforms a GTX560, especially at high resolutions with all the trimmings applied. Unfortunately, priced at £229 it has edged a little too close for comfort to the GTX570 and therefore is not the 'bang-per-buck' graphics card we anticipated. Were the price sub £200, the HIS HD6950 IceQ would be a no-brainer. This is perhaps the most defining factor. If you want raw performance AND you have a little extra cash, the GTX570 is the way to go. However, if you value image quality, the HD6950 takes less of a hit when AA is applied. Couple this with cool, quiet and low running costs in comparison, the HIS HD6950 IceQ begins to make much more sense.
Pros:
+ Great cooling
+ Included DiRT3 Game
+ Quiet with fan in auto
+ Good power consumption figures
Cons:
- Love it or hate it looks
- Large cooler might be restrictive for some
+ Great cooling
+ Included DiRT3 Game
+ Quiet with fan in auto
+ Good power consumption figures
Cons:
- Love it or hate it looks
- Large cooler might be restrictive for some
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to HIS for providing todays review sample.
