HIS Radeon HD 6850 IceQ X Turbo graphics card review

by Parm Mann on 7 February 2011, 09:13 4.5

Final thoughts and rating

AMD's Radeon HD 6850 is a proven mid-range performer, and HIS has built on that foundation to produce a card that's better in just about every way.

Expected to fetch a small premium at retail, the HD 6850 IceQ X Turbo is not only quicker than reference, but comfortably quieter and considerably cooler. 1080p gaming performance is excellent at the sub-£160 price point, and the card's impressive overclocking capability leaves plenty of room for enthusiasts to push it farther.

To top it all off, HIS presents all these winning ingredients in a cool-blue design that stands out from the competition and looks genuinely unique. This is the best Radeon HD 6850 we've ever tested.

The Good

Makes light work of high-quality 1080p gaming
Cooler, quieter and quicker than reference
Overclocks extremely well

The Bad

Translucent blue aesthetics won't be for everyone

HEXUS Rating

HIS Radeon HD 6850 IceQ X Turbo

HEXUS Awards

HIS Radeon HD 6850 IceQ X Turbo

HEXUS Where2Buy

TBC.

HEXUS Right2Reply

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Tasty card for the price :) Also, are 6850s still unlocking readily to 6870s? With this cooler, that would make one of these boards an absolute steal!

Irien
Tasty card for the price :) Also, are 6850s still unlocking readily to 6870s? With this cooler, that would make one of these boards an absolute steal!

It was the 6950s that unlocked to 6970s, so unfortunately, there are no unlocking shenanigans to be had here.

I like HiS, they make the best cards imo. This one looks worth it, my XFX is a noisy blighter and I'll probably end up buying seperate cooling for a lot more than this HiS one costs.

Glad to see this card getting another favourable review, just need it to start showing up in stock at some places now. Great cooling with low noise, yes please i'll take one.

Thanks for this review, it's very timely for me as I'm looking for a 6850 with almost all of these characteristics…..

One thought though that has come out of a number of threads i've been involved in throughout our fair and pleasant forums recently is something that is probably a much bigger topic than just this card here…
It concerns the heat / cooling of this card, and exactly what happens to that heat.
To be more specific, this review clearly shows that the heat is being successfully removed from the immediate graphics chip, however that heat still radiates & dissipates to somewhere else, typically still within the case of the computer, and this then effects other components to a greater or lesser degree.
Of course different cases (and fans, and other components such as the PSU) all make a difference, including of course heat generated by other components too, but knowing how much heat GFX card ‘x’ adds to a case compared to GFX card ‘y’ might make a big difference to a purchase; So it would therefore seem to me to be of interest to all to understand not just how well the cooler on the card works, but within a context of how much heat is produced for the system as a whole…

Thanks!