Hardware HIS HD 6970 IceQ Turbo 2GB Review

What I don't get is that when you have a gpu in a case it's pointing down, so why does it matter if it looks ugly, as long as it cools it?

 

External venting > Internal venting any day. Even if it had Hello Kitty stickers I would choose it.

 

Sounds great but I don't like overclocking my own video card. I want one pre-clocked with a warranty etc.

 

There's also vents on the side of the cooler, so it does NOT blow all the hot air out of the case.

Who gives a rats ass about the clock speed? Either you OC your card or you don't, "factory OC"'d cards are for pussies anyway.

 

f u

 

+10

 

Ahah that's the spirit, right?!

It sure would be nice to see that happen, but it's unlikely to happen any time soon. For all I know both manufacturers are way too busy stuffing the panels full of connections barely any user is really going to need to care about the cooling.

 

This. Factory oc cards are VERY rarely worth it over a stock, reference pcb card.

 

yeah if it's reference.. but look at the aftermarket coolers on the twin frozer and the oc2.. they use better caps and bin processors

heck the twin frozer at 940 is a pretty decent oc much less stock speed.. guys getting 975 with that card on stock voltage.. the oc2 I have noticed adjusts the voltage on the fly but caps out.. there's also the case to be made that reference cards will be hard modded for voltage tweaks

I like the way reference blows out the back of the case.. especially with ducting..

so why a non reference card? noise.. up to 70% on the oc2 and it makes no more noise than when set at 20.. and at that speed it keeps the card plenty cool with a good oc!

 

Yeah noise is a big deal. Usually I would rather just spend an extra £60 and get a GTX 580, get similar speed to an OC'd 6970 and not void the warranty on something worth about £290. Shame the 580 is noisy :/

 

Sure, some factory OC's are high enough to show somewhere, but not something you couldn't reach on stock card anyway. But really my main problem with the factory OC is when it inflates the price - you may get the fastest HD6870 on the planet, but what's the point if you could get an overall faster card for not too much more?

Coolers are a whole another thing, because I'm all in for quiet designs like the one on this card. Coolers also up the price tag, but atleast you get something that's actually worth money instead of just 50 MHz's on the GPU and 75 on the memories.

EDIT: and in my books the better caps and chosen chips aren't much else but marketing hype. When you're competing for the world record overclocks those things matter, but for a normal user it's just never going to make a difference - you will never have enough cards around to really see the difference between chips A and G. (Does this make sense or am I just tired? A percent or two of difference looks nice on graphic card reviews with 10 cards, but when you buy just a single card, are you going to ever notice the performance difference?)

 

Pretty much this. Only a very few factory oc cards have a gpu that REALLY is any better than 'regular' ones of that product line.

 

Gainward golden samples.. Nuff said

 

I'm surprises it hasn't. It would be a good way for a board partner to distinguish their cards from everybody elses. I'd have though enough people would prefer cooling to extra ports to justify at least one company doing it.
I'd like to see a tripple height HSF with one row of ports and two unobstructed rows of vents out of the case (with no internal venting).
I'd buy it.

 

Is the 282mm lenght including the little "L" tab at aht end of the card?