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HIS 6870 IceQ X Turbo X

28 Mar 2011

The HIS 6870 IceQ X Turbo X features a revised IceQ X cooler for better operating efficiency and is factory overclocked at a staggering 975MHz at the core for added performance.

Tags: amd, his, radeon hd 6870, northern islands

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HWZ's Overall Rating: 8.5

Performance:

Features:

8.5

Value:

8.5

Blazing fast out of the box

Runs cooler than reference cards

Limited overclocking head room

Slightly higher power draw than competitors

Slightly pricey

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			<h2 class="header-green">HIS 6870 IceQ X Turbo X - An Even Faster 6870</h2>
		<span class="byline">Reviewed by Kenny Yeo on Wednesday, 30 Mar 2011</span>
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		 		<h2 class="page-title">X Makes the Difference</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">X Makes the Difference</h3>
<p>Launched in October last year, the Radeon HD 6870 (Northern Islands) marked the beginning of a new generation of graphics card for AMD. It isn&rsquo;t a major step forward in terms of architecture, but AMD has successfully managed to optimize the 40nm process by packing in more performance in less cores and making their chips more energy efficient. And as we noted in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/product-guide/features/view/90433">our early review</a> of the Radeon HD 6870 series, we found it to be a great mid to high-end graphics cards.</p>
<p>HIS is one of the more popular brands for AMD/ATI branded cards and earlier, we've reviewed their <a target="_blank" href="http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/product-guide/view/93322">Radeon HD 6870 Turbo</a> card. Now, they have come up with their own customized take on the Radeon HD 6870, which is even more extreme. The HIS Radeon HD 6870 IceQ X Turbo X (not the most elegant name, we have to say) is the company&rsquo;s top Radeon HD 6870 card and it comes with a host of features that befits a flagship card.</p>
<p>For one, the card comes with company&rsquo;s famous IceQ X cooler, which has been continuously revised and improved in past years. The latest generation IceQ X cooler has a eye-catching light blue translucent cooler with a 92mm large cooling fan and four thick heatpipes to quick draw away heat from the GPU core. On top of that, HIS has also taken a page out of MSI&rsquo;s Military Class components and fitted the card with solid state capacitors and solid state chokes for better current capacity, efficiency and stability.</p>
<p>And to further improve the card, HIS has also factory overclocked it at a heady 975MHz at the core and 4600MHz DDR at the memory - a substantial bump of 75MHz and 400MHz DDR respectively.</p>
<p>All things considered, the HIS Radeon HD 6870 IceQ X Turbo X seems to have all the right ingredients, but before we find out how it performs, here are some photos to whet your appetite.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="485" width="500" alt="" title="The new HIS Radeon HD 6870 IceQ X Turbo X above and the Radeon HD 6870 Turbo below." src="/files/images/card-compare_1.jpg" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="257" width="500" alt="" title="The card features the usual twin DVI ports, single HDMI port and two mini-DisplayPort 1.2 ports." src="/files/images/ports_33.jpg" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="306" width="500" alt="" title="To keep the card cool, the cooler employs four thick heat pipes to draw heat away from the GPU core and dissipate them to the heatsink array." src="/files/images/cooler_16.jpg" /></p>			</div>
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<div class="tags" style="">
	<span class="label" style="">Tags:</span> <a href="/product-guide/all/reviews/tagged/466-amd">amd</a>, <a href="/product-guide/all/reviews/tagged/536-his">his</a>, <a href="/product-guide/all/reviews/tagged/1432-radeon-hd-6870">radeon hd 6870</a>, <a href="/product-guide/all/reviews/tagged/1434-northern-islands">northern islands</a></div>
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Graphics Cards Guide

HIS 6870 IceQ X Turbo X

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