Nice review and temps for the card, but the cover only a manufacturer could love.

Man is that cooler funky. I miss these days of the IceQ coolers:


Image borrowed from guru3d.com :)

id like to see a review of this. they really should of nickel plated the pipes, would of helps with the cards looks.
its rather strange since their other iceQ is like that.

Hmm I still prefer the 4xxx series IceQ cards in terms of looks although I am glad they started releasing IceQ brands again for higher end cards.

This HIS looks good seeing it can get air in from the back and below as well instead of limited xfire airflow like most other cards.
Ugly or not as long as it works and normal 20% overclock avg. min. then it is worth it.

I work on my pc / play games, don't spend hours looking at the insides LOL.

Nice to get the air out of the box instead of inside redistribution like some other cards.

Good xfire bridge area / no blocked or possible interference issues so should work with the short xfire cable supplied.

Possible space issues as the top view shows 2.25 slot spacing but connector area view does not show this.

Top view
www.hisdigital.com/UserFiles/product/3697_006_1_400.jpg
connector view
www.hisdigital.com/UserFiles/product/3697_008_1_400.jpg

Off topic
Just looked at the MSI R6970 Lightning and it's nice parts + possible airflow issues in xfire.
Customer support and slow rebate put me off from buying MSI.

I'm all for performance over looks, but I would have to put my foot down on this one. IceQ4 was damn sexy. This isn't. What the hell HIS?

The cheap'o plastic cover is a huge turnoff. The heatsink seems to offer alot in terms of ocing but why HIS why...

Lol this reminds me of the classic days this cooler:toast:

Interesting...

I used to love the IceQ series of coolers from HIS. I used to run the HIS Radeon HD 4870 Turbo IceQ 4+ 1GB card, fantastic card by the way. The cooler on it was UV reactive, so I had a UV tube in the bottom of my case to make it glow, looked wicked at heck. Managed to locate a couple pictures of it.




That cooler they have on this 6970 just looks, I don't know, cheap. Not to mention it looks as though it would take up more space than necessary. The XFX reference 6950 I am running at the moment, running the stock cooler and never over 50% fan speeds, never even comes close to getting "hot" even under extended high-end gaming sessions. Even in the large gaming cases, such as the HAF 932 I run, I don't want anything taking up more space than necessary.

Wonder if this one is still UV reactive?

It has a very old sKool look :) Reminds me of the HD2900 series

I love ice-q cards as much as the next man (adored my 9800 Pro) but this iteration is really, really ugly. serious HIS what were you thinking?

wolfI love ice-q cards as much as the next man (adored my 9800 Pro) but this iteration is really, really ugly. serious HIS what were you thinking?

Ugly or not. I was really dissapointed when HiS dropped this cooler design from their cards. seeing a cooler like this that vents the hot air directly outside the case brings back a nostalgic smile.

Or it could be that these new generation of cards run a lot cooler cooler then previous generations when HiS dropped the design.

Maybe Arctic Cooling will start making similar coolers like they did back then for the Radeon 9800's but to support more newer/modern graphics cards.

did anyone else notice the tiny air ducts on the fan motor? not only does the fan cool the card, but it cools its own motor too!

i've always like the IceQ coolers... for one simple reason. all the hot air goes OUT of the case and they perform MUCH better than stock.

It would of been nice to see them make the cooler were the plastic part can clip off for easier cleaning.

Does the blue colour make it any colder?

ActivedukeDoes the blue colour make it any colder?

do 'go faster' stripes on a car make it go any faster?

FreedomEclipseseeing a cooler like this that vents the hot air directly outside the case brings back a nostalgic smile.

The stock HD6970 vents out the back plate as well. Why is this better?

The Von MatricesThe stock HD6970 vents out the back plate as well. Why is this better?

the stock HD6970 cooler is usual part blocked off by a DVi port.

and probably has smaller or no heatpipes at all
---

unfortunately its still part blocked by a dvi port :p

FreedomEclipsethe stock HD6970 cooler ... probably has smaller or no heatpipes at all

It has a vapor chamber. Isn't that better than heatpipes?

From the one picture I notice a couple of angled vents right by the bracket/screw location, so it probably isn't moving all the hot air out the back. While I don't normally find such squirrel cage fan to be hushed especially when they spool up. It would appear by the fan header to be PWM fan, so it they control it right it may be fine.

As to the looks, not the worst it has the old-skool retro… function over appearance. The shroud in that semi-transparent clear is actually smart. The clear always got that dust haze on it right away anyway, while black you can't see when it's all clogged up. The one thing they aren't advertising is if the memory clips are cooled... they better be!

I'll agree with AsRock, what is the #1 feature a good designed cooler like this must have? It must offer removable shroud, simply remove a couple of screws and have access to thoroughly clean everywhere. It's no good if you can't get in here and use a soft brush to clean between the fins and blades. All that build up will just allow it to collect dust more rapidly.

Reminds me of the HIS X1950pro but with heat pipes and lights.

Personally it looks dated and ugly but can't fault the cooling performance.

I like it, loose the sticker and it won't look nearly as bad.

DanishDevilMan is that cooler funky. I miss these days of the IceQ coolers:

www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=11681
Image borrowed from guru3d.com :)

I own exactly that and its in my Bro's PC.

pantherx12I like it, loose the sticker and it won't look nearly as bad.

The sticker isn't half as bad as the shroud...
I don't know what HIS' been smoking but they can easily fit a larger fan instead of wasting space like they are doing now.

They haven't, the empty area around the fan is for a reason.