HIS HD2600XT IceQ

Similar to the Zalman edition packaging, the IceQ box is rather minimalistic. All the info is clearly laid out, including the GPU and memory speeds. There is a huge hole in the front of the box as well, letting you take a glimpse at the improved cooler installed on the device. The contents of the package are the same as those of the Zalman edition card, with one noticeable omission – there is  no DVI-to-HDMI adapter to be found. After talking to HIS about this they reassured us that retail versions of the card will come with the HDMI adapter.

There are 3 major differences between the IceQ version of the HD2600XT and any regular HD2600XT. The first and most obvious is the Arctic Cooling cooler installed on the device. This behemoth of a cooler takes up two slots, but it is nearly noiseless and can keep the card cool even under extended load. The second difference is the slightly faster GPU frequency, running at 830MHz instead of the reference 800MHz. The last, and possibly most important difference is the high quality memory. The 256Mb of k4j52324qe-bj1a Samsung memory modules are rated at 1000/2000MHz, so with HIS setting them to 960/1920MHz, overclockers still have some headroom.

Just like with the Zalman cooled edition, the IceQ has the standard two Dual-DVI connectors and a HD TV-Out plug. And since the technology is the same the retail IceQ version should stream a full HDMI signal over DVI just fine (using the provided adapter).