AMD Releases the 6850 & 6870 Cards - Reviews Inside

[V_R]

This was taken from another forum, but as its quite a big deal, i thought i'd post it up here too...

Guru3D
The Radeon 6850 offers plenty of performance for today's games. We feel it's sweet spot gaming wise is for gamers with a monitor up-to roughly 1600x1200, even 1920x1200. At that resolution pretty much any game will play excellent with good options in image quality settings like AA.

The Radeon HD 6870 is as far as I am concerned, definitely the more interesting card. It does have a handful more shader processors over what we expected initially, and armed with a phat 900 MHz clock frequency this product simply makes really good sense. It will bring a lot of value to the table but will also allow you to play your games at 1920x1200 extremely well. From a price point of view that makes this product really nice. AMD needed two GeForce GTX 460 cards of their own ... and these are it. Bare in mind though, coming from an R5870 you'd be taking a small perf step down.

Time to wrap things up, the Radeon 6800 series naming wise still feels a little weird, as we all expected it to be named the 6700 series. Regardless of that, the two product launched today fit really well into the upper mid-range segment of the graphics industry. Priced right these two cards can be really interesting for the PC aficionados that like to play games on their PC without spending truckloads of money. And it is exactly that last sentiment that makes ATI AMD so very successful lately.

Hardware Heaven
Starting with the two 6870s being tested today we have a couple of impressive cards which share the same good level of build quality. The latest AMD cooler that they use runs quiet and the cards, at least in single GPU operation, always remain at a reasonable level. Performance of the two cards was identical and each was more than a match for the GTX 470 which dropped in price yesterday in advance of this launch. There are of course a few benefits to purchasing a Radeon over the GTX 470, support for HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 being a couple. The ability to power more than two screens being another and of course support for 7.1 audio is another feature which will appeal to those interested in the media performance of the 6870.

Looking next to the 6850 we have two cards which provide non-reference cooling and a tweaked PCB design when compared with the AMD reference cards. In both cases the redesign lowers temperatures and noise levels which is always appreciated. The gaming performance of both cards was identical and always competitive with the GTX 460 and as with the 6870 the 6850 offers features which the GeForce currently does not, such as the ability to connect 3 screens to one card.

Anandtech
Wrapping things up, we believe this will probably go down as being the most competitive card launch of the year. AMD and NVIDIA reposition themselves against each other with every launch, but by first launching the Radeon HD 6000 series against NVIDIA’s mid-to-high range GTX 460, AMD has gone head-first in to one of NVIDIA’s most prized markets, and NVIDIA is pushing right back. If you would have told us 3 months ago that we would have been able to get GTX 460 1GB performance for $180 only a couple months later, we likely would have called you mad, and yet here we are. The competitive market is alive and then some.

Ultimately this probably won’t go down in history as one of AMD’s strongest launches – there’s only so much you can do without a die shrink – but it’s still a welcome addition to the Radeon family. With a new generation of Radeon cards taking their foothold, we now can turn our eyes towards the future, and to see what AMD will be bringing us with the Radeon HD 6900 series and the Cayman GPU.

http://www.vortez.co.uk/contentteller/articles_pages/msi_r6870_review,1.html

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru.../37286-amd-radeon-hd-6870-hd-6850-review.html

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=1022

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...radeon-hd-6870-902549/review?src=rss&attr=all

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/

http://techgage.com/article/amd_radeon_hd_6870_hd_6850/

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/1/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6870/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6850_Direct_Cu/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/amds-radeon-6870-6850-renewing-competition-in-the-midrange-market

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/10/22/ati-radeon-hd-6870-review/1

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3601/amd_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_video_card/index.html

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/10/22/ati-radeon-hd-6850-review/1

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/10/21/amd_radeon_hd_6870_6850_video_card_review

http://www.techspot.com/review/325-amd-radeon-6870/

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...d-6850-graphics-card-review-introduction.html

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-Radeon-HD-6870--6850-GPUs-Debut/

http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/amd_hd6870_hd6850_launch_review/

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/his_radeon_6850_6870_review/1

*Thanks to Raven @OcUK for the original thread

 

[floppybootstomp]

The 6870 is selling for around the £200.00 mark and I note OCUK is offering a HIS card with a copy of CoD MW2.

The Nvidia 470 can be had for around around the same price with a copy of Mafia 2.

Tempted.

Given the choice V_R, which would you go for?

 

[V_R]

Well, from what i've read so far there aint a lot in it....

Personally i'd say 470, better overclocker and IMO, better drivers. And MW2 aint worth a penny! lolol

Basically....

The 470 has CUDA, PhysX, better tessellation, but is complicated by far greater power consumption (costs more electricity in the long run), heat and as a result of that, is noisier.

The 6870 has Eyefinity and the opposite of the 470, low power/heat/noise but is also (currently) slightly slower than the 470 - this may change with better drivers.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Much as I thought V_R, thanks for feedback

I agree about CoD MW2, it's a year old now, hardly likely to tempt any prospective purchasers.

Mafia 2, on the other hand, can tempt me as it still costs around 30 quid and I don't have it yet, which would make a 470 only cost around 170.

 

[V_R]

Also to add, as its says in the Hardware Hevan quote in the OP, the 6870 would be my choice if ir was for a more Media oriented machine.

There are of course a few benefits to purchasing a Radeon over the GTX 470, support for HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 being a couple. The ability to power more than two screens being another and of course support for 7.1 audio is another feature which will appeal to those interested in the media performance of the 6870.

 

[Abarbarian]

Typical intit spent a few days looking for a Asus EAH5850 DirectCU, read afew reviews etc not a mention of the 6000 range in any of the sites I looked at. So I got one for £208 which I thought was pretty good.
Day it arrived I read your post and blow me if Aria aint selling a 6870 for £197 inc vat. They run a bit cooler and eat less fuel and are just about at the level of my 5850 mebees not so good on overclocking from the reviews I have read today.
So blow me the tech merrrygo round got me again me parts are obsolete before I even get em.

Wonder if E-buyer will take the 5850 back if I order a 6870

 

[V_R]

Just send it back under the DSR.

 

[Abarbarian]

V_R can I pick your brains.

The Asus 5850 I have has a really good cooler on it which means that I should be able to clock it to its max, so thats a good point.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/205834

but,
is it worth me while sending it back and getting the Asus 6870. Do you recon the 6870 will give me a better game play ? The lower wattage at idle is very appealing but will it perform as well in your opinion.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/242835

Also I noticed in some reviews that there are new cards coming out in the next month with more features would I be wise to wait and see what they era and what price they will be.

I have been holding of on playing Crysis 1/2 and Bioshock till I could play them at their best. I've read me self nearly blind and could do with another viewpoint.

Think I will go and walk in the frosty sunshine to clear me head a bit.

 

[V_R]

6870.

Cheaper, smaller die = lower temps, Higher clocks etc.

The next cards out will be the 6970 (Cayman's) They will be the new top end cards. (read expensive)

*Quick reply as i gotta get back to work, but ill have a better look later.

 

[Abarbarian]

Ta V_R I have a few days to send the card back so no rush.Much appreciated.

Was the poor oc's that were mentioned in some reviews that caused me concern. It is winter and I'm going to get me pc oc'ed as far as possible to provide warmth for me poor old fragile body