AMD Radeon HD 6870 & HD 6850 Video Card Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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AMD Radeon HD 6870 & HD 6850 Video Card Review - AMD is launching its new mainstream performance lineup, the Radeon HD 6800 series. The 6800 cards will offer much more performance at the $179 to $239 price range. We compare the new Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon HD 6850 with AMD and NVIDIA cards and find out which delivers the best gameplay experience and value.
 
holy shit balls, these are nice. From looking at these, I might have to chang my undies after the 6900 series drops.
 
Looks like I made a good choice in buying an ASUS 6870 ~45 minutes ago.
 
Can I ask why , in your original dual gpu article 5850 VS gtx 460 you picked 460's clocked at 810mhz. Justified that , because the price was similar to 675 cards. Create a controversy declaring these lower cost mid range cards superior to many ATI combo's. In numerous articles. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/04/geforce_gtx_460_1gb_sli_vs_radeon_hd_5850_cfx/
Then turn around and test AMD's new cards with a 675mhz gtx 460 and declare it ready for the 'pile' ?
Anything to do with page hits ?
Or at least being totally inconsistent at real world game testing.
 
To scratch my plans of another 5770 or to jump on a 6870.. I'm very happy it's got two sixers and not a six and an eight, my Corsair 550 can actually run it.

e: Nvidia reviewer guidelines are all about using their overclocked cards against stock AMD cards, it's always been ready for the pile notty
 
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notty22 said:
Can I ask why , in your original dual gpu article 5850 VS gtx 460 you picked 460's clocked at 810mhz. Justified that , because the price was similar to 675 cards.
Anything to do with page hits ?
Or at least being totally inconsistent at real world game testing.
Click to expand...

I think it was more justified because any of the OC cards were still cheaper than a 5850.

This time 6850 easily undercuts the cheapest 460 1GB so using the OC version isn't so justified.
 
6870 it is once the pay check comes in on Friday. Thanks for solidifying my choice [H]! Now for the excruciating wait for Sandy Bridge...
 
WOW 179 and 239?.....The 6850 just became the new card to buy.

Hope people waited for these babies, cause AMD is being very consumer friendly on the prices.

God I cannot wait to see what Mr Prime1 has to say lawl.
 
nice, can't wait to see your view on the 470GTX vs the 6870. Who am I kidding, I want to see the 6970. I wonder how long Nvidia will be willing to eat these lower prices on the 470 though
 
Wow, incredible prices at Newegg on these cards.

When will the 6900 cards drop? Based on the lesser cards, I can't imagine the 6900s being more than $300 or so?

And if they outperform the GTX480 at the price......Nvidia will be in big trouble.
 
shawnoen said:
Wow, incredible prices at Newegg on these cards.

When will the 6900 cards drop? Based on the lesser cards, I can't imagine the 6900s being more than $300 or so?

And if they outperform the GTX480 at the price......Nvidia will be in big trouble.
Click to expand...


some time in november.. definitely before thanksgiving.. they need to get them before the christmas sales..

notty22 said:
Can I ask why , in your original dual gpu article 5850 VS gtx 460 you picked 460's clocked at 810mhz. Justified that , because the price was similar to 675 cards. Create a controversy declaring these lower cost mid range cards superior to many ATI combo's. In numerous articles. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/04/geforce_gtx_460_1gb_sli_vs_radeon_hd_5850_cfx/
Then turn around and test AMD's new cards with a 675mhz gtx 460 and declare it ready for the 'pile' ?
Anything to do with page hits ?
Or at least being totally inconsistent at real world game testing.
Click to expand...


to add to what snowdog said.. the reviews are based on prices.. so if the price of said primary card in the review is 239.. then they compare it to cards of the same price range.. the overclocked GTX 460 1GB were higher then the 239 dollar price point for the 6870 when they were writing the review thus said card does not get used in the review.. i wouldnt be surprised if they do another review with the gtx 460 1GB overclocked cards now that nvidia has cut the prices on the 460.. so dont get your panties in a wad and just hang on..
 
Is there any CF review in future?

If there is, I'll just hold off until I see the scaling myself and see if they finally fix the stuttering issue..
 
shawnoen said:
When will the 6900 cards drop? Based on the lesser cards, I can't imagine the 6900s being more than $300 or so?
Click to expand...

Some time in November. I would not expect those to be quite that inexpensive.
 
shansoft said:
Is there any CF review in future?

If there is, I'll just hold off until I see the scaling myself and see if they finally fix the stuttering issue..
Click to expand...

Yes. Business as usual around here.
 
Great review.

I've read a few different reviews this evening and the more I read the more I am impressed by these new cards with their performance and value.

Also this 6000 series launch appears to have much more performance and value. Lots of of options.

Right now I'm thinking upgrade for sure by Christmas. Either a HD6800 or something better from AMD
 
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skadebo said:
Any specific reason for no overclocking results?
Click to expand...

Yes. We simply did not have time to cover it properly. It will be covered very soon. But honestly, the best true "big picture" OC information comes from you guys posting it here in the forums.
 
HD 6870 looks great - will wait for a custom cooler (and hope the prices don't leap like the HD 5850 did last year after release).
 
well I bought the gigabyte 6850 off of newegg, I hope I wont be disappointed.
 
Damn that some sexy efficiency right there. If I wasn't in the market for a laptop this would be purchased right away.
 
skadebo said:
Any specific reason for no overclocking results?
Click to expand...

As Kyle mentioned we didn't have the time, we do have retail cards lined up to review with factory OC and voltage capability, so extreme overclocking will be explored on retail products as well. I am very curious to see if a 6870 could surpass a 5870 with overclocking, or how that would compare to GTX 470, we have plenty of followups in mind for you guys.
 
I know time was short, but man for all us guys waiting to pull the trigger, not having the 470 included is a major fail

Thanks anyway.
 
10/1/09 - buy 5850 for $259
10/21/10 - Radeon 6870 launches, offering only marginally better performance/value

*hugs launch-day 5850*

And no I'm not crapping on the 68xx, it's just... damn... how often does being an early adopter work out so well?

Kyle, any idea (that you're allowed to share) what kind of price ballpark the 69xx series will be shooting for?
 
Modboxx said:
I know time was short, but man for all us guys waiting to pull the trigger, not having the 470 included is a major fail

Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...

When we started this evaluation, GTX 470 was out of range for the price points. We have GTX 470 comparison to 6870 planned for next week. We are sorry we are not humanly capable of giving you everything you want immediately.
 
Thank you for the great review Kyle!

While no upgrade for me (5870) -- I was absolutely floored by the performance and price of these cards. What a great day to be a gamer! This is how exciting new releases should be :D
 
Brent_Justice said:
When we started this evaluation, GTX 470 was out of range for the price points. We have GTX 470 comparison to 6870 planned for next week. We are sorry we are not humanly capable of giving you everything you want immediately.
Click to expand...

Nothing against you guys or the site but you guys know how newegg is

Sorry if i came of to harsh.
 
Man the 2 main things I wanted to see weren't there

1. Overclocking results/ & OC vs OC
2. Multi GPU Scaling

Hopefully in the follow up stuff you guys got planned as mentioned before. I can't wait. Lucky I'm not in the market to buy a card in the next few days. I simply wouldn't be able to decide for myself with the info provided, but that's just me. Good review overall though.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
Man the 2 main things I wanted to see weren't there

1. Overclocking results/ & OC vs OC
2. Multi GPU Scaling

Hopefully in the follow up stuff you guys got planned as mentioned before. I can't wait. Lucky I'm not in the market to buy a card in the next few days. I simply wouldn't be able to decide for myself with the info provided, but that's just me. Good review overall though.
Click to expand...

They are coming, we have much to do still, time was a constraining factor in this evaluation. We certainly have much more to explore.
 
Time to get rid of the Dual 4830s I've been rocking for a while.
6870 just does it for me.
 
Time to get rid of my 4670. I'm definitely getting a 6850 by this Christmas!!
 
About to pull the trigger on 2 XFX 6850's to run in crossfire...but I don't know if my 520HX can handle it...
 
Another excellent article. I look forward to the follow ups. A 6870 looks like something I will be purchasing soon.
 
Great work. Looking forward to the [H] Crossfire gameplay evaluations along with overclocking tests.
F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5, F5.
 
Great review Brent and Kyle. I personally would like to see how the GTX 470 stacks up, but I don't think anyone predicted that we were going to see a price cut like that on it. What I enjoy the most is that you guys take the time to play the game and give us real world gaming experience. Not easy, but much more realistic than running a benchmark.

For me, this is definately not an upgrade but the amount of performance we are starting to see at these prices points are incredible for consumers. If only this kind of price war was going on back when I got my twin 5850 CFX setup early this year. I blame poor yields that caused shortages, and the lack of competition from nVidia at the time.

What impressed me the most was not necessarily the performance, but the efficiency of these new GPU's.
 
Awesome review guys. It may just be time for me to replace my old-ass 8800 GTS. These puppies look great, especially for the price and efficiency.
 
Awesome launch and awesome review, the little downside is, i wish AMD havnet named them that way.
As a computer shop owner, i can feel its the time to fight again against my less informed customers, "NO, HD 6870 is NOT superior than HD 5870".
 
Did you guys get any info from AMD regarding the supply of these offerings? Plentifull or better buy now or you'll get screwed?
 
amdgamer said:
What impressed me the most was not necessarily the performance, but the efficiency of these new GPU's.
Click to expand...
Which is why, although I could have actually used the added VRAM on the 470, bought a 6870 tonight instead of the 470. It's only a place holder for my til Cayman anyway.
 
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