AMD Radeon HD 7870 and 7850 Video Card Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,634
AMD Radeon HD 7870 and 7850 Video Card Review - AMD is introducing the performance mainstream Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7850 today. We'll look at performance compared to the competition and talk about pricing and explore value. If you are in the market for a video card between $249 and $349 these video cards will likely need to be on your short list.
 
Last edited:
about the same price as expected. great overclockers. Need to drop in price to be viable.
 
What happened Kyle, did you have a "brainfart" and do the timezone conversions incorrectly, so you posted an hour too early or something?

I agree with [H], it is surprising how fast the 7870 is, but it's just not worthy of Gold if you have to pay $350 for it. You're basically getting 6970 level performance for the exact same price. The power efficiency is nice, but it's just not worth it, because you aren't going to recoup that money for years and years. If they dropped the price to $300 I think it would be great.

The one consistent complaint I have against AMD reference designs is the fan noise, and they still haven't made much progress. The 7870 makes as much noise as the GTX 580, and the 580 has a power consumption of ~200 watts, compared to only ~100 for the 7870. AMD's reference coolers blow, hard.
 
Last edited:
350 bucks for the 7870? remember when the 6870 was technically just a replacement for the 5770? by that I mean it was slower than the 5870 and really was just a shuffling and moving of model numbers. so reality is this would be a 7770 based on the way their naming scheme was with the 5000 series. so now we have a mid range card that is about 120% faster than the 2.5 year old 5770 while costing 120% more than the 5770 originally launched at. 2.5 years later and we get exactly the SAME performance per dollar. anyway lets now look at the 6870 which launched at $240. well the 7870 costs 45% more while being about 45% faster. lol, again we are getting the SAME performance per dollar. all AMD seems to be doing is keeping things the same or in the case of the 7950/7970, charging even more for it. whatever happened to next gen cards giving more performance per dollar?
 
Yep pricing.... not so good this time....

I understand that the lack of competition right now is driving the price, even so I don't like it.

Perhaps I'll go with a single 7850, then see if I can get a second one later to go with it when the prices reach an acceptable level. With these cards there will be all kinds of HSF's to choose from I am guessing....

I do like the temps I am seeing, and power usage.
 
cannondale06 said:
350 bucks for the 7870? remember when the 6870 was technically just a replacement for the 5770? by that I mean it was slower than the 5870 and really was just a shuffling and moving of model numbers. so reality is this would be a 7770 based on the way their naming scheme was with the 5000 series. so now we have a mid range card that is about 120% faster than the 2.5 year old 5770 while costing 120% more than the 5770 originally launched at. 2.5 years later and we get exactly the SAME performance per dollar. anyway lets now look at the 6870 which launched at $240. well the 7870 costs 45% more while being about 45% faster. lol, again we are getting the SAME performance per dollar. all AMD seems to be doing is keeping things the same or in the case of the 7950/7970, charging even more for it. whatever happened to next gen cards giving more performance per dollar?
Click to expand...

The 7870 is a decent value that will likely have MIR's and other sales, and oh yeah it's cool and efficient.

OTOH, the 560Ti is just an impressive card.

Final thought, how is about $300 midrange? Most people I know would only want to spend $500 to $600 on a computer. The whole thing. These aren't old people or the computer illiterate either.
 
Pricing on these are good and they perform pretty good too. Just need nvidia to drop these prices more.
 
Corvette said:
The 7870 is a decent value that will likely have MIR's and other sales, and oh yeah it's cool and efficient.

OTOH, the 560Ti is just an impressive card.

Final thought, how is about $300 midrange? Most people I know would only want to spend $500 to $600 on a computer. The whole thing. These aren't old people or the computer illiterate either.
Click to expand...
I am just saying that they keep moving the price points up so we are getting no more card for the money than we have for 2.5 years.
 
xBanzai89 said:
Pricing on these are good and they perform pretty good too. Just need nvidia to drop these prices more.
Click to expand...
how is this good pricing? you are getting no more performance for your money than you did way back when the 5770 launched.
 
cannondale06 said:
350 bucks for the 7870? remember when the 6870 was technically just a replacement for the 5770? by that I mean it was slower than the 5870 and really was just a shuffling and moving of model numbers. so reality is this would be a 7770 based on the way their naming scheme was with the 5000 series. so now we have a mid range card that is about 120% faster than the 2.5 year old 5770 while costing 120% more than the 5770 originally launched at. 2.5 years later and we get exactly the SAME performance per dollar. anyway lets now look at the 6870 which launched at $240. well the 7870 costs 45% more while being about 45% faster. lol, again we are getting the SAME performance per dollar. all AMD seems to be doing is keeping things the same or in the case of the 7950/7970, charging even more for it. whatever happened to next gen cards giving more performance per dollar?
Click to expand...

+1 your criticism puts the nails in the coffin of the entire 7000 series. There's no competition from nVidia so AMD isn't trying to compete on price/performance (very little if at all).

To nVidia: release Kepler... nao!!!!!!!111ONEONE
 
XacTactX said:
What happened Kyle, did you have a "brainfart" and do the timezone conversions incorrectly, so you posted an hour too early or something?
Click to expand...

Did you have a branfart and read an hour too late?
 
Getting no competition from nvidia doesn't help either. AMD will milk the market as long as nvidia just runs their mouth and have no product to show. This is what happens when there is no competition for the time being. I expect AMD to lower prices as nvidia has their full line up. I expect these cards to hit 275-300 in a month or two.
 
Great review...and I agree that AMD will want to milk as much as they can before Kepler comes out. And why not? They do have the cards out and selling...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As expected, these are technically splendid cards showcasing GCN and 28nm well. Prices need to drop to those expected of technology cadences over the decades. All eyes are on Kepler now to hopefully bring about a significant boost in performance/dollar.

I'd purchase a 7850 for $175, but not $250.
 
I've been out of PC gaming for a while, but the 7870 was definately a shocker for me as I had no idea it would be capable of 6970 level performance. If the 28nm process is allowing for cards this efficient, I can't wait to see what both teams will be able to put out once this process node technology matures. After all, who would have thought that either ATI or nVidia could have milked the 40nm tech so well?
 
7870 really does sound good. Still can't wait to see what nVidia has though around the similar price range of 350, 450, and 550 of the 7870, 7950, and 7970, respectfully, when it comes to finding the right graphics card for me.
 
These prices just assure that I WILL NOT buy 7870. I wanna see what Kepler offers at the $300 price mark... Do you hear AMD, I'd buy tomorrow at $300, but instead you chose to milk the lack of competition (for the time being)... Your loss, not mine...
 
I am glad I snagged my GTX 580 3GB used for 400$ last year when I did. Should allow me to skip this entire generation. And in my eyes I rather still have a custom 6950 that unlocks over the newer 78XX cards. Much to pricey.
 
These prices just assure that I WILL NOT buy 7870. I wanna see what Kepler offers at the $300 price mark... Do you hear AMD, I'd buy tomorrow at $300, but instead you chose to milk the lack of competition (for the time being)... Your loss, not mine...
Click to expand...

I'm sure they hear the one customer that won't buy their product and it's not their loss as much as it is yours. :p But do you honestly think NVIDIA is going to price something extremely better at $300? Nvidia is the king of putting high prices on their cards. I want them to release it so the prices go down on all cards, but I'm not holding my breath for some revolutionary price/performance from NVIDIA. But if they do, they'll have my money :)
 
the pricing and benchmarks made me purchase a 7950 tonight. i wish i could have gotten some of this info sooner so i could have had a video card two weeks ago!
 
Forgive me for asking, but why does HardOCP not include overclocked benchmarks? These are supposed to be awesome overclockers even without voltage control that would mean all the difference to me. OC'd these things are topping 7970's at stock that's pretty badass.
 
Fantastic cards, thanks for another great review guys.
 
No EyeFinity rez, why? We want to know how these cards perform [H]. Limiting them to Nvidia resolutions is very half-ass on your part. How do you consider this a full review when you omit resolutions that these cards perform at. This should NOT have been a 7850/70 vs. Nvidia review. It was a 7850/70 review and you castrated it. Why?
No X-fire. I assume you are taking your time to do a full review, but considering this 7000 gen is getting 2X performance in X-fire you should have touched on it.
New EyeFinity abilities? Simply not mentioned (again, and again(7700/7900).
No overclock performance number comparisons? WTF?
I'm seriously deflated [H], ya gotta pick your ass up here if you want to stay the best. :confused:
 
exactly where i thought they would be!

now i just have to wait till they are in stock and i can buy one. Looking forward to the non reference designs!
 
MMAOmegaRED said:
Forgive me for asking, but why does HardOCP not include overclocked benchmarks?
Click to expand...
I'm sure overclocking and Eyefinity stuff will come in later articles. Impressive hardware expect the price, a familiar theme with these 28nm cards from AMD.
 
mzs_biteme said:
These prices just assure that I WILL NOT buy 7870. I wanna see what Kepler offers at the $300 price mark... Do you hear AMD, I'd buy tomorrow at $300, but instead you chose to milk the lack of competition (for the time being)... Your loss, not mine...
Click to expand...

+1

I was planning on buying a 7870 for $300, even at this price I'm not too thrilled about it. At $350 with custom coolers, it will be roughly $370-$400 at launch. And now 6950's are overpriced, this is just fantastic.
 
They can charge whatever they want while nVidia has nothing new. I'm waiting on the fence to see just how much those prices drop once competition ramps up, though for my system I think a non-reference 7850 would be a great fit.

When the 7850 is closer to that wonderful $200 mark is when I'll bite for a new card, be it the 7850 or an nvidia equivalent.
 
MMAOmegaRED said:
Forgive me for asking, but why does HardOCP not include overclocked benchmarks? These are supposed to be awesome overclockers even without voltage control that would mean all the difference to me. OC'd these things are topping 7970's at stock that's pretty badass.
Click to expand...

If you read our past evaluations, we typically do provide OC performance comparisons. In this evaluation, with the doubling up of video cards, we had essentially two reviews in one, and time became a factor. All add-in-board partner card evaluations will include overclocked performance comparisons as we always do.
 
Seriously disappointing cards. Pay us same amount of money as last year and get ~10% faster performance. We didn't move a needle since last year. AMD!
 
funkydmunky said:
No EyeFinity rez, why? We want to know how these cards perform [H]. Limiting them to Nvidia resolutions is very half-ass on your part. How do you consider this a full review when you omit resolutions that these cards perform at. This should NOT have been a 7850/70 vs. Nvidia review. It was a 7850/70 review and you castrated it. Why?
No X-fire. I assume you are taking your time to do a full review, but considering this 7000 gen is getting 2X performance in X-fire you should have touched on it.
New EyeFinity abilities? Simply not mentioned (again, and again(7700/7900).
No overclock performance number comparisons? WTF?
I'm seriously deflated [H], ya gotta pick your ass up here if you want to stay the best. :confused:
Click to expand...

You do realize we only have a short period of time with the video cards before a launch, yes? If not, now you know. While we'd love to include every possible evaluation and comparison under the sun, it is not feasable. We strive to make the initial evaluation meaningful and hit at the heart of what the new video cards are all about. We will of course perform further evaluation and followup with these video cards. If you notice, we evaluate, and prefer to evaluate, retail video cards from add-in-board partners. Those are the video cards that people are going to buy.

Eyefinity was not within the scope of this evaluation, perhaps you missed literally having two evaluations in one article with two brand new cards and their own comparisons. I would argue that if you are going to do Eyefinity gaming with a single video card, one would want a 7950 or 7970 to do that with. I can speak for myself, if I were going to just have a single card Eyefinity setup, I'd want a 7970 so I can get the best performance. Or better yet, CrossFireX with Eyefinity to really drive those games at the high resolutions that Eyefinity demands. That said, Eyefinity on 7870 is something we may look at, but I wouldn't say it is a priority at this point.

Second, we don't test at "NVIDIA resolutions" whatever that is. We utilize the highest possible resolution, we also consider the price point of the video card and the type of display setup the end user who buys this video card will be using. Most users of $249-$349 video cards are going to primarily be gaming on a single display. Whether that be 1080p or 1600p, we are able to test both. I would consider 2560x1600 to be a great test of a video cards performance in the $249-$349 price range. These 30" displays are still very expensive.

CFX, it takes two cards to do CFX, I have one, do the math.

Overclocking performance comparisons explained in an above post.

Live Long, and Prosper.
 
Last edited:
Woosh! That is the sound of a proper review flying over your head. Do you really think we haven't read a pile of reviews here? It is the single reason why I state you need to pick-it-up. As for all your excuses why this was a week review on your part, I don't care. Excuses are just that. Sorry. Pick it up. Okay?
I really hope you do so, because you are the best after all. If you weren't, I wouldn't bother typing.
 
Well I would have bought two 7870's on launch at $300 wont even buy one at $350. More likely to buy a used 6970 to pair with my current 6970.

if the 7850 was at $200 I would be buying that as well. Nope AMD has sold its soul.

if I was to summarize my feelings about these products it would be simple: Nope.
 
Last edited:
Corvette said:
Final thought, how is about $300 midrange? Most people I know would only want to spend $500 to $600 on a computer. The whole thing. These aren't old people or the computer illiterate either.
Click to expand...


I know huh! I remember when mid-range used to be between $100 and $200. The 460 and the 6850/70 moved it up a little and the 560Ti even a little more. But like a lot of companies lately, AMD decided to go for more. Except instead of a 5~10% boost they went for the gold. Good idea I guess (for them). If sales suck they can always lower the price in the future.



amdgamer said:
I've been out of PC gaming for a while, but the 7870 was definately a shocker for me as I had no idea it would be capable of 6970 level performance.
Click to expand...


You were shocked? How do you feel about the price? Did that shock you too?



amdgamer said:
After all, who would have thought that either ATI or nVidia could have milked the 40nm tech so well?
Click to expand...


Me and like a ton of other people. I'm sure that you are aware that the process technology should improve over time and that the company's experience in general should improve over time so that they should maintain or exceed past performance. How is 40nm any different?



heatthegreat said:
I'm sure they hear the one customer that won't buy their product and it's not their loss as much as it is yours. :p But do you honestly think NVIDIA is going to price something extremely better at $300? Nvidia is the king of putting high prices on their cards. I want them to release it so the prices go down on all cards, but I'm not holding my breath for some revolutionary price/performance from NVIDIA. But if they do, they'll have my money :)
Click to expand...


You think it will only be one customer? :p

I don't expect much better from Nvidia but both these companies have a very good idea how it will affect sales. If you have an older card like a 8800GT or a 4850 or something along those lines you have no choice. Nor if you are building a new computer (with no spare parts).

But how about everyone with a 460, 6850/70, 6950/70 and 570? That is a fairly large group and how will they be feeling about it? They already know the performance levels of their cards and remember how much they paid for them. You think they will be impressed by being able to the same level of price/performance as what was available a year or more ago? And considering a lot of them got deals on their cards, maybe even a WORSE price/performance ratio.

Seems like only 7950/70 owners have something to be happy about because they are buying performance that wasn't available. Sure their price/performance ratio isn't good either but at least they understand they are buying high-end which never has a good ratio. It's acceptable there. But in the mid-range category?

I'm sure prices will eventually drop (+ competition from Nvidia) and then these cards will become decent/good deals but till then you are going to keep seeing these comments. Review this thread so far and see how many people comment on the price/perf ratio sucking vs. those saying its a good deal. You would be nuts to think its only going to result in one less sale :p
 
Sojuuk said:
Well I would have bought two 7870's on launch at $300 wont even buy one at $350. More likely to buy a used 6970 to pair with my current 6970.

if the 7850 was at $200 I would be buying that as well. Nope AMD has sold its soul.
Click to expand...


I'm not religious but, could you please explain the difference between AMD's pricing and the completion's pricing so I could figure out what the $$ attachment is to selling ones soul?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is curious :D
 
funkydmunky said:
I'm not religious but, could you please explain the difference between AMD's pricing and the completion's pricing so I could figure out what the $$ attachment is to selling ones soul?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is curious :D
Click to expand...

my point is there is no difference when previously there was.
 
I like the performance but I'm not really happy with the price point. Im looking to spend around 200 for my next upgrade and I don't know why I wouldn't choose a 560 ti or 6950 for the price.
 
lloose said:
I like the performance but I'm not really happy with the price point. Im looking to spend around 200 for my next upgrade and I don't know why I wouldn't choose a 560 ti or 6950 for the price.
Click to expand...
the 6950 cards are pretty much gone. plus I would not bother upgrading to anything less than gtx570 like performance if coming from a gtx460. if your gtx460 is highly overclocked than even gtx570 level performance would not be all that much of an upgrade.
 
So is a 7950 $100 faster than the 7870? Sure doesn't look like it.

Really impressive performance, but kind of disappointing that we've replaced one $350 card (6950) with another (7870). What happened to new generations giving you more bang for the buck? I wonder what the market is for the 7870 at $350? Is it only people with two generation old hardware? Is anyone with a 6870 or GTX 560 is going to pay that price to upgrade?
 
Last edited:
Like everybody else, dig everything but the price. At least they fall rapidly in cost over where I'm at.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top