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

Forceman said:
So is a 7950 $100 faster than the 7870?

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?
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7870 performance can be more random and the 7950 is probably a more balanced card. I would not buy any of the 7 series at their current prices though.
 
AMD and nvidia are both having yield issues with the 28hm prices and its unlikely nVidia cards will be significantly cheaper.
 
napol30n said:
AMD and nvidia are both having yield issues with the 28hm prices and its unlikely nVidia cards will be significantly cheaper.
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yeah it looks like we could be pretty screwed for a while. I am so glad that I got good deal on my gtx570 back when I did as I dont really have to upgrade now.
 
Wow I guessed earlier in some video card thread the prices.

I Was spot on!!!...and I didnt have any bullshit sources.

Im playing the lottery today
 
would like to add. I would REALLY like to see what the 7870 can do with voltage adjustments! (Yes I know you couldnt use any)

Only time will tell!
 
DASHlT said:
would like to add. I would REALLY like to see what the 7870 can do with voltage adjustments!

Only time will tell!
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lol, you cant use the edit button?

I would like to see what both the 7870 and 7850 can do with voltage adjustments. I am guessing they will top out pretty close to each other. and clock for clock the cards might be really close too such as with the 7970 and 7950.
 
Brent_Justice said:
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.
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funkydmunky said:
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.
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Well I don't feel the need to be rude like funkydmunky as I don't know how long you had to compare them but all the other review sites did both video cards and they all had decent overclocking results. If you're not going to include OCing benches please don't tease with how high you could get overclocks that is meaningless without benchmarks, for all we know it would have crashed at the OC you set. I hope Hard is able to make it up with a dedicated overclocking article otherwise it looks like you guys are not keeping up with the other sites.
 
cannondale06 said:
not bad but unless I am blind they only oced the 7870. also you would think they would test more games while oced.
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Yea I agree. I mean BF3 is a good test, would of loved to see more.

But yea im sure Kyle will have a overclocking article soon with some retail samples with Voltage adjustments..
 
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What I didn't get is, they compared 7870 with 6970 and 7970 turned out to be faster. So the equation is...

6970 < (7870 = 580) < 7970.

7870 is faster than 6970 by approximately the same margin as 7970 to 7870. Which brings 7870 into the same range is 580.

Would'nt it be INSANE!!! to spend 200$ more on 580 for almost the identical perfomance and on 7970 to get just around 15-20 increase over 7870?
 
Prices will drop. I hadn't kept up on gaming cards as my customers don't often ask to play BF3 etc. but I was amazed before xmas when I found you could buy a 6870 for around £130.

Lot of card for the money.
 
AMD's current pricing strategy has yielded one thing. And that is my unlocked 6950 is still a relevant performer more than a year after its purchase. Though I may not be itching to upgrade since the $350 price point is my limit, AMD has continued to keep me satisfied with my purchase.
 
i`ll keep an eye on the 7850, because as the landscape changes and the prices come down i feel that it would be a more than worthy successor of the 6850 in the bang/buck throne, specially with programs that allows you to go beyond the 1050 of Overdrive.


Also what i really liked where the news about the improved MLAA, hopefully they paid the jiménez team and licensed it for the drivers, jiménez MLAA was leaps and bounds better in quality and almost an order of magnitude faster on a 1080p image (6.6ms to 0.89ms processing time, meaning that jiménez´s was 7.4times faster). Sure that won't be SMAA but dayumn still beats the crap out of regular MLAA.
 
Good review along with many others...don't agree with the final analysis though, the 7870 is a very impressive card for the power/performance. That price matches the older 6970 so if I was looking for a card in that category it would be a no brainer. Several other sites give the lead to the 7870 over the 6970...that is why you read SEVERAL reviews, not just one. If you think Kepler is going to come in at $300 and beat everything your fucking dreaming!
 
As usual, excellent review Kyle.

I'm even more confused about upgrading my gpu now, so:
HD5850 < HD7850 and how much of a difference would I see?
 
IMHO, i kinda think there are yield issues which is causing these prices more then ati trying to milk the consumer...

Ah well, i do expect to see a 10% price drop across the 7xxx series during the next quarter though....
 
What I am not understanding, is why in the review of the 7850 counterpart, they didn't include the 6950 for comparison? The price is close, and they did it for the 7870/6970 setup. My guess, is because the 6950 beats out the 7850 in most tests.

Basically, if you have a 6950, its not worth "upgrading" (if you can call it that) to a 7850. A 7870.... perhaps. I think I will just hold on to my unlockable 6950, and save my buck$$.


Ian
 
AMD 7850..... same performance as the 6950 for the same price......

Shouldn't new generation hardware be faster than old generation at the same price point? Clearly, a price drop would've been better.
 
Good review.. 7870 is a pretty impressive card, and will really be impressive when its sub $300 in 6 months.

I would LOVE to see a 7870 Crossfire Eyefinity review, and I bet I'm not the only one.
 
You guys have to remember that these cards are competing with Nvidia's counterparts, and NOT AMD's old chips.

7870 vs. 6970. I paid $320 for my Sapphire 6970 2GB card, if I were purchasing now I would gladly pay $350 for a 7870 mainly to eliminate the heat and noise this 6970 puts out.

Pricing will aline with what some of you are asking for once Nvidia has released their line-up. I hate to say this, but with GCN being so new of an arch we are bound to see steady performance increases once their drivers have matured a bit. (flame retardant suit activated).
 
All this proves to me that there is a problem with the 28nm process and that the first generation parts are turning out to be very expensive to make.

So if you combine the added expense of making the cards with the fact that they have no competition at the moment then you get an explaination of why prices are so high at the moment.

And didn't I read a link lately about nvidia saying that the 28nm process was really expensive, so we will see (soon, I hope) what prices they release their cards at.
 
It's be a couple of months, can we even get WHQL drivers for Pete's sake? There's no excuse for them to NOT have WHQL drivers out for the 7xxx series...
 
reaper12 said:
All this proves to me that there is a problem with the 28nm process and that the first generation parts are turning out to be very expensive to make.

So if you combine the added expense of making the cards with the fact that they have no competition at the moment then you get an explaination of why prices are so high at the moment.

And didn't I read a link lately about nvidia saying that the 28nm process was really expensive, so we will see (soon, I hope) what prices they release their cards at.
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I'm not sure it proves a problem with the process making them expensive. What it makes ME wonder is if TSMC has realized they are really the only option AMD and Nvidia have and so are taking advantage and hiking wafer prices.
 
Wow, [H] has been giving out awards like candy for the wallet-raping 7xxx series.

What happened to [H] standing up for their readers and calling a spade a spade? The 7xxx series is overpriced by ~$100 across the board and at these inflated prices there's no way any 7xxx series besides the 7970 (top single GPU card is always $$$$) deserves any award.
 
Kueller said:
Wow, [H] has been giving out awards like candy for the wallet-raping 7xxx series.

What happened to [H] standing up for their readers and calling a spade a spade? The 7xxx series is overpriced by ~$100 across the board and at these inflated prices there's no way any 7xxx series besides the 7970 (top single GPU card is always $$$$) deserves any award.
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I'd say overpriced by $50, not $100. But- if you look at the comparisons, the 7870 is a beast for what it is, and how its priced. Its price competitive with the 570 and 6970, and beats them both consistently. In fact, its really not that far behind the 580. If you look at it that way, its just a dang good card. I think what you are missing here is that AMD really has just released a fantastic set of hardware, totally uncontested with power consumption and efficiency levels totally unheard of before. If they were $50 cheaper across the board I think you'd see them getting Gold awards instead of Silver.
 
Flyinfinni said:
I'm not sure it proves a problem with the process making them expensive. What it makes ME wonder is if TSMC has realized they are really the only option AMD and Nvidia have and so are taking advantage and hiking wafer prices.
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Well either way it makes the cards more expensive to make and this in turn makes them more expensive to us :(
 
I admit, I want one. Actually I want a 7970, but that's too rich for my blood. Was hoping the 78xx series would be priced more reasonably. However, at this price point, I'm still not ready to say goodbye to my beloved 5850. I feel like the 7850 isnt a worthy upgrade, and the 7870 jumps in price by a hundred bucks - wtf?
 
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funkydmunky said:
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.
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Kueller said:
Wow, [H] has been giving out awards like candy for the wallet-raping 7xxx series.

What happened to [H] standing up for their readers and calling a spade a spade? The 7xxx series is overpriced by ~$100 across the board and at these inflated prices there's no way any 7xxx series besides the 7970 (top single GPU card is always $$$$) deserves any award.
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I think your gripe is with NVIDIA for offering no competition in the market allowing AMD to do whatever it sees fit it can sell into the market. Maybe we can agree no awards for non-existent NVIDIA parts for this review.
 
It is kind of funny how people are blaming AMD because Nvidia can't provide any competition at this time.
 
So basically the best upgrade for the money today would have been to buy an unlockable 6950 18 months ago. Can I borrow a time machine? :)

Impressive power consumption on the new cards, but we're not getting a whole lot on the bang for the buck front on these 'midrange' ($350 is midrange?). If you already own a 6950/6970, why would you ever upgrade to a 78xx series card?

Gonna tough it out, wait & see how nvidia will counter. Competition and less demand on supply should help get rid of the price gouging :p
 
SO the 7850 is 15% faster then a $150 6870 on dx10 games? 25% faster on dx11 games? That seem about right?
 
So... For $100 less per card and over a year ago, my 6950's unlocked and overclocked heavily give about the same performance and brand new $349.99 7870s.

Not to mention that the 6950s have matured drivers compared to these cards.

Even overclocking these cards wouldn't make them worth the extra $100 per card over what I have.

Price fail? I would have to guess so. The performance is astounding for mid range replacement cards but the price is where it is due to lack of compelling competition. The good news is that hopefully with this nvidia cards price will drop to clearance levels as they wait for Kepler to be ready for prime time.

Guess I'll be hanging on to my tried and true 6970 (6950s) until kepler comes out to show me something truly amazing worth an extra $100 or more per card or bitch smacks some price sense into AMD's marketing team.

Competition FTW ;)
 
I dont think the price is fail on the 7870.

I mean its as fast as a 580 GTX, uses around what 100 watts less?

You can pick up a 580 gtx for liker $450 now, so for $100 less, you get a card thats less power, stay way cooler, and overclocked like a mofo.

That is a pretty damn good deal if you ask me.

Edit* Would like to add, but Nvidia would have to lower the 580 gtx prices now for sure.
 
Sojuuk said:
Just because they can charge whatever they want doesn't mean I have to like it.
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All you have to do is wait a couple months and the prices should come down...not worth hating (or dislike) over, it's just a video card.
 
Just sold off both my 6850's in anticipation....now what?

6950 2GB's are non-existant at newegg. don't really want to side-grade to 6850/6870 2GB....
Don't want to spend $600 on 2, 6970's....
 
Excellent. I'm stoked on the 7870. I'll wait until the GeForce cards come out to compete though. Once it hits the $250-300 range I'll bite, unless the GeForce cards show significant improvements performance or price wise.

Nice review!
 
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