Radeon 7850 compared to current generation? >6870?

[echn111]

Looking to upgrade to the next gen AMD cards when the mid range comes out. Main reason is energy efficiency; the more efficient my components are, the more I can overclock my system and/or reduce noise levels and this is especially important for my current builds. (Did the usual custom water cooled monster builds a few years ago, lost interest, now messing around with efficient mini-ITX builds).

Not a power gamer, but I do enjoy the occational game every now and then, and will be using a resolution of 2560x1440, so can't be "too" energy efficient at the cost of power. The 7850's max TDP of 95w looks much better than my 6870's TDP of over 150w. But anyone know how it likely compares, performance wise, to the current generation of cards; at least as powerful as a 6870? As the cards haven't yet come out, open to reasonable guesses...

 

[sirmonkey1985]

the 7850 is a 28nm version of the 6950.. if you want something that compares to the 6870 you would be looking at the 7770/7790.


edit my info may be off let me check something first, i'm not totally awake yet.


nevermind i was only slightly off, yeah the 7790 would be a closer comparison to the 6870. where as the 7850 is sort of in the middle of the 6870 and 6950, the 7870 is a 28nm version of the 6950 and the 7890 is a 28nm version of the 6970.

so as far as your question goes the difference should be noticable but the power savings will make a much bigger difference. but if you were trying to stay in the 150w TDP i'd actually go with the 7870. you get power savings plus the same or better performance as the 6950.

 

[NathanP2007]

The 7850 is the 28nm version of the 6950? Hmm.
In the 7xxx series lineup, is there a card equal-to or more powerful (in terms of gaming performance) than two 6950's Crossfired?
I am a power gamer and i repeatedly read on [H]ere that a one card solution is always preferable. I have two 6950's , which i can sell and then have a $500 budget for a one card solution. However i dont have a firm grasp yet on the details of the 7xxx series, and what each card is compared to.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

The 7850 is the 28nm version of the 6950? Hmm.
In the 7xxx series lineup, is there a card equal-to or more powerful (in terms of gaming performance) than two 6950's Crossfired?
I am a power gamer and i repeatedly read on [H]ere that a one card solution is always preferable. I have two 6950's , which i can sell and then have a $500 budget for a one card solution. However i dont have a firm grasp yet on the details of the 7xxx series, and what each card is compared to.

you can try looking around at the few CFX reviews that have been done so far. but i think the 7970 should be pretty close to 6950 crossfire. but i think it can beat it once its overclocked which we really don't know what the overclock limit is since no one can do the voltage tweaks yet. i'd just wait til we get some better reviews, i think brent said they were doing an overclock revisit once they had time, maybe next week. maybe we can get a cfx review when they can get some retail cards. i think the whole crossfire vs single card being better arguements finally over though now that AMD has finally released the 12.1 preview drivers which has the user made crossfire profiles. it should solve 99.9% of the issues with crossfire in games that haven't had profile updates yet.

btw i updated my original post since i was slightly wrong so you might want to check it again.

 

[NathanP2007]

Thanks, thats all good to know. I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for upcoming articles. I have very little experience with crossfire so when it comes to their downsides and "self made profiles" etc, i have very little knowledge. Overall im glad to hear that a 2 card solution is becoming much less of a issue.

I just know if i can sell my cards while they are still highly valued/sought after, and get a new generation card thats equal to my old cards crossfired i would be very happy. Less power used, less heat, less space used, and always the possibility when needed of getting another for CF when it has lowered in price and if i have a need.