Replace defective 6850 or upgrade altogether?

[erf]

I've been running 2x6850's for a good while now and have been tickled pink from the time I fired them up. A few weeks ago one of my cards took a shit and I've been "surviving" on one card.

I do not plan on upgrading from 1920x1080 in the foreseeable future but 1 of these cards just isn't enough...especially after using 2 for as long as I have.

The question now is, would it be worth making a $500 upgrade (7850's) as opposed to just ordering another 6850 at $140? I can't really find any reviews/benchmarks on 7850 crossfire and am unsure on how well they are scaling. The 6850's have been heaven sent in the scaling department and I don't want to jump into a nightmare with new hardware/software.

 

[MrC4]

If you had a great experience with your 6850s and are using the same drivers, then by all means just pickup another 6850 for under $140.

I am running crossfire 6950s and have had zero problems on my 1920x1080 display.

 

[MeSoSneaky]

Just replace in my opinion. Unless you can sell the other.

 

[raghu78]

I've been running 2x6850's for a good while now and have been tickled pink from the time I fired them up. A few weeks ago one of my cards took a shit and I've been "surviving" on one card.

I do not plan on upgrading from 1920x1080 in the foreseeable future but 1 of these cards just isn't enough...especially after using 2 for as long as I have.

The question now is, would it be worth making a $500 upgrade (7850's) as opposed to just ordering another 6850 at $140? I can't really find any reviews/benchmarks on 7850 crossfire and am unsure on how well they are scaling. The 6850's have been heaven sent in the scaling department and I don't want to jump into a nightmare with new hardware/software.

Sell the remaining HD 6850 for USD 100. spend USD 300 extra and get a HD 7950 OC edition like Gigabyte HD 7950 Windforce OC or Sapphire HD 7950 OC. That is the better option than spending another USD 150 on a HD 6850.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414

You can hit 1050 Mhz at stock voltage and get to 1200 Mhz with extra voltage. The HD 7950 when OC'd will destroy the HD 6850 CF in the most demanding games. Even a pure doubling of HD 6850 will not get you to HD 7950 OC performance. Don't think of buying a HD 6850. Its no match for a single GPU beast like HD 7950 OC. Also a single GPU is the best guarantee of maximum performance without the hassles of multi GPU setups like crossfire CAP profiles availability for a given game, game compatibility, stability and microstuttering .

Metro 2033 (DOF with AAA) 1920 x 1080
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-guide/10
HD 6850 - 20 fps
HD 7950 (800 Mhz ) - 40 fps
HD 7950 (1150 Mhz)- 50 fps

BF3 Ultra 4X MSAA 1920 x 1080
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-guide/12
HD 6850 - 22 fps
HD 7950 (800 Mhz ) - 40 fps
HD 7950 (1150 Mhz)- 55 fps

Crysis 2 (DX 11 Ultra with high res textures 4X MSAA) 1920 X 1080
http://www.guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-hd-7950-pcs-review/21
http://www.guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-hd-7950-pcs-review/24
HD 6850 - 26 fps
HD 7950 (800 Mhz ) - 59 fps
HD 7950 (1150 Mhz) - 71 fps

Crysis Warhead (Enthusiast 4X MSAA ) 1920 X 1080
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5476/amd-radeon-7950-review/18
HD 6850 performance is close to HD 5850 perf. At 1920 x 1200 HD 7950 OC (1050 Mhz) perf (44 fps) is more than 2x HD 5850 perf (21.4 fps)

Alan Wake (1080p high ) 1920 x 1080
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/857-12/benchmark-alan-wake.html
HD 6850 performance is normally less than GTX 560 ti. It must be around 30 fps for 1080p high settings. HD 7950 at 800 Mhz is 54 fps. So HD 7950 OC perf at 1100+ Mhz will be be easily more than 60 fps or greater than 2x the performance of HD 6850.

 

[Runt.]

I would just go for another 6850, maybe even a used one if you want to cut costs or can find one for ~$100.

So far the cheapest I've seen NEW is $135 after $15 MIR @ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908 with Dirt 3 game that you may be able to resell too ..

 

[erf]

Sell the remaining HD 6850 for USD 100. spend USD 300 extra and get a HD 7950 OC edition like Gigabyte HD 7950 Windforce OC or Sapphire HD 7950 OC. That is the better option than spending another USD 150 on a HD 6850.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414

You can hit 1050 Mhz at stock voltage and get to 1200 Mhz with extra voltage. The HD 7950 when OC'd will destroy the HD 6850 CF in the most demanding games. Even a pure doubling of HD 6850 will not get you to HD 7950 OC performance. Don't think of buying a HD 6850. Its no match for a single GPU beast like HD 7950 OC. Also a single GPU is the best guarantee of maximum performance without the hassles of multi GPU setups like crossfire CAP profiles availability for a given game, game compatibility, stability and microstuttering .

Metro 2033 (DOF with AAA) 1920 x 1080
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-guide/10
HD 6850 - 20 fps
HD 7950 (800 Mhz ) - 40 fps
HD 7950 (1150 Mhz)- 50 fps

BF3 Ultra 4X MSAA 1920 x 1080
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-guide/12
HD 6850 - 22 fps
HD 7950 (800 Mhz ) - 40 fps
HD 7950 (1150 Mhz)- 55 fps

Crysis 2 (DX 11 Ultra with high res textures 4X MSAA) 1920 X 1080
http://www.guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-hd-7950-pcs-review/21
http://www.guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-hd-7950-pcs-review/24
HD 6850 - 26 fps
HD 7950 (800 Mhz ) - 59 fps
HD 7950 (1150 Mhz) - 71 fps

Crysis Warhead (Enthusiast 4X MSAA ) 1920 X 1080
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5476/amd-radeon-7950-review/18
HD 6850 performance is close to HD 5850 perf. At 1920 x 1200 HD 7950 OC (1050 Mhz) perf (44 fps) is more than 2x HD 5850 perf (21.4 fps)

Alan Wake (1080p high ) 1920 x 1080
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/857-12/benchmark-alan-wake.html
HD 6850 performance is normally less than GTX 560 ti. It must be around 30 fps for 1080p high settings. HD 7950 at 800 Mhz is 54 fps. So HD 7950 OC perf at 1100+ Mhz will be be easily more than 60 fps or greater than 2x the performance of HD 6850.

This is the cool story I was(n't) wanting to hear. >:-0

 

[ShuttleMunky]

If you don't have any complaints about crossfire "issues" or "stuttering". Just replace the broken one...

 

[raghu78]

This is the cool story I was(n't) wanting to hear. >:-0

An upgrade really needs to make a significant difference. A 6850 with 1GB memory is going to be really difficult at very high settings. Even more worse with CF. BF3 (Ultra 4X MSAA), Crysis 2 (Ultra with high res textures 4X MSAA) , Skyrim with high resolution textures are gonna require atleast 2 GB. HD 7950 is a good future proof investment with its 3GB framebuffer. If you don't have USD 300 just work with single HD 6850. Wait for HD 7870 to fall in price to USD 249. Sell your HD 6850 and then get the HD 7870. A single HD 7870 is a pretty good card for 1080p. Anyway depending on your constraints choose wisely.