Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 reviews...

[Mean Machine]

The 6870 is a monster card. It's like a 5770 - crap + awesomeness.

So, in other words, it's not like the 5770 at all.

[generics_user]

I ask about the software that will enable a product to run. Buying a corvette with a faulty engine isn't a value either. You really need to take a look in the mirror before you start calling people "ignorant or jerks". Asking Questions about something someone would buy isn't "stupid". Last time I checked it's being an educated consumer. Early adopters tend to run into this problem a lot. "Naive" is buying something without doing your research, not to mention "stupid". But call me what you want but I can tell you, you're the only one who's the face of all these labels. But name calling isn't what a "fanatic" would do now is it?

had no problems at all with amd drivers; every problem i found was fixed withina month or two (BFBC2 loading times; VLC support were the only problems i had in the last 2 years), the driver updates are very frequent and installation is quite easy: just run the installer and it will automatically remove the old driver; running tools like driver remover only cause headaches, last time i had install issues was on Vista 64bit when i ran regcleaner before the install.....

just go for it and give it a try; you won't be disappointed unless you start to play around with things like drivercleaner (if you take a look at the amd forums you'll notice every single person complaining that their driver install failed used something like driver "cleaner" or reg "healer after manually uninstalling the old driver)


To the Cards: ok at first 6850 was supposed to be slower than 460 768, then i t was on par and now it is more than 10%faster than the 1gb version while consuming even less power
and 6870 is a win too; GTS450 die size; GTX 460 price and power consumption; GTX 470 performance

[AKM]

Interesting

[WaterFlex]

6950 are 6970 are the tops
6990 is a 2chip monster.

[Taskforce]

GTX460 @150w

3 months later...

add $40 extra = 6870 @150w - difference paid in 2 months running cost.

So to sum this up Nvidia released its comeback card which should been release ages ago only to be trumped within the span of 2-3 months. I like Nvidia BUT this is a Win for AMD, and i feel sorry for the fanboys trying so desperately to justify their purchase here in this thread.

[kuroikenshi]

6950 are 6970 are the tops
6990 is a 2chip monster.

And the perfect upgrade to my 5970

[WaterFlex]

[zalbard]

Interesting

Yep, indeed.
It's gonna work good with games with broken AA.

[Eagleclaw]

Could have worded it better I suppose but in any case it is a valid question. Adding what games you play and asking about specific drivers issues is the way to go.

The personal attacks and calling someone an idiot around here seems to be common place over the past few weeks in these 68xx threads, that's a shame.

People need to stop being such jackasses and if you can't answer the question then don't post.

I'm not sure if the value is worth the potential headaches of AMD/ATI drivers... Have they gotten better recently?

[dartaz]

To the Cards: ok at first 6850 was supposed to be slower than 460 768, then i t was on par and now it is more than 10%faster than the 1gb version while consuming even less power

HD6850 is not faster than GTX 460 1GB

Most of the reviews so far says that HD6850 is about on par with GTX 460 1GB but some says that it slower and some say it faster.

and 6870 is a win too; GTS450 die size; GTX 460 price and power consumption; GTX 470 performance

HD6870 has small die size ? So what ? Phenom II X6 has much larger die size than any modern intel desktop porcessor, does that mean that Phenom II X6 is horrible processor ? Big die size may be a bad thing for Nvidia or AMD (the company), but it is not always bad for consumers as long as it have good performance, price and power consumption.

Also, HD6870 is more expensive than GTX 460 1GB. Cheapest HD6870 in newegg is $240, while cheapest GTX 460 1GB is $200

[trinibwoy]

Nvidia cant make drivers either, just ask anyone playing BC2 how Nvidia cards does...

I think you might be out of date. BC2 was "fixed" a few drivers ago. However, a buddy of mine who I play BC2 with always complains that his 5850 chugs during heavy smoke or explosions. My 460 doesn't. There are some things benchmark graphs don't tell you.

[flopper]

HD6850 is not faster than GTX 460 1GB

Most of the reviews so far says that HD6850 is about on par with GTX 460 1GB but some says that it slower and some say it faster.



HD6870 has small die size ? So what ? Phenom II X6 has much larger die size than any modern intel desktop porcessor, does that mean that Phenom II X6 is horrible processor ? Big die size may be a bad thing for Nvidia or AMD (the company), but it is not always bad for consumers as long as it have good performance, price and power consumption.

Also, HD6870 is more expensive than GTX 460 1GB. Cheapest HD6870 in newegg is $240, while cheapest GTX 460 1GB is $200

6850 4% faster than gtx460 at average.
Most review sites used nvidia cheat them overclocked editions vs stock 6850.
6850 and 6870 is now the the new king of the hill at the 230 pricepoint.
Which is what most people buy for price/performance.

At least the small die give amd profit which they need when Nvidia bleeds big time with their die size as they now sell for a loss.

[trinibwoy]

Yeah AMD is raking in the profit. They made a whole million dollars last quarter! God, when will the stupid "small die = free money" claims stop

[Monstru]

I can beat that. Sort of. 1.3VGPU. Fan speed at auto.

Since when 1030 beats 1060?

Hi guys, just woke up after a long night. We have 3 articles, you can find them bellow:

Asus HD 6870 and 6850 vs GTX 460, GTX 460 1GB, GTX 470 and HD 5850, stock & OC - Google Translate

Highest frequency we reached on Asus HD 6850 with stock cooler and normal ambient - 1060MHZ


HD 6870 and HD 6850 - Multicard configuration vs 2 x GTX 460, 2 x GTX 460 1GB, GTX 480 and HD 5870 - Google Translate


Gigabyte HD 6870 overclockinging study - Google Translate

Poparamiro takes Gigabyte HD6870 to an astounding 1200MHz !!!!

[Motiv]

Yeah AMD is raking in the profit. They made a whole million dollars last quarter! God, when will the stupid "small die = free money" claims stop

From what I gather, they are raking in the money. The end of year figures includes a lot of clever accounting, write-offs and r&d figures.

The underlying business model is doign very well, and will continue to do very well.

[Teemax]

Signs of NVIDIA's "loyalists" today:

a) The word "driver" is repeated at least 3 times in a short paragraph.
b) Citing unbelievable driver "headache" from all over the internet, but can never come up with a concrete example of the famous driver issue.

[E30M3]

This has been the dullest GPU release ever
BOOOOOOORING AMD
New graphics card which is slower than the old one

[AKM]

This has been the dullest GPU release ever
BOOOOOOORING AMD
New graphics card which is slower than the old one

Cayman is the real sucessor to the 5800 series.

[Dimitriman]

I took my time to carefully read the entire Hardware Canucks review and I must congratulate them on one of the best reviews I have read as of yet. Everything is very clear and open and their methods were concerned to mimic real gaming as much as possible with their choice of using fraps on 3 run average instead of going lazy on timed demos which sometimes dont bring everything on the table.
Loved your review and loved these radeons, and I was especially shocked to see the massive improvement on MIN frame rate which ao many complained about with cypress. Also very impressed to see 6850 matching or beating gtx460 1gb accross the board.

thanks!

[eXa]

I like the 6870. Most rants ive seen about it is mostly due to naming it 6870 instead of 6770, people rant because they think its a 5870 replacement.

[Mean Machine]

Since when 1030 beats 1060?

When the memory frequency is 100MHz SDR higher and the fan's set to auto.

[WaterFlex]

E30M3
Are you noob??? look at this:


It means 6950/6970 will be at top.

[Lokinhow]

Interesting

Free AA?

And the IQ is not that bad...



I like it.

[E30M3]

E30M3
Are you noob??? look at this:


It means 6950/6970 will be at top.

i know but stil BOOOORING

[duploxxx]

I'm a little dissapointed. Was expecting the a higher performance jump. Like 4870 >to> 5870
and why the hell do they limit 6870 just 1GB?! what about the budget eyefinity builds. we NEED AT LEAST 2GB!

Also, do any of these reviews have some crossfire benchmark results.

I want to see some 5760x1200 2xAA results

you are just confused by the naming schema... 38xx - 48xx - 58xx - xxxx

68xx is no longer the same range amd is aiming at, this will now be the 6950 and 6970 probably that are the successor of the 58xx series.