Radeon HD 6850 vs 6870?

[yuppicide]

I have a 3870X2 I got off eBay cheap. It's not working so well. My Mom got me a Christmas gift I really didn't want (longer story than that), so I told her I'd rather have a set of pots and pans and a new computer video card. She agreed.

So, this Thurs or Fri I'm getting a video card.. I can get a 6850 for $179 or a 6870 for $204.99 after a $15 rebate.

Is the price difference worth it?

Core Clock: 775Mhz vs 900Mhz

Memory Clock: 2000Mhz vs 2100Mhz

Memory Bandwidth: 128GB/sec vs 134.4GB/sec

Shader Operations: 744000MOperations/sec vs 108000MOperations/sec

Pixel fill rate: 24800 MPixels/sec vs 28800 Mpixels/sec

Texture fill rate: 37200MTexels/sec vs 50400MTexels/sec

[xodaQo]

Have a look at the benchmarking pages.

CLICK ME

[yuppicide]

Thanks. Might go with the 6850 just because it says:

The Radeon HD 6870 generates more noise than we would have expected, but the non-reference GeForce GTX 470 manages to out-do it. The rest of these cards were a pleasure to live with under load.

[ShyguyXPC]

They're not THAT loud... so many people put an emphasis on the loudness of Video card fans, and I always have to roll my eyes and laugh at comments like that, they have NO idea of what a loud fan sounds like.

the 6850's most likely use the same cooling solutions as the 6870, since they are the same exact chips, just detuned a bit, and fans run at slower speeds since the cards don't run at the same temp levels as the 6870.

There's whiners about the fan sound with EVERY single video card with fans, if you can believe it, I have seen people complain about how "LOUD" some sub $50 cards are, which most of the time can barely be heard by most users over the Power supply or CPU fans. or Grinding away of Optical drives or Hard drives.

If you can afford the 6870, then get it.

Otherwise, there are other 6870 models where the fan noise does differ from stock reference design cooling.


But even on stock Reference design cards, the fan can spin up and get louder than idle when being used in gaming, but many times peoples speakers are turned up enough you really can't hear it that much, with exception of some games (some games work a card harder than others that may be more graphically intense), when not being used as much, the fan spins down and isn't as loud. Then there are those that use Headphones, I really don't see how they can hear the fan when gaming.


Though I'd expect more "knowledge" from Toms Hardware than that, they should know better what a loud fan is over the years of testing and to say things like its louder than they expected only demerits the card, as there are a lot of users out there that will take those words for granted, and avoid a good card because of it.


Take for example the Tool that gave a Sapphire Radeon 6870 a Con on Newegg...

"On an open bench at 1 meter away, it's not inaudible at the minimum fan speed, but you have to know what you're listening for. The fan produces a faint buzzing sound. Based on SPCR's review of the stock cooler the stock cooler is probably quiter than this card's cooler. If the card is placed in a case and/or you have noise source louder than an idle hard drive, I doubt you can hear it.
No ram sinks, though the fan does blow downwards, so this may not be as important."

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100314-2SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

"You have to know what your Listening For"


Or "If the card is placed in a case and/or you have noise source louder than an idle hard drive, I doubt you can hear it."

and has the lack of brains to make that a CON?

Lists the card as "Quiet-ish" and gives it only 4 eggs out of 5...


These are the tools that don't know what they are reviewing and should be shot and left for dead for not reviewing a product properly.

Fan speeds have a lot to do with Case cooling as well, if your case doesn't cool very well or have an abundance of intake air, or air flow, the internal case temps can rise, and drive card temps up as well, causing the fans to speed up more than they should and increase noise levels also.


The Gigabyte Model for the 6850 that I suspect your looking at, judging by the price on newegg, uses non standard Reference cooling, with that Dual standard style fans, it should run quieter, but the heat doesn't vent out of the case as easily.

I've always liked the Blower style of fans for cards, since it does vent the heat out the back of the case far better than traditional style fans do.

yes they can get "loud" if the cards start hitting 80-90C but I'd rather deal with that, than increasing internal case temps if I had a case that doesn't vent enough air out fast enough.


Either 6800 series though will be a huge jump up over your old 3870x2 though.

Even a Radeon 5850 like this would be a good deal: Newegg.com - PowerColor AX5850 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Which performs a bit better than the Stock speed Radeon 6850 in most cases.



Just curious What kind of Power Supply (Brand and Model) are you running with your current system?

[yuppicide]

>> They're not THAT loud... so many people put an emphasis on the loudness of Video card fans, and I always have to roll my eyes and laugh at comments like that, they have NO idea of what a loud fan sounds like.

Well, I do have an idea what loud fans are.. I used to own Vantec Tornado fans in my computer.. more than one too.. sounded like a hairdryer.

Well, the 3870X2 came stock running the fan about 25% I think. It's pretty quiet. I used RivaTuner to bump it up to 40 or 45% (I forget) and that was still tolerable. Running full speed is like a hairdryer.

But you're right.. looking at GPUReview.com they list the 6870 and the 3870X2 as "moderate" noise, so I should be okay.

>> Just curious What kind of Power Supply (Brand and Model) are you running with your current system?

KingWin Black Series 750 watt power supply. I got a bundle from TigerDirect for $199 which came with everything but an operating system. The only thing is the case was kind of small and the 450 watt power supply was small and got horrible reviews. I gave them to someone else and bought a better case and power supply.

[ShyguyXPC]

>> They're not THAT loud... so many people put an emphasis on the loudness of Video card fans, and I always have to roll my eyes and laugh at comments like that, they have NO idea of what a loud fan sounds like.

Well, I do have an idea what loud fans are.. I used to own Vantec Tornado fans in my computer.. more than one too.. sounded like a hairdryer.

Well, the 3870X2 came stock running the fan about 25% I think. It's pretty quiet. I used RivaTuner to bump it up to 40 or 45% (I forget) and that was still tolerable. Running full speed is like a hairdryer.

But you're right.. looking at GPUReview.com they list the 6870 and the 3870X2 as "moderate" noise, so I should be okay.

>> Just curious What kind of Power Supply (Brand and Model) are you running with your current system?

KingWin Black Series 750 watt power supply. I got a bundle from TigerDirect for $199 which came with everything but an operating system. The only thing is the case was kind of small and the 450 watt power supply was small and got horrible reviews. I gave them to someone else and bought a better case and power supply.

Cool, then you, like I, know what a loud fan is, I too had one of those, plus a High RPM 38mm Antec 120mm Fan as well, was almost as loud at full speed/Wattage.

Also I have/had a 9800GTX and my Current GTX 285 with Blower Fan (And my Old 320MB 8800GTS and 512MB 8800GTS with blower style fans as well), those on 100% speed setting were loud, and clearly heard over the entire system.

but in most cases, and even when the cards are running hot at 80-85C the fans never go above 75% anyways, But then again, my Thermaltake Armor case has pretty good airflow and breathing ability, plus with the 250mm side fan on it, so cooler air is easily accessible and heat is usually vented out pretty good.

I also have a Radeon 4870, and I know those with the traditional style fan, THAT got loud at 100%, worse than the GTX 285 I have now.

2 Radeon 4870's in the same PC, that was even worse, though was never able to get Crossfire to work right in the system, which is why I got the single GTX 285 thats better than a single 4870.


As to the PSU, I know OF Kingwin, but not of their PSU's, but if it was able to hold up to a 3870x2 then it should be ok for the 6800's. But, just me, I'd be a bit weary, not sure how the Kingwins Perform.

I know Kingwin used to have some good cheaper Aluminum case Alternatives to the Lian Li cases (thinner aluminum, but for the prices not too bad), but thats about all I know of Kingwin.

[yuppicide]

Yeah, I am not familiar with Kingwin. The case I have is a Coolermaster HAF-912. I went to the store to buy a HAF-922 when I saw this. It was half the price and almost as roomy and airy. I love it.

[yuppicide]

Wish me luck. I drove an hour to pick up the HD 6850. Also picked up some rubber gaskets for the case fans.