AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series - a series of mid-range graphics cards from the well-known company AMD. The video card data replaced the series with an index of 5. Below are described all the technical specifications, test results in special programs and games.
History of the video card
It is worth clarifying that the 6800 series was the first to be released under the AMD logo, not ATI after the merger of the two computer component manufacturers.
In 2010, there was a need to once again update the line of video cards offered by the company. During the presentation, AMD revealed all the details about the technical data and features of the new series. AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series includes two models of video cards: HD 6850 and HD 6870. The last two digits conditionally determine the class of the video card. Accordingly, 6850 was the youngest, and 6870 was the older and more powerful.
These video cards were created to replace the flagship HD 5870, but, strangely enough, they were no longer the leaders, but occupied the middle class position. The flagship of the company was a series with an index of 9 - HD 6900.
AMD Radeon HD 6800: specs
When developing all previous video cards, ATI specialists followed the same principle as their colleagues from Nvidia. This means that efforts have been made in all new developments and lines of video cards to achieve maximum performance and power of iron. After merging with AMD, the company's policies and approach to creating video cards took a slightly different vector.
AMD set out to create graphics cards with balanced power, performance and price. This series should compete with the 460 GTX and 470 GTX. For this, the creators decided to develop a new graphics processor. There is still debate about whether Barts is a breakthrough or a step backward. On the one hand, the creators simplified the architecture and reduced the size. On the other hand, power consumption and performance have become much higher compared to the previous generation of graphics cards from AMD.
According to the company itself, they did not make any coup or breakthrough. The Barts graphics chip is a repetition of the previous generation, only with a new approach to old technologies. One of the reasons for this solution was problems with the production and factory at the time of the release of the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series, so the creators decided to upgrade the old generation.
But the goals to fill the hi-end segment of video cards based on the modernization of the architecture of the previous generation were not achieved. The new series reaches the performance of HD 5870, but does not overtake it.
The entire series is based on the Barts processor, has support for shaders of the 5th version, and the fixed video memory capacity is 1024 MB. Each video card has two DVI connectors, two miniDP outputs and one for HDMI. Both devices have support for CrossFire technology and image output to 8 monitors simultaneously. The youngest video card 6850 operates at a frequency of 775 MHz, the oldest, 6870, - 900 MHz. The cost of video cards is $ 180 and $ 240, respectively. DirectX11 is also supported, which at the time of the release of the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series was important.
Video Card Testing
Both 6800 series video cards were tested under the same conditions and on the same bench configuration. All tests were carried out in 3D Mark and computer games, released at the time of the release of the series of video cards.
AMD Radeon HD6850
This model of the line is the weakest in the AMD Radeon Hd 6800 series. Features are greatly reduced compared to the older video card. Moreover, absolutely everything has been cut, including the capabilities of the cooling system. But the creators did not take into account one thing: despite the weaker power, the video card heats up in the same way. This is a definite minus.
According to the results in 3D Mark, this video card is inferior to the oldest in the series by only 2-3 thousand points. Take the most productive and demanding games of those years - Crysis and Far Cry 2. The difference in FPS is from 10 to 15 frames per second. If we compare this difference with the difference in price, then the acquisition of HD 6850 looks quite attractive solution.
AMD Radeon HD6870
The older model of the series reaches the performance of the flagship company HD5870. It is especially noteworthy that the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series, whose price is much lower than the cost of competitors from Nvidia, allows you to use DirectX11 to the full. In particular, the HD 6870 copes well with this task.
The modernization of the Barts GPU allowed achieving competitiveness with the flagship of AMD itself and the GTX 460 from Nvidia with a memory capacity of 1 GB.
To summarize
The new generation AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series, reviews of which were mixed, is definitely worth the attention and money. Both video cards have occupied a niche between budget models and the flagship HD 5870, but at the same time, the line can compete with competitors in its segment from Nvidia. Samples from AMD look much more advantageous. Nvidia's graphics card performance gain is minimal, but the cost is $ 30–40 higher.
The obvious disadvantages include a noisy cooling system with a cooler. In an effort to save money and simplify the architecture, the creators forgot to take care of proper cooling. A noisy cooler that can barely cope with the load discourages any desire to use the capabilities of the video card to the fullest. But this is not necessary, because for experiments and overclocking there are video cards from Nvidia.