Which to get 6850 or 6870?

[jasonp12]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week (however I will wait if recommended to wait for 6900 series)


Budget Range: 175-275$ (+/- a few dollars)


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Movies, Entertainment purposes


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.ca or ncix.com or tigerdirect.ca


Country of Origin: Canada


Parts Preferences: Any suggestions for Brand or brands to avoid? (like should i stay away from certain brands?)


SLI or Crossfire: Yes (eventually)


Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 but would like to be able to upgrade t 1920x1080 one day

So which GPU should i get the 6850 or 6870? I obviously want the best performance to price ratio... I play SC2/CSS i will be playing some newer games eventually like CODMF2, Black Ops etc. I dont need MAX settings but I would like the card to last and not be obsolete to fast...

I do not need MAX settings but i do like highish settings

So should i get a 6850 or 6870? Or should i wait for the 6900 series and see how they affect prices? Also what brands should i get?

btw i live near a ncix.com store so i prefer ncix but u can use newegg.ca as well for pricematch

I play sc2/CSS/codmf2 (wanna play black ops)/ maybe crysis.

my system is

phenom II x4 965BE (stock settings i will OC eventually)
asus m4a89gtd 890GX mobo
HAF 922 case
hyper 212+
patiot sector-5 2x2gn 1600mhz ram

so 6850 or 6870?
also brand

 

[aznshinobi]

Like ct said, it all depends on WHEN you'll get the monitor. Could you tell us when?

 

[jasonp12]

i was thinking getting the GPU first as i dont know when to get the monitor...im happy with what i got id just like the OPTION to support full HD at 21-22"

 

[mactronix]

I would say get a 6850 as i feel from what i have seen so far that it has the most room to improve due to drivers and OCing if your into that ?
Also as you say Crossfiring would be considerd down the line i would think teh 6850 would be the best way to go considering power usage as well.

Mactronix

 

[jonnyboyC]

I would say get a 6850 as i feel from what i have seen so far that it has the most room to improve due to drivers and OCing if your into that ?
Also as you say Crossfiring would be considerd down the line i would think teh 6850 would be the best way to go considering power usage as well.

Mactronix

I would agree, i think the 6850 is simply a better value when you factor in overclocking. the 6870 from my understanding only has 50mhz of additional room, so around 950mhz roughly is typical. the 6850 appears to be able to hit these same clocks about as often as it's big brother.

Even after you upgrade your monitor you should be fine on a 6850, from what i've seen a pretty heavily overclocked 6850 is better then a heavily overclocked 460 which is what i have and it handles almost everything at 60+fps on a my 1080p monitor

 

[jasonp12]

ok but how hard/strenous is it to overclock a GPU? what kinda additional cooling would i need if any?

ive overclocked CPUs plenty GPUs not really much.....

still deciding would like to buy thurs or fri so 6850 or 6870?

 

[cirslevin]

6850 is good, I also recommend eyefinity setup, if you are interested.

depends on games, if you run eyefinity, maybe 6870 would be better, at $240, 6870 is a great value for sure, even though 6850 is probably good enough.

 

[mactronix]

ok but how hard/strenous is it to overclock a GPU? what kinda additional cooling would i need if any?

ive overclocked CPUs plenty GPUs not really much.....

still deciding would like to buy thurs or fri so 6850 or 6870?

At its very most basic its a matter of moving a slider across the screen.

There are plenty of overclcoking guides out there, While doing it properly to find the best performance you can get takes some time and patience the basics of it are.

1. Just use the CCC to overclock, Unlock the Overdrive by clicking on the little padlock or tick a box in the ATI Overdrive section of the drivers. You will see a box called Auto tune which will find what it thinks is the best settings for the card. your screen will go sort of red/yellow/green for a good while but dont worry it takes time but it will get there.
This level is usually a good deal lower than what you can get from the card with a utility like Rivatuner or Afterburner though.
2. Use a utility such as Afterburner or Rivatuner, there are others out there but Afterburner is the utility of choice at the moment.

You can find guides an how to use all these things and you could even follow a specific online guide to OC your card from a review. Just be aware that all cards are differant and just because someone on the net got their card to 975mhz as an example dosent mean your will.

Mactronix

 

[jyjjy]

If you are going to OC then just get the HD6850. OCing a video card is actually significantly easier than a CPU so I don't think you need to worry. The basic concepts are the same but there's less settings and options to worry about and it can be done in Windows through software with an easy to use interface(I recommend Afterburner) rather than the BIOS.

 

[jasonp12]

ic ic

but reading the reviews yah the 6870 doesnt OC well at all

but an overlocked 6850 is still outperformed by a 6870 regardless (and by about 10fps or so)

 

[jyjjy]

They are the same processor so they OC to the same core speeds usually. The HD6870 does have extra shaders which will give it an advantage but the performance difference of the two cards when fully OCed will be much smaller than the 33% price difference.

 

[jasonp12]

agreed and i understand that which is why im considering the 6850....but i also want the card to last....i am ofc open to crossfire but dont wanna be force to crossfire in 1-2 years as a neccessity

like i said i dont need games on MAX settings i just like med-high (dont like minimum) ofc id like HIGH-Ultra but i dont NEED it.....so my fear is with all the current games a 6850 will survive but what about a year from now? or 2? then i might be FORCED to crossfire with a 6850 whereas a 6870 may be enough?

Or do you doubt this?

 

[jonnyboyC]

agreed and i understand that which is why im considering the 6850....but i also want the card to last....i am ofc open to crossfire but dont wanna be force to crossfire in 1-2 years as a neccessity

like i said i dont need games on MAX settings i just like med-high (dont like minimum) ofc id like HIGH-Ultra but i dont NEED it.....so my fear is with all the current games a 6850 will survive but what about a year from now? or 2? then i might be FORCED to crossfire with a 6850 whereas a 6870 may be enough?

Or do you doubt this?

think about it this way if the 6870 and the 6850 are the same chip, and the 6870 is expected to run at 900mhz why shouldn't the 6850, it's really only after this point that you might be affecting your card if at all. And at this point there aren't voltage modding video cards if i'm correct, that's when you really run this risk of hurting your cards, so even Conservatively running at the 6870 clock speeds, then the difference in performance will just be core count which will be less then the price difference

 

[jasonp12]

so your saying get a 6850 clock it to 6870 and ill barely notice a performance difference and for that matter barely affect temps/the life of the card?

 

[jasonp12]

also i know the 6850 has a lot less shaders...

 

[jyjjy]

I think this is what you want to know;
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/amd_6800series/
It has benchmarks for most current cards with a high OC. You'll see the HD6870 does have an advantage but it's really not that big.

 

[ares1214]

I say get the 6850.

 

[hell_storm2004]

For the resolutions that you have HD6850 is just enough. But you can get the HD6870 just in case you change your mind in the future to change your monitor.

 

[jyjjy]

For the resolutions that you have HD6850 is just enough. But you can get the HD6870 just in case you change your mind in the future to change your monitor.

There's no reason an HD6850 can't handle 1920x1080 well, especially when overclocked.

 

[hell_storm2004]

I know that. But the 6870 provides some extra juice. Plus the OP has the budget of the 6870. That's why i suggested the HD6870 if he is changing the monitor.

 

[jasonp12]

gah now you guys all got me thinking 6850 again ROFL

 

[jyjjy]

It is the best value for the money at the moment. Get the DirectCU version for the best cooling available;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121399

 

[jasonp12]

thats not available in Canada

if im going 6850 im getting the XFX form NCIX its on promo for 199.99

if i go 6870 ill prob grab any brand cuz currently they are all reference specs (though somehow the powercolor one did the best)

 

[jasonp12]

btw i get that the 6850 is better bang for the buck...which is obviously of great value but i ofc want performance and longevity

so with that said would it be worthwhile to pitch in the extra 50ish dollars to get a 6870 or do you think a 6850 still good enough?

 

[ares1214]

btw i get that the 6850 is better bang for the buck...which is obviously of great value but i ofc want performance and longevity

so with that said would it be worthwhile to pitch in the extra 50ish dollars to get a 6870 or do you think a 6850 still good enough?

6850 overclocks very well, and they both have approximately the max peak performance. So get the 6850.