Ok, here's my choice for 6850 - ordering in t-minus 3 hours

[keto6789]

Hi.

After thinking NVIDIA vs. ATI for over a couple weeks now, I think this is what I'll get for under $200 card. My P8P67 vanilla board only supports Crossfire if I ever decide to get another ATI card, but I also like the idea of getting an ATI just because I haven't owned one in years. I'm deciding to go with the MSI 1 gig 256-bit, cause' I like it's looks, etc.


Hope I'm not making a mistake ...... eeeeh:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127566

P.S. I like its 'open' look. I've heard a lot of negative fan things about the "HIS" boxed in type of cover.

Errr ... WAIT! Just realized it's OC'd! Is that gonna make the fan turn faster and consequently LOUDER. Can I turn off OC?

 

[shadow187]

It's fine. You see how the fan on that card is much bigger than others? The bigger fans allow a slower RPM (rotations/revolutions per minute) to achieve the same cooling effect. Simply put, it moves more air.
Not only that, when a small fan spins, it creates a "WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" effect ( :lol: ), which is annoying. Big fans make a steady "Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" at a lower volume..it's kind of hard to explain. One's high-pitch, the other's low-pitch.

But yes, you may change the clocks back to factory defaults using the Catalyst Tool, although they'll be just fine where they're at. My HD6850 doesn't exceed 65c and I never hear the fan. :

 

[jyjjy]

The HD5850 is a faster card by about 10-15% on average at high resolutions. It is also nearly $40 cheaper than the card you are looking at initially(and still $22.56 cheaper after rebate);
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102932
If you really want the HD6850 for some reason I would chose one of the models on newegg that come with the free game like the Sapphire, Gigabyte or Asus card. Even if you aren't interested in the specific game(Shogun 2) you could ebay it for $20 or so. If you are concerned about noise levels the Gigabyte model with the 2 larger fans is particularly quiet;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.620433

 

[iam2thecrowe]

the 5850 is better in MOST, not all situations, and is certainly not better for crossfire, the 6850 scales much better. http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/17

 

[jyjjy]

Yes, there are certain games/situations where the HD6850 will be faster but many more where the HD5850 will be. The 10-15% faster on average I stated is about right. The HD6850 does scale better in crossfire. Not sure if that is relevant to the OP but even if it is it basically makes up for the initial performance difference(while doubling the price difference I guess if you need to buy 2 cards.)

 

[scott_p]

I received my Gigabyte HD 6850 from Newegg and tried to install it on Tuesday. It handles the stock VGA drivers OK, but the screen goes black when installing ATI drivers. I've tried multiple times and am now waiting on a response from Gigabyte before I RMA it. The previous card was a Sapphire Vapor-X HD 4890 and the motherboard was a Gigabyte 790XT-UP4P. The psu is a Corsair 750 watt, so that isn't the problem. OS is Win7 6 bit.

A few searches has turned up that this problem is not uncommon. I just wanted to pass this info along to you to help with your decision. I'm sure this is a rare problem, but it does seem to happen to many people with various manufacturers of the 6850.

 

[Derbixrace]

199.99 after rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162074&cm_re=gtx_560-_-14-162-074-_-Product

GREAT deal if you ask me

its a good bit faster than the 6850

 

[keto6789]

This is what I ordered guys. Hopefully it'll work okay.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131374

 

[beltzy]

Hey congrats on the order- it should work great for you and be a significant upgrade over your old card. Post a photo of it installed or some performance numbers once it arrives!

 

[keto6789]

Is this card gonna be LOUDER than my NVIDIA 9600 gt? I would think it may be more quiet because the fan is bigger than the 9600 GT.


thanks

 

[iam2thecrowe]

by the size of the fan you would think it would be reasonably quiet, looks bigger than the reference fan. It looks like some of the hot air will be expelled into the case, not all out the rear though, so just make sure you have adequate exhaust fans in your case to suck out the hot air.

 

[shadow187]

The card is much more powerful -- I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a bit louder. But if your case has 2-3 fans for ventilation I'd imagine that this card could manage ~45% fanspeed (inaudible) at around 65c.

 

[keto6789]

Just wanted to update everyone on the status of my PowerColor 6850 card. It works very well and idles in the 30's celcius range and the fan stays at 30 something percent speed and it's a very quiet card.


For comparison, I can play Microsoft's Flightsim X (a very graphic intense "game") at close to FULL settings and get 40-50 fps on average. In X plane 9 I hover around 70-80 fps on average and 40-50 for lows with graphics turned up pretty full.

This is definitely an improvement over my NVIDIA 9600 gt!

 

[shadow187]

Congrats, fellow HD 6850 user. Go ahead and update your signature,