GTX 460 or Radeon 6850

Neither.

Get this.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JXACYC/ref=as_li_q...

HIS HD6870 costs $155 on Amazon. Blows those two away.

Don't get the Link above unless its in stock. It will take you a long time to get your card. I say get the 460 gtx. I got one and could not be any more happy. Running Ultra in the battle field 3 beta nice and smooth.

Oh and I ordered from that website and it arrived the very next day even though i choose 8 day shipping (which was free) I recommend that card to anyone on a budget of 150$

460 over the 6850 ?
No way !

Comparison:

460: Core clock=675mhz
6850: =775mhz

Memory Clock 460=1800mhz
6850= 2000mhz

Memory B/W on 460=115.2 GB/sec
on 6850=128 GB/sec

Open GL 460= 3.2
6850 = 4.1

Power draw on 460 =160w
6850=127w

The 6850 pisses all over the 460

Do your homework before commenting.

yeah i also think that 6850 is better than 460(maybe slightly)

Comparing clockspeeds on video cards only works when they have similar architectures. Nvidia cards tend to have lower clockspeeds than the AMD cards, but the nvidia card will not perform slower than its AMD equivalent. OpenGL is basically irrelevant for gaming these days, it's only really used for workstation applications these days. The 6850 does use a lot less power, and would be a better choice if you have a weaker power supply.

The two cards basically trade blows. Which one to get will depend on brand preference, cost, and which games you play. If you play a lot of games that heavily favour the nvidia cards, you may want to get the 460. If most of your games favour AMD, get the 6850.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6850_...
i know its old review but they are "equal"

I owned that MSI GTX 460 Hawk and I own now a Sapphire 6850, MSI's GTX 460 Hawk performed better on BFBC2. also owned an EVGA GTX 560 Ti obviously better than both.

MSI GTX 460 Hawk: about 60fps
Sapphire 6850: about 45-50fps
EVGA GTX 560 Ti: about 70 fps

using a Phenom II 720 at stock speeds

anyway the minimum for BF3 is GTX 570 I think.
Crysis 2 was "playable" on GTX 560 Ti, a little choppy.

hey ti....us,msi hawks are heavily overclocked cards.they are known for their,performance,cooling and noise but they are expensive.
on the other hand,sapphire 6850 is not so much better performance than a 6850 stock unless it is the vapour x version.so this is just like comparing 6990 and 590.
in some games radeons perform better such as crysis warhead and in some games nvidia performes better such as crysis 2-
http://www.techspot.com/review/390-triple-monitor-gamin...

so all i want to sya is that both are almost equal but it is your choice now.(but i would go with 6850)

If you are choosing from those cards pick the 460GTX HAWK
it offers a lot of extra OC headroom and a better quieter cooler.

Yes just pick the gtx 460.... great performance and high quality cooler on it, you won't be able to hear it. And I know you said you won't overclock but believe me this card has at least another 100-150 mhz of OC room in it

I have a 6850 and I am unhappy with the cooler's performance, it is very loud

minimum framerate of GTX 460 Hawk is superior to 6850, I saw constant framerates on nvidia cards, AMD cards looks more like frame by frame motion. other thing is the contrast, AMD cards have too high contrast comparing to nvidia, showing too bright image and saturated colours causing eye fatigue. I come from 2600XT, 4350, 4670, 5670, 5750 cards, if today I have too choose for gaming I choose nvidia. I'm using now an 6850 cause I traded the GTX 560 Ti to a friend who wants to play NFS Shift 2.

I did do my homework   your numbers are off. The GTX 460 hawk is pre over clocked and will run cooler than the 6850. Only thing that the 6850 will win in is the power Draw.

Which one would be the most reliable? I am asking because I will probably keep that video card until next time I build a new computer which is usually ever 3-4-5 years...

The msi gtx 460 is very high quality ... I would get that... just buy it already lol they are both good you can't make a wrong decision

Also +1 for the Msi hawk. It runs very cool. 31 c at idle and 55c on full load. When I over clock it Its still very cool about 35c and idle and 61c at full load. When over clocked even more it can almost reach 560 ti levels. ( thats at 1 ghz though)

Dont know if you read my post above OP but my own asus 6850 which supposedly should have a good cooler, is really loud and reaches 80degrees! this is a in a well ventilated case, with my i5-2500k never going above 50 degrees

alright, I just ordered the GTX 460 Hawk due to the fact that I can easily overclock and the fact that it stays cool too. Thanks everybody for the advices!!!

Best answer selected by jeffjeff666.