Is the Radeon HD 6850 good for gaming?

[industrialdonut]

So I have always wanted to build a PC, a good one that is, to run Battlefield 3 on around High settings. I have picked out my CPU, my MOBO, my Hard Drive, all my RAM, and also my PSU, but I still need to pick a GPU to really run BF3. I was thinking about getting the Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 because that card is, in the recommended requirements of Battlefield 3, the recommended card. Only thing I have to question is will it run on High settings with at least around 40fps? If not can you please recommend a GPU that will that is under $200 please?

 

[daswilhelm]

my brother uses that card for BF3 on high and loves it.

 

[Deemo13]

Its a pretty darn good card for the price. Its going to run BF3 nicely.

What does the rest of your setup look like?

And under $200, the 6870 is going to be one of the best you can get for the money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

 

[anirudh1]

for 200 u can get a 560 ti

 

[fedelm]

So I have always wanted to build a PC, a good one that is, to run Battlefield 3 on around High settings. I have picked out my CPU, my MOBO, my Hard Drive, all my RAM, and also my PSU, but I still need to pick a GPU to really run BF3. I was thinking about getting the Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 because that card is, in the recommended requirements of Battlefield 3, the recommended card. Only thing I have to question is will it run on High settings with at least around 40fps? If not can you please recommend a GPU that will that is under $200 please?

I have a I5-2500K at stock settings and an MSI 6850; bought BF3 this week, runs excelent on High settings (needless to say, it looks beautiful), even on MP with 64 players.

I do agree with the poster above me, for under 200$ you can get a very respectable 6870, but a 6850 will suffice.

You can post the rest of your prospects if you want, for better advise.

Cheers!

 

[anirudh1]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196
how about this one buddy ?

 

[odiervr]

I have a MSI 6850 PE/OC and it runs great - i have not OC'd yet - no need. I moved it from another system to my new build.

If I were you - I'd watch newegg and amazon for the 7850. Today it's about $225 - $230. On sales/rebates you could get one at just over $200. If you get one, you won't regret it! Below is some data with prices for your decision making. GL !

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

[industrialdonut]

So, I haven't yet built my "rig" yet and that is why am searching all over the internet for good parts to build it with. What I have come up so far, to buy, is..
AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition $110
GIGABYTE AM3+ NVIDIA GeForce 7025/nForce 630a Chipset DDR3 1600 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $50
Corsair Dominator 4 GB PC3-10666 1333MHz 240-pin Dual Channel $30
200-500GB Hard Drive ~$50 / Or use this Hard Drive $0
Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound Paste 3.5g $4
Antec BP500U ATX 12V 500W Power Supply $50
Tripp Lite P570-006 6ft HDMI to mini-HDMI, Digital Audio - Video Cable, 6' $4
ViewSonic VX2250WM-LED 22-Inch (21.5-Inch Vis) Widescreen Full HD 1080p LED Monitor with Integrated Stereo Speakers $120
Asus 24xDVD-RW Serial ATA Internal OEM Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black) $20
Cooler Master Cooler Master Elite 430 Mid Tower ATX Case with Window $40
Logitech Keyboard K120 $12

So yeah I have nearly everything picked out except again, the GPU is where I need help and also after seeing your suggestions of the 6870 and also your review of the 6850 playing well on High settings, I think I might just go with that. I am kind of on a budget of around 700-800 dollars total, but that is for EVERYTHING because I do not have here any spare parts except for a hard drive.

 

[motorneuron]

I don't normally recommend the GTX 560; usually I think the upgrade to the 560 Ti is worthwhile, and the 6870 is generally a better overall card than the 560. But if you're going to be playing BF3 as your primary game, get a 560. Here's an example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130660 . nvidia has an edge in BF3, and the 560 is right in your price bracket. Of course, if you can squeeze it in, a 560 Ti would be a great choice; the one linked above is good ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196 ).

 

[industrialdonut]

I don't normally recommend the GTX 560; usually I think the upgrade to the 560 Ti is worthwhile, and the 6870 is generally a better overall card than the 560. But if you're going to be playing BF3 as your primary game, get a 560. Here's an example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130660 . nvidia has an edge in BF3, and the 560 is right in your price bracket. Of course, if you can squeeze it in, a 560 Ti would be a great choice; the one linked above is good ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196 ).

Ok well what is the difference between Ti and non-Ti besides the fact that the Ti is better apparently, and more expensive?

 

[Deemo13]

Ti is faster and more expensive.

 

[dudewitbow]

Ok well what is the difference between Ti and non-Ti besides the fact that the Ti is better apparently, and more expensive?

essentially everything you say. ti is just better and more expensive, its jsut nvidia not giving it its own number and naming it as sort of a middle man card between a 560 and 570 (they could name it 565, but i guess 560 ti looks better)

 

[sedona]

It's January 2014 now and I just got a second-hand Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 made in 2012. Is it still a good card for today's games? I paid US$70 for it because the guy was upgrading to something better, and I can't find any worthy brand new card for this price.

Is Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 460 enough to run this card?

 

[omgazombie2k]

It's January 2014 now and I just got a second-hand Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 made in 2012. Is it still a good card for today's games? I paid US$70 for it because they guy was upgrading to something better, and I can't find any worthy brand new card for this price.

Is Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 460 enough to run this card?

It is a good card for gaming at max settings with 1650x1050 resolution but I'd recommend getting another one of them and crossfiring it to give you a significant boost in max resolution gaming and also you should get a 500watt psu for the card and if you do decide to crossfire get atlest a 550-600 watt card

 

[sedona]

It's January 2014 now and I just got a second-hand Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 made in 2012. Is it still a good card for today's games? I paid US$70 for it because they guy was upgrading to something better, and I can't find any worthy brand new card for this price.

Is Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 460 enough to run this card?

It is a good card for gaming at max settings with 1650x1050 resolution but I'd recommend getting another one of them and crossfiring it to give you a significant boost in max resolution gaming and also you should get a 500watt psu for the card and if you do decide to crossfire get atlest a 550-600 watt card

I moved it to a new PC that has FSP Hexa 500 power supply. Do you know how does the graphics card move the air between its 3400 RPM fan and its heatsink? I'm thinking of installing a 120mm side panel fan but not sure if the 120mm fan should be blowing air into the graphics card, or blowing out extracting hot air from the graphics card? My casing is Fractal Design Core 1000 micro-ATX.

 

[omgazombie2k]

Best thing to do is get a push fan and a pull fan that way one pushes cool air in and the other pulls out the hot air cooling it with great efficiency

 

[sedona]

Best thing to do is get a push fan and a pull fan that way one pushes cool air in and the other pulls out the hot air cooling it with great efficiency

Push/Pull configuration is good for CPU cooling radiator, but not for graphics card. It already has a fan, in the above picture the blue fan was 3400 RPM.

I'm going to install a 120mm side panel fan. Should air be blowing out or blowing in to the graphics card area?

 

[omgazombie2k]

Air should be blowing out from the card (so go push), it'll reduce dust and also cool it significantly

 

[sedona]

I just overclocked my HD 6850 from default 775/1000 to stable 850MHz GPU clock and 1150MHz memory clock without raising voltage. The temperature didn't rise more than 5 °C but then most of the time the GPU is idling at 300MHz even when I play Youtube videos or open multiple brower windows on two monitors. It seems the CPU is doing more work than the GPU. Is this normal when not playing games? That the graphics card don't work as hard? I wonder if the 5 °C temperature rise from overclock is worth it.

 

[omgazombie2k]

I just overclocked my HD 6850 from default 775/1000 to stable 850MHz GPU clock and 1150MHz memory clock without raising voltage. The temperature didn't rise more than 5 °C but then most of the time the GPU is idling at 300MHz even when I play Youtube videos or open multiple brower windows on two monitors. It seems the CPU is doing more work than the GPU. Is this normal when not playing games? That the graphics card don't work as hard? I wonder if the 5 °C temperature rise from overclock is worth it.

It's normal for your cpu to do the work when it's in 2d mode (in browser/videos) the gpu only really gets loads when in 3d mode like gaming or when an application needs help computing