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Roundup: Four Radeon HD 6850 1 GB Cards Compared

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Improvements to performance, acoustics, and bundles can add big value once a reference graphics card is modified by third-party vendors. We compare four modified Radeon HD 6850 1 GB boards to find out which company's additions best suit your gaming needs.

Asus Overclocking Software

Asus SmartDoctor provides the EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5 slide controls for voltage, GPU, and DRAM frequencies from its main menu. Users can select GPU frequencies between 600 and 1000 MHz, DRAM data rates between 3000 and 5000 MT/s, and core voltage from 0.95 to 1.35 V.

Advanced menus control overheat protection, alarm settings, and startup options.

A third advanced menu allows fan speed to be set at four thermal presets. Lower temperatures can help overclockers achieve higher settings.

SmartDoctor’s HyperDrive menu allows users to set an active GPU clock boost, activated when a 3D game is detected.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
48 Comments Comment from the forums
  • It would be nice to see overclocking results. I know the whole "results will vary" malarkey but still, it would be interesting to see things like the benefit (if any) to having two pci-e power connectors on the Sapphire card or how high you could take the ASUS card using the software that came with it. Oh, and also, can you use Afterburner with the Powercolor and Sapphire cards?
    Reply
  • Scanlia
    Oh, and also, can you use Afterburner with the Powercolor and Sapphire cards?
    I use afterburner with a Gigabyte Card, (Flashed to ASUS). Works fine.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    BillehBawbOh, and also, can you use Afterburner with the Powercolor and Sapphire cards?Yes
    Reply
  • tomskent
    last line of the article...
    "Now, here did I put that Christmas list?"
    here = where
    Reply
  • scrumworks
    Why are you using catalyst 10.6 (drivers from june) instead of latest, quite long already available 10.11 or 10.10-beta with HD6800 support?
    Reply
  • sudeshc
    love this card looking to buy it for my new build and would go for ASUS as i already own the game.
    Reply
  • karma831
    No OCing?
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    so, wheres the comparison between these cards and rival cards from nvidia??? using recent drivers?? and OC???!this doesnt really tell us anything except the performance is so close you may as well get the cheapest of the lot.
    Reply
  • ATI driver support is a complete debacle. That's why this article uses stone age drivers (10.6)
    Reply
  • Crashman
    karma831No OCing?iam2thecroweso, wheres the comparison between these cards and rival cards from nvidia??? using recent drivers?? and OC???!this doesnt really tell us anything except the performance is so close you may as well get the cheapest of the lot.Er dude...
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776.html
    The previous article, which answered all your questions a month ago, was linked numerous times in this article.
    Reply