HD 6850 vs 5850

The 5850 is faster in raw power. But I would get the 6850 because it's cheaper, uses less power, and has some other tweaks in it.

freaksavior said:

I'm not sure if this has already been asked, but i'm going to ask anyway

6850 vs 5850. Which is faster considering the 6850 is the same price as the 4850 when they were launched.

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angelkiller said:

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/images/perfrel.gif

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Better yet, just goe to W1zzards review and look up the resolution you use.

tesselation is also faster with these cards

no a 5850 will kill a 6850 when you oc them both to the same clocks.It wouldn't be close and 5850s don't run hot. For the price the 6850 is a better deal but nowhere near a 5850 at it's max clock and they will do 955 to 1000 core +. A 6870 is close and would be a better new buy.

yup, in games that have tesselation the 6850 seems to outperform the 5850 and these are still only initial driver releases on a new architecture for amd, their performance will get better.'

without tesselation the 5850 is faster though and since most games are ports anyway, so much for that..

The techpowerup sample was with 960 shaders enabled, which means that you can get the same card with 1120 shaders!!! The results are not the same with 1120 shaders enabled and i am talking only for 6850

are there supposed to be 1120?

If you already have a 5850 I don't see any reason to get a 6850 whatsoever, especially considering how cool and quiet a 5850 runs, and how epically well they overclock.

a 6870 however seems like a pretty good buy for the same price as a 5850.

Bo$$ said:

are there supposed to be 1120?

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No. The 6870 has 1120 and the 6850 is supposed to have 960. It would be incredibly awesome to buy a 1120 shader 6850. I'm willing to bet it will OC past stock 6870 levels.

freaksavior said:

I do have a 5850 Asus CU. Love the card, it's quite and is hella fast.

I'll definitely pass on these.

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my 5850 was an Asus reference model with their awesome carbon fibre look/asus logo;



the sticker also seemed thicker/higher quality than my sapphire 5870, and the asus logo itself isn't a sticker at all, its plastic.

in any case the day I got it this thing was running 1000/1300 on about 1.225v

one HEC of a card, I was so sad to let it go, but I did sell the entire system...

Its Dec 2010 and the price of 5850s is now less than a 6850

At the same price or less I do not see any compelling reason why someone would buy a 6850 over a 5850?

This talk of improved tessilation. Point me to a benchmark that shows this. Clock for clock the 5850 is superior.

Power Draw? - Show me a review that shows the 5850 being a huge power drain vs a 6850.


Sure its newer but that does not mean better. Its the same chip with a few transistors gutted for price reasons.

Maybe I'm missing something but I'm getting a 5850 over a 6850 for my second rig.

The 6870 barely beats it and the 6870 is 50.00 more.

I'm not that impressed with this years ATI offerings. Last year 2009 the offerings were great. Now its just price adjusting for market.

RAJOD said:

Its Dec 2010 and the price of 5850s is now less than a 6850

At the same price or less I do not see any compelling reason why someone would buy a 6850 over a 5850?

This talk of improved tessilation. Point me to a benchmark that shows this. Clock for clock the 5850 is superior.

Power Draw? - Show me a review that shows the 5850 being a huge power drain vs a 6850.


Sure its newer but that does not mean better. Its the same chip with a few transistors gutted for price reasons.

Maybe I'm missing something but I'm getting a 5850 over a 6850 for my second rig.

The 6870 barely beats it and the 6870 is 50.00 more.

I'm not that impressed with this years ATI offerings. Last year 2009 the offerings were great. Now its just price adjusting for market.

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This years AMD offerings have different market placements than the 5 series generation, the 5850 was a high (or Mid/high) end offering on launch being AMD's 2nd most powerful GPU, the 6850 is simply their mid range offering in this generation, so once these cards have been out for a few months and the remainder of the lineup is released along with retail price stability when the initial release surge fades, you will see really good performance from their lowerer offerings at really good prices.

In market placement terms, the 6850 is probably the 5750 of the previous generation, now look at the release price of the 5750 and then compare it's performance with the 6850 for a better picture....... to put it simply, across all resolutions, the 6850 is 36% faster than the 5750, however AMD's origional suggested retail price for the 5770 on release was $129, so the 6850 is roughly 30% more expensive but 36% faster (at time of release).

In the UK you certainly cannot get a 5850 for the price of a 6850, I have just checked 2 of the largest retailers in the US and on Newegg for example, the cheapest 6850 is $185, the cheapest 5850 is $200..... the gap is bigger in the UK.

Having said all that, I understand where you are coming from, however when you see the full lineup released I think you may change your opinion

Thanks for the info. Yes I hear you on the price and where it stands vs last year.

But today is today and I'm just looking for the best bang for the buck.

Last year you could get fast 4 series cards but you had to make the choice of pay a little more for not much better Dx10 but have Dx11 (5770)
This year there really is not much better about the cards in terms of graphics ie. Dx11 on 5 and 6 series. Not much in terms of power draw either. Incremental changes.
The tessilation scores seem to be just clock speed rather than anything new.

So for 185.00 I can get
1. 5850
2. 6850 (most are 199.00) so actually more.

For 185.00 what would you take?

The 69xx series is due next year but I think the price is going to be up in the 300-350.00
Not sure what they will bring to the table.

I'm happy with my 5870 just need to update a second rig which has a 5770.
Rig 1 - 5870
rig 2 - 5850
rig 3 - swap out the 4670 for the 5770 that was in rig 2
rig 4 - old A64 single Maxed out but good enough for LFD2 etc.

Just trying to keep a decent gaming lan up for cheap.

I would take the 5850 any time over the 6850 IF they are cheaper for you, having said that though, tessilation is improved a little with the 6 series so whilst the 5850 would be faster in most things, in DX 11 in particular I would guess the 6850 would probably edge it........... having said all that, if you are upgrading, I think the 6850 would possibly be the better bet but as you have said, it's very much down to pricing, either will give you what you want.

For anyone who has the 5850/5870, getting a 6850/70 wouldn't really be an upgrade. For someone who maybe has something like 9800GT, 4850, 5770..etc, it would be an upgrade and would see performce boost.

But if you currently have the 5850/70 just wait for the 69xx or get the 570/580.

Volkszorn88 said:

For anyone who has the 5850/5870, getting a 6850/70 wouldn't really be an upgrade. For someone who maybe has something like 9800GT, 4850, 5770..etc, it would be an upgrade and would see performce boost.

But if you currently have the 5850/70 just wait for the 69xx or get the 570/580.

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He is wanting to replace the 5770 he has in one of his rigs.