• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

HIS Radeon HD 6850 1 GB

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
26,958 (3.71/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit
AMD's new Radeon HD 6850 comes at an extremely affordable $179 price point. This poses the question whether it can become the new weapon of choice for budget oriented gamers. In our testing we see excellent performance which enables full HD resolution gaming in DirectX 11.

Show full review
 
Last edited:

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
16,001 (2.26/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/5za05v
Problem? I'd be sweet to get a card with 1120 shaders instead of 960...
Hopefully a few of these makes it out in retail :D
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
643 (0.13/day)
Location
TX
System Name Bandit 2: Ryzen Boogaloo
Processor AMD R5 3600X
Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Pro Carbon
Cooling Stock
Memory G.SKILL TridentZ 16GB @ 3200
Video Card(s) PowerColor RX 5700XT
Storage Samsung 960 EVO m.2 500GB; Seagate FireCuda 2TB
Display(s) Viotek GN32Q
Case Fractal Design Define C
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 750
Mouse Cougar Revenger S
Keyboard ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 10 Professional
Great article. You write very well, something I admire in a technology reviewer.
 
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
10,242 (1.52/day)
Location
Granite Bay, CA
System Name Big Devil
Processor Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard ECS P67H2-A2
Cooling XSPC Rasa | Black Ice GT Stealth 240 | XSPC X2O 750 | 2x ACF12PWM | PrimoChill White 7/16"
Memory 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 1600MHz CL9
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 780 ACX SC
Storage Intel 520 Series 180GB + WD 1TB Blue
Display(s) HP ZR30W 30" 2650x1600 IPS
Case Corsair 600T SE
Audio Device(s) Xonar Essence STX | Sennheisser PC350 "Hero" Modded | Corsair SP2500
Power Supply ABS SL 1050W (Enermax Revolution Rebadge)
Software Windows 8.1 x64 Pro w/ Media Center
Benchmark Scores Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps | Razer Deathadder Black
Wow, that's really funny. They hid that LITTLE heatsink under that HUGE shroud. Good to know it doesn't need a beastly cooler, but kinda humorous at the same time.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2010
Messages
231 (0.05/day)
System Name Vika
Processor Intel Core i3 2100
Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V Gen 3
Cooling Stock Intel
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3
Video Card(s) HIS IceQ X Radeon HD 7970 @ 1100/1550
Storage Crucial M4 SSD 64GB, Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2453MH-LED 23.6in LED
Case Fractal Design Arc Midi
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DG
Power Supply Antec HCG 620W
Software Windows 7 Premium 64bit
Great card.... Too bad it performed worse than the 5850.... At least its better than the 460GTX....but then the 460 has a good over-clocking potential...
 
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
1,299 (0.25/day)
Location
Ohio
System Name Vegnagun
Processor Ryzen 5950x
Motherboard Asus B550 Gaming-E
Cooling Noctua NH-U14
Memory 4x8 G. Skill 3800mhz CL14
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3
Storage WD SN850 2tb
Display(s) Viotek 1080p 120hz
Case Fractal Design Define 7
Power Supply Corsair AX850
Mouse Logitech
Keyboard Logitech 815 tactile
Software Windows 10 Education
Benchmark Scores top 1% in the world for weekly score in Killzone 2 :)
I must say I'm very impressed with their midrange cards outdoing the top tier cards from 6 months ago. I'm pumped for 69xx. Good work Wizz on the reviews, and the V-mod section is an AWESOME addon :)
 

F2K

New Member
Joined
May 22, 2009
Messages
47 (0.01/day)
Location
Europe
Great card.... Too bad it performed worse than the 5850.... At least its better than the 460GTX....but then the 460 has a good over-clocking potential...
HD6850 priced at $179 and HD5850 was priced at $259 when released so why exactly is it bad that it performs like this?

Stupid naming scheme!
 

bear jesus

New Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
1,534 (0.31/day)
Location
Britland
System Name Gaming temp// HTPC
Processor AMD A6 5400k // A4 5300
Motherboard ASRock FM2A75 PRO4// ASRock FM2A55M-DGS
Cooling Xigmatek HDT-D1284 // stock phenom II HSF
Memory 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance // 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance low profile
Storage 64gb sandisk pulse SSD and 500gb HDD // 500gb HDD
Display(s) acer 22" 1680x1050
Power Supply Seasonic G-450 // Corsair CXM 430W
This sample seams a little odd, i'm curious how you managed to reconfigure the shaders as i thought they were now physically disabled during production.

Is it possible that this sample was kind of crippled in it's overclocking due to the problem with the shaders, i could be wrong i just assumed that the shaders that should have been disabled could be ones that were not thus unable to hit anywhere near the speeds of the other 2 chips you reviewed.

I really have no idea what i'm talking about, i don't have a clue how disabling sp's work or how it is worked out which sp's are the ones that need to be disabled :confused:

Great review as always, these 5 reviews are making for great morning reading, one question though how big are the heatpipes on this cooler? they look so massive in the picture they make me think 10mm but i didn't think they were being used on any cooler, are they possibly 8mm?

*edit*
Umm is it just me that thinks the heatpipes look big, it could just be the fact these cards are so much smaller than almost every other card i have looked at recently... either that or i just need more coffee :laugh:
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
40 (0.01/day)
are the temps posted correct?

I can't understand how it can stay so incredibly cool (45),and after a mild OC it jumps 30 degrees up
 

Attachments

  • temps.jpg
    temps.jpg
    26.1 KB · Views: 881

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
26,958 (3.71/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit
are the temps posted correct?

I can't understand how it can stay so incredibly cool (45),and after a mild OC it jumps 30 degrees up

fixed
 
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
396 (0.07/day)
System Name Just A Gaming Rig.
Processor AMD FX-8320 @4.1GHz, 1.268V
Motherboard ASUS M5A97 Evo R2.0
Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Memory 8 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600MHz
Video Card(s) Club 3D R9 280X 3GB royalQueen, @1115/1615MHz
Storage OS+Often used stuff: Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB, Mass storage: WD Blue 1TB
Case Zalman Z3 Plus
Audio Device(s) Integrated
Power Supply Corsair CX600M
Software Windows 8.1 64-bit
Great review, as always. The card lived up to the expectations definitely. It's listed at a big German e-tailer for only 149.99€! That's lower than the 1GB GTX 460, but the performance is better. And the card overclocks pretty well too. This is the new best price/performance card out there.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,471 (0.55/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64
Nice review as always W1zz, on all the 68XX cards.

Do you think it would be possible to include a source engine game in the benches such as LFD or something, anything??? :)

The only other constructive criticism I can give would be to include some of the other ATI x8series in the benches, such as 3850, 3870, 4850, 4870. I think this would have been awesome in here http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/7.html since there a probably a ton of people still running them it would be really nice to see where their card stands against the newer cards, especially in a source engine benchmark :)

I mean you have the test bed out? Might as well keep on jugging ;) Cmon Source engine benchmark, can I start a petition?? ;)
 

bear jesus

New Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
1,534 (0.31/day)
Location
Britland
System Name Gaming temp// HTPC
Processor AMD A6 5400k // A4 5300
Motherboard ASRock FM2A75 PRO4// ASRock FM2A55M-DGS
Cooling Xigmatek HDT-D1284 // stock phenom II HSF
Memory 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance // 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance low profile
Storage 64gb sandisk pulse SSD and 500gb HDD // 500gb HDD
Display(s) acer 22" 1680x1050
Power Supply Seasonic G-450 // Corsair CXM 430W
Nice review as always W1zz, on all the 68XX cards.

Do you think it would be possible to include a source engine game in the benches such as LFD or something, anything??? :)

The only other constructive criticism I can give would be to include some of the other ATI x8series in the benches, such as 3850, 3870, 4850, 4870. I think this would have been awesome in here http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/7.html since there a probably a ton of people still running them it would be really nice to see where their card stands against the newer cards, especially in a source engine benchmark :)

I mean you have the test bed out? Might as well keep on jugging ;) Cmon Source engine benchmark, can I start a petition?? ;)

I admit i do look out for source engine benchmarks when on other sites but it's kind of pointless as even my 4870 spents a lot of time over 100fps in l4d2 so any mid to high end card now just pushes further past 100fps, if anything the only really useful source engine benchmarks would be ones ran on triple screen setups.
 

Atom_Anti

New Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
176 (0.03/day)
Location
Captiva Isaland, Florida USA
System Name 3dfx High End PC
Processor Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz@3.7GHz
Motherboard Abit SA7
Cooling AC Freezer 4
Memory 512MB Patriot DDR600 TCCD
Video Card(s) 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP 193/193MHz
Storage 80GB 7200RPM Pata
Display(s) 19" LG Wide TFT-LCD
Case Cooler Master
Audio Device(s) integrated
Power Supply 400W
Software Windows Millenium Edition
Benchmark Scores 3DMark2000: 7100 3DMark2001: 4100
My favorite part of these tests is the performance summary, but I like the 3DMark 03 test too. It well illustrate the difference between the cards and probably the manufacturers not optimizing drivers to this old benchmark program:toast:.

Other:
A hungarian test site figured out the older Radeons with 10.10 beta driver significantly faster than they were. So those guys who would like to change their HD58xx to HD68xx, try to calculate with it. I mean the difference is might bigger than we got here.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2010
Messages
231 (0.05/day)
System Name Vika
Processor Intel Core i3 2100
Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V Gen 3
Cooling Stock Intel
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3
Video Card(s) HIS IceQ X Radeon HD 7970 @ 1100/1550
Storage Crucial M4 SSD 64GB, Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2453MH-LED 23.6in LED
Case Fractal Design Arc Midi
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DG
Power Supply Antec HCG 620W
Software Windows 7 Premium 64bit
Maybe the sample was a cut down 6870 with some defective parts....
 

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
26,958 (3.71/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit
Maybe the sample was a cut down 6870 with some defective parts....

if there were defective parts then the card would not come with 1120 shaders
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
429 (0.08/day)
Location
Bydgoszcz, Poland
System Name "ZĹ‚otko"
Processor AMD 1055T @ 3600 MHz
Motherboard Asrock 880G@890GX
Cooling Thermalright 120 Xtreme (lapped)
Memory A-Data 1600 Plus
Video Card(s) Asus HD6950 unlocked - WOW
Storage many more than you can imagine
Display(s) Acer AL1923 and Philips 40PFL5605H
Case Fractal Define R3
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Music / onboard
Power Supply Seasonic M12D 850W
Software viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, rootkits
Benchmark Scores 2.3 promile of alcohol in my blood and still standing
Maybe there is possibility to unlock any HD6850 to HD6870?

W1zzard, did you save bios from this 'faulty' HD6850?
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
68 (0.01/day)
Scores high in perf/$ and perf/W at 19x12 summary, nice. Will probably buy this as my last desktop upgrade before I go all-out laptop. :D

Thanks for the review, much appreciated!
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,471 (0.55/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64
if there were defective parts then the card would not come with 1120 shaders

SO...........Does this mean there is the possibility of bios flashing a 6850 to a 6870?!?!?!?!!!

One can only hope..........
 

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
26,958 (3.71/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit
SO...........Does this mean there is the possibility of bios flashing a 6850 to a 6870?!?!?!?!!!

One can only hope..........

when amd makes the gpus they get tested: makes XT clocks, makes XT shaders. if it does not it ends up in another bin called "pro". when board partners order the gpus to make their boards, amd will modify the fuses in the asic (think intel multiplier) to put it into the right shader configuration. these fuses can not be changed.

if for some reason the fuses do not get applied in production (like on our sample), there is the additional feature of having fuses in the bios that change the shader config. in that case by flashing a different bios you could the shader config.

but this does not happen for retail boards anymore, for years all amd gpus have been fused at the asic level and not via bios. as mentioned in the article, my gpu is marked as an engineering sample and amd probably forgot to fuse it correctly. since his did expect the gpus to be fused they did not change the config via bios.

again, for retail, dont expect any unlocking
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,471 (0.55/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64
I admit i do look out for source engine benchmarks when on other sites but it's kind of pointless as even my 4870 spents a lot of time over 100fps in l4d2 so any mid to high end card now just pushes further past 100fps, if anything the only really useful source engine benchmarks would be ones ran on triple screen setups.

Yes, but, I have a 120Hz (120fps) samy rz2233, and at this point in time the few games I play all run on the source engine, so its kinda nice to see how newer cards perform compared to older 48xx and 38xx series. (temp, power, noise and performance wise)
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,471 (0.55/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64
when amd makes the gpus they get tested: makes XT clocks, makes XT shaders. if it does not it ends up in another bin called "pro". when board partners order the gpus to make their boards, amd will modify the fuses in the asic (think intel multiplier) to put it into the right shader configuration. these fuses can not be changed.

if for some reason the fuses do not get applied in production (like on our sample), there is the additional feature of having fuses in the bios that change the shader config. in that case by flashing a different bios you could the shader config.

but this does not happen for retail boards anymore, for years all amd gpus have been fused at the asic level and not via bios. as mentioned in the article, my gpu is marked as an engineering sample and amd probably forgot to fuse it correctly. since his did expect the gpus to be fused they did not change the config via bios.

again, for retail, dont expect any unlocking

Can you sell me that unlocked 6850 card for $90 CND?? :laugh: n/m the 6870
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
5,250 (0.90/day)
Location
IRAQ-Baghdad
System Name MASTER
Processor Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling Corsair H100i
Memory 4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s) 2X EVGA GTX680
Storage 2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s) Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s) Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores 3d mark 2011: testing
looks great deal with crossfire, nice work w1z
 

bear jesus

New Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
1,534 (0.31/day)
Location
Britland
System Name Gaming temp// HTPC
Processor AMD A6 5400k // A4 5300
Motherboard ASRock FM2A75 PRO4// ASRock FM2A55M-DGS
Cooling Xigmatek HDT-D1284 // stock phenom II HSF
Memory 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance // 4GB 1600mhz corsair vengeance low profile
Storage 64gb sandisk pulse SSD and 500gb HDD // 500gb HDD
Display(s) acer 22" 1680x1050
Power Supply Seasonic G-450 // Corsair CXM 430W
Yes, but, I have a 120Hz (120fps) samy rz2233, and at this point in time the few games I play all run on the source engine, so its kinda nice to see how newer cards perform compared to older 48xx and 38xx series. (temp, power, noise and performance wise)

Thats a good point, with more and more 120hz monitors coming out the target for them is 120fps instead of 60fps, more so with 3d.

I have been looking around for some source engine benchmarks tonight as i often play l4d2 with friends and i have been trying to get an idea of high res performance, mainly looking at 2560x1600 as it's the closest to the res i will be running (2560x1600 is 4,096,000 pixels and the res i will be running is 5040x1050 so 5,292,000. 1.2 million off but it's as close as most reviews go :laugh:) and when using that kind of res the fps really takes a hit.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
4,686 (0.80/day)
System Name Obelisc
Processor i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling H110
Memory 16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s) GTX 780 Ti
Storage 850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case T81
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software Win10 64bit
After taking a second look at the power consumption on the 6850, I'm not sure these new cards really are more power efficient. At maximum, which I'm guessing is the unrealistic stress-testing run, then sure there's a gap. But at all the points it's only a few watts behind the 5850, while being slower than the 5850. Bump the clocks up to match a 5850 and the power usage would probably be the same if not more on average. So price efficient yes, but not really a huge step up power wise... unless you're always using some sort of gpu processing program. I'd still pick a 68 over a 58 but I just got the initial impression that there was more of a power usage difference.
 
Top