The Official HD 6000 Series Review thread

[Slytat]

It looks like AMD has done a lot to sort out CF performance which is a good thing. I'll be interested to hear end user impressions of these cards as some reviewers are not to be trusted after the nonsense that went on when Fermi was released.

I'm cautiously optimistic, but no matter what, I will probably wait for Sandy Bridge E and 28nm GPU parts before doing a full upgrade. SLI'd GTX 480/980x is more than enough for any game out there for the moment.

The 6970 is rumoured to run hot with a high tdp, putting it on the same footing as the 480 and (logical conclusion), the 580. I'm guessing the 6990 (dual GPU part) will be two 6870 GPUs. If that's the case then AMD could potentially pull off a two GPU card that is on par, and in some cases, faster than SLI'd 470s for ~$400-500.00 (depends on RAM config).

It's possible that we will see two 6970 GPUs on the 6990 but this might be difficult for the same reason we still haven't seen a two GPU Nvidia card. It won't matter much as it's likely the 6970 (and therefore, multiples of) will take the lead as the fastest single (and multi) GPU (pending the outcome of GTX 580 launch).

[Madpistol]

Dual 6870's is starting to look extremely attractive to me.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...irex-review/10

Crossfire performance is absolutely stellar! On top of that, these cards seem to run away with the game on TWIMTBP games. How did AMD do that?!?!?!?

I awas actually considering getting another 5870 this Christmas if prices were right, but now, forget it. I'll give my fiance my old 5870, and I'll get 2 6870's. The value is way too good to ignore. It's like GTX 460 SLI on steroids!

[JH24]

Nice to hear Crossfire performance is great. Overall I really like these cards. Definitely looking forward to the 6970/6950 series, although I'm not looking for an upgrade.


I'm very interested to learn more about AMD's Morphological AA. It seems to have some drawbacks (blurring/softening image, even 2D in games), but it also seems to have a very low performance hit. There's a thread about it at the Hardocp forum.


http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1555867


There are comparison screenshots at the last page, and Hardocp will post an article covering Morphological AA soon.

[Viral]

MLAA is a great option for games that don't allow FSAA for whatever reason or if you can't afford any major performance hit. Just for the record, Gow3 on PS3 uses MLAA.

[-=DVS=-]

I would not call Dual 6870 scaling stellar , more like strange and unbalanced.

Game 1


Game 2


From Guru3d

[JasonPC]

You can't expect linear performance increases across the board compared to the 5970. They are two completely different cards both with some pros and cons. For the most part crossfire 6870s seem to have better scaling. But I am sure there are some applications that will prefer 5870/5970 (because of the higher amount of stream processors maybe?). This type of performance isn't exclusive to this series of cards. I seem to remember strange gains and losses with the 8800 GTX vs 8800 GT/9800 GTX/etc. Changing the architecture, no matter how slight, ends up making a very different playing field.

[Soetdjuret]

6850 has the best price/performance ratio ever:



Just put a little overclock on it and allow amd to optimize a lill further and it'll perform between 5870 and 480 in most games

That's perfect for a 170 dollar card imo.. Then when 6970 comes it will smoke the 480 lol, I would imagine a scenario when pairing up a 6970 for 350 dollar together with a 150 dollar 6850 and getting better performance than GTX 480 SLI

Aah, i see it now A setup for about 500$ that will outperform a setup with nvidia for a price of 1000$ lol...-


LOL! i can even imagine a scenario purchasing 3x 6850's and getting better performance than GTX 480 SLI for a price of $450, just about as much as the 480 cost at the moment. So when things are said and done, nvidia bites the dust. Let's see what kind of a joke the nv 5xx series is they so freely annouced in the middle of the heat to be launched at the end of this year.

[Sazar]

Soet, why have you turned into the AMD version of Rollo?

Buy the card you want, feel free to dispense information but please stop trolling with these posts and threads. It is becoming annoying for discerning buyers such as myself who love information but hate fanboi comments that provide no useful information.

[ragejg]

Originally Posted by Sazar

Soet, why have you turned into the AMD version of Rollo?

Buy the card you want, feel free to dispense information but please stop trolling with these posts and threads. It is becoming annoying for discerning buyers such as myself who love information but hate fanboi comments that provide no useful information.

He took part in some bickering and name-calling that resulted in a thread being closed, and then had the decency to tell me how to moderate, and also called me lazy.

He's on a roll.

Soet, chill out and take mine and Saz's advice please. I really don't want to be handing out any free vacations.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

It looks to me like the 6870 performs much like a well-overclocked GTX 465. That's not too bad of a thing, but having used a 465, a 460 768 and a 5830 since May, I'm kinda tired of this performance category. the next GPU in my rig needs to have GTX 480+ performance... or... or... or I'm gonna cry.

[Roadhog]

meh, im waiting for the 6990.

[Mojoe]

This is the card i am waiting on.

Radeon HD 6970 (Cayman XT) 3DMark Vantage test results floating around in the X12000, but P mode is P24499. 在Unigine Heaven (1920 1200 4AA+16AF)环境设置下运行速度为36.6帧。 In Unigine Heaven (1920 1200 4AA +16 AF) environmental setting speed was 36.6 frames.

HD 5870 3DMark Vantage获得P19337的成绩，在Unigine Heaven (1920 1200 4AA+16AF)运行帧数为17.3 。 HD 5870 3DMark Vantage P19337 results obtained in Unigine Heaven (1920 1200 4AA +16 AF) running 17.3 frames. 同平台下GTX 480 3DMark Vantage获得P21106和X9309的成绩，在Unigine Heaven (1920 1600 4AA+16AF）速度为29.5。 The same platform GTX 480 3DMark Vantage P21106 and X9309 results obtained in Unigine Heaven (1920 1600 4AA +16 AF) speed is 29.5.

毫无疑问Radeon HD 6970(Cayman XT)将会是单卡之王 ，在相同状况下超出GTX 480性能10%以上，从测试中来说具备压制性的实力。 There is no doubt Radeon HD 6970 (Cayman XT) will be the king of a single card in the same circumstances beyond the GTX 480 performance above 10%, from tests run with oppressive power.

不过这张卡依旧是内部样卡，板型类似5870，核心频率在800MHz－900MHz范围内，供电接口为6 +8，相信TDP应该 在255W或者以上。 However, the card is still within the sample card, similar to plate 5870, the core at 800MHz-900MHz frequency range, power supply interface is 6 +8, I believe should be 255W TDP or more

http://vga.zol.com.cn/195/1953715.html

[Soetdjuret]

Originally Posted by Sazar

Soet, why have you turned into the AMD version of Rollo?

Buy the card you want, feel free to dispense information but please stop trolling with these posts and threads. It is becoming annoying for discerning buyers such as myself who love information but hate fanboi comments that provide no useful information.

What's your problem really? Am certainly not a fanboy, i myself own a GTX 295 which am happy with. I am nonpartial about this and want good for both nvidia and AMD, i am just glad that it goes better for AMD after the dominance nvidia has been having through the years from after the x800 series until the 5 series of radeon... It's better for us endusers with closer competition between nv and ati.

Am not turning into noone, and the things i post and say is not bull or troll. My statement on the nv 5xx series being a flop is based on how the fermi was, big, warm, big power consumption etc.. Sure the performance is good, but the card is also quite expensive, and mainly shine in dx11 games where lots of tessellation is used, other than that it's not much faster than the over 100 dollar cheaper 5870 which also is better on powerconsump and temperatures.

You say my information provide useless? What's useless about it? I post straight info based on reliable benchmarks and vivid speculations on the upcoming nvseries, ofc the 5xx series may be reeeal good but i have my doubts. Why such a sudden anoucement just 2 months left on this year? They said the 5 series will be out at the end of this year, presumable at the time of or after the launch of AMD's Cayman series.

ragejg@ sorry for the namecalling, it was unnecessary of me but that guy just built it up with the nonsense which he spat out again and again...