AMD Radeon HD 6870 - a serious middle peasant with a top name
It seems to me that over time, even in the most conservative person, consciousness flows in the direction of change. We, computer technology consumers, have been taught and accustomed from year to year that the announcement of a new generation of video cards should be accompanied by the release of a top-end solution. But AMD broke all stereotypes, having released at the beginning of the month its middle-end solution AMD Radeon HD 6850/6870. A little acquaintance in this video, which we have prepared for the new issue of "i" , and look for more information and tests under the cut.
I immediately remembered February 2008 and the launch of the ATI Radeon HD3870X2 graphics card. There are a lot of people in Eldorado, the drawing of brand-new video cards and extreme overclocking. And almost three years later we can see the video card three generations older, and in terms of performance, perhaps even even higher than three times. Everything is as usual, we look at the technical specifications: Probably, it's time to talk about the names and models of the new AMD series. You can already forget the ATI brand, we will not see it again. Now only Radeon will remind us of red video cards. Prior to the 6000 series, AMD video cards had the following classifications according to name.
The first digit in the name meant the generation of video cards, that is, the current innovations are the 6th generation (within the framework of this name), and the fifth that is already familiar to us. The second figure was responsible for the market segment to which this card is oriented. The figure 8 was assigned to the top class, and everything that gradually fell down from 8 to 3, just meant the ladder from hi-end to low-end. The third figure indicated the level of productivity within a given market segment. 7 - fast, 5 - medium, 3 - slowly. Well, the last digit was 0, which did not affect anything.
There was an exception. This is the Radeon HD5970, which did not fit somewhat into this entire hierarchy due to its dual-core design. Just the number 9 meant that two graphics processors were soldered on the board.
What is now?
AMD Radeon HD6870 is not a single-core top, as many may think from the name. The second digit in the title somewhat lost its position. 8 is no longer hi-end. Now there will also be a full line of HD69xx cards.
AMD Radeon HD6990 is the very top with two GPUs.
AMD Radeon HD6970 is a single-core top. (Faster than GTX480 and Radeon HD5870)
AMD Radeon HD6870 is a middle-end competitor to the GTX460 1Gb, the price is up to 9,000 rubles in Russian retail at the recommended $ 238.
AMD Radeon HD6850 - middle-end, competitor GTX460 768 MB.
AMD Radeon HD5770 - the well-known old man remains in the game. Renaming will not be.
We’ll quickly go over the interesting points of the novelty:
Two DVI ports - you will not surprise anyone, this is the standard, as well as the presence of one HDMI. But DisplayPort from the fifth generation turned into two miniDisplayPort in the sixth. And AMD representatives even told us how to assemble an AMD Eyefinity system with six monitors and one such video card. Two monitors via DVI and one via HDMI are enough for AMD Eyefinity to work with three monitors. For the "gamers" and owners of six monitors and sixth generation AMD graphics cards, the remaining three monitors can be connected in two ways. Buying a special adapter from one miniDispayPort to two, and then for three monitors you get three free slots. Or wait for super new monitors that will allow you to sequentially connect to each other through one miniDisplayPort.
How's the noise?
With this, AMD never had a problem))) It makes a noise about the same as previous fifth-generation video cards. After all, no changes in the design of the turbine have occurred. Loud - yes, but it cools well, why then change it? Two six-pin PCI-E slots power the Radeon HD6870. This is a complete order, because in my opinion, the 6 + 6 power system is the best combination. Tests, results: Test bench: Intel Core i7 980X Asus Rampage III Extreme 2x2 Gb Corsair Dominator GTX2 128Gb SSD ADATA S596 1200W Antec TPQ Conclusions:
My opinion is that AMD was once again (or rather the third time in a row) to maintain market leadership. The network is increasingly showing information that today is the day NDA is removed from the GTX580, but there is no information about it. There is only one conclusion: AMD will release a new generation faster this time too, and in a couple of months will take the cream off fast speed lovers!
I immediately remembered February 2008 and the launch of the ATI Radeon HD3870X2 graphics card. There are a lot of people in Eldorado, the drawing of brand-new video cards and extreme overclocking. And almost three years later we can see the video card three generations older, and in terms of performance, perhaps even even higher than three times. Everything is as usual, we look at the technical specifications: Probably, it's time to talk about the names and models of the new AMD series. You can already forget the ATI brand, we will not see it again. Now only Radeon will remind us of red video cards. Prior to the 6000 series, AMD video cards had the following classifications according to name.
The first digit in the name meant the generation of video cards, that is, the current innovations are the 6th generation (within the framework of this name), and the fifth that is already familiar to us. The second figure was responsible for the market segment to which this card is oriented. The figure 8 was assigned to the top class, and everything that gradually fell down from 8 to 3, just meant the ladder from hi-end to low-end. The third figure indicated the level of productivity within a given market segment. 7 - fast, 5 - medium, 3 - slowly. Well, the last digit was 0, which did not affect anything.
There was an exception. This is the Radeon HD5970, which did not fit somewhat into this entire hierarchy due to its dual-core design. Just the number 9 meant that two graphics processors were soldered on the board.
What is now?
AMD Radeon HD6870 is not a single-core top, as many may think from the name. The second digit in the title somewhat lost its position. 8 is no longer hi-end. Now there will also be a full line of HD69xx cards.
AMD Radeon HD6990 is the very top with two GPUs.
AMD Radeon HD6970 is a single-core top. (Faster than GTX480 and Radeon HD5870)
AMD Radeon HD6870 is a middle-end competitor to the GTX460 1Gb, the price is up to 9,000 rubles in Russian retail at the recommended $ 238.
AMD Radeon HD6850 - middle-end, competitor GTX460 768 MB.
AMD Radeon HD5770 - the well-known old man remains in the game. Renaming will not be.
We’ll quickly go over the interesting points of the novelty:
Two DVI ports - you will not surprise anyone, this is the standard, as well as the presence of one HDMI. But DisplayPort from the fifth generation turned into two miniDisplayPort in the sixth. And AMD representatives even told us how to assemble an AMD Eyefinity system with six monitors and one such video card. Two monitors via DVI and one via HDMI are enough for AMD Eyefinity to work with three monitors. For the "gamers" and owners of six monitors and sixth generation AMD graphics cards, the remaining three monitors can be connected in two ways. Buying a special adapter from one miniDispayPort to two, and then for three monitors you get three free slots. Or wait for super new monitors that will allow you to sequentially connect to each other through one miniDisplayPort.
How's the noise?
With this, AMD never had a problem))) It makes a noise about the same as previous fifth-generation video cards. After all, no changes in the design of the turbine have occurred. Loud - yes, but it cools well, why then change it? Two six-pin PCI-E slots power the Radeon HD6870. This is a complete order, because in my opinion, the 6 + 6 power system is the best combination. Tests, results: Test bench: Intel Core i7 980X Asus Rampage III Extreme 2x2 Gb Corsair Dominator GTX2 128Gb SSD ADATA S596 1200W Antec TPQ Conclusions:
My opinion is that AMD was once again (or rather the third time in a row) to maintain market leadership. The network is increasingly showing information that today is the day NDA is removed from the GTX580, but there is no information about it. There is only one conclusion: AMD will release a new generation faster this time too, and in a couple of months will take the cream off fast speed lovers!