AMD ATI Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 PCIe

Overview

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 19 expert reviews

Excellent:

13
Good:

5
Average:

1
Bad:

0

Pros:

Performance, Cooling, connectivity ports, eyespeed technology, 3D support
Fast, Decent cooler, Overclocks well, Price, Loaded with ports
Terrific performance for the price. Improved technologies and video quality compared with previous-generation cards.

Cons:

Not consistently more powerful than Nvidia's competing card. Only one dual-link DVI port.
Fledgling 3D support.

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Last revision on April 25, 2012

Reviewers Liked

Performance, Cooling, connectivity ports, eyespeed technology, 3D support
Fast, Decent cooler, Overclocks well, Price, Loaded with ports
Terrific performance for the price. Improved technologies and video quality compared with previous-generation cards
Excellent pricetoperformance ratio, Great power efficiency
Modest mainstream DX11 graphics performance, Barts GPU Introduces stereoscopic 3D functionality, Reduced heat output enables very quiet cooling fan, Fan exhausts all heated air outside of case, UVD3 Adds multiview CODEC for 3D Bluray playback, Improv
Great performance for the price; stereoscopic-3D support with compatible monitors and HDTVs; five ports makes connecting multiple monitors easier

Reviewers Didn't Like

Not consistently more powerful than Nvidia's competing card. Only one dual-link DVI port
Fledgling 3D support
Limited initial AMD HD3D product support, Fails to fix anisotropic texture filtering, Barts GPU yields minimal overclock
Over 9 inches long; blocks an adjacent slot; high power draw might necessitate power-supply upgrade

Expert reviews and ratings

What's in a name? We see if ATI's latest graphics card is its best everRating: 4Average: 4 (1 vote) Like the Sith, graphics cards tend to come in twos with a more a mighty card and a lesser, cheaper alternative – the HD 6850 is the Darth...

By Channel Pro on January 24, 2012

Both the AMD Radeon HD 6850 and Radeon HD 6870 offer great performance for the prices and being able to drive multiple displays with one card via DisplayPort is great. While these cards might not appeal to the enthusiast gamer, they still offer up...

By Gaming Nexus on January 24, 2011

100

A competent DirectX 11 GPU but also one that isn’t quite as fast as competing cards equipped with the GTX 460 GPU....

By ITP.net on January 04, 2011

A card without any major faults, except for a poorly chosen, misleading name. For the rest (perforamnce, noise and energy management) it does very well. Do monitor pricing in comparison to the competition, to make sure you get the best...

By DigitalVersus on December 23, 2010

So for now, let's just worry about the Radeon HD 6850's knowable facts. These begin with its specs, which are above average for a card in this price range. The 6850 has 1.5 teraflops of compute power, a core clock speed of 775 MHz, and 960...

By ExtremeTech on November 03, 2010

A strong entry in the sub-$200 video card arena, the AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card provides some real competition for Nvidia's 768MB GTX 460....

By PC Mag on November 03, 2010

AMD has improved its CrossFireX scaling to match NVIDIA's. Two Radeon HD 6850s, coming in at £300, offer excellent performance with enviable power-draw characteristics. Cayman, over to you.The GoodNear-double performance from two cardsLow-ish...

By HEXUS.net on October 28, 2010

The AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card is a worthy successor to the HD 5850. It performed superbly in our benchmarks, with results often matching its technically superior predecessors. Throw 3D gaming into the mix and you have a great graphics card for...

By Good Gear Guide on October 27, 2010

AMD's Radeon 6850 may not lead the pack, but from a value standpoint, its price-to-performance ratio is tough to beat. And complementing its aggressive price tag is excellent gaming performance, which challenges even the impressive Radeon HD 5850....

By PC Advisor on October 25, 2010

AMD's Radeon HD 6870 hit the streets yesterday along with this, the cut-clocked Radeon HD 6850. But where does the smart money go?A lot can happen in twenty-four hours. And indeed a genre-shifting amount has come to pass since yesterday in the...

By TechRadar on October 22, 2010

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