Qualms over purchasing 6850

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by reze-daniel, Oct 30, 2011.

  1. reze-daniel

    reze-daniel Active Member

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    Well, having finally upgraded my dated PSU to the one i currently have now, I am now contemplating on whether or not I should make the purchase for the 6850 which is going for a very attractive price or wait for an upcoming series..

    Seeing as how this card is already one year old I'm not certain how futureproof it may be. In terms of games which might come out in the future with more DX11 Features.

    Basically i'll be looking to run the AAA titles of today (BF3, Skyrim, Rage etc..) and the future with top settings at 1280x1024 (native res) with little AntiAliasing or none.

    Thanks for any feedback!
     
  2. Saad

    Saad Master Guru

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    if you game at that resolution then i say go for it
     
  3. EnemyOmen

    EnemyOmen Ancient Guru

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    A 6850 should do pretty well at that resolution even with 2x AA.

    My 6870 ran BF3 Beta 100% Smooth @ 1080p Res. (Dont own the full release). at 1080p Res my 6870 handles everything i throw at it (which isnt much nowadays but I have played Crysis 2 Demo, Metro2033, etc with high or ultra settings) with no noticable FPS drops
     
  4. Psycho101

    Psycho101 Guest

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    You should get some nice results at that res. An upgrade to 1680x1050 would also cause little in the way of problems for you, if you decide to do so later.

    Of course, with 1280x1024 being a more lower end res these days, a decent amount of CPU power would come in handy in getting the best out of your card, even in relatively demanding games. For example a friend has just bought BF3 and runs that res on a ViewSonic 19" 5:4. He asked me to see what I could get from his Q9550 (he has a 6870 @ stock) in terms of an OC and find out if it would make much difference.

    With the CPU @ 3.8GHz, there was an improvement that allowed him to lower detail and get the bump in FPS that he wanted to maintain around 60 FPS. Before the OC, even lowering settings didn't improve frame rate beyond the ~40 FPS average he was getting with everything at high. The OC also didn't really improve performance at Ultra (by maybe a frame or two, not enough). With a few tweaks to the High preset (no MSAA, High FXAA, SSAO instead of HBAO) he got a consistant enough ~60 FPS, Vsync off. That's in Single player, so MP may perform a little better from what I've read. Don't have the game yet, so I might treat myself on pay day.
     

  5. reze-daniel

    reze-daniel Active Member

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    From what research i've done i'm pretty certain it'll run the titles I want well enough.
    Only question is how will it do in a year or two from now.. Which isn't exactly something i can expect anyone to know.

    Maybe someone can tell me if they think 1GB of video memory is enough nowadays? Would be a shame to get the card and then find out that 2GB is the new standard..
     
  6. Noisiv

    Noisiv Ancient Guru

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    From what research i've done, you WILL NEED 2GB for 1280x1024...

    when the 2560x1600 monitors and 6GB VRAM becomes the new standard

    :funny:
     
  7. EnemyOmen

    EnemyOmen Ancient Guru

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    I think the card will handle pretty well for the next year or so. I dont plan on getting rid of min for another few years...
     
  8. SoloCreep

    SoloCreep Guest

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    Looking at your computer specs maybe a 6850 would be a good match. However I don't think that a 6870 combined with your CPU, MEM would be future proof. Even with the best card your system would be holding it back from fully performing. Now if you plan on upgrading your other components in a year then go with a better card with 2GB of mem..

    If you can you should get a Dual Bios HD 6950 2GB which unlocks to a 6970. It will run everything out there at 1920x1080 with everything enabled. At low resolutions like you want to use it will chew games up. If in a year or 2 if games get too much for it to handle you could get one more and run two of them. I would get this card only if you upgrade everything else, CPU, MEM etc..
     
  9. IAmGhostDog

    IAmGhostDog Guest

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    I have a 6850.
    It's good enough to play BF3 @ Ultra settings.
    And Crysis2 with Dx11 and high res textures @ Ultra
    Games look good and play good.
    In the future? Who's to say.
    I would bump up your system memory. 3GB in a bare minimum these days.
     
  10. Rhezuss

    Rhezuss Member Guru

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    Well at that resolution the 6850 is a great card.
    But if you're not in a hurry, i'd wait for the 7000 series because i'm pretty sure you could get a card that is a little better for around the same price.

    If you can't wait, HD 6850/6870 is a great buy!
     

  11. wlw_wl

    wlw_wl Master Guru

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    I'd wait too, 6850 is a great card, but contrary to what our friend above says, it's not quite enough for BF3 in fullHD. And other games to come on the same engine or similar.

    If your pants are on fire, buy 6850 :)
    It overclocks like a monster ;)
     
  12. reze-daniel

    reze-daniel Active Member

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  13. diogo_cme

    diogo_cme Guest

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    Good = 30 fps. If that's good for you...
     
  14. quaker3

    quaker3 Master Guru

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    its probably best card per buck but its 100% certain that soon(depends on games) we will need vga with 2gb memory.Thats what i think.
     

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