AMD Radeon HD 6870 review and benchmarks

AMD has released its second generation of DirectX11 enabled graphics cards; the HD 6800 series. Despite the similarity in name to the previous generation HD 5800 series, neither the HD 6870 nor HD 6850 are being touted as high-end cards.

That honour is being reserved for the HD 6900 cards which will be released later this month. 

Having said that, we were pleasantly surprised by the performance delivered by both cards, especially when you consider their mid-range price points. 

For now we will focus on the faster of the two; the HD 6870.

The HD 6870 is not a revolutionary chip design, but should rather be viewed as an optimization of the HD 5800 series. It is slightly smaller than the HD 5870, and roughly the same size as the HD 5850. Performance wise, it fits in somewhere between the HD 5850 and HD 5870. 

In terms of features, the HD 6800 series is pretty much on par with the HD 5800 series, with a few nifty additions. Firstly, AMD has finally introduced stereoscopic 3D capabilities, although their implementation is flawed. Unlike Nvidia’s 3D Vision, “AMD HD3D” will not simply work out the box. Not only will you need a 3D capable monitor with glasses, but you will have to purchase 3D software from a third-party company like DDD (Dynamic Digital Depth). Why AMD did not build direct support into their drivers remains a mystery, although this may change with future Catalyst updates. 

The HD 6870 is a few centimeters shorter than the HD 5870

On top of that, DisplayPort now follows the 1.2 interface specification, and HDMI 1.4 support has also been added. A new anti-aliasing mode (Morphological AA) has also been included, along with better Anisotropic filtering and improved Tessellation. 

Calling the HD 6870 a “mid-range” card feels unkind. It nips at the HD 5870’s heals, and in some cases, matches it frame for frame. While the HD 5870 is still AMD’s fastest single GPU graphics card, the HD 6870 handled everything we threw at it on maximum settings at 1920×1200. It averaged over 50 frames per second on every one of our benchmarks – an impressive feat for a “mid-range” graphics card, considering they were all performed at 1920×1200 with everything maxed.  

For the sake of simplicity and easy cross referencing, all benchmarks were run at a resolution of 1920×1200, with all settings set as high as possible, including anti-aliasing . Therefore, it is important to consider that better performance figures could easily be achieved by lowering detail settings to more moderate levels.  

Test rig: AMD Phenom II [email protected], 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motheboard

While the HD 5870 offers an extra few frames per second in most games, the difference will not be noticeable to the majority of users. The difference between 90 and 120 frames per second may sound like a lot, but the reality is that it is impossible to discern, and more importantly, it is not worth paying an extra R1400 for.

The Sapphire HD 6870 we tested is currently available from Rampage-Gaming for R2599. In contrast, you will struggle to find a HD 5870 for less than R3900. Considering how close the cards are in terms of performance, the HD 6870 comes highly recommended for its price. 

It is obviously not worth purchasing if you already own a HD 5800 series card, but if you are looking to enter the world of DX 11 gaming, then the HD6870 offers excellent value for money.

Pros

– High-end performance being sold (and priced) as “mid-range”.

– Runs all latest games on full settings at 50+ frames per second.

Cons

– HD 5870 price cut could make it redundant.

– HD 6900 and Nvidia GTX 580 around the corner – not the best time to buy a graphics card. 

Overall score 4.5/5

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