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A warning to prospective 7850 owners

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Both companies have launched cards with no reference design. It's not exclusive to AMD. It's done with the harvested/cut down versions. The HD 6850 was the same. I can't recall for certain which nVidia card, but I think it was the gtx 465. Someone else with a better memory might confirm or correct that.
 
3DVagabond said:
Both companies have launched cards with no reference design. It's not exclusive to AMD. It's done with the harvested/cut down versions. The HD 6850 was the same. I can't recall for certain which nVidia card, but I think it was the gtx 465. Someone else with a better memory might confirm or correct that.
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If that's the case then the word "reference" should be deleted from all the reviews imo.
 
Enough is enough; most of the good reviewers did in fact say that they were reviewing cards that would differ from the cards available at retail.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5625/...d-7850-review-rounding-out-southern-islands/2 (see paragraph 2)

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...2165-amd-radeon-hd-7870-hd-7850-review-6.html (paragraph 1)

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/3.html (second sentence)

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/04/amd_radeon_hd_7870_7850_video_card_review (last paragraph)

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/03/05/amd-radeon-hd-7850-2gb/1 (middle of the page, where it begins: "However, we’re in something of an odd situation for this review, as AMD hasn’t actually furnished us with a stock review sample. Instead we received an HD 7850 2GB GPU fitted into a stock HD 7870 2GB PCB, albeit with just a single 6-pin PCI-E power connector...")

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7850-and-7870-review/6 (second to last paragraph)

You said yourself that you relied on the Anandtech review, which explicitly said that the 7850 they reviewed would be different than the ones available in retail. Even if you were illiterate, though, you could still look at the photos that every reviewer has of the card(s) they review, and compare it to the photo of the one you bought, and realize that they were different.

It's time to stop blaming reviewers, blaming AMD, blaming partners, etc. It's undignified to have a victim mentality over your own mistake. Learn your lesson and move on. It's only a damned card--that you saved money on because you bought one of the cheaper models instead one of the pricier models with better cooling--and you said you were only upset because yours didn't clock up to what others on an internet board got theirs to even though yours clocks up to 1.15GHz, almost as fast as the 1.2GHz speed you desired. 4.2% difference. Is that really even worth caring about? First world problems, my friend.
 
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SickBeast said:
If that's the case then the word "reference" should be deleted from all the reviews imo.
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You've been really good about not taking offense and getting defensive. I'd like to commend you on that. I'm not picking on you either.

While I see your concern, the problem was you never read the reviews. You looked at the pics and made a decision. The other thing is you've never tried to diagnose why your card is running hot. There are people with the same design card as yours who are not having issues with temps. I don't have your card, but before I bought an aftermarket cooler (unless I just wanted to) I'd try reseating the stock one. It's a mass produced item. There's always going to be some that slip through QA. The other option would be to RA it because it is overheating.
 
OP, I would consider taking you up on your offer if I could sell my 6850 for $100. Funny thing is, its a Powercolor and I have no complaints about it. Temps, noise, and performance are all good. I just compared pics of them on Newegg, I think the 6850 I have has a larger fan but what looks like a less beefy heatsink.

I didn't read the whole thread, but how are you sure its not a defective card? What TIM are they using on these cards? I remember having identical cards before that had like 20 degree temp differences because one had bad TIM not put on well. I think it was a BFG 6800GT and they basically considered it a defective card and told me to send it in.
 
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I side more towards Sickbeast though, why not show some pics of the actual card being reviewed? Isn't one of the great things about internet publishing that the costs of content is so low? If it was an advertisement it would be considered deceptive so why should it be acceptable in a review?

That being said, it's always a good idea to seek information from owners of the card you are considering buying. In that regard Sickbeasts warning is a good one, hopefully if someone internet searches for his model they will see that voltage adjustment is tricky at best.

3DVagabond said:
You've been really good about not taking offense and getting defensive. I'd like to commend you on that. I'm not picking on you either.

While I see your concern, the problem was you never read the reviews. You looked at the pics and made a decision. The other thing is you've never tried to diagnose why your card is running hot. There are people with the same design card as yours who are not having issues with temps. I don't have your card, but before I bought an aftermarket cooler (unless I just wanted to) I'd try reseating the stock one. It's a mass produced item. There's always going to be some that slip through QA. The other option would be to RA it because it is overheating.
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jmgamer said:
What average overclocks are 7850's getting on stock voltage?

Just ordered a non-oc sapphire 7850.
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If you got the Dual-fan version I would be surprised if you didn't at least hit 1050MHz. Mine could go up to about 1088Mhz at 1.075volts which is kind of low for stock voltage.

If you got the single fan version, it will probably do almost as well as stock volts but be louder and hotter.
 
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I threw an accelero 7970 on the other day in box #2 and this cooler is so freaking amazing. I can't even describe in words. It is DEAD QUIET even at 100% fan, and with 1250mV and 1200mhz on the 7970 it doesn't go past 55C at 100% gpu load. The 7970 verison has VRM cooling as well, very nice cooler, I was impressed. Only con i'd say was that it took an entire day for the heatsink glue to fully cure, and I had to replace some of it with my own glue because I pulled a heatsink off by mistake.

I think i'm in love with accelero and will now put them on all of my GPU's. Are they making a 680 version? I saw one accelero 680 but it wasn't compatible with the stacked power connectors that reference 680s have. I guess that would be overkill though because the reference 680 is one of the quietest reference coolers i've heard.
 
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blastingcap said:
If you got the Dual-fan version I would be surprised if you didn't at least hit 1050MHz. Mine could go up to about 1088Mhz at 1.075volts which is kind of low for stock voltage.

If you got the single fan version, it will probably do almost as well as stock volts but be louder and hotter.
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It's the dual fan 7850. I don't think sapphire even makes a single fan version, at least not yet for the U.S. at least.

Yeah, I think I will be disappointed if it doesn't hit 1050 core on stock volts.

Don Karnage said:
My Asus did 1150 core, 5500 mem on stock volts of 1.138v
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1150 sounds pretty good, I would be pleased with that. The asus was too long to fit in my case though.
 
Hey sickbeast why didn't you buy a 7850 card others were getting screaming OCs out of instead of bottom of the barrel?

I mean after all you linked and started the ocers.uk thread and should know where the best results came from.
 
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Zebo said:
Hey sickbeast why didn't you buy a 7850 card others were getting screaming OCs out of instead of bottom of the barrel?

I mean after all you linked and started the ocers.uk thread and should know where the best results came from.
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Because not every one know that 7850s are not created equal. Its always the more expensive ones with quality cooler and components that OC the best but the cheaper ones like the one he bought screams value for money. When the 5850 just came out, it followed a strict reference standard and they overclocked amazingly well from the cheaper powercolor to the more expensive asus. The unsuspecting buyer without doing prior research would assume this to be the case for the 7850. But AMD changed the game this time round what you see is not what you get. No reference designs surely means AIBs will cut corner and slap on cheaper component on parts priced at MRSP and only reserve higher quality components for models priced at a premium.
 
Zebo said:
Hey sickbeast why didn't you buy a 7850 card others were getting screaming OCs out of instead of bottom of the barrel?

I mean after all you linked and started the ocers.uk thread and should know where the best results came from.
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In Canada it's hard to get the deals you guys get in the US.

Here the Powercolor 7850 was $230 vs $280 for the Asus. Had I waited I could have gotten the Asus card for $250, but my old GPU was dying and I needed something right away.

I'm somewhat satisfied now that my temps are so good with the Arctic Cooler, but if I could do it all over again I would have gone with the Asus card.
 
The good news is that gpuz is showing your voltage reading. That's a start.

Some older cards that didn't have software voltage change didn't even show the voltage on gpuz.
 
tigersty1e said:
The good news is that gpuz is showing your voltage reading. That's a start.

Some older cards that didn't have software voltage change didn't even show the voltage on gpuz.
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Hopefully tools will come out over time.

I hope that this problem is limited to Powercolor.
 
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