Please post in this thread if you are the owner of a 6850/6870.

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Rhezuss

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2006
4,118
34
91
Just got my Sapphire 6850 today, to replace a 4870-512.

It solved by biggest gripe with the 4870: noise. The PowerColor 4870 BIOS (which they never updated) ran the fans too slow in auto mode (quiet with cooking GPU, then screaming fan to cool down, then repeat). With manual mode I had to run at a noisy 39% constantly for 3D. I also had to run the rear case fan at a noisy level to keep things cool.

With the 6850 using the auto fan control it runs silently for 2D and quietly for 3D, while staying 10c cooler (53c) after an hour of gaming with the case fan near silent. Nice!

I also can run Fallout 3 with max quality settiings at 16x10 more smoothly than the 4870 ran at 14x9. Possibly even at 19x12, I just haven't tried it yet.

A 6850 makes a great upgrade for 4850 and 4870 owners, at a very reasonable $180.

I run Fallout NV at 1920x1080, Ultra settings 8xAA/8xAF, HDR on, Vsync on (and in the 3D settings in the CCC: Catalyst A.I. to High Quality, Adaptative MSAA, triple buffering on, Vsync always on and AA/AF settings controlled by application) and it runs really well. The only slowdowns I have are due to the Gamebryo engine from what I read but the game runs smooth as butter. Enjoy your new card, it's a little beast!

I have the XFX model that replaced my Sapphire Hd 5770 Vapor-X. A little noisier than my 5770 but overall I can't complain and i'm sure you'll see lower temps too. You will have fun!
 
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Absolution75

Senior member
Dec 3, 2007
983
3
81
I can hardly hear mine in TF2 - in OCCT, the card will eventually get up to 50% and be slightly audiable.

In other words, very quiet GPU.
 

SZLiao214

Diamond Member
Sep 9, 2003
3,270
2
81
Wow, i just got owned. I changed my card back to stock settings after a moderate overclock when i realized it played all the games i had at 60 frames constant.

I was playing world of warcraft when i decided to get some water. When i came back the computer was off and i couldn't get it started again until i put in my old graphics card.
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
Just got my Sapphire 6850 and am stress-testing it in OCCT right now (20 minutes for now, I will test for longer periods later). (Furmark etc. is not good enough for me; I want zero errors, not just zero visible errors.) Fan speed starts to get noticeable over background noise at ~50%. It's mildly annoying from 60-70% and 75% is getting kind of unpleasant.

GPU/memory: 999/1203 at 1.225 volts returned some errors.

974/1190@1.212v = zero errors.

951/1235@1.15v (stock) = zero errors (25 minute run). This will likely be what I use when gaming, unless I absolutely need that extra 1-2fps in which case I will see how high this card goes at 1.300v... probably at or slightly above 1GHz judging by my preliminary tests.

Memory goes higher than 1235 (definitely to 1248, probably beyond that), but the diminishing returns in Unigine 2.1 after ~1230MHz made me feel that it wasn't worth it to go much higher.

Tests are done w/ case fans set to low. Ambient temp is ~20C.

Side note: when removing the EVGA GTX460-768 and replacing it with the Sapphire 6850, I could feel the weight difference: the 6850 feels significantly heavier. The Sapphire 6850 heatsink/fan are the real deal and probably close to the ASUS DirectCU's capabilities despite the lack of direct-contact heat pipes. Plus the larger Sapphire shroud makes me more confident that more of the hot air is getting pushed out of my case than would be the case with the ASUS mini-shroud. I guess to most people it's a tossup between the PCB spine/direct-contact heat pipes and 3 year warranty (ASUS) vs. larger shroud and lower cost with 2 year warranty (Sapphire). I used to look down on Sapphire but no more. I do, however, look down on EVGA now. It's nice they are supposed to have great customer service, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and to me they used flimsy packaging on the GTX460-768MB that was defective upon arrival.
 
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GaiaHunter

Diamond Member
Jul 13, 2008
3,650
218
106
Can someone with a 6870/6850 please post a screen shot showing the entire AI tab?

Thank you.
 

Powermoloch

Lifer
Jul 5, 2005
10,084
4
76
Blastingcap, what are your idle and loading temps for your OC 6850?


After reading the reviews from newegg...I bit and ordered 2 x 6850 sapphire.

gonna be a new owner.
 
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WaTaGuMp

Lifer
May 10, 2001
21,207
2,506
126
Yes. Thanks. :thumbsup:

So there is no way to turn the AI off?

The settings are performance, quality and high quality?

Or is High quality AI off?

You get high quality, middle setting is quality, and high performance all the way to the left, that's all the choices.
 
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blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
Blastingcap, what are your idle and loading temps for your OC 6850?

After reading the reviews from newegg...I bit and ordered 2 x 6850 sapphire.

gonna be a new owner.

When using Low fan settings in my CM Storm Sniper case, my idle is ~38C in single-monitor and ~48C in Eyefinity 3x1. Load is ~64C in games, ~67C in OCCT. Ambient temp is ~20C. Fan profile is on default auto. With my more-aggressive fan profile the temps are a bit less.

I'm on Cat 10.10 (no beta stuff yet, I'm still working on rejiggering my Eyefinity profiles right now).

Congrats on the dual 6850s, these things scale well, or so I hear.

Edit: sorry the 64/67C games/OCCT is with my more-aggressive fan profiles and with a 951/1235 overclock (stock volts). With default it's probably more.
 
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Powermoloch

Lifer
Jul 5, 2005
10,084
4
76
Thanks blast,

I'll be posting some benchies when there's a demand :p (vantage / heaven)

And a great opportunity to actually use collection of 120+ games (yeah..it's pretty sad)..including crysis/hawx/MOH/MW2/ME:2/stalker: COP,clear, far cry 2 , you name it.

<--- so excited
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
Thanks blast,

I'll be posting some benchies when there's a demand :p (vantage / heaven)

And a great opportunity to actually use collection of 120+ games (yeah..it's pretty sad)..including crysis/hawx/MOH/MW2/ME:2/stalker: COP,clear, far cry 2 , you name it.

<--- so excited

Try out Eyefinity if you want to stress your system. It's not for everyone though, so try before you buy. For me, I like it a lot. The GTX460-768 was a great bang4buck card, but I missed my side panels too much.

P.S. I just tried L4D2 with maximum settings except AA, which I left at 4xMSAA, at 5140x1050 (bezel corrected). Eyebalilng it, I was averaging ~75fps at STOCK clocks--not even overclocked! And the game has triple-buffering VSYNC, so I am not concerned about the rare dips below 60fps. You could probably do stuff like that with higher-powered games with a 6850 Crossfire setup... maybe even BF:BC2 at medium-high settings or something. But once again, only if you like Eyefinity. It's not for everyone, and some people even get sick from it.
 

Powermoloch

Lifer
Jul 5, 2005
10,084
4
76
Try out Eyefinity if you want to stress your system. It's not for everyone though, so try before you buy. For me, I like it a lot. The GTX460-768 was a great bang4buck card, but I missed my side panels too much.

P.S. I just tried L4D2 with maximum settings except AA, which I left at 4xMSAA, at 5140x1050 (bezel corrected). Eyebalilng it, I was averaging ~75fps at STOCK clocks--not even overclocked! And the game has triple-buffering VSYNC, so I am not concerned about the rare dips below 60fps. You could probably do stuff like that with higher-powered games with a 6850 Crossfire setup... maybe even BF:BC2 at medium-high settings or something. But once again, only if you like Eyefinity. It's not for everyone, and some people even get sick from it.


I wish i can try out eyefinity :(

Unfortunately I don't have a desk large enough for 3 LCD monitors D:
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
I wish i can try out eyefinity :(

Unfortunately I don't have a desk large enough for 3 LCD monitors D:

Aww. Yeah I had to clear off a table and dedicate it to Eyefinity, haha. Even so, it's a tight squeeze. I *might* have enough for 3x24" but it'd be half-falling off.

By the way, it's official: 90 minutes of OCCT with zero errors: 951/1236@stock volts. With my mildly aggressive fan profile, temps and fan peaked together at ~65C/65&#37;. TriXX + GPU-Z = mimics Afterburner. Afterburner has some sort of problem whenever I switch Eyefinity modes--which is a lot--so it looks like TriXX + GPU-Z will have to do until Afterburner fixes that problem.

I might be able to squeeze a few more MHz but 951 is good enough, and I want to leave a cushion in case of hot summer days or something.

I'm curious how high this thing goes at 1.3V but honestly I don't like overvolting much and as far as I'm concerned, this card's stock volts is ALREADY an overvolt, compared to my reference HD5850 which had a stock voltage of something like 1V or 1.087V.
 
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Barfo

Lifer
Jan 4, 2005
27,539
212
106
Which drivers are currently the best for this card, and when are the next supposed to be available?
 

Barfo

Lifer
Jan 4, 2005
27,539
212
106
Well this is the first time I post here since owning the card :p

I installed the 10.12 but for some reason performance was way worse than my 4850, got the 10.10e and I've been a happy camper.
 

ricleo2

Golden Member
Feb 18, 2004
1,122
11
81
I have two 6870's in crossfire. I used to have a problem with the Windows Experience Index in win7 not running. I discovered if I used an older driver for the video cards as well as the sound driver that came with windows I can run it successfully. Right now I can run Mass Effect 2 and Just Cause 2 with all the settings maxed out. Best Gaming PC I built since I started building in '95. Quite satisfying and fun.
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
Well this is the first time I post here since owning the card :p

I installed the 10.12 but for some reason performance was way worse than my 4850, got the 10.10e and I've been a happy camper.


Hmmm.interesting...was it that noticeable?