PowerColor 6850 ($130) or HIS 6870 ($140) ???

[tasop7]

I know this has been asked several times on various sites, but I have more of a specific question regarding these two cards and their current pricing.

PowerColor 6850 for $130 after MIR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131374

HIS 6870 for $140 after MIR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161389


So here are several things I'm thinking about...

-The prices are almost the same, only a $10 difference so that doesn't matter to me. I'm upgrading a 4670 and don't want to go crazy with cost. $140 or less is a great price point for either of these cards as they are on the recommended list in the monthly "Best graphics cards for the money" that gets put out by Tom's Hardware (and they were recommended at the pricing of $170 and $185).

-Regarding performance, it would seem to makes sense to just spend the extra $10 since the 6870 is a better/faster card. I'm also taking into account that the 6870 needs 2 six pin connectors vs the 6850 only needing 1 six pin. I don't care about the difference on my electric bill, but I do care about stuff like noise levels and heat generation. My system and power supply can handle either card.

-Regarding brands, I know that Sapphire, XFX, Gigabyte, etc might be more "name brands", but the PowerColor has 145 reviews with a 4 out of 5 average. The HIS has 13 reviews with a 4 out of 5 average as well. In professional reviews I see various sites put out, PowerColor and HIS cards have been used several times and seem to do well compared to other brands.

-I've read several people say that the 6850 is a better value for the money since it overclocks better than the 6870. However, I'm sure that was more so the case when the cards had a $30-$40 difference, not a $10 difference.

-I'm choosing these cards since they have free shipping and good rebates right now. They seem to be the best value right now. I've sent a lot of rebates in and usually get them, so that's why they are getting factored in the price. I'm not worried about any extras other cards come with like vga adapters, power adapters, etc... all I need is the card itself.

So anyway, I need to make this purchase asap since I don't want them to run out of stock and the rebates expire in a couple days. Please let me know what you guys think and the reason why you'd choose one card over the other.

Thanks!!!

 

[GoStumpy]

What resolution?

6870 is the obvious choice.... Especially if you're 1080p.

I have a 6850, and when I bought it (3 months ago) it was $120 after MIR, and the 6870 was ~$160 after MIR...

If prices were closer, and knowing what I know now, I'd go 6870 for sure... You can never have enough GPU power when playing intensive games..

 

[Arkadrel]

At a 10$ differnce, Id get the His 6870 (cuz 6870>6850).

 

[tasop7]

What resolution?

6870 is the obvious choice.... Especially if you're 1080p.

My 24in monitor is 1080p. I normally game at lower resolutions due to the limitations of the current card I have. I normally set games in the 1200 range whereas my monitor can go into the 1900 range as far as resolution.

Yes, it seems like an obvious choice, but there were the other things that are factoring in like I mentioned. The HIS only has 13 reviews which made me hesitate on pulling the trigger on it vs the 145 reviews the PowerColor has.

 

[GoStumpy]

This may or may not help:

As much as those other things may be factored in, PLEASE don't let something insignificant like number of reviews sway your decision towards an inferior card!

 

[gnuelxela]

Sorry to hijack the post, I am facing a similar situation here...

Also have the choice of the Radeon 6850 at $130, Radeon 6870 is at $140 and the Geforce GTX 560 is at $150. All from Gigabyte and thus have the windforce cooling there, which will be the pick?

 

[tasop7]

Sorry to hijack the post, I am facing a similar situation here...

Also have the choice of the Radeon 6850 at $130, Radeon 6870 is at $140 and the Geforce GTX 560 is at $150. All from Gigabyte and thus have the windforce cooling there, which will be the pick?

No worries. Can you give links to where you're looking? Are these prices shipped? I was considering the GTX 560 as well but the AMD cards seemed pretty attractive at their prices.

 

[gnuelxela]

They were on NCIX canada boxing week sales. The Gigabyte ones are now sold out but there's a Powercolor Radeon 6850 at $105 after MIR.

Link Here

I ordered both GTX 560 and Radeon 6870 at the moment, depending on the feedbacks, may just give either one to my bro. They seem really close in terms of comparison.
I am currently more inclined with the Radeon 6870 due to the fact that the chip is the top in its tier meanwhile GTX 560 is the lowest in its tier. I might be wrong though so correct me if necessary.
It is similar to the case that people say GTX 560 Ti 448 is using the "poorer" quality GTX 570 chips....

 

[MrTeal]

Memory Express had an HIS 6870 that was $99 after MIR, but I didn't check until 8pm and they were all long gone.

I would definitely spend the extra $10 to get the 560Ti over the 6870. For the extra money you'll get measurably better performance.

 

[gnuelxela]

I would definitely spend the extra $10 to get the 560Ti over the 6870. For the extra money you'll get measurably better performance.

it's a a GTX 560 non-Ti for $150

 

[PingSpike]

I was in the market for a 6850 about a month ago. I was going to get a $130AR card but then I noticed newegg had a powercolor 6870 for $140AR and I figured why not? I don't overclock my video cards as I'm to lazy.

I can't hear the card while gaming, although my system is a little bit loud. I had a HD4850 before and that thing was loud as hell while gaming. The cooler on those really sucked.

 

[GaiaHunter]

6870 for both tasop7 and gnuelxela.

While the 6850 can generally OC close to 6870 speeds, saving $10 isn't worth the risk you getting a bad OC'er.

The GTX560 vs the 6870 is a bit closer since some of the factory OC can be close to it. I would still buy the 6870 based on its lower power consumption (and cheaper price) unless you are heavy into games that favour NVIDIA architecture vs AMD architecture.

 

[jmarti445]

Neither, go to geeks.com and buy a HD 5870 for $149.99, its closer to the 6950 when it comes to performance vs the 6870.

 

[Termie]

Uh, now that the 6870 is $130AR, I don't think there's much to decide...

 

[Black-Wolf]

I have two HIS cards 6670 and 6870. They both perform well and have the 6870 for about 9 months. $/performance the 6870 is hard to beat.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Neither, go to geeks.com and buy a HD 5870 for $149.99, its closer to the 6950 when it comes to performance vs the 6870.

90 day warranty...pass.

 

[tasop7]

Thank you everyone for your input! At 6am Newegg sent out an end of the year clearance ad which had the HIS 6870 discounted another $10. So now that both cards were the same price, it would be foolish to get the lower-end card.

Several reviews online do show the 6870 being slightly noisier than than the 6850, but it seem like both are pretty quiet to begin with. Another reason why I asked which card you guys would buy is because I remember reading about one of the newer AMD cards being plagued with line and artifact issues. People said the drivers were terrible. I've been looking for which card in particular was criticized and I couldn't find it. I've gone through so many websites in the last week it's not even funny lol.

Anyway, I bought the 6870. Thanks again!

 

[Vesku]

In terms of the GTX 560 vs Radeon 6870 it really comes down to if you have some high play time games that work better on one than the other.

They were on NCIX canada boxing week sales. The Gigabyte ones are now sold out but there's a Powercolor Radeon 6850 at $105 after MIR.

Link Here

I ordered both GTX 560 and Radeon 6870 at the moment, depending on the feedbacks, may just give either one to my bro. They seem really close in terms of comparison.
I am currently more inclined with the Radeon 6870 due to the fact that the chip is the top in its tier meanwhile GTX 560 is the lowest in its tier. I might be wrong though so correct me if necessary.
It is similar to the case that people say GTX 560 Ti 448 is using the "poorer" quality GTX 570 chips....