Powercolor Radeon 6850 SCS3 1GB (Passive) - Reviews

[Termie]

There's been some mention around here about the passively-cooled HD6850 in the past. Apparently, it came out a few weeks ago, and I just came upon a couple reviews. Thought a few of you would be interested:

Link to Newegg ($205 + shipping): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131442

HardwareCanucks: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...wercolor-hd-6850-1gb-scs3-passive-review.html

TechPowerUp: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_SCS3_Passive/

Seems like a great card for HTPC users looking to do some serious gaming. Only drawback is that it takes a lot of space and needs case airflow, so it won't work in many HTPC enclosures. That, and it's pretty expensive. Probably more of an engineering curiosity than anything else.

 

[deimos3428]

I'm glad it finally came out, but I'm also glad I didn't wait this long for it at that price. Anybody wanting to go passive may as well just get any ol' 6850 and strap on an Accelero S1.

 

[superccs]

Slap a 120mm fan on that bad boy and you've got something.... well something massive.

 

[Vic Vega]

I wish AnandTech did more of these reviews.

 

[Lioninstreet]

Just got one of these and using Win7 32 bit with the 8.91 driver. Can anyone offer some setup advice?

When I first started using the card I was able to display simultaneous images using both the DVI and the HDMI outputs. Now for some reason the card has stopped displaying the same simultaneous images.

For example, let's say I have the DVI monitor displaying @ 1024x768. When I try to plug in the HDMI monitor (a TV) I lose all my desktop icons and the screen just displays the windows logo. I unplug the HDMI and I get the desktop back on the DVI monitor.

When booting with both monitors connected all I get is the same windows logo, no desktop.

The HDMI display will work properly but now it only works if there is no other monitor connected to the card

I'm hoping this is just a simple setup change. Anyone care to offer some input?

Rig is a Asus p8z68Deluxe/Gen3, Passive 35w i5 2390t, Passive Prolima Armageddon, , 4 gb Ram, Passive Powercolor 6850 SCS3, Xfi Elite, Win7 32, Silverstone CW02

 

[Termie]

Just got one of these and using Win7 32 bit with the 8.91 driver. Can anyone offer some setup advice?

When I first started using the card I was able to display simultaneous images using both the DVI and the HDMI outputs. Now for some reason the card has stopped displaying the same simultaneous images.

For example, let's say I have the DVI monitor displaying @ 1024x768. When I try to plug in the HDMI monitor (a TV) I lose all my desktop icons and the screen just displays the windows logo. I unplug the HDMI and I get the desktop back on the DVI monitor.

When booting with both monitors connected all I get is the same windows logo, no desktop.

The HDMI display will work properly but now it only works if there is no other monitor connected to the card

I'm hoping this is just a simple setup change. Anyone care to offer some input?

Rig is a Asus p8z68Deluxe/Gen3, Passive 35w i5 2390t, Passive Prolima Armageddon, , 4 gb Ram, Passive Powercolor 6850 SCS3, Xfi Elite, Win7 32, Silverstone CW02

Sounds like a control panel issue to me, not a hardware issue. Go into desktop management in the Catalyst Control Center and see if you can get it to identify both of your monitors. There should then be an option to duplicate the first monitor or extend the desktop.

 

[Leyawiin]

That looks great. Stock GTX 460 1GB peformance and zero noise (decent temps too).

 

[lsv]

Looks impressive, I'd love to crossfire a pair of those and cool them with a TY-140 or something :O

 

[Lioninstreet]

@Termite, I wish I could do as suggested, but I dont even have a desktop much less get into the Catalist software with both interfaces plugged in.

At boot with both interfaces plugged in the OS hangs on the windows logo and if I plug in the HDMI after booting with the DVI the screen goes to the same window's logo screen.

@Leawiin, the whole rig is super quiet. I replaced the 120mm Silverstone fan with a reversed Noctua so it blows cool air on the Prolima and put a Silverstone FX121 cross flow fan in the cases rear grill and it blows cool air on the GPU and other cards.

The CPU runs at 35 at idle and 46c on Prime 95. The GPU runs at 64c on Furmark

 

[Magic Carpet]

This is a good card for somebody who doesn't want to mess with fitting custom heatsinks, etc. I am wondering however whether it emits a high pitch sound under load?

 

[Lioninstreet]

@magic carpet, I know the sound you mentioned.

I actually started this build with the idea of using a passive HD 6770 because it has a lower wattage and the heat output would be less. I had 2 choices, the Gigabyte HD 6770 (GV-R677SL-1GD) passive and the new Asus HD 6770 (EAH6770 DC SL/2DI/1GD5) passive.

Both of these cards have massive heat pipe heat sinks, just a bit larger in fact than the Powercolor 6850 passive (although the Powercolor does have an additional aluminum heat sink on the back of the card in addition to the large heat pipe heat sink).

After researching, I found the info on the Gigabyte's buzzing sound under load (it's not that loud but does disqualify the card as truly silent). So I picked up the Asus.

While bench testing, the Asus actually made the same buzzing as the Gigabyte.

Ultimately I couldn’t use either card. It seemed impossible that neither would work in the humongous Silverstone CW02. They actually do fit, but because the case mounts the optical drive in the center of the case, the heat pipes on both cards stick up high enough to interfere with the back of the drive. This heat pipe interference making mounting an optical drive impossible.

In my opinion there are only 2 HTPC cases that would have the height and the side mounted optical drive needed to fit either of those cards. The Thermaltake DH103 or the Antec Fuson Remote Max.

All other cases (the new Lian Li PC-C60 included) appear to either be either not tall enough or have a center mounted optical drive. And since I had already paid to ship the CW-02 I was stuck with it.

As for the Powercolor 6850 SCS3, it does run a bit hotter than the other 2 passive 6770's, but there is no buzzing noise. It is totally silent.

Now if I could just get it to work with 2 monitors...

 

[Lioninstreet]

I removed the intel graphics driver in device manager and that cured the problem. But any advice or a link to a good driver removal procedure would be helpful.
I was looking at this subject on antother forum and there sure are alot of confilicting opinions

 

[Termie]

I removed the intel graphics driver in device manager and that cured the problem. But any advice or a link to a good driver removal procedure would be helpful.
I was looking at this subject on antother forum and there sure are alot of confilicting opinions

I use Driver Sweeper when updating hardware. Generally works well, although it did have a glitch that made it difficult to upgrade to W7 SP1 that has since been fixed.

Thanks for posting the info on your installation and testing of the various cards. Very interesting and I'm sure some folks around here will find it quite helpful.

Amazing that there even is a 6850 passive -that's a heck of a lot of gaming power to have without a fan.

 

[Lioninstreet]

@termite,

Thanks for the tip with driver sweeper, but it doesnt look like Guru3d supports it any longer and the links to download it are dead. Which version is the one that doesnt cause the W7 sp1 conflict?

I actually went with the passive 6850 as my last resort for this build.

But since the 6770's wouldn't even fit, given the choice between a silent 6850 and a silent 6750 (or 6650) for an extra $100 it really wasn't a choice but to spring for the 6850.

I'm not much of a gamer yet but at least I have decent hardware to get started with.

 

[Termie]

@termite,

Thanks for the tip with driver sweeper, but it doesnt look like Guru3d supports it any longer and the links to download it are dead. Which version is the one that doesnt cause the W7 sp1 conflict?

I actually went with the passive 6850 as my last resort for this build.

But since the 6770's wouldn't even fit, given the choice between a silent 6850 and a silent 6750 (or 6650) for an extra $100 it really wasn't a choice but to spring for the 6850.

I'm not much of a gamer yet but at least I have decent hardware to get started with.

Here's a link to version 3.2, which was updated after they found the SP1 problem. It won't affect you if you've already installed SP1, though, but it's probably best to use the latest version anyway.

Link: http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4266-driver-sweeper.html

 

[Lioninstreet]

Thanks for the updated link. Enjoy