AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card

Written by Olin Coles

Thursday, 21 October 2010

Table of Contents: Page Index
AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card
Radeon HD 6870 Closer Look
Features and Specifications
Video Card Testing Methodology
DX10: 3DMark Vantage
DX10: Crysis Warhead
DX11: Aliens vs Predator
DX11: Battlefield Bad Company 2
DX11: BattleForge
DX9 SSAO: Mafia II
DX11: Metro 2033
DX11: Unigine Heaven 2.1
Overclocking and Temperatures
VGA Power Consumption
Radeon HD 6870 Conclusion

Page 5 of 15

DX10: 3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX10 graphics card performance. FutureMark 3DMark Vantage is the latest addition the 3DMark benchmark series built by FutureMark corporation. Although 3DMark Vantage requires NVIDIA PhysX to be installed for program operation, only the CPU/Physics test relies on this technology.

3DMark Vantage offers benchmark tests focusing on GPU, CPU, and Physics performance. Benchmark Reviews uses the two GPU-specific tests for grading video card performance: Jane Nash and New Calico. These tests isolate graphical performance, and remove processor dependence from the benchmark results.

3DMark Vantage v1.02
- Extreme Settings: (Extreme Quality, 8x Multisample Anti-Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, 1:2 Scale)

3DMark Vantage GPU Test: Jane Nash

Of the two GPU tests 3DMark Vantage offers, the Jane Nash performance benchmark is slightly less demanding. In a short video scene the special agent escapes a secret lair by water, nearly losing her shirt in the process. Benchmark Reviews tests this DirectX-10 scene at 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions, and uses Extreme quality settings with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. The 1:2 scale is utilized, and is the highest this test allows. By maximizing the processing levels of this test, the scene creates the highest level of graphical demand possible and sorts the strong from the weak.

Jane Nash Extreme Quality Settings

Cost Analysis: Jane Nash (1680x1050)

$167 GeForce GTX 460 768MB costs $7.36 per FPS
$180 Radeon HD 6850 1GB costs $7.69 per FPS
$220 GeForce GTX 460 1GB costs $9.09 per FPS
$240 Radeon HD 6870 1GB costs $8.08 per FPS
$260 EVGA GTX 460 FTW 1GB costs $8.18 per FPS
$262 Radeon HD 5850 1GB costs $9.00 per FPS
$292 GeForce GTX 470 1GB costs $9.97 per FPS

3DMark Vantage GPU Test: New Calico

New Calico is the second GPU test in the 3DMark Vantage test suite. Of the two GPU tests, New Calico is the most demanding. In a short video scene featuring a galactic battleground, there is a massive display of busy objects across the screen. Benchmark Reviews tests this DirectX-10 scene at 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions, and uses Extreme quality settings with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering. The 1:2 scale is utilized, and is the highest this test allows. Using the highest graphics processing level available allows our test products to separate themselves and stand out (if possible).

New Calico Extreme Quality Settings

Cost Analysis: New Calico (1680x1050)

$167 GeForce GTX 460 768MB costs $8.70 per FPS
$180 Radeon HD 6850 1GB costs $10.11 per FPS
$220 GeForce GTX 460 1GB costs $10.63 per FPS
$240 Radeon HD 6870 1GB costs $10.76 per FPS
$260 EVGA GTX 460 FTW 1GB costs $9.42 per FPS
$262 Radeon HD 5850 1GB costs $12.13 per FPS
$292 GeForce GTX 470 1GB costs $11.59 per FPS

Test Summary: Based on 3dMark Vantage's Jane Nash and Calico performance tests, it appears that the Radeon HD 6850 competes with the 768MB GeForce GTX 460, while the Radeon HD 6870 fits in somewhere between the 1GB GeForce GTX 460 and GeForce GTX 470 video cards. Based on price though, the Radeon HD 6850 fails to match value with a 768MB GeForce GTX 460 but the Radeon HD 6870 fits well within its space. Compared with a similarly priced EVGA GeForce GTX 460 FTW video card ($260), there's a substantial performance lead over the Radeon HD 6870. While NVIDIA doesn't offer a reference model to compete with the Radeon HD 6870, there's a factory-overclocked product that does. On AMD's side, the Radeon HD 6870 appears to nearly reach Radeon HD 5850 performance levels, albeit for about $25 less.

Graphics Card	GeForce GTX460	Radeon 6850	GeForce GTX460	Radeon HD6870	EVGA GTX460 FTW	Radeon HD5850	GeForce GTX470
GPU Cores	336	960	336	1120	336	1440	448
Core Clock (MHz)	675	775	675	900	850	725	608
Shader Clock (MHz)	1350	N/A	1350	N/A	1700	N/A	1215
Memory Clock (MHz)	900	1000	900	1050	1000	1000	837
Memory Amount	768MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1024MB GDDR5	1280MB GDDR5
Memory Interface	192-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	320-bit

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Comments

# RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — Ben 2010-10-21 19:09

Thanks for the super quick review. Only would have like it if the 5770 was on here as it is basically its replacement. Looks like a fairly good card, nothing like the 4000 and 5000 were for releases. Will have to see how they do when they start coming out with upgrades to the reference designs.

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# RE: RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — Servando Silva 2010-10-21 19:24

5770 replacement? I don't think so. I've heard the 5700 series will remain the same for now (without replacements).

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# 6870 Does Not Replace 5770 — Olin Coles 2010-10-21 19:24

Thank you for your feedback. I think there's a misunderstanding about Radeon HD 6000 series, because it's not intended to replace anything in the 5000 series lineup. The $240 Radeon 6870 does not replace the $140 5770, and their performance profiles are completely different.

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# RE: 6870 Does Not Replace 5770 — Ben 2010-10-21 19:38

Hmm well what I mean is that in the 5000 range you have 5770 being the high mid, and in this range I understand with the expected 6900 series release the 6870 is meant to be high mid as well. Placed to run vs the 460 which is also in this bracket. From a basic consumer standpoint I am going to compare it to cards priced about the same was done in the review. So if I'm looking at a 5770 vs 6850 or 460 vs 6870 I would expect them to be eventually phasing out the previous gen in the bracket. Making it effectively its replacement.

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# RE: RE: 6870 Does Not Replace 5770 — Olin Coles 2010-10-21 19:59

True, the Radeon 5770 will eventually be retired. The $180 Radeon HD 6850 could also be used to fill that price point. Suffice it to say that the 6850 is about 30% faster than the 5770 based on my test results. I'll go back into the article and add some notation.

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# RE: RE: RE: 6870 Does Not Replace 5770 — Avro Arrow 2010-10-22 06:26

The Radeon HD 5770 was an abortion from the beginning. Why would anyone pay almost DOUBLE the price of an HD 4780 for a card that performs as well or worse in almost all games than the 4870, yet isn't powerful enough to properly tessellate DX11 graphics even though that's supposed to be its marquee feature? Thanks, I'll stick to my 4 Radeon HD 4870s for a good while longer! LMAO

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# New AMD 6870 Refernce Review — John Darcy 2010-10-22 04:04

I wanted to thank you for another great review, concise, complete-with regard to time of test and release- and accompanied by your astute observations and opinions. I am a novice with this stuff but still enjoy building and using practical and up to date equipment. I was very pleased or happy to see the inclusion of this model in the market place position you described. I bought 2 of the 5870s one immediately and a 2nd at the v2 mark. I find them great but were a huge dent in my budget. It is refreshing to see all the editorial space devoted to conservation or power usage. It is an important issue and one easily minimized, particularly by me or friends from my era who still labor under the misconception that power resources are unlimited and cheap. It is a major consideration now as you intimated by the amount of hype you get on the green subject matters. I look forward to your articles agree or not-your expertise and experience provides me information i can usually understand.

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# RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — aberkae 2010-10-22 04:47

Yes the barts chips is a juniper spin of and not a cypress one. I'm glad and surprised the 6870 beats the gtx 470 ( I guess nvidia got scared and dropped the prices permanetly) better prices, better performance all benefit the end user!
I love this review ( but would have likes multi gpu setup test)
With sandibridge around the corner, the entrylevel gpus will be dimineshed, AMD is stepping up its game in the mid level gpu section. ( because it will soon be entry level and not midlelvel)

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# RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — RealNeil 2010-10-22 05:52

I was glad to see the announcement of price reductions from NVIDIA Yesterday. Price wars are good for the ones buying these cards.

I don't like that ATI and NVIDIA cards are so far apart as to how they do Phys-X and other newer game technologies. I'd like to see them both cleave to standards so we could rate them in a better and fair way against one another. ATI says that Phys-X is closed by the other guy, and NVIDIA say's it isn't,..........what a crock. They should both do it all.
Not knowing if Phys-X and Cuda will take off and be a part of every game makes me lean towards buying the cards that have it built-in to them just to ensure that I don't have to buy all over again later just to be able to play the next new wazoo games that developers are dreaming up. Thanks for the considered look at these new AMD Cards.

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# RE: RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — Olin Coles 2010-10-22 06:58

I agree with you on this, Neil. You've got one manufacturer who builds a strong product, but it lacks high-end antialiasing, has a broken anisotropic filter, doesn't support PhysX, and has very limited 3D support. The other manufacter does offers a product without these problems, but they cost more. It's not an easy choice, if all you want to do is play a video game and not concentrate on market technologies.

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# RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — Borg 2010-10-22 07:23

ok...for those who like to push alot a card with oc then buy a 460 1gb
thats what i get, cause with the new prices 460 worth more and better tesselations VS non
otherwise ati boys stay with the 5850

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# RE: RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — aberkae 2010-10-23 05:41

Actually the gtx 460 FTW is a pretty good card too!

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# Wow — SiliconDoc 2010-10-24 15:12

Good luck Olin.

So the 5830 doesn't exist anymore !

ROFLMAO - It's a hoot seeing so many geeks claiming to know something, and the entire red rooster set of intertards cannot bring themselves to type 5 8 3 0 .
Wow.
What card has 1120 shaders ? LOL

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# RE: Wow — Olin Coles 2010-10-24 15:17

Much like the GTX 465, the 5830 was a filler part that was offered in limited supply. Now that yields are much better, the salvaged GPUs that were used in these two models are no longer in quantity supply.

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# The memory hole. — SiliconDoc 2010-10-26 16:21

Right, but does any of that matter ? NOPE.
There are no less than 8 different 5830's available on the egg right now, exceeding a few other " quantity models".
Out of the 20-30+ reviews, I've seen ONE that logically and honestly claimed one of the cards "being replaced" was the 5830.
We have 5870, 5850, 5830 - not like it's easy to miss the 3rd card. You really have to work at it.
Those the masses and the two competing companies rely on for releases, affect the market quite substantially, yet they miss the single 1120 shader card ATI had on the table, when the 2nd 1120 shader hits ? Widely IT'S NOT EVEN MENTIONED NOR CHARTED IN ENTIRE ARTICLES.
"It's low in production" is a joke.
I have no idea if it's pressure or brainwashing or incompetence, but in any case no excuse will satisfy, period. I'm certain you understand that.

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# RE: RE: Wow — SiliconDoc 2010-10-26 16:55

Yet the GTX465 was included front and center and in the benches and GPU charts in the GTX460 release article here, #benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=558&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=6 , quite unlike the now already gone from reviews 5830.

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# RE: RE: RE: Wow — Olin Coles 2010-10-26 17:07

SiliconDoc, you might have missed it but we've already updated all of our Radeon HD 6850 review articles with 5830/5770 results and charts. I don't believe the 5830 has anything to do with the 6870 review.

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# Ok — SiliconDoc 2010-10-26 21:01

Thanks. Glad to hear an update was applied.

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# Ah, the untouchable subject. — SiliconDoc 2010-10-26 16:37

The 5830's price was reduced publicly by AMD upon the 460's release, as it's competitor.
Now that AMD has released another set of competitors to the 460 in very short order, the 5830 falls into the amnesiac category. 8 different 5830's are currently available on one of the very popular online purchasing sites.
I've seen just one review actually mention the 5830 when reviewing the Barts 6000 release.
Those of us who are awake, obviously in the minority, have reason to be disturbed.

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# RE: Ah, the untouchable subject. — Olin Coles 2010-10-26 17:12

It's not untouchable at all. I just don't see how a $170 Radeon HD 5830 has anything to do with a $250 Radeon HD 6870. Maybe the 6850, but certainly not the 6870.

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# RE: RE: Ah, the untouchable subject. — SiliconDoc 2010-10-26 20:54

Ok, so on the VGA POWER CONSUMPTION page, this article, the 5830 is conspicuously missing, even though all those other cards that have "nothing to do with a $250 6870" are in fact, listed.
26 cards in total.
No 5830.
I'm not here to criticize you, but your last response is quite surprising to say the least. I don't suppose any card other than the GTX460 1gig "has anything to do with a $250 6870" , or perhaps we could just have a review with the 6870 compared to the 5850 or just the 5870, whichever the 6870 happens to be closest to. I suppose by your statement that's the 5850.
I will find more than the 5850 in the bench charts won't I.
I am sorry logic and comprehension and honesty isn't in the mix, all too often.

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# RE: RE: RE: Ah, the untouchable subject. — Olin Coles 2010-10-26 21:04

The power consumption table is the same on every single video card article it is used on. We update the table, and it replicates to every article. The only reason it's not in there is because we only received the ATI engineering sample, and not a retail card. If you'll recall, 5830 engineering samples game in a 5870 package with the correct cores and speeds. It wouldn't be appropriate to use this package for power consumption testing.

Believe me, it's not a conspiracy. I don't think it could be even if we really, really tried.

While you're at it, go back and re-read the 6850 review. It was re-written to compare against the 5770 and 5830.

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# RE: AMD Radeon HD 6870 Barts Video Card — smith 283 2010-11-28 03:10

hey ppl.
i wanna play crysis2 on max settings so... which graphic card sholud i bu.
plzzz help me :(
ma budget is around 350-400$

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# crysis 2 system requirements — aberkae 2010-11-28 09:20

The system requirements aren't out yet. I can't recommend aything especially at that price point that can even maximize crysis 1 and warhead @ 60+ fps @ least 1080p, you can go with 2 gtx 460s ( 1gig) in sli, or if you wait till AMD's Cayman chips will cause prices to drop! Currently Asus gtx 480 sells for $370 @ newegg.com and used EVGA one for $350 @ amazon. If the prices of the gtx 470 falls to $200 I would recommend 2 of those. Or buy a gtx 480 now and when crysis 2 will come out the prices will fall again, so you can buy another one and put it in sli.

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