Looking for a new mid range graphics card, well then wait no further! The Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 are in. Meant to replace the older Radeon HD 5000 series graphic processors compare to the 6850 and 6870 as follows (Taken from: guru3d):
| Specifications | Radeon HD 5770 | Radeon HD 5850 | Radeon HD 6850 | Radeon HD 6870 |
| GPU | Juniper XT | Cypress Pro | Barts Pro | Barts XT |
| Manufact. tech. | 40nm | 40 nm | 40nm | 40nm |
| GPU frequency | 850 MHz | 725 MHz | 775 MHz | 900 MHz |
| Stream processors | 800 | 1440 | 960 | 1120 |
| Memory frequency | 4800 MHz | 4000 MHz | 4000 MHz | 4200 MHz |
| Memory bus |
128-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory buffer |
1 GB GDDR5 | 1 GB GDDR5 | 1 GB GDDR5 | 1 GB GDDR5 |
| Power consumption |
108 watt | 151 watt | ~ 127 watt | >150 watt |
| Performance |
– | – | Faster than 5830 | Faster than 5850 |
The Radeon HD 6850 comes with two DisplayPort 1.2 connectors, one HDMI 1.4a connector and two DVI connectors (one single and one dual link). So if you have a 2560×1600 high resolution monitor and use the single link DVI connector you would only be able to get an approximate 1280×1024 resolution; If you use the dual link you can use 2560×1600 using the DVI connectors. The card is supplied with 75W through the PCIe slot, and another 75W through the 6-pin PCIe PEG connector.
The Radeon HD 6870 has the exact same monitor connectors except the single DVI can get 1900×1200 resolution, and if connected to a 2560×1600 monitor you get half the bandwidth at 1280×800 resolution. This doesn’t matter unless you have a high resolution monitor, and guro3d recommends you use the display port anyways.
Looking to purchase either the Radeon HD 6850 or 6870?
Radeon HD 6870: $239.99 @ Newegg.com
PowerColor Radeon HD 6870 AX6870 1GBD5-M2DH Video Card with Eyefinity
Radeon HD 6850: $199.99 @ Newegg.com