AMD's highly anticipated update to the Radeon family of graphics cards has finally been released, and we've already had the chance to put the HD 6850 and HD 6870 through the HEXUS wringer.
Based on a tweaked version of the previous generations architecture, these GPUs will offer better performance and efficiency than their predecessors at a comparatively lower price.
We're expecting the cards to cost around £150 and £190, respectively, and at those price points, they'll be mighty competitive. So without further ado, let's see what's available to buy today.
AMD Radeon HD 6850 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| retailer | product | availability | price |
| scan.co.uk* | XFX Radeon 6850 | Pre-order | £133.57 |
| ASUS Radeon 6850 OC | Pre-order | £158.25 | |
| MSI Radeon 6850 | Pre-order | £158.25 | |
| Gigabyte Radeon 6850 | Pre-order | £159.42 | |
| Sapphire Radeon 6850 | In stock | £159.42 | |
| ebuyer.com | XFX Radeon 6850 | Pre-order | £151.99 |
| dabs.com | XFX Radeon 6850 | Pre-order | £153.99 |
| Sapphire Radeon 6850 | In stock | £158.98 | |
| novatech.co.uk | Sapphire Radeon 6850 | In stock | £159.99 |
| cclonline.com | None available | N/a | N/a |
| *As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum. | |||
As of this morning, availability of the HD 6850 is looking pretty patchy. Of the retailers that have listings, only Scan, Novatech and Dabs are ready and waiting with cards in stock, and even then, they only offer a single card each. This is a bit of a disappointment, but availability should improve by the start of next week.
Pricing is about where we expected, with most cards - including one overclocked model - floating in the £150-160 range. This matches the card up exactly with the 1GB GTX 460, which the new Radeon should outperform in most games.
XFX's card at Scan is worth a special mention, retailing for a very tempting £133. For reference, this is about the same price that most 768MB GTX 460s are selling for at the moment.
AMD Radeon HD 6870 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| retailer | product | availability | price |
| scan.co.uk* | XFX Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £178.22 |
| Gigabyte Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £201.72 | |
| MSI Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £202.90 | |
| Sapphire Radeon 6870 | In stock | £204.07 | |
| ASUS Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £207.60 | |
| ebuyer.com | Sapphire Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £176.45 |
| XFX Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £195.99 | |
| ASUS Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £197.45 | |
| dabs.com | Sapphire Radeon 6870 | In stock | £198.99 |
| XFX Radeon 6870 | Pre-order | £198.99 | |
| novatech.co.uk | Sapphire Radeon 6870 | In stock | £204.99 |
| cclonline.com | None available | N/a | N/a |
| *As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum. | |||
The beefier of the two GPUs is looking like it will be just as hard to find as its little brother, with only three cards in stock and shipping today. This time around, pricing is a little higher than we expected, with quite a few cards costing north of £200. Especially now that NVIDIA has dropped the price of the GTX 470 to £190, the 6870 will face stiff competition at this price point.
There are a few notable exceptions, though. Scan and Ebuyer have cards listed at £178 and £176, respectively, representing excellent value and undercutting even the cheapest GTX 470s by a significant margin.
AMD is launching its new cards fairly aggressively, and as pricing settles and factory overclocked cards are launched over the next few weeks, the £150~ and £200~ market segments will start to look very interesting indeed.
All pricing correct as of 10am, Friday October 22, 2010.
