The GeForce GTX 460 saved Nvidia's hind last year when it striking the market at $200 (currently $150 for the 768MB version) chirapsia the existing Radeon Hard disk 5830, while simultaneously threatening the more than affordable Radeon HD 5770. Meanwhile, the 1GB version of the aforementioned card was offered for $230, greatly diminishing the Radeon HD 5850's value. Fifty-fifty with the eventual price cuts on AMD's side, we felt the GeForce GTX 460 was a deserving winner at the time, offering users the best bang for their buck.

AMD vowed to keep on elevation of Nvidia throughout 2022 and into 2022, so an overhaul was in order. AMD and then launched its electric current-gen Radeon 6000 cards last October, with the Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 priced at $199 and $239 -- suspiciously close to the GTX 460.

Despite the dubious naming scheme, the Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 weren't meant equally replacements for the Radeon Hd 5850 and 5870 previous-gen boards. In fact, depending on the game, the newer cards were slightly slower. AMD repositioned the new generation cards as mainstream offerings, saying these were intended to improve DirectX xi performance and enhance display support.

Regardless of AMD'south intentions, the Radeon Hard disk 6850 and 6870 wound up ousting the 5870 and 5850 alongside the GTX 460 because they offered roughly the same functioning at seriously discounted prices.

Looking at the marketplace today, the Radeon HD 6850 remains one of the best options bachelor to gamers shopping for a sub-$200 GPU, while the Radeon HD 6870 still commands the sub-$250 bracket with its merely real competition coming from the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. It'south non very often that we see mainstream-level GPUs settle down for long, in this example it appears there's zippo too large on the horizon and thus nosotros were pleased to hear that HIS was preparing an update for all card versions this year.

The factory-overclocked 6870 IceQ 10 Turbo X and HIS Radeon HD 6850 IceQ X Turbo have upgraded coolers and are meant to be the fastest 6850 and 6870 graphics cards available out of the box -- admitting at a premium cost. The 6870 IceQ Ten Turbo 10 is currently retailing for $250, while the 6850 IceQ 10 Turbo costs $190. Beingness the inquisitive type, we're determined to meet if the extra fee is worthwhile. Read on.