HD 6850 -- which one?

[sam994]

Hello guys,

I've got a decent machine except for the GPU, which is currently an ATI HD 5450 -- I bought it for DXVA and bitsteaming from XBMC. It does the job. But now I want more.

I've been looking at the 6850, which looks both affordable and decent. I want to play Crysis on decent settings, and it seems that it would fit in my NSK2480, which a 6870 would not.

I am however confused between getting these models:


XFX HD 6850 1GB GDDR5

Sapphire 11180-03-40R HD 6850 1GB Toxic GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card

Sapphire 11180-00-40R HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card

The Toxic seems best, based on looking on reviews where they compare toxic versus stock. But all Toxic is is a factory OCed model right? Will I be able to overclock one of the other two models to Toxic like performance? Is it just a product for those less willing to OC their card themselves? I know the memory clock and freq are boosted, but I'm wondering if I can achieve same speeds if I overclocked the OC model as I can if I overclocked the regular model

I am not very experienced with GPUs and so I am not sure what one to get. Will this run OK off of an Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU -- not sure about rails etc?

Thanks

 

[shrkbay]

no 6850 won't run on lower than 450W PSU, you can OC the regular model to Toxic clocks, but probably Toxic has better cooler and can be OCed higher

 

[Jedi Mind Trick]

I have the regular sapphire 6850 and I think its a great card (I paid $185 w/ shipping at release.) I don't see a point in getting the Toxic version unless you cannot/do not want to learn how to overclock a gpu. http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/10 - They say that an overclocked x58 system and the 6850 pulls < 300 watts at load, but they do recommend a 450w psu, so I guess it depends on the rest of your system.

Edit: I am pretty sure that the antec ea-380d is rated at continuous power, not peak.

 

[sam994]

More than happy to overclock my GPU with MSI Afterburner -- therefore the Toxic / OC editions are not necessary then. Cooling in the NSK2480 is good - there is cool air coming from 120MM fans straight over the GPU.

The 380W is continuous power. I think it's a damn good PSU as well.

This is my system, not sure if it will run with 380W and the hd 6850

i5 760 @ 2.8ghz stock
4GB DDR3 1600Mhz
Vertex 2E SSD 60GB
WD Black 500GB SATA
HD 5450 (at the moment)
TBS6981 DVB-S2 Dual Tuner

No optical drive.

 

[megamanx00]

It should run on your current PSU as long as you don't stress test it with furmark :O. The earth watts 380 is a good little PSU after all. Just be aware that you may shorten it's life a little if you're constantly stressing it, but hey parts don't last forever ^_^. Anyway, as for the cards there's no guarantee that you can reach toxic speeds and have the same OC potential with the XFX or regular gigabyte card. Sapphire tends to use slightly better memory on their toxic cards as well as cherry picked GPUs . Even so, I'd probably just get the cheaper card myself

 

[shrkbay]

380W "earthwatt" would run it, but you won't be able to OC it, even if the GPU by itself requiers less than 300W your CPU will need 125W, so i don't recommend running that system, HD 6850 is known for good OC potential and probably it'll reach the Toxic clocks, as said above parts don't last for ever, but you'll reduce the life of your PSU by alot and if you won't have luck you'll burn your whole system