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Today we're looking at the GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5670 vga card. At first sight nothing special about this card, apart from (reading from the box) enormeous 80mm large fan, the golden (!) plated HDMI connector and to top it off: DX11 support. Oh, and it's also Windows 7 compatible. Actually, the card doesn't look that bad, as in 'I have seen worse'. It's not a real good looker, though ... but it's what is underneath that big cooler that matters.
Over the past few months I've had a few mid range cards rock up and with high end launches and all those fun things I haven't actually taken the time to look at some of these mid range models. Since we haven't looked at a mid range model since our last testbed upgrade, we didn't really have anything to compare them against.
The HD 5770 has no doubt had a good run this year. The question on everyone's mind is, can the model still survive with the new GTX 460 and the GTS 450 that's due just around the corner?
Occasionally I'll have a sample that slips through the cracks; the HD 5770 SOC from GIGABYTE is one of those cards. When I first heard about the model I was looking forward to testing it. Combine the SOC series from GIGABYTE which we love, along with the HD 5770 which carries with it some excellent value, and we thought surely we're onto a winner.
Love it or hate it, the HD 5830 is here to stay and some may feel that it's a better option over something like a HD 5770 because ATI tend to focus on adding performance to their higher end models. With the HD 5830 falling in the HD 5800 series range, one would hope that it may see more of a performance bump than models in the HD 5700 series.
Overclocking on video cards has become a really big deal lately thanks to companies like MSI offering us simply awesome overclocking software that is easy to use and is compatible with all brands and models. Combine this with the release of new models from NVIDIA and fancier versions of models from ATI partners in regards to its higher end models and you find yourself looking at the OC potential of cards a lot more.
With another 960 SP HD 6850 arrived, it was time to check out the model again when it came to overclocking. The particular one we're looking at today comes from GIGABYTE and carries with it the Windforce cooler which is the dual fan one we've been seeing from the company for a while now.
When we talk about different video card brands, there's always a factor which motivates us to choose one over any other. Most likely, we make our decisions depending on retail price, but there are things to consider: the bundle and accessories, factory overclocked speeds, and of course, included heatsinks and fans so that the GPU can be overclocked higher or simply work without being as loud and hot as a reference design. With this in mind, Benchmark Reviews tests the GIGABYTE GV-R685OC-1GD AMD Radeon HD 6850 video card. We've already tested some HD 6850 GPUs before, but GIGABYTE offers their newest design with the Windforce 2x GPU cooler and Ultra Durable VGA technology. Additionally, this is the factory OC version which brings 820MHz (against 775MHz) GPU Core clock and 4200MHz (instead 4000MHz) GDDR5 Memory clocks. Let's analyze the GV-R685OC-1GD model and see if it can be a serious contender against reference HD 6850 and GTX 460 graphics card!
When Stephen Harper won the 41st Canadian general election and became the Prime Minister for the third time in five years, political commentators on TV praised him for his very well presented victory speech. But why are we praising someone who didn't even write the speech in the first place? The answer to this question is actually quite simple, but requires some food for thought. So let's put it this way: Give the same speech to people like you or me. Unless your name happens to be Stephen J. Harper, just because we have the same draft on hand, does not mean we can present it as well as the next. In the same way, we all know there are a billion versions of the same video card in the market today. Whether it is ASUS or MSI or HIS or PowerColor or Gigabyte, they all have all have some kind of AMD or NVIDIA GPU in the middle, and none of the board manufacturers had any hand in the design of the GPU. So what makes you want to buy a Gigabyte video card over, say, an ASUS variant, even though they are both Radeon 6870s? Other than the usual price and warranty factors, stuff like the included cooler plays a role, too. The Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 1GB SOC we are reviewing today is a great example of what makes a run-of-the-mill graphics card unique among the competition. Combined with high quality electronic components and a hardcore looking WindForce 3X triple fan heatsink, how well does this "super" overclock version of AMD's excellent Radeon 6870 GPU step up against its competitors? We took one in and fired up our test platform for some benchmarking fun. Read on to see why we like this card so much!
Graphic cards
We've taken a look at plenty of cards from the 6800 series range of Radeon's from AMD and whilst they have been from different manufacturers, we never really get excited unless they claim to offer something a bit extra. Otherwise we are just looking at another reference card with different branding on it.
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