• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

ASUS 1GB RADEON HD 6850 Directcu PCIe

nlel1975

nlel1975

nlel1975

Soldato
Joined
22 May 2007
Posts
3,769
Location
UK
Looking for a replacement for the MSI Radeon 5850 Twin Frozr II card that I bought from ocUK which was faulty. Have sent it back to ocUK today for a refund.

Have seen the ASUS 1GB RADEON HD 6850 Directcu PCIe on sale for a good price £ 121.35 ex VAT

From what I can gather once you overclock these babies (which overclock well) you can overtake 5850 performance and get up to 6870 performance but they still fall short of 5870 performance.

Was hoping to overclock the MSI Radeon 5850 Twin Frozr II to 5870 performance but if the Asus 6850 gets near there then I would be satisfied as its around the same price as the Twin Frozr II was.
 
You really should had just ask for a MSI 5850 Twin FrozR replacement if you only paid £125 for it...

Yes 6850 CAN overclock well, but the same goes for the 5850...but the fact is that assuming both overclock by the same %, the 10% gap of 5850 being ahead of the 6850 would still be there...so I really don't see the point of paying more for the slower 6850...(except for people who can't fit the 5850 into their case, or don't have a decent PSU)
 
Last edited:
Marine-RX179 said:
You really should had just ask for a MSI 5850 Twin FrozR replacement if you only paid £125 for it...

Yes 6850 CAN overclock well, but the same goes for the 5850...but the fact is that assuming both overclock by the same %, the 10% gap of 5850 being ahead of the 6850 would still be there...so I really don't see the point of paying more for a slower card...
Click to expand...

Well I paid £ 131.94 ex VAT inc Delivery for the MSI Radeon 5850 Twin Frozr II and I have asked for a refund because I had a major fault and apparently a lot of these cards have faults as a lot have been returned.

Plus they are low on stock so a replacement may not be available by the time they have tested my card and found the fault...

I just have a bad feeling about the MSI 5850 Twin Frozr II card so def still want a refund. The ASUS Radeon 1GB 6850 DirectCU would only cost me £ 121.35 ex VAT inc Delivery so its cheaper (but not when you add on the £ 11.96 it cost me to send the 5850 back).

Overall the 5850 is the better card but I would rather have a working 6850 then another possibly dodgy MSI 5850.
 
Last edited:
That's ok then. I was just thinking that if you got your 5850 for £125, it would worth taking your chance on a replacement and hope it works out...but since you paid the high price for it, then you might as well switch to the cheaper 6850.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
That's ok then. I was just thinking that if you got your 5850 for £125, it would worth taking your chance on a replacement and hope it works out...but since you paid the high price for it, then you might as well switch to the cheaper 6850.
Click to expand...

Yeah on paper the MSI Radeon 5850 1GB Twin Frozr II looks like a great buy but if the stories I heard regarding the return rate are true then its a definite no-no unless you enjoy paying £ 12 to send it back Special Delivery each time you receive a bad card.
 
Last edited:
I was in the same boat (couldnt decide which one) and I ended up getting the Asus 6850. You won't regret it. The thing is a little beast for overclocking. Got 1000/1250 using a small voltage bump! And as you have correctly identified if in 6 months it dies you could probably get a direct replacement whereas you most likely wouldn't with a 5850.

Temps are good on the card too and doesn't cain the power too much. Overall very happy. May even see more gains with later drivers. IN the real world there is not much in it between the 6850 and 5850.
 
Ive had issues with my 5850 twin frozr as well, just waiting for OC to send me the RMA. Im thinking along the same lines as you. Performance be £ the 5850 is better but would the 6850 pull ahead down the line with better drivers etc?
 
Hope you enjoy the 6850,

I got mine a few weeks back and It was an impulse buy if you will.

What a card... I echo what is said above when overclocking mine does the same clocks , although for 24/7 i'm back at 950/1200 just as I'm a little conservative.

Great little card though.
 
Cool Breeze said:
Hope you enjoy the 6850,

I got mine a few weeks back and It was an impulse buy if you will.

What a card... I echo what is said above when overclocking mine does the same clocks , although for 24/7 i'm back at 950/1200 just as I'm a little conservative.

Great little card though.
Click to expand...

You using a voltage bump for the 950/1200 or is that on stock?
 
welshdragon said:
You using a voltage bump for the 950/1200 or is that on stock?
Click to expand...

I'm using MSI Afterburner to bump the vcore to 1178 mv the asus Smart Doctor cause's micro stutter for me in game.

So yes slight vcore bump.

I think Anandtech did a 6850 overclocking round up including the Asus this is where I got the settings from.
 
think your better off with the 6850 over the replacement msi 1. I to had a faulty 1 from new. a month messin with drivers/cf both ways round/ single card msi 1 crash anywhere upto 10mins. asus 1 fine 3hr + noprob. only prob now is oc saying i don't a rma. funny that as simon behind the counts gave me a slip, say up to 5day for testing.
 
staffyuk said:
think your better off with the 6850 over the replacement msi 1. I to had a faulty 1 from new. a month messin with drivers/cf both ways round/ single card msi 1 crash anywhere upto 10mins. asus 1 fine 3hr + noprob. only prob now is oc saying i don't a rma. funny that as simon behind the counts gave me a slip, say up to 5day for testing.
Click to expand...

I recieved my Asus 6850 last night and have so far found that the Smartdoctor does indeed induce a stutter esp noticeable on the 3D Mark 11 benchmark and lowers the score on the Heaven benchmark as well by a very small amount. All I do is close it and it keeps the overclock. Also found that the Asus drivers on the CD give very slightly faster benchmark results then the latest ATI ones, I guess that is because Asus have optimised theirs for the card.

I have set it to 950/1200 and my scores are as follows;

3D Mark Vantage 16779
3D Mark 11 4249
Heaven Benchmark 35.8 fps 902 Score 19.8 min 83.0 max @ 1920*1080
 
Last edited:
You say you close smartdoctor and it keeps the overclock? Close it to the bar or exit completely? Would be good if you could set the overclock and not run the programme again.

What volatge you using for 950/1200?
 
welshdragon said:
You say you close smartdoctor and it keeps the overclock? Close it to the bar or exit completely? Would be good if you could set the overclock and not run the programme again.

What volatge you using for 950/1200?
Click to expand...

I close it completely then it asks if you want to keep the overclock, just say yes.

For 951/4796 I am using 1.180 because Smart Doctor is not exactly easy to set 950/4800 or 1.178
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom