Sapphire radeon hd 7850 review: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition Video Card Review

AMD Radeon HD 7850 review

AMD’s HD 7800-series graphics processors, codenamed «Pitcairn», sit in the middle of AMD’s «Southern Islands» range of 28nm graphics chips, with the «Cape Verde» Radeon HD 7750 and Radeon HD 7770 below and the «Tahiti» Radeon HD 7950 and Radeon HD 7970 above. We were impressed by the strong performance of the £260 Radeon HD 7870, so were interested to see if the Radeon HD 7850 could measure up in the sub-£200 category.

The HD 7850 is only slightly cut down compared to the HD 7870. Both cards have 2GB of GDDR5 RAM and a 256-bit memory interface, and the HD 7850’s core runs 140MHz slower, at 860MHz. The cheaper card also has 1,024 instead of 1,280 stream processors.

On the rear of the card are dual-link DVI, HDMI and twin DisplayPort outputs, which has become a fairly standard configuration for AMD cards. The HD 7850 needs only a single six-pin PCI Express power connector, so you should be able to upgrade PCs with even moderately-powerful PSUs.

The card’s reduced clock speed and stream processor count compared to the HD 7870 made a big difference in our benchmarks. In our 1,920 x 1,080 Ultra quality Dirt 3 benchmark, the HD 7850 managed a super-smooth 56.7fps, but this was far off the 74.3fps of the HD 7870. When we stretched the game across three monitors in Eyefinity mode at 5,760 x 1,080, the frame rate dropped to 23.1fps – 7fps slower than the HD 7870’s score and below the 30fps rate where we consider a game to be properly playable. The HD 7850 wasn’t far off the HD 7870 in our Crysis 2 benchmark, with 24.9fps compared to 28.8fps, and once we turned off some of the fancier effects such as tessellation we saw a smooth 42.1fps.

The HD 7850 proved to be an excellent overclocker. Even with the core pushed up to 1,050MHz – a 190MHz overclock – we could run all our benchmarks without a problem. The benefits were modest, though, with just a couple of frames per second extra in our game tests.

The HD 7850 fits in well in AMD’s new graphics card range. It’s not a performance bargain like the HD 7870, but it provides plenty of gaming power at a reasonable price. If you already have a powerful last-generation card like the AMD Radeon HD 6950 there’s no need to upgrade, but if you’re building from scratch the HD 7850 is a good choice for a mid-range PC.

Basic Specifications
Price	£190
Rating	****
Details	www.amd.com
Interface	PCI Express x16
Crossfire/SLI	CrossFire
Slots taken up	2
Brand	AMD
Graphics Processor	AMD Radeon HD 7850
Memory	2GB GDDR5
Memory interface	256-bit
GPU clock speed	860MHz
Memory speed	1.20GHz
Features
Architecture	1,024 stream processors
Anti aliasing	8x
Anisotropic filtering	16x
Connectors
DVI outputs	1
VGA outputs	0
S-video output	no
S-Video input	no
Composite outputs	no
Composite inputs	no
Component outputs	no
HDMI outputs	1
Power leads required	1x 6-pin PCI Express
Extras
Accessories	none
Software included	none
Buying Information
Warranty	one-year RTB
Price	£190
Supplier	http://www. amd.com
Details	www.amd.com

MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB review

Written by

Matthew Lambert

November 5, 2012 | 08:16

Tags: #7850 #hd #overclock #radeon

Companies: #msi

1 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB Review2 — Test Setup3 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Battlefield 3 Performance4 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Crysis 2 Performance5 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Skyrim Performance6 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — The Witcher 2 Performance7 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Unigine Heaven 3.0 Benchmark8 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Power and Thermals9 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Overclocking10 — MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB — Performance Analysis and Conclusion

Manufacturer: MSI
UK Price (as reviewed):£119. 82 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$152.95 (ex Tax)

When it first launched, we were unable to give the stock AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB a final verdict, primarily because we were never given a stock card, instead testing a HD 7850 GPU fitted to a stock HD 7870 2GB PCB (with just a single PCI-E connector). With no official stock card, custom PCBs and cooling layouts from various board partners make up the HD 7850 range, which now comes in 1GB and 2GB flavours (although the 1GB SKU is not officially supported by AMD). This has led to a high degree of variety in the prices of the cards – 1GB versions can be found for as low as £120, whereas 2GB versions retail for anywhere between £150 and £190.

At a scratch below £120, the MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB OC is currently the cheapest HD 7850 card on the market. Its price brings it much closer to the HD 7770 1GB’s current £90 price tag, and makes it cheaper than either GTX 650 Ti cards (1GB or 2GB) that we reviewed last month. As the HD 7850 2GB easily outperformed both of these cards in our benchmarks, we were excited to see if MSI’s 1GB version of the card could do the same.

Click to enlarge

Other than the 1GB reduction in GDDR5, the MSI HD 7850 1GB card is identical to and the standard HD 7850 2GB, and uses the same the 2.8 billion transistor Pitcairn Pro GPU. MSI has also given its HD 7850 1GB a modest 40MHz core overclock though, bringing the clock speed up from 860MHz to 900Mhz.

As a reminder, the HD 7850 1GB GPU features 32 ROPs as well as 16 compute units (for a total of 1,024 stream processors). Four 64-bit memory controllers give the card a 256-bit memory interface, and since MSI has left the memory frequency at the stock speed of 1.2GHz (4.8GHz effective), its card boasts 153.6GB/s of total memory bandwidth. As we wrote previously, the card essentially has twice the resources of the HD 7750 1GB, although in this case, carries the same amount of GDDR5.

Click to enlarge

The card itself sports a 200mm PCB, although actually measures 207mm in length thanks to the slight overhang of the cooler. It’s a dual-slot card, and MSI has stuck with the standard array of rear I/O connections; dual-link DVI, HDMI and a pair of mini-DisplayPort connectors. It therefore supports six-screen Eyefinity, as well as two-card CrossFire, and is powered by a single side-mounted six-pin PCI-E connection.

The GPU sits in the middle of the PCB, with the four memory controllers each addressing two of the eight 128MB memory modules around it. Three of the four power phases near the rear I/O panel power the GPU with the other reserved for the memory, giving the MSI HD 7850 1GB a total of 4+1 power phases.

Click to enlarge

The cooler, held in place by four screws, makes direct contact with the GPU, transferring heat away from it via two copper heatpipes into the large aluminium fin stack. As the fins cover almost the whole length of the PCB, they provide some passive cooling to the memory and power circuitry. A single 92mm down-draft fan completes the cooling, although some its air is exhausted back into your case, which is something to be wary of.

Specifications

Graphics processor AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB, 900MHz
Pipeline 1,024 stream processors, 32 ROPs
Memory 1GB GDDR5, 1.2GHz (4.8GHz effective)
Bandwidth 153.6GB/sec, 256-bit interface
Compatibility DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.1
Outputs/Inputs DVI, HDMI, 2 x mini DisplayPort
Power connections 1 x 6-pin, side-mounted
Size 207mm, dual-slot
Warranty Two years

Review Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition.

$300 per copy

Introduction
It’s no secret that mid-range video cards are very popular among users. AMD has two video cards in this range — AMD Radeon HD 7770 Ghz Edition and AMD Radeon HD 7850. The reference version of the latest video card in many regions is already available to users at a cost of around $ 250. In today’s review, we want to focus on a modified version of the AMD Radeon HD 7850 video card from Sapphire — Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition. nine0005 This video card is just beginning to enter the domestic markets. It is expected that the main competitor of this video card in terms of cost will be the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards, which should be presented next week, tentatively on Thursday. Reference versions of this video card can already be found in the US for around $300. Some stores offer this product for $350. Naturally, the first price is more attractive, but it is unlikely that this product will be sold at this price. Users will have to wait a little while the cost of this product in our country will go down to the level of 300 dollars.
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At the moment, the known specifications of mid-range graphics cards from NVIDIA are the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. This product will have 1344 stream processors, carry on board two gigabytes of GDDR5 video memory and have a data exchange bus cut down to 192 bits. The nominal operating frequencies should be 915 MHz for the core, 980 MHz in GPU Boost mode and 1502 MHz for the video memory. The estimated power consumption of the new video cards will be 150 watts. Despite the low level of power consumption, the user will be prompted to connect the product to the power source with two more six-pin PCI-Express connectors. US online retailers recommend purchasing at least 550 watt power supplies for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti based systems. We believe that if the power consumption level is really at the level of 150 watts, it is quite possible to get by with an «honest» 450 watt ATX 12V 2. xx power supply.
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Foreign portals have published preliminary data comparing the performance level of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards with the main AMD solutions of the seventh generation. As it turned out, the new video cards, even despite the 192-bit bus, adequately compete not only with mid-range video cards AMD Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 7870, but also with solutions from the upper price range — AMD Radeon HD 7950 and Radeon HD 7970. These preliminary tests let us hope that increased competition in the market will certainly lead to a systematic reduction in the cost of seventh-generation video cards from AMD.
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It should be noted that a systematic reduction in the cost of AMD video cards should be carried out not only under the onslaught of a competitor, but also in anticipation of the imminent announcement of AMD Radeon HD 8000 series video cards, the development of which may end this fall. The release of the video cards themselves on the market is expected at the beginning of the new 2013.

More anticipated products this fall are AMD Trinity socket FM2 processors for the desktop segment. The value of these solutions lies in the balance of integrated graphics and processing power, which may well be enough for most offices and home users. It is expected that these processors will be announced on October 1 this year, at the moment they can already be purchased as part of laptops, branded system blocks. Both dual-core and quad-core products are expected. The junior solution will be AMD A6-5400 with two cores and Radeon HD 7540D graphics. The level of heat dissipation of the video card is in the region of 65 watts. The quad-core products AMD A8-5500 and AMD A10-5700 also boast a heat dissipation level of around 65 watts and different versions of graphics units — Radeon HD 7560D and Radeon HD 7660D. The two expected processors AMD A8-5600 and AMD A10-5800 will have high operating frequencies and power consumption in the region of 100 watts. It is expected that solutions with a free multiplier will be announced simultaneously with simple hybrid processors, which should allow users to overclock products.
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It should be noted that the life of AMD Trinity desktop processors on the market will not be long, new AMD Richland processors with integrated graphics of the eighth generation Radeon HD 8000 will be prepared to replace them. These blocks will support DirectX 11.1 instructions. If there is some clarity on the graphic data blocks of processors, then there is no data on the computing blocks yet. The release of AMD Richland is quite expected, since Intel is not going to sit and watch how AMD Trinity captures the markets, but plans to announce new 22 nm processors — Intel Haswell, whose graphics units should show a new level of integrated graphics performance.
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Equipment

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The Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition comes in a standard Sapphire design box. The entire line of Radeon HD 7000 video cards from Sapphire comes in camouflage boxes. The front side depicts a warrior girl, who, in fact, is left-handed, since she holds a weapon in her left hand, and technical features of the product are listed in the form of pictograms.
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The back of the box lists the general features of AMD Radeon HD 7000 7-series video cards and describes the product bundle without any enthusiasm. It should be noted that this is on the box of the video card, which is a modified solution and claims a higher price range.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition comes with graphics card, manual, driver and software CD, HDMI cable, CrossFire bridge, PCI-Express power adapter, HDMI-to adapter -DVI, miniDisplayPort-to-DisplayPort adapter.
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Visual inspection of the video card

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The Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition video card has a modified cooling system that is installed on standard Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB solutions. The cooling system has two active cooling fans with a diameter of 80 mm, an aluminum radiator, the heat to which is removed through copper heat pipes.

— Image is clickable —

The video card has one six-pin connector for additional power supply. There is a place for the second six-pin connector, but in this case it is not soldered. As a rule, the second connector is used in older AMD Radeon HD 7870 video cards, which have a larger number of computing units.

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There is one CrossFire connector on the side of the video card, which allows you to create a multi-graphic configuration of two video cards.
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The Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition video card has two slots and four ports for image output: DVI, HDMI, two DisplayPorts.

AMD Radeon HD 7850 graphics card specifications
1. Core operating frequency: 860MHz

2. Universal processors: 1024

3. Memory type: GDDR5

4. Memory capacity: 2 GB

5. Video memory operating frequency: 1200 MHz
nine0005 6. Bus 256 bit

7. PCI Express 3.0 bus

8. Heat dissipation: up to 130 W

9. Recommended price: $230

The video card Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition is factory overclocked to 920 MHz in the core, the video memory is also slightly overclocked to 1250 MHz in the core.

Test configuration
For testing, the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition video card was installed in the system unit of the following configuration:
nine0005 1. Intel Core i7 920 processor.

2. ASUS P6T motherboard.

3.2×3 Gb Samsung Original DDR3-1600

4.WD 1TB WD1001FALS Caviar Black SATAII

5. Hiper M1000 power supply.

6. Thermaltake Mambo case.

7. ASRock USB 3.0 PCI-Exp x1 dual port board.

1. The temperature regime of the video card.

The graphics card has been tested under the following conditions:

— 27 degrees in the room,
nine0005 — the video card is installed in a closed case,

— there are no additional cooling fans in the case,

— the load is applied until the temperatures are fully stabilized for 15 minutes.

From the results of testing the cooling system of this video card, it can be seen that it adequately copes with the tasks set. However, it should be noted that when using the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB video cards, we encountered a problem — some video cards ran at higher temperatures or their maximum operating temperature increased over time. The solution to the problem turned out to be standard — replacing the thermal paste with KPT-8 from Elektrostal.
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2. Video card overclocking

The overclocking potential of Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition turned out to be not impressive. We managed to conquer 1068 MHz for the core, and about 1320 MHz for video memory.

Conclusion
The Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition video card is a standard product with slightly increased operating frequencies, which the user can achieve independently at home. The real cost of this video card on our market is far from the recommended one, so we recommend to refrain from buying this solution, at least until the release of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards or look towards reference products. nine0007 90,000 SAPPHire HD 7850 graphics card in the «Technique and Electronics» category

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Sapphire radeon hd 7850 review: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition Video Card Review

AMD Radeon HD 7850 review

Basic Specifications

Features

Connectors

Extras

Buying Information

MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB review

Review Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition.