AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series video cards are a series of graphics chips from AMD that were quite popular at one time. Today, these video cards can be used in legacy systems and are low-performance by modern standards. However, the characteristics of the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series allow the use of these chips in ordinary desktop computers, which are not tasked with running modern game releases.
Appearance of the series
People who follow related news know that AMD regularly updates its series of graphics chips. 2010 was no exception, and then a series of AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series video cards appeared, the characteristics of which were impressive. The models in this series were designed to replace the then flagship Radeon HD 5870 video card.
On October 22, the first model from this series was presented. Then during the performance she collected positive reviews. Note that it was on this line that the rebranding was completed. Starting from this series, the manufacturer's video cards were called AMD, not ATI.
Let's figure out what the characteristics of the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series are and what's new in this line? Let us remind you that there are only 2 video cards in the series - the HD6850 and HD6870 models. According to the developers, the number 8 in the name no longer denotes the flagship ambitions of video cards in this series since the 6900 line appeared.
Power and warmth
The RX 6800 is, unsurprisingly, one of the coolest and most energy-efficient graphics cards available today. At 0.54 fps/J at 1080p (J per joule, a measure of one watt dissipated as heat in one second), RDNA 2 far outperforms the rest as the most power-efficient architecture at a moderate 250-watt TGP. The RTX 3070 is the only one that comes close to this level at 0.48 fps/J.
The design of the cooler is similar to the cooler attached to the RX 6800 XT, only slightly weaker when standing up. The size of the heatsink separates the two, with the RX 6800 fitting into a neat two-slot size, while the RX 6800 XT requires a 2.5-slot footprint.
It's also a proven cooler design, with an average temperature of just 69°C and a peak of 71°C.
Characteristics of AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series video cards
Let's start with the obvious changes. The line used the new Barts processor. Already from the presentation it was clear that AMD is following a different development path, which differs from the chosen path of Nvidia. If Nvidia developers are chasing the power and performance of their platforms, AMD prioritizes the balance between cost and performance.
If ATI previously set trends in terms of developing graphics chips, then under the wing of AMD the developer took a step back. The Barts GPU is definitely weaker than its predecessor - in specs and on paper. The fact is that the developers chose to simplify the architecture to ensure reliability and create a balance between performance, price and speed. Thanks to the simplification of the architecture, Barts has become smaller in size and simpler in structure, and its performance allows it to be classified only in the low class of video cards from AMD. It is for state employees that video cards with a memory capacity of 1 GB AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series are included. Their characteristics are as follows:
- Supports DirectX 11 and 5 shaders.
- The memory capacity on both models in the series is 1 GB.
- HD6850 and HD6870 GPU frequencies: 775 MHz and 900 MHz, respectively.
- Memory operating frequency of HD6850 and HD6870: 1000 MHz and 1050 MHz, respectively.
- Memory bus width: 256 Bits for both models.
At the time of their introduction, the cards cost $180 and $240 for the 6850 and 6870 models, respectively. Today these video cards are not produced, so their cost is much lower. And you can only buy these chips secondhand.
Gaming performance 1440p
Still, even the strong jump to 4K doesn't change my opinion: this is an incredibly capable 1440p card. This is a graphics card ideal for delivering high refresh rates at popular PC panel resolutions, and thus best able to take you right into the sweet spot... ugh, no.
It's at 1440p that the RX 6800 completely destroys the RTX 2080 Ti. Once again, a healthy dose of memory capacity is holy grail for gaming performance, but there's probably more to it than that. The Infinity Cache in the RX 6800 core works best at 1080p and lower resolutions, although at those resolutions you're unlikely to see a huge benefit from such a caching subsystem since your memory buffer is working fine. So it's not really that important for gaming performance at 1080p per se.
However, at 1440p we see less one-sided demand on memory bandwidth, speed, and GPU capabilities. Both, of course, play a key role in 1440p resolution, but when a good helping of both is required, we see the RX 6800 combining both engine and memory.
Differences between HD6850 and HD6870
In this line, the AMD Radeon HD6850 model is the youngest. Here the characteristics are reduced compared to the older card. Moreover, everything here is weaker, including even the cooling system. Considering the lower performance and weak cooling system, the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series temperature under load, in particular the HD6850 model, remains the same. And this is an obvious drawback of this model.
If we compare the result of testing this chip in the 3DMark program with the HD6870 chip, then the result of the latter will be 2-3 thousand points higher. The FPS difference in demanding games like Crysis or Far Cry 2 will be 10-15 FPS, and this is a fairly large gap. Hence the price difference between these cards, which averages $60.
The older model HD6870 is a worthy competitor to the flagship of that time - the TOP video card HD5870. The advantage of this solution is its low price compared to its competitor from Nvidia and the ability to use DirectX11 functionality to the fullest. However, we will talk about the results of testing this card and its comparison with its competitor GTX 460 below.
Overclocking and undervolting
Short-term overclocking using the settings tab in Radeon software turned out to be about the same as with the RX 6800 XT: play it safe with a steady 156 MHz GPU clock increase (bringing the RX 6800 to 2350 MHz) coupled with a reasonable 15 percent limit the power for wiggle room and you'll find moderate one-to-two frame punch across the board.
I'm sure more can be achieved with more detailed tuning, as even my quick and dirty OC managed to show some promising results.
The RX 6800 doesn't have Rage Mode, so that either voids your warranty or leaves the card in stock - your choice.
But let's not forget undervoltage, a fan favorite for red team cards. Undervolting also seems to be a viable option for the RX 6800, although my experiment showed a slight drop in performance at the recommended 1000mV (-25mV stock) setting prescribed to me in the AMD Radeon Software settings tab. In turn, power consumption dropped both over time and at peak, and GPU temperatures dropped by an average of 3°C.
Worth it? Probably not, but then again, there's probably a more subtle blend to bring out the best combination of both worlds. And you never know what the silicon lottery has in store for you.
VERDICT AMD RX 6800
Competitors
Considering the price at the time of release and the characteristics, the main competitors of the line can be imagined as models from Nvidia - these are the GTX460 and GTX470 video cards. Their specifications are slightly better compared to AMD models. For example, the GTX460 and GTX470 have cores that operate at 675 and 607 MHz respectively, but the memory clocks are higher - 1800 MHz for the GTX460 and 1674 MHz for the GTX470. But the key feature of the GTX470 model is the memory bus width – 320-bit GDDR 5, which puts this video card head and shoulders above the competitive model from AMD with a 256-bit bus width. However, the performance difference is minimal. This indirectly confirms the excellent optimization of AMD video card components and good software for it.
Testing AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series 1024 MB video cards
The following hardware was used for testing:
- CPU Core i7 3.3 GHz.
- 6 GB RAM.
- Windows 7 64-bit OS.
In the first game we tested, Battlefield Bad Company 2, AMD's solution turned out to be better. The HD 6800 video card scored 30 FPS at maximum graphics settings, while the GeForce 460 card showed a result of only 22 FPS. And if 30 FPS can still be called a “playable” result, then at 22 frames per second you will no longer be able to play comfortably.
However, in the game Aliens vs. Predator the situation worked out in favor of GeForce. Here the graphics from GeForce showed 30 FPS at maximum resolution. And when testing the game on an AMD HD6800 video card, the resolution had to be reduced to 1600x900 to get the same 30 FPS.
The fairly demanding game Crysis Warhead ran on both cards only at low screen resolutions. Testing in games only gives an indirect understanding of which video card is better. There is no clear winner here, and both models are worthy options. True, the solution from Nvidia will cost a little more. In any case, the characteristics of the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series allow you to run games released in 2010-2013 at high graphics settings. But modern new video cards of this line will not cope.
4K gaming performance
Frame rates above 60 are hardly guaranteed at 4K on the RX 6800's ultra or very high settings, but they aren't that far off. Of course, within the capabilities of an RDNA 2 level 3 graphics card, at least.
And if there are any considerations for the RTX 3070 as a possible 4K cargo ship, then you can say the same, but more so for the RX 6800. Outperforming the RTX 3070 in everything from the low single digits to around 20 percent at 4K. it's certainly a defter hand at 4K.
Perhaps the most likely workload will be memory limited, at least in terms of gaming, the RX 6800 tends to have an advantage at this resolution due to its 16GB GDDR6, which is double that of the RTX 3070. This memory advantage also explains How does the RX 6800 manage to maintain a pace slightly faster than the RTX 2080 Ti - you know, that almighty all-around 4K card that came out just two years ago?
This fun little comparison tidbit certainly helps cement the RX 6800's place as a more than capable 4K graphics card.
Disadvantages of the line
The obvious disadvantage of both boards is operating noise, which is associated with an insufficiently efficient cooling system. After all, it is easy to make the fan spin at full power. This allows us to conclude that the developers did not pay adequate attention to the cooling system, because when both chips are heavily loaded, the fan makes a lot of noise and can barely cope with heat removal. At the same time, you don’t want to fully load the chip, and when the user hears a hum from the system unit, he intuitively tries to reset the graphics settings to an acceptable level.
Autonomous operation
Despite the fact that the ROG G513 is purely a gaming laptop, the issue of battery life is not unimportant. Games are games, and sometimes you want to sit in a cafe with a laptop. To test battery life, YouTube was launched with a ten-hour video. This is the simplest test method that each of you can repeat to compare the results.
In the Armory Crate utility, the “quiet” operating mode was selected, and the screen brightness was set to 50%. Keyboard backlight at maximum, Wi-Fi on, volume level 30%. In this mode, the laptop worked for an incredible 13 hours, compared to the stated 12 hours. If you increase the backlight brightness to 70–80%, the battery life will be about 10–11 hours, i.e. more than a working day.
Such a high result is available thanks to proprietary energy control technologies. For example, in this mode, the laptop switches the matrix refresh rate from 300 to 60 Hz, does not spin up the turntables and reduces the clock frequencies. It should be noted that we are not talking about the game mode, and there is no decrease in performance.
