ATI Radeon - Top PCIe Graphic Cards for Gaming

1. ATI Radeon 5670 1GB : Price $100 / Rs. 6500 INR



With its 16.8 cm in length and 230 grams of balance, the 5670 figure is featherweight. The cooling system is very flat, the board occupying while a single PCI slot. But this sink brings with him two drawbacks. Firstly, warm air is expelled out of the case but remains within it. Another problem, not least, the fan is not very discreet. Indeed, we observed 43.1 dB (A) at rest, resulting in practice in a breath now, even if we can not even describe the noise from disturbing. In operation, the breath becomes still more insistent, and tends to a sharp noise (51.4 dB (A)). We have already seen more noisy but also more discreet.

Temperature side, this is fairly standard for the range of Radeon HD 5000: 42 � C idle and 84 � C during an intense 3D activity. At rest, first of all, there is the excellent performance of the whole series of Radeon HD 5000 because we identified 80 W. In operation, the figure rises, but not that much because we reach 172 W. Warning, these results are for the entire machine, not only for the graphics card.

2. ATI Radeon HD 4650 1 GB : Rs.3500 INR



First, note that the card does not require the use of a cord PCI-Express. It is therefore just the 75 W allowed by the PCI-Express 16x on which it plugs. So, it seems quite normal to find a card with really low watt consumption. At rest, first of all, there is the excellent performance of the whole series of Radeon HD 5000 because we identified 80 W. In operation, the figure rises, but not that much because we reach 172 W. Warning, these results are for the entire machine, not only for the graphics card.

The graphics chip RV730 and its 320 stream processors are clocked at 600 MHz while the 1024 MB DDR2 128-bit bus operating at 500 MHz. Remember that this chip shares the architecture of HD 4800 and thus supports DirectX 10.1 (Shader Model 4.1) as well as CrossFire and AVIVO top of its 514 million transistors. The XFX card has two DVI (HDCP) and an S-Video. For a map-based HTPC, it is a pity not to have an HDMI port directly. It measures 130 mm x 35 mm x 210 mm and should not exceed 48 watts in load, the remaining contents. If the cooling solution from XFX is effective, we may consider retaining the correct temperatures even in a small box, provided to guarantee a minimum flow of air into the case, as always.

3. ATI Radeon HD 6850 1 GB : $200 / Rs. 20,000 INR



Power consumption is perfectly managed. At rest, our test machine uses 92 W. In 3D games, it's just as good with 252 W. These figures compare to the GeForce GTX 4601 GB : 89 W at idle and 289 W in operation. Overall, the Radeon HD 6850 1GB offers similar performance to the Radeon HD 5850 1GB and GeForce GTX 4601 GB.

As with version 6870, so we can cast doubt on the trade name of the card. It seemed more logical to name this model "Radeon HD 6830. A buyer will think poorly informed indeed as if AMD has a Radeon HD 6850, that it is more efficient than the previous HD 5850.

4. ATI Radeon HD 6870 1 GB : $250 / Rs. 12,000 INR



ATI launched the Radeon X1800 architecture with a new promising on paper, a little less in fact. In January 2006, ATI is back by launching high-end versions of this architecture, the X1900. In late 2006, Nvidia is the first chopping a graphics chip compatible with DirectX 10, the famous GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS. At the time, ATI is a little in the situation with Fermi Nvidia. Indeed, the Reds are behind their own chip DX10 and many problems had to be resolved. The result was disappointing and Radeon X2900 XT named. A damp squib given the expectation and the level of performance offered.

The Radeon HD 5970 was ATI's first return to a numbering abandoned since 2900. But the explanation was more technical since 5970 is a 5850X2 5870X2 and not true. AMD probably did not want a misnomer, preferring to spend the next hundred. At the same time, Nvidia has released its painfully fermi with GTX 480 and 470 performances interesting, but consumption and heat dissipation is too high. Only the GTX 460 is reached to succeed at the game For his series Radeon HD 6000, AMD is in a strong position because of Nvidia's side, nothing new is planned ahead. While rumors of a GTX 580 are insistent but it will likely mean new variations of Fermi. As a result, ATI takes a range structure consistent with those prevailing at the time of the X1000 and X2000. Indeed, the 6870 and 6850 announced today, codenamed Barts Barts and XT are chips and mid-range are not supposed to replace the 5870 and 5850.

They come instead to stand between them and the 5830, the 5770 for its remaining share sold, unlike 5800 and 5900 that are no longer produced. The true successor of 5800 will be based on a high-end GPU, Cayman. This will give rise to the Radeon HD 6970 and 6950 which are announced for November 22. Finally, a Radeon HD 6990 will be released before the end of the year and will normally be a dual GPU card. Meanwhile, consider the performance of newcomers. [Source]

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