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About LinkBacksDepends what type of games you play. For the vast majority of people they're already overpowered. Don't forget, it's only a minority of PC gamers that play titles like BF3.Originally Posted by flearider
Depends what type of games you play. For the vast majority of people they're already overpowered. Don't forget, it's only a minority of PC gamers that play titles like BF3.
I do and that why I run a pair of 6950 2gb cards
Just picked up a 6850 off Scan's TO for £84 all in. Am hoping it overclocks as well as the reference one in this review, as it's pretty good performance for the money, especially at the limited (1680x1050) I run at present.
^ Hope they have deals like that when I decide to build my new rig.
Thanks for the article. Really useful for someone who's been out of the loop for a few years.
You call your own review, "largely passé" and admit that it's an apple to oranges comparison so I'm not sure why it was done and published. 5850 vs 6950 vs 7950 would be the true like-for-like comparison across the generations and what I'd be interested to see.
Comparing the 7850 to the 5850 rather pointless, as is saying that the 7850 is not what you wish it to be. But has the 7950 impressed you? 'Cause that is a different kettle of fish...
As I am onw of the lucky ones with a 1Ghz 5850 this writes the 7850 off for me, still looking at an upgrade to a 6950 or 7870 maybe.
"5850 vs 6950 vs 7950 would be the true like-for-like comparison across the generations and what I'd be interested to see."
Sorry - obviously with an explanation of why they are comparable despite the naming anomaly.
As for comments that you have to look at starting prices, that is invalid because there are so many factors that can skew e.g. inflation, economic conditions, competitive landscape at the time etc. 5850 vs 7950 (and 6950) is valid as they are all one off (and simultaneously released with) the flagship model of each generation. In fact they are nothing more than the flagship with a disabled set of compute units.
It's still at least equally valid for a different purpose. Given that all prices taken are RRPs in dollars, inflation will have been minimal, and let's face it: economic conditions haven't changed that much in the last 3 years. The point is, it shows you (roughly) how much you get for your money three generations in a row.
Sure, you could compare flagship cards from each series, and it would be equally if not more interesting for different reasons, but that's not really what this article's about.
Pete301 (09-03-2012)
yeah all i can see is people trying to make me think these cards are the same but there not not even close to the 5850 there both second tier cards ..as a 5850 is a tier one ..
as for economic conditions have you had your head in the sand ??for 3 yrs .. 3 yrs ago i could get a packet of cigs for £3 odd .. now nearly £6 same with a lot of things nearly doubling in price ..
I don't smoke so wouldn't know
Everyone's been complaining about the economy for years now, it gets boring.
Not sure what school of reasoning you studied at... Why are prices in dollars relevant on a British tech website? Even if they are, why do dollars equate with minimal inflation? As for economic conditions not changing much in the last 3 years you've got to be joking right?
Go here:
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/
Click on FTSE100 and the click on the 5Yr link. In 2009 alone the stock market gained 56% at best. 56%!!!! For a G7 economy leading index!!! No economic conditions haven't changed much in the last 3 years... /s
Point is, yes you could compare the flagship cards of each series. In fact the cards I mentioned (5850, 6950, 7950) are consistently the ever-so-slightly-smaller brothers of the flagship card of each successive generation. And then you say that this is not really what the article's about. Did you read it?! I quote:
"A question bandied around the office ... centred on what improvements, if any, AMD has made with successive graphics cards based on the same family? Also, ... what would happen if the last three iterations of a particular family were run at the same clockspeeds, bringing architecture very much to the fore."
No mention of dollars or pounds. Even the authors admit, "This fact alone renders this an apples-to-oranges comparison."
Complaining about the economy may be boring but when you've lost savings and jobs it's serious stuff.
Please don't bother replying, you'll only be wrong.
The very fact that AMD named them 5850, 6850 and 7850 means the comparison is valid. Anyone can invent all the extra justification they want supposedly on AMD's behalf, but AMD are the ones who chose the naming scheme and if they didn't want them to be compared they'd have given them different names.
The 6850 is still a great card. I bought one 2nd hand here for my stepson, and he's happily playing Skyrim, BF3 etc (but has mostly moved to Minecraft lately.)
Admittedly it's only on 1680x1050, but they still look great. If I were building another system for similar usage on the cheap, I'd look for another one.
Society's to blame,
Or possibly Atari.
so if you introduce another class of card would you name it lower ..?? err you cant there are names already under it .. so you name it higher and move them up one .. it's marketing ...
remember the 5990 was a dual gpu board .. and the 69/79 arnt but by your view they should be ...
Firstly, this is a discussion forum, so if you can't be bothered to discuss, why bother replying in the first place?Please don't bother replying, you'll only be wrong.
Prices in dollars are relevant because, as usual, they are the 'default' currency in which new products are launched. Using pounds would be convoluted and unhelpful.
Why are you using the stock market as a measure of inflation? Talk about pointless. It would be more appropriate to use something like the CPI or RPI or even the base interest rate, all of which have remained less than 5%/year over the last three years.
Unfortunately I have to go to work now but if you deign to comment further then perhaps you should reconsider your above post.
Don't get you. AMD name them in vague relation to their performance-market classes. They aren't especially bothered by comparisons between series because they don't usually sell more than one series at a time. But there's plenty of numbers and letters to choose from if they wanted to create more series.
The 6990 is dual, and the 7990 is going to be dual. Don't really see the issue?remember the 5990 was a dual gpu board .. and the 69/79 arnt but by your view they should be ...
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