HD 6870 and HD 6850 Reviews

I don't know who or why and nor why there is a misunderstanding - it is the very first thing that is addressed in the benchmark guide. Did you take a look at that, these are more important than just for checking score and they are used to detail changes that the pretty slideware is not going to.

 

Says this as update:

 

The GTX 460 OC numbers are meant to give an idea about the performance of the super OC GTX 460s, not of a specific model. Thermal, power and noise details will come in a GTX 460 roundup that will be published as soon as I have some time to upload it.

 

Of course I did have a look at the benchmark guide...

The previous Cat AI default already had some trilinear and anisotropic sample optimizations. Therefore I don't see where you made it clear that the new "quality" mode is on some aspect at a relatively lower quality point than the previous default for high end...

 

For 5800 it didn't. The new interface makes it common. If the press drivers didn't enable the settings for 5000 then that is a mistake, though I thought that wasn't the case.

 

What did AI off then?

 

quick q
do these cards shimmer ?

 

Yes, still not fixed.

http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/amd_hd6870_hd6850_launch_review/index.php?p=6

 

just look at the notes for Catalyst 10.10 release
performance improvements
why in the hell are they focusing on improvements in benchmarks

 

Nothing (with regards to AF), you were/are farked either way.

 

Why do I think, that all these performance improvements come because AI Quality is now default?

 

If I understand Dave's words well, default AF of 5700/5600 wasn't changed. But the performance improvements are related even to 5700/5600, so it shouldn't be related to AF.

 

That's a little bit strange, because some people - smart people - say, that 10.9&AI off is identical to 10.10&HQ. One of them is a HD5770 owner, the other are HD5800 owners.

 

I don't care about OCing anymore so pre-overclocked cards are worthwhile to compare IMO.

I don't care about naming really, but AMD should have dropped all the way below 1000 too I guess. They are going to be back at X territory again soon . It looks like a good card, and a good price. I wish we had moved a bit more forward at the pricepoints though, like another 15% maybe. (Not that I expect them too, just that I want something like that before I upgrade next)

 

I've asked the same question in the past. The answer i got basically boiled down, that those improvements are by-products of tweaks and optimizations in the driver code and get discovered when running a standard parcours more or less accidentally. At least with regard to benchmark-tools.

 

I'm sure there will be some real deals to be had this shopping season without having to stand in line for 12+ hours during Black Friday sales. I can see them hitting your 15% cheaper pricepoints then.

I think AMD has a very successful product launch on their hands. Some naysayers are either butt-hurt over the branding or naming (AMD instead of ATI or 6800 series instead of 6700) while the other naysayers are way too attached to their favorite vendor (AMD instead of Nvidia) to admit this is a solid product. All that should matter is price, performance, and features.

 

Or are getting screwed by their countrys and/or local vendors, and looking at 50€ higher prices than for example Germany, even though usually there's just few €'s difference between them (Finland vs Germany in this case)
Can the e-tailer/retailers and/or even the importer just screw up the customers how they please without AMD having any say on the actual price?

I mean, sure, we have high VAT, but it's only 4% higher than Germany, that doesn't give you 50€ more in 200€ product, and the shipping costs from China/US/where ever you decide to assembly and store your packages) definately aren't that much more expensive either




edit:
And the germans aren't making it much easier, they've risen their shipping fees to Finland little by little over time, and now they ask damn 30€ for the shipping the cards here

 

I don't particularly have a problem with it the cards have been out for months and are available around the same price point. It's a valid option and no some cherry picked super overclocked version of the card specially supplied by Nvidia only to be vaporware after the reviews.