The Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 are two of AMD’s latest offerings. Intended for the mainstream market, each of these cards comes with a friendlier price tag compared to higher-end products. Radeon HD 6870 currently sells for around US$ 239, while its little brother, HD 6850, is being offered for around US$ 179.
Budget conscious buyers might be more interested in the lower -priced HD 6850. To increase overall value, some manufacturers have come up with customized HD 6850 cards, including Gigabyte with the GV-R685D5-1GD right here. The card is outfitted with Gigabyte’s unique, Windforce 2X HSF. Aside from that, they also use a non-reference PCB design as well.
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | AMD Radeon HD 6850 | Gigabyte GV-R685D5-1GD | |
| Codename | Barts XT | Barts Pro | Barts Pro |
| Fabrication Process | 40 nm | 40 nm | 40 nm |
| Transistors | 1.7 Billion | 1.7 Billion | 1.7 Billion |
| Die Size | 225 mm2 | 225 mm2 | 225 mm2 |
| Core Clock | 900 MHz | 775 MHz | 775 MHz |
| Stream Processors | 1120 | 960 | 960 |
| Texture Units | 56 | 48 | 48 |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Size | 1024 MB | 1024 MB | 1024 MB |
| Memory Clock (effective) | 4200 MHz | 4000 MHz | 4000 MHz |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| DirectX Version | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Shader Model | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | 6-pin | 6-pin |
| Min Recommended Power Supply | 500 Watt | 500 Watt | 500 Watt |
| Bus Support | PCIe 2.1 x16 | PCIe 2.1 x16 | PCIe 2.1 x16 |
Seen from the above table, it appears that there is no notable difference between the GV-R685D5-1GD and the standard HD 6850. Too bad Gigabyte did not apply any factory overclock, but at least this card should be able to perform as good as a standard HD 6850. Don’t lose your appetite just yet, the added value of this card lies not in its technical specification, but rather in its non-reference cooler.
