Performance tests

Testbed:

• Intel Core i7-975 3340 MHz CPU
• ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard on the Intel X58 chipset
• 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
• WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD
• Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, DirectX 11
• 30" Dell 3007WFP monitor
• VSync disabled
• NVIDIA Drivers 267.31/267.26/267.59/267.71
• ATI CATALYST 11.4 beta

Benchmarks:

• Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) — DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
• CRYSIS Warhead (Crytek/EA) — Cargo, DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
• Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) — DirectX 10.0/11.0, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "dirt2.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml".
• Metro 2033 (4A Games/THQ) — DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, PhysX disabled, run from in game.
• Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) — DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, run from in game.
• Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion/SEGA) — DirectX 11.0, Shaders 5.0, Very High settings, run from in game.
• F1 2010 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11.0, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "formulaone.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml". Game provided by NVIDIA.
• Tropics Benchmark 1.3 (Unigine) — DirectX 10.0, High settings.
• Heaven Benchmark 2.0 (Unigine) — DirectX 11.0, High settings.
• 3DMark 11 (FutureMark) — DirectX 11.0, Performance settings.

We'd like to thank Unigine for helping us set up their benchmarks.

Of the four graphics cards we have today, only Sapphire Toxic HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 is factory-overclocked. Tests indicate that it fits almost in the middle between the standard Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon HD 6950. However, we decided not to add it to the diagrams to avoid confusion, because there's so much data there already.

Final thoughts

Sapphire HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 is a very nice rival to numerous GeForce GTX 460 cards, especially considering the great cooler. It also has all modern output connectors.

Sapphire Vapor-X HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 is also a decent solution — thanks to the cooler — even though Radeon HD 6870 isn't the best in terms of price/performance. And it also has all modern output connectors.

Sapphire Toxic HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 has the same advantages as the previous card but is also factory-overclocked, which greatly improves its price/performance ratio. You may consider buying this particular variant of Radeon HD 6870 even if it's priced like GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

Sapphire HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 copies the reference card and, unfortunately, is a bit overpriced. There may be sense in buying this variant if it's priced like GeForce GTX 460.

Judging by the results of this review, we believe that all cards except the reference Sapphire HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 deserve our Excellent Design award.

We express gratitude to Sapphire for the provided graphics cards. The PSU is provided by TAGAN, the monitor is provided by NVIDIA.

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