Final Thoughts

Putting the new Radeon naming scheme aside, we'd like to focus more than on the Radeon Hard disk 6870's price and operation. The GeForce GTX 460 clearly got under AMD'south peel, as the company created a production specifically to compete with it. At $239, the Radeon Hard disk drive 6870 will go head to head with Nvidia'southward GeForce GTX 460 (1GB), a card nosotros crowned king of the $200-$300 price bracket.

In terms of value, AMD has nailed the sweet spot of operation vs. price with the Radeon HD 6870. The Radeon HD 5870 currently retails for roughly $380, making the Radeon HD 6870 almost 40% cheaper and simply four% slower in the games we tested. Although the 6870 may non be a successor to the 5870, it has unquestionably eliminated final twelvemonth's contender.

Speaking of soon-to-be-extinct graphics cards, the Radeon HD 5850 costs 20% more than the 6870, while the latter is 11% faster on average. The GeForce GTX 470's future likewise looks dour. If the GeForce GTX 460 (1GB) wasn't enough of a deterrent, then the Radeon HD 6870 surely will be.

Likely knowing what to wait from the newer Radeons, Nvidia appear price cuts for both GTX 460 models and for the GTX 470 yesterday (see all the details here). However, even if the GTX 470 is now simply slightly more expensive than the Radeon Hard disk 6870, the AMD product still offers 3% more performance.

Meanwhile, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB at present costs $199, just there'due south no comparison the performance. In the dozen games tested, the HD 6870 outmuscled the GTX 460 1GB in all but one -- and that was a describe. The Radeon HD 6870 was 19% faster than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB on average, marking a decisive win for AMD this time effectually.

Outstanding production: AMD Radeon Hard disk 6870

With a suggested cost of $239 the Radeon HD 6870 delivers the best value graphics card in the sub-$300 range. The Radeon Hard disk 6850 is also an attractive prospect at $179, but AMD was strapped for samples and couldn't ship us a card in time to meet today's deadline. We plan to test-drive the Radeon HD 6850 very shortly though, and so keep your eyes peeled.

To be fair, the GTX 460 remains a valid alternative to anybody thanks to its recent price cut, not to mention killer SLI performance, so all in all, consumers get all the advantage of this head to head boxing.

With the Radeon HD 6870 putting on an impressive testify, we're dying to come across how the Radeon HD 6970 and 6950 perform. Thankfully, we only have to await until side by side month to see if they are worthy successors to the Radeon Hard disk 5870 and 5850. Further down the line, AMD plans to release the dual-GPU Radeon HD 6990 Eyefinity (codenamed Antilles) in January.