MSI announced its Radeon HD 6800 series graphics cards, the HD 6870 based R6870-2PM2D1GD5, and the HD 6850 based R6850-PM2D1GD5. While the HD 6870 card sticks to AMD reference design both with PCB and cooling assembly, the HD 6850 uses AMD reference design PCB, with MSI's in-house cooler design, which makes use of a slightly larger GPU fan-heatsink, and a sporty-looking cooler shroud. Both cards also stick to reference clock speeds.

While the Radeon HD 6870 has 1120 stream processors, and clock speeds of 900 MHz core with 1050 MHz (4200 MHz effective) memory; the HD 6850 has 960 stream processors, 775 MHz core, 1000 MHz (4000 MHz effective) memory. The prices are expected to be largely standard, too. Around $250 for the HD 6870, and around $180 for the HD 6850.

Club 3D B.V. is pleased to announce the introduction of the next generation video card based on the Barts XT/PRO chipset, from AMD's second generation DirectX 11 architecture. The new Club 3D Radeon HD 6850 1GB and HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 video cards feature the AMD HD3D technology which allows you to play your favorite games in full stereo 3D with a single video card (up to 3 monitors, and enjoy with the new EyeSpeed technology to watch the latest Blu-ray movies in 3D.

Industry leader XFX has added a new dimension to gaming with its XFX AMD Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 graphics cards. This latest series of AMD Radeon graphics cards is AMD's first introduction of a 3-D gaming and multi-media solution for desktop computers, plus one of the first HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 solutions for Stereoscopic 3-D on the market.

This advance into Stereoscopic 3-D ushers in a new era of gaming that takes it to the next level. With up to 120 Hz active shutter technology, the quality of 3-D achievable with the AMD Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 is unprecedented in comparison to previous 3-D solutions created by other manufacturers. The AMD 3-D experience is truly immersive and seamless.

Tomorrow, AMD will release its much talked about next-generation Radeon HD 6800 series graphics cards, to reinvigorate the company's competitiveness in a price-segment both it and NVIDIA regard as "the gamer's sweet-spot" price segment, which spans between $189 and $249, offering performance levels very close to enthusiast-grade products. To put it in perspective, you should be able to play any DirectX 11 game at 1920 x 1080 (full-HD) resolution with medium-to-high level of detail. Currently, NVIDIA holds the upper hand in this segment with its GTX 460-768 MB and GTX 460-1 GB, which is exactly what Radeon HD 6850 and Radeon HD 6870 seem to be after, with the HD 6870 also holding the potential to disturb higher-end SKUs that are currently priced around the $299 mark.

With no new SKU for this segment in sight, NVIDIA's immediate reaction is reportedly that of introducing "fairly big" price-cuts on the GeForce GTX 460 duo, the company also plans to cut prices of the high-end GeForce GTX 470. To what extant exactly these price cuts would go is not known, but they will be put into effect either today, or tomorrow. Meanwhile, sources close to AMD told us that in response to this development, the red-team will fine-tune the final pricing of the Radeon HD 6800 series, to step up pressure on the competition. We expect as much as $20 to be cut on the currently expected prices of the Radeon HD 6800 series pair.Update (10/21; 20:50 IST): NVIDIA sent us a circular about revised pricing of certain GeForce products. Details follow.

Barely a couple of days ahead of its launch, the first picture of the Radeon HD 6850 taken apart made its way to the internet. We were treated to the pictures of the HD 6870 PCB last week. AMD's release-grade reference design PCB is not as long as that of the HD 6870, it keeps up with the black color, and is available as either a premium 8-layer version, or a cost-effective 6-layer one. This particular one makes use of a 4+1+1 phase VRM, a CHIL-made VRM controller that might support software voltage control, power input from a single 6-pin PCI-E power connector, one CrossFire connector, and display connectivity that includes two DVI, one HDMI, and two mini-DisplayPort connectors. From the information available to us from recent reports, the Radeon HD 6850 has 960 stream processors 32 ROPs, 48 TMUs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory. Its core is clocked at 775 MHz, and memory at 1000 MHz (4000 MHz GDDR5 effective).

ASUS is ready with its first non-reference design Radeon HD 6850 graphics card, making use of the company's proven DirectCu cooler design. The EAH6850 DirectCu also makes use of a non-reference design PCB by the company that makes use of high-quality components, and the VoltageTweak feature, which lets users control voltages using software. To support this, and provide an out of the box overclock, the card draws power from two 6-pin power connectors, unlike the reference design that needs just one. The DirectCu cooler features nickel-plated copper heat-pipes that make direct contact with the GPU, conveying heat quickly to the heatsink. Display connectors include two DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. The exact clock speeds are not known. ASUS will most likely release this card on the 22nd of this month.

Here are the press-shots given to us by AMD, of the Radeon HD 6000 series graphics cards, in their reference design. The Radeon HD 6870 was pictured from one angle much earlier, but this new deck of pictures show you the card from other angles. There is also the first set of pictures of the Radeon HD 6850 with its premium blower-type cooler. Partners can opt for this design, or choose a more cost-effective cooler design which isn't much more than a fan-heatsink over the GPU, probably heatsinks over the memory/VRM, and an egg-shaped cooler shroud. Past history has shown that when presented with two reference design cooler options, most AIB partners have chosen the cheaper one, for obvious reasons.

The styling looks a little carried forward from the HD 5000 series (black and red), only this time, the streaks of red-lines are on the top and rear-end of the card, not its obverse side (which now has a flame sticker). The sticker design around the fan intake is suggestive of an "eye", keeping up with the theme for this series and a trio of new "Eye" features the Radeon HD 6000 series will carry, one of them being next-generation Eyefinity. The Radeon HD 6800 draws power from two 6-pin power inputs, while the HD 6850 makes do with just one. Another important feature-change evident from these pictures is that the 6800 lacks support for 3-way and 4-way CrossFireX, there's only one CFI finger.

Sapphire is ready to launch its Radeon HD 6800 series products. As AMD's one of front-line partners, why wouldn't it be? The company will kick off its lineup with a Radeon HD 6870 model that sticks to the AMD reference design, and a Radeon HD 6850 based on an in-house design, probably marketed with the company's popular "Toxic" or "Vapor-X" brands. The Radeon HD 6870 card is compliant with the reference design, and uses reference clock speeds of 900/1050(4200) MHz (core/memory(effective memory)). It features DirectX 11 support, 1120 enhanced stream processors, 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface, and display connectivity that includes two DVI, two mini-DP 1.2, and one HDMI 1.4a. 2-way CrossFire is supported.

The Radeon HD 6850 card, on the other hand, sports an in-house design with both the PCB and the cooler. The PCB is colored in Sapphire's favourite shade of blue. The cooler looks quite muscular with a heatsink (probably making use of vapor-chamber technology) over the GPU, a 90 mm fan, and 8 mm heat pipes conveying heat to additional aluminum fin arrays. This card also reportedly sticks to reference clock speeds of 775/1000(4000) MHz, and features 960 stream processors, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide interface. Display connectivity on this card is more akin to what we're used to seeing on the HD 5800 series: two DVI, one standard-size DisplayPort 1.2, and one HDMI 1.4a. Expect both these cards to be out on the 22nd. A non-reference HD 6870 later down the line from Sapphire can't be ruled out.

After a recent exposé of the XFX Radeon HD 6870, DonanimHaber scored a few pictures of its next HD 6000 series card, the XFX Radeon HD 6850. Unlike the HD 6870 card, the HD 6850 from XFX makes use of XFX' own design for both PCB and cooler. The card is shorter than the HD 6870 by a fair bit, and makes use of typical XFX styling on the cooler shroud and rear panel. The cooler seems to be a circular fan-heatsink over the GPU, it's not known whether the memory and VRM have heatsinks too. Display connectivity includes two DVI, and one each of HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2.

The card carries 960 stream cores, contradicting an older report, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface. The core is clocked at 775 MHz, and memory at 1000 MHz (4 GHz GDDR5 effective). Expect it to be out on the 22nd of this month, at a highly competitive price for its performance level.

An pair of early listings by a Dutch online store indicates what prices of some Radeon HD 6800 series products could look like, in that part of the world. The Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 (part number 11180-00-20R), is listed at €158.82 without taxes (€189 with it); and Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 (part number 21179-00-40R) at €214.29 w/o taxes (€255 with it). We conservatively estimate the USD pricing to look like $199 for the HD 6850, and $249 for the HD 6870, on the basis of this listing.

AMD's latest graphics processors is just around the corner, and one of the first of them is the Radeon HD 6800 series. The value version of it is the Radeon HD 6850, its most probable specifications have surfaced. To begin with, HD 6850 is based on AMD's new Barts GPU, built on the 40 nm process. The source mentions that the SKU will have 800 stream cores enabled, from earlier reports we're lead to believe that these stream cores are individually more complex than AMD's traditional 5D (4 simple + 1 complex) approach to unified shaders. There is a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory, the card uses 5 GT/s memory chips, so the memory should be clocked around 1200 MHz (or 4800 MHz effective), if not more. The core is clocked at 775 MHz. Its FOB (freight on board) price is expected to be US $175. Power is drawn from a single 6-pin PCI-E power connector, the draw is expected to be less than 150W. Partners have the option of using a premium blower-type cooler, or a cost-effective heatsink-type cooler. The latter had been pictured a while back, posted below for reference.