This is the best AMD card under Rs.10,000 although we would like to see the price drop further. Frame rates are great for the cost. An open frame design ensures that the load temperature is under 60 degrees C.
Design and Build: MSI R6850 has a very unique design. There is no shroud to speak of, the aluminium circular heatsink is placed in the centre, on top of which lies the fan. Two heat pipes follow the curve of the circular heat sink. The metal branding on top of the heat sink makes this card look wonderful.
Performance: As it belongs to MSI’s Cyclone edition, scores are expected to be on the higher side. While it is considerably higher than the GTX 550Ti it is still nowhere close to GTX 560Ti or GTX 560. Dirt3 and FarCry2 can be played comfortably even at 1920×1200. Thanks to the intricate heatsink and fan design, its load temperature is around 58 degrees C with a temperature delta of just 16 degrees which is even better than the lower specced HD 6770.
Refer to the gallery to view benchmarks, as well as the below table.
Verdict: This is the best AMD card under Rs.10,000 although we would like to see the price drop further. Frame rates are great for the cost. An open frame design ensures that the load temperature is under 60 degrees C.
Score Out of 100: 63.27
Price: Rs.9,900
| Brand Model | MSI HD6850 |
| Type of memory / Memory Clock (MHz) | DDR5 / 1100 |
| Core / Shader Clock (MHz) | 860 / NA |
| No. of Stream Processors | 960 |
| Memory size (MB) / Memory Interface | 1024 / 256-bit |
| Connects on card | 2xDVI-D, HDMI, Display Port |
| Accessories provided | DVI to D-Sub, 6pin power adapter, Crossfire Bridge, Driver CD |
| Game Provided | N |
| Synthetic Benchmarks | |
| 3D Mark 11 (Overall) | 5834 |
| 3D Mark 11 (Graphics) | 6056 |
| Unigine Heaven v2.5 (1680×1050, 4xAF, Max Shader, Extreme Tesellation) Score | 630 |
| Unigine Heaven v2.5 (1680×1050, 4xAF, Max Shader, Extreme Tesellation) Frame rate | 25 |
| Temperature (Load) | 58 |
| Temperature (Idle) | 42 |
| Game Benchmarks | |
| FarCry 2 (1280×1024, Ultra High, No AA) Avg | 103.6 |
| FarCry 2 (1680×1050, Ultra High, No AA) Avg | 91.42 |
| FarCry 2 (1920×1080, Ultra High, No AA) Avg | 84.91 |
| FarCry 2 (1280×1024, Ultra High, 4xAA) Avg | 90.41 |
| FarCry 2 (1680×1050, Ultra High, 4xAA) Avg | 78.41 |
| FarCry 2 (1920×1080, Ultra High, 4xAA) Avg | 72.1 |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat (Day, 1680×1050, No AA, DX11, Ultra Detail) Avg | 91.7 |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat (Day, 1680×1050, 4x AA, DX11, Ultra Detail) Avg | 64.6 |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat (Day, 1920×1080, 4xAA, DX11, Ultra Detail) Avg | 57.6 |
| Resident Evil (1680×1050, 4xAA, Motion Blur on) | 110.1 |
| Resident Evil (1920×1080, 4xAA, Motion Blur on) | 99.7 |
| Crysis Warhead (1280×1024, DX10, Med) Avg | 74 |
| Crysis Warhead (1680×1050, DX10, Med) Avg | 66 |
| Crysis Warhead (1680×1050, DX10, Very High) Avg | 31 |
| Crysis Warhead (1920×1080, DX10, Very High) Avg | 28 |
| Dirt 3 (1280×1024, No AA, Details Medium) Avg | 116.5 |
| Dirt 3 (1680×1050, No AA, Details Medium) Avg | 103.06 |
| Dirt 3 (1920×1080, No AA, Details Medium) Avg | 94.14 |
| Dirt 3 (1280×1024, 4x AA, Details High) Avg | 102.44 |
| Dirt 3 (1680×1050, 4x AA, Details High) Avg | 87.01 |
| Dirt 3 (1920×1080, 4x AA, Details High) Avg | 80.55 |
| Crysis 2 (1920×1080 Hardcore) | 42.82 |
| Crysis 2 (1680×1050 Hardcore) | 48.59 |