[Tested] SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1024MB Review

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Review Index

• 1 – Meet with SAPPHIRE’s Radeon HD 6870
• 2 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Features
• 3 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 OpenGL performances
• 4 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Direct3D performances
• 5 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Gaming performances
• 6 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 DirectCompute performances
• 7 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Power consumption and overclocking
• 8 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870: Misc Links and Reviews

4 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Direct3D performances

4.1 Unigine Heaven (DirectX 11)

OpenGL tests have been finished on Unigine Heaven, what a better transition than starting Direct3D tests with Unigine Heaven 2.1, this time using the Direct3D 11 render path.

Settings: 1920×1080 fullscreen, tessellation: normal, shaders: high, 4X MSAA, 16X anisotropic filtering.

47.6 FPS, Scores: 1200 – ASUS ENGTX580

39.4 FPS, Scores: 991 – EVGA GeForce GTX 480

26.8 FPS, Scores: 674 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

25.9 FPS, Scores: 653 – ASUS EAH6870

25.3 FPS, Scores: 637 – SAPPHIRE HD6870

25.6 FPS, Scores: 646 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5

16.6 FPS, Scores: 419 – MSI R5770 Hawk

4.2 MSI Kombustor (Direct3D 9)

MSI Kombustor 1.1.3 has been used for the test. MSI Kombsutor is a Direct3D 9, 10, 11 and OpenGL 2 and 3 stress test and benchmark. I only tested the Direct3D 9 rendering.

Settings: 1920×1080 fullscreen, no AA, no postFX, 60sec, Unlock power draw CHECKED (the real benchmark mode!).

2378 (40FPS) – ASUS ENGTX580 *** OCP UNLOCKED ***

1991 – EVGA GeForce GTX 480

1962 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

1833 – ASUS EAH6870

1816 – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

1738 – ASUS ENGTX580

1595 – MSI GeForce GTX 470

1201 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 OC

943 – MSI R5770 Hawk (Cat 10.7)

4.3 NVIDIA Island Demo: Tessellation (Direct3D 11)

NVIDIA Island demo is a D3D11 demo focused on, what a surprise, tessellation!

Settings: windowed (default size) and default params (tess factor: 12).

FPS: 57 – ASUS ENGTX580

FPS: 46 – EVGA GTX 480

FPS: 25 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 OC

FPS: 13 – ASUS EAH6870

FPS: 13 – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

FPS: 11 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

FPS: 10 – MSI R5770 Hawk

4.4 DirectX SDK SubD11: Tessellation (Direct3D 11)

SubD11 is a Direct3D tessellation demo from the DirectX 11 SDK June 2010.

Settings: 1920×1080 windowed, tessellation: 8X

FPS: 250 – ASUS ENGTX580

FPS: 220 – EVGA GTX 480

FPS: 135 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 OC

FPS: 74 – ASUS EAH6870

FPS: 73 – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

FPS: 60 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

FPS: 53 – MSI R5770 Hawk

Settings: 1920×1080 windowed, tessellation: 16X

FPS: 118 – ASUS ENGTX580

FPS: 102 – EVGA GTX 480

FPS: 59 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 OC

FPS: 19 – ASUS EAH6870

FPS: 18 – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

FPS: 16 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

FPS: 15 – MSI R5770 Hawk

Settings: 1920×1080 windowed, tessellation: 24X

FPS: 51 – ASUS ENGTX580

FPS: 44 – EVGA GTX 480

FPS: 27 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 OC

FPS: 8 – ASUS EAH6870

FPS: 8 – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

FPS: 8 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

FPS: 7 – MSI R5770 Hawk

Settings: 1920×1080 windowed, tessellation: 31X

FPS: 30 – ASUS ENGTX580

FPS: 26 – EVGA GTX 480

FPS: 16 – MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5 OC

FPS: 5 – ASUS EAH6870

FPS: 5 – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

FPS: 4 – ATI Radeon HD 5870

FPS: 4 – MSI R5770 Hawk

4.5 3DMark06 (Direct3D 9)

3DMark06 is one of the most used Direct3D 9 benchmark. It’s still interesting to have the scores for this benchmark.

Settings: default settings.

Score: 22379 (SM2: 8212, SM3: 11585, CPU: 5805) – ASUS ENGTX580

Score: 22162 (SM2: 8296, SM3: 11321, CPU: 5737) – EVGA GTX480

Score: 21397 (SM2: 8377, SM3: 10419, CPU: 5683) – Radeon HD 5870

Score: 21124 (SM2: 8337, SM3: 10146, CPU: 5689) – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870

Score: 20484 (SM2: 8199, SM3: 9470, CPU: 5806) – MSI N460GTX Cyclone

Remark: this test is no longer adapted for modern GPUs. All cards have similar scores, meaning the benchmark is CPU-bound…

4.6 Aquamark 3 (Direct3D 9)

Aquamark 3 is a popular Direct3D 9 benchmark. Under Windows Vista or Seven, you have to install this patch. I posted the scores just for the fun because I don’t know if this tool is still representative of modern cards like GeForce GTX 500 / Radeon HD 6000…

Settings: default: 1024×768, fullscreen, 0XMSAA, 4X aniso.

163.7 FPS (GFX:28221, CPU:19477) – Radeon HD 5870

161.18 FPS (GFX:27513, CPU:19459) – Sapphire Radeon HD 6870

154.60 FPS (GFX:24018, CPU:21689) – MSI N460GTX Cyclone

153.74 FPS (GFX:23931, CPU:21511) – GeForce GTX 480

Remark: like 3DMark06, this test is no longer adapted for modern GPUs. All cards have similar scores, meaning the benchmark is CPU-bound…

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Review Index

• 1 – Meet with SAPPHIRE’s Radeon HD 6870
• 2 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Features
• 3 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 OpenGL performances
• 4 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Direct3D performances
• 5 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Gaming performances
• 6 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 DirectCompute performances
• 7 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 Power consumption and overclocking
• 8 – SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870: Misc Links and Reviews