XFX HD-685X-ZNBC Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Pros: Great while it worked. For the money, it's a great deal, however I would rather just pay more and have the product work correctly from the get go.

Cons: Loud cooler. I got the black edition that came with the single fan ( I've heard there's also the double fan cooler). The fan is LOUD when it's at 100%. I had it set so it gets to 100% around 55C, that way it would keep it under 60C under full load.

Stock thermal grease was horrible. After only 7 months (when the fan started making noise the first time), the grease was already dried out and crumbling when I took the cooler off. After I RMA'd the card and received back a card with a new cooler, I had to take it apart again after 6 months, and the grease is once again dry and crumbly.

Other Thoughts: XFX support is a joke. Their response times for the tickets are abnormally long, and their responses are vague. They danced around the issue of RMA for two weeks and finally agreed to issue me one. I sent the card in so that it got there in 3 days, and it took them 1.5 weeks to process before any repairs were even started on it, which took another 2.5 weeks, then they shipped it back the slow way so it took another 1.5 weeks to get to me. This was after only 6 months of ownership. I though they would take care of their customers better (especially black edition).
Long story short, card has had 3 issues from October 2011 till March 2013. Once the card was artifacting and fan was making a grinding noise. Artifacts were probably because fan wasn't cooling effectively and it was overheating. After an RMA, 5 months later problem started happening again with fan making grinding noise. This time, XFX send me out a cooler for me to install since I did not want to wait 2 months for my card to be RMA'd again. I installed new cooler, everything was good for 7 months and now the fan has completely seized up. They refuse to send out another cooler and want me to RMA the card again. Having no other choice, I did and am hoping for the best, but have bought an EVGA GeForce already to replace the dying XFX. Lost faith in the brand.

Manufacturer Response:

Hello Anon, unfortunately fan failures do occur and we're sorry you experienced it. We would be happy to honor your warranty. We're sorry you are having issues with this card. Please contact me at neweggsupport@xfxforce.com to get started. Thank you

Pros: Plays all my games on high/ultra, getting around 60-70 frames in Battlefield 3, high settings.

Cons: It sounds like a jet engine as soon as you put stress on it. If i leave my door closed, it heats my room after about an hour of gaming. I plan on getting a new card soon, or a new GPU cooler. I was going to do crossfire, but seeing how hot this thing gets, my room would be upwards of 80 degrees. I dont think so.

Other Thoughts: not bad for the money, but its a loud, hot videocard.

Pros: - Keeps cool when fan is turned up more than default (I used AMD Vision Control Center and set it to go to 100% @ 53 C), never reached over 70 C even on full gaming using HAF32 stock case fans.

Cons: - Loud when fan is on full blast.
- XFX Support are professional but very slow to respond and update support correspondence. More in comments.

Other Thoughts: Bought card is October 2011 -- by February 2012 the fan started making a loud noise like it was about to fly off the card. I opened a support ticket with XFX on 3/4/2012. On 3/7/2012 they asked if I would like an RMA number. I said yes, and they didn't issue one until 3/12/2012. I mailed my card out next day mail on 3/14/2012, it got there 3/16/2012, they didn't start the fixing until 3/27/2012. After replacing the fan on 4/5/2012 they said they don't detect any more noise, so they ship it back to me on 4/12/2012 and I received it on 4/25/2012. By 5/4/2012 it's making the noise again. I updated the ticket and on 5/8/2012 they shipped out another cooler enclosure (that had bent heat sink fins touching each other and scratch marks all over it) for me to install myself. After replacing it, the noise is even worse on the 'new' fan.

Great product while it works, but dealing with this problem is a nightmare. Probably won't buy this manufacturer again.

Pros: - Very fast card
- Great heat management with custom fan setup using Catalyst Control Panel

Cons: - Snow on the screen, and fan is making vibration noises after only 5 months of ownership.
- XFX support has been slower than molasses so far. Their average turnaround time on responses to support tickets is 4-5 days PER COMMUNICATION.
Here are the time stamps from my communications:
[ 3/4/2012 2:44:44 AM] ME
[ERIK_A 3/7/2012 5:42:32 PM] THEM - 4 days
[ 3/7/2012 8:27:50 PM] ME
[ 3/8/2012 5:14:07 AM] ME
[MARK_C 3/12/2012 3:54:10 PM] THEM - 5 days
[ 3/12/2012 11:01:16 PM] ME
>> unacceptable <<

Other Thoughts: - Fans are loud on max setting, not a con, but something worth mentioning for those building quiet PCs. You don't buy a supercar for the quiet exhaust note though....

Pros: Very fast card, gets stuff done, can't expect a ton from it because its just a 6850 nice look to the card

Cons: Fan is pretty loud even when watching youtube videos... therefore when i play Fullscreen games it gets even louder. Maybe because i run a Samsung LED 23" Monitor

Other Thoughts: Comes with a Door knob thing that says "I'm Gaming don't disturb" and a bunch of stickers and an emblem like thing to put on whatever.

Pros: -Fast without overclocking
-Great filtering effects
-idles at 41
-max temp i have had is 56
-Great looking
-Comes with some cool stickers and nice emblem

Cons: none really

Other Thoughts: Mine bottlenecks thanks to my E7500 Core 2 duo but with stock settings on AMD Catalysis works fantastic

Pros: +Has room for overclocking
+Temps are great & consistent
+Speedy card for it's price $$$
+XFX Warranty is always great

Cons: -I dislike AMD/ATi drivers & software
-only 1 dual-link DVI port

Other Thoughts: I came from an nVidia 8800GTS I bought years ago. I've become very familiar with the interface for nVidia drivers which is fluent and sleek in design.
The AMD Catalyst driver interface looks like something someone programmed in their Intro to VB.Net class. It's functional, but clunky. Plus , for some reason, the drivers install with half-a-dozen other background processes that are seemingly unneeded for the most part.
Also, had a few issues with setting up multiple monitors on this card. Took alot of finessing in the catalyst control panel for some reason , but after all of that - this card is amazing =]

Pros: It is a powerful card in a compact size

Cons: A few of the heatsink fins are bent not too badly but still if you pay for a new product you expect to get a new product not a damaged product

Pros: Fast
cool looking
low power one pci e slot
crossfire ready
fast gpu and GDDR5
when i first got it i put it to max settings in ati's catilist control center and the fan never went above 50%. i ran windows experence index and bam a blazing 7.8 and7.8 for graphics

Cons: it failed after 4 hours on these settings. i payed extra for a black edition because i thought i would be able to run at maxxed OC settings but it cannot.
if you run this at stock speeds you should be fine OC'ers beware get another video card

Other Thoughts: DONT OVERCLOCK THIS CARD EXCEPT TO ADVERTIZED SETTINGS it will fail soon... of maybe i got a bad card
RMA was free but took FOREVER ohio to california should not take a week to get there and 3 days to get back

Pros: First off I've owned XFX cards since 2007 and became a fan since. This Black Edition came with some pretty neat stuff like stickers and metal medallion thing. The card itself has changed everything I've known about PC gaming coming from an XFX 8800 GTS. Runs SC2, WoW, Civ 5 and the free copy of Deus Ex Human Evolution at max/ultra settings.

Cons: The plastic shroud seems a bit flimsy.

Other Thoughts: I must digress some from my Pros statement, this was bought for a new rig I built and don't have the hours put in to sufficiently claim that this card is above and beyond, however thus far I'm enjoying it.

Rosewill Smart One Tower
Gigabyte GA-990XA
XFX ATI 6850 Black Edition
Rosewill Xtreme 750W
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
G.SKILL Ripjaws 16G DDR3 1600
Western Digital Caviar Black 500G
Cooler Master Hyper N 520
Windows 7 Home Premium