MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC

Pros: I waited for this model to come down in price before jumping on an HD7850. I was not disappointed. The fan is totally silent at idle, and kept the card around 60C in a case with excellent cooling, and closer to 70C in a compact case with less airflow. Either way, it's still very quiet. It comes pre-overclocked, but there's more on tap - I was able to hit 1075/1450 using unofficial methods (1050/1450 is the cap otherwise). There is no voltage control that I could find, so that was the limit. At this speed, it just matched my 7870 at reference 1000/12000 speeds.

Cons: A bit expensive compared to the 7870, which is 20% faster at stock and 10% faster clock-for-clock, according to my tests.

Overall Review: If you want a 7850, this is probably the very best model to buy. Note: The length of the card provided by Newegg is not accurate. It's closer to 8.5", rather than 7.76".

Pros: Runs cool and quiet when not overstressed, much quieter than some other brands. Great performance for most games at 1080p. Very reliable and smooth in single mode (i.e. no xfire) I love the Twin Frozr design and performance. Build quality is very solid. Came with a coupon for 2 AAA quality games, but I unexpectedly received a 3rd later (FC3 Blood Dragon) Low power draw - just one 6-pin connector needed.

Cons: Not great in crossfire - I got great frame rates in Far Cry 3, but suffered noticeable stuttering, as documented in other places online with AMD cards. My older SLI'd GTX 460's ran the game much smoother despite running at a third less frame rate than the two 7850's. Older generation Twin Frozr design than the one on my current MSI GTX 670, though it still performs well.

Overall Review: I bought this when a friend gave me his surplus H.I.S. 7850 2GB after he upgraded to a GTX 680, so I could run it in crossfire. Initially I was happy with the boost it gave in games like Far Cry 3, but soon noticed the stuttering effect. This is the only reason I docked an egg. Thereafter I upgraded to an MSI GTX 670, giving slightly lower frame rates, but the stuttering disappeared completely, However, I will keep this for a 2nd rig, as it is a great value for the performance, about 50% better than a single (now discontinued) GTX 460 1GB. The fact that it came with 3 great games made it a steal. I hadn't expected to like Tomb Raider due to my previous experience with the series, but it's now my favorite game of the three it came with, inc. Bioshock Infinite and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. Final note: If you do crossfire this card, make sure to disable the 2nd card from going into low power mode when gaming, either in Catalyst or 3rd-party software.

Pros: Automatic fan control hovers around 30%. Skyrim only bumps it up to 39%. Still can't hear the fans though. Enabling manual fan control, I tested various settings: At 50% fan speed, I could hear light fan noise a distance of 10 feet away. At 45% I could barely hear the fans on this card. Ambient room noise was louder. At 40% I could no longer hear the fans on the card. I could only hear the ringing in my ears and the voices in my head. In a room with 43-44db of ambient noise, the system measured 46-47db at idle from one foot away. 21C ambient room temp. 29C at idle. Smaller than the MSI R4850 it replaced. Solid construction.

Cons: Minor Blu-ray stuttering issue, but I think it's driver related. Not yet worried about it since I have a very limited Blu-ray library.

Overall Review: I originally hoped for MSI to produce a 7850 with their Cyclone heat sink and 92mm fan, because it got such great reviews. Well their Twin Frozr III also does a great job at cooling the video card and keeping quiet about it. When the 7850's came out, I strayed from MSI. 2x100mm fans doesn't automatically mean they are quieter than 2x80mm fans. I'm glad I came back, and will definitely consider MSI on my next video card upgrade.

Pros: Card is much quieter than the Sapphire 6950 I replaced. Packaging/accessories were also much better than any of the Sapphire cards I've used. The connector/output caps were a nice touch. Even on the crossfire connector! :)

Cons: None really

Overall Review: I had none of the issues described here already. (5 egg tech level?) The drivers that this required are part of the 12.3 Catalyst beta and thus no pre-existing version of Catalyst would work. The 12.3 version was not only available on the disc but available on the website under the specific "78xx" section. The "7000 series" version would not work because it's 12.2. Installation was a breeze. Oh, and the adapter that's included is a common mini-displayport to displayport.

Pros: When it works the card is amazingly fast, and incredibly affordable. When it Works...

Cons: I'm on my 2nd RMA with this things. On my first it never worked at all. On my second it would not boot into games at stock overclocks (900/4800) I had to downclock it for it to work. On my THIRD card (which I have currently) I received it back and it had the loudest coil whine you could possibly imagine, but otherwise worked fantastically. After two weeks however, it will only boot into windows and any to boot into games results a grey screen of death. I'm at my wits end, as I've honestly spent more time RMAing this card than using it. At this point I don't know if I even want to bother RMAing it. I just want something that works.

Overall Review: Seriously MSI is usually an amazing company, I've gotten some great things from them. But three bunk cards in a row is too much for even me. I know there are flukes in this world, but take my advice, if you can get your hand on anything but the TFIII version of this card take it. There is obviously something very, very, wrong with this batch of cards, because apparently the odds of these things failing are very, very, high. Take a TF IV model if you can instead. P.S. I'd love to have a rep get in touch with me about this on the site. I know I'm going to have to RMA it again anyway, but if there is any chance you could, y'know, get me out of this TFIII 7850 nightmare loophole I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm not too keen on spending another 3 weeks without a functioning computer. Thanks.

Pros: Excellent performer especially for its small size. Runs just a tad better then the 6950 I had a few months back. Idles at 30C and Played BF3 on High 60+fps at 63C max.

Cons: Had to R.M.A. Strange fuzzy screen after boot up between the bios option and windows logo 100% of the time. Also, locks up after 1 hour of use, sometimes instantly after windows logo. Cooler was loose from the start and the board had a slight warp to it. All errors occurred without touching overclock options.

Overall Review: i5-2500k w/212+ Asrock Z68 Pro3-M Seasonic X650 8gig G.Skill 1600mhz

Pros: -runs Crysis, Crysis Warhead at 1920x1200 at highest settings with 2xAA and I still get over 40FPS -I started with the 8.95.5 beta drivers from AMD and it's been running perfectly on Windows 7 64 -I've tried overclocking up to 1050/1250 with Catalyst software with no problems (I don't need to go any higher, what's the point?) -cooler is very quiet; I don't even notice the card over the case fan -seems to be very well built -3 year warranty

Cons: -a bit on the pricey side (IMHO it's worth it)

Overall Review: -unless you're running multiple monitors, i don't know why you would need anything more than this!

Pros: Quiet.... but then I can't run a demanding game on it either. So any video card would be quiet,

Cons: Replying to: Pros: When it runs, it is quiet. Cons: This is card #2 after I RMA'd the first, I wish to hell I could return this for a refund. Second card locks up more frequently than the first one. Last lock up was while I was reading a message about a new inventory item - in Team Fortress 2. Not a terribly demanding video task! I want my old 4850X2 back :( Manufacturer Response: Dear Valued Customer, We apologize for the issues that you are having with this product. Please feel free to contact Grace from Customer Service Group directly at 626.271.1004 ext 221 to arrange for a 2nd RMA with prepaid shipping label or advanced replacement. Advanced replacement is subject to product availability and requires a credit card (non-prepaid type) to proceed. Best Regards, MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com ................................. I have tried nearly everyday to contact the person mentioned in MSI's response to my review. And have had to leave a message every time, and have yet to have it returned. I was pleasantly surprised to have the option to get a card prior to replacement and get a prepaid shipping for the one to be RMA'd, but it is becoming obvious that there is NO WAY TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN since they refuse to return my many phone calls.