The second generation DirectX 11-capable GPU from AMD has arrived. AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series enables a truly immersive experience with superb performance and flawless image quality for the most demanding gamer. Get immersed in gaming, productivity and entertainment on up to six displays simultaneously with AMD Eyefinity Technology. Speed up applications and enjoy brilliant video with AMD EyeSpeed visual acceleration. And get into the 3rd dimension - the cutting-edge HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 solutions for Stereoscopic 3-D in games, movies and photos with AMD HD3D Technology.
AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series GPU harnesses AMD’s second-generation Microsoft DirectX 11-capable architecture with improved tessellation and geometry performance, enhanced image quality, best-in-class energy efficiency, and an unmatched feature set. With AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series GPUs, you aren’t just playing the game – you’re in it.
AMD Eyefinity Technology with Dual DisplayPort 1.2Supporting multiple independent display outputs simultaneously, AMD Eyefinity technology delivers innovative graphics display capabilities enabling massive desktop workspaces and ultra-immersive visual environments for the ultimate panoramic computing experience. The new display interface DisplayPort 1.2 boasts features such as 2560x1600 max resolution per display, 21.6 Gbps bandwidth, multi-stream transport and high bit-rate audio, enabling flexible multi-display configurations.
Microsoft DirectX 11The very latest in high-speed, high-fidelity gaming and computing, Microsoft DirectX 11 featuring new technologies like Compute Shaders, Direct2D, Multithreaded Rendering and Tessellation enables not just more visually stunning games, but significant performance improvements in some of your favorite websites and everyday applications.
Image Quality Enhancement TechnologyThe AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series GPU refines texture filtering and anti-aliasing algorithms to enhance image quality, offering features including up to 24x multi-sample and super-sample anti-aliasing modes, adaptive anti-aliasing, morphological anti-aliasing (MLAA), 16x angle independent anisotropic texture filtering and 128-bit floating point HDR rendering.
AMD EyeSpeed TechnologyWith AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology and third-generation UVD (Unified Video Decoder) dedicated video playback accelerator, enjoy beautifully rich and clear video playback when streaming from the web. Take in your favorite movies in stunning, stutter-free HD quality. Run multiple applications smoothly at maximum speed. Enjoy lightning fast game play and realistic physics effects with enhanced Video Quality features such as advanced post-processing and scaling, dynamic contrast enhancement and color correction, and independent video gamma control.
AMD HD3D TechnologyAMD HD3D Technology is supported by an advanced and open ecosystem that, in conjunction with specific AMD hardware and software technologies, enables stereoscopic 3D support in games, movies and/or photos.
AMD CrossFireX Multi-GPU TechnologyAMD CrossFireX is the ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform, enabling two or more discrete graphics processors to work together for boosted system performance and a breakthrough gaming experience.
Pros: Sapphire Brand Price Quality This card was purchased for a customers mid-range gaming and general use build, that had to fit within a very specific price range, and it fills that role perfectly. It's still running flawlessly after a year of continued heavy/daily use. It can easily handle most any games you throw at it. (See Other Thoughts)
Cons: None so far.
Overall Review: This card is being used in the following build: AMD Phenom II 555 OC @ 3.8GHz (CM Hyper 212 Plus) Biostar A770E3 AM3 Motherboard A-Data 4GB DDR3 1600 XPG Gaming Series RAM This Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6850 Corsair Builder Series CX600 CM Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Case HP 2009M 1600x900 LCD Display To play the following games at the time of this review: (graphic settings) @ 1600x900 Battlefield 3 (medium/high custom settings), Borderlands 2 (max), Combat Arms (max), Fallout 3 (max), Counter Strike GO (max), Torchlight 2 (max), CoD Black Ops (max), CoD MW3 (max), Gotham City Imposters (max), Deus Ex HR (max), and many other games. This card does amazingly well for it's price point, coupled with the hardware environment it is in, and the customer is very happy with its performance over the past year. You're not going to max out every game, but you can get pretty close, and you can still play even the most demanding games on very respectable settings.