AMD Radeon 6800 Series Review

power and performance

1 year and 1 month after the launch of the Radeon HD 5800 series, the Radeon HD 6800 series is unleashed upon the world. This new line of graphics cards from AMD consists of the Radeon HD 6870, and 6850. Retail prices for these cards are $239 and $179, respectively. However, despite the names, and as their prices imply, these cards are not intended to replace the Radeon HD 5870 and 5850. The replacements for these cards will come at a later date and shall be reviewed at that time. This marks a change in both nomenclature and product positioning for AMD, which will be explained later in this article.
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Sandy Bridge pricing leaks in Sweden

All standard quad cores get priced

CONSIDERING WE’RE STILL about a month and a half from Intel’s Sandy Bridge launch, we’re surprised to see that the pricing has already leaked, courtesy of a Swedish online retailer. The best part of the new is that the overclockable K models are only slightly more expensive than the non K models, something which should be good news for those wanting to try their luck at overclocking their new Sandy Bridge setup.
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Google wants to be in your closet

Let me borrow that top.

In a recent internal S|A poll regarding colleague views of the Internet’s true purpose, the top 5 responses confirmed what we all knew, all along:  5. LOL Cats, 4. Pr0n, 3. Trolling, 2. Pr0n, 1. Pr0n.  Well, after sharing our findings with the big G, Google’s crack squad of basement dwellers wrote an algorithm to try and work their way to the podium of our Internets, and the result, is like totally awesome, if you’re a teenage girl with daddy’s credit card.
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The tale of the backwards computer display market

Sometimes logic doesn’t prevail

IF YOU’VE BEEN using computers for a few years, then you’ll most likely know that we’ve moved from 4:3 or 5:4 aspect ratio CRTs to 4:3 LCDs to 16:10 LCDs to finally end up with 16:9 LCDs being the most common type of LCD screen available. That in itself might not be an issue for many, but why in the name of all things unholy have we ended up with lower screen resolutions today than what we had a decade ago?
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CyberLink launches PowerDirector 9

Designed for 64-bit, multi-core and GPU acceleration

HOME VIDEO EDITING is a growing market segment in the world of software, one only need to take a look at the massive amounts of new content being uploaded daily to YouTube to understand that any company that makes video editing software is going to want a slice of the action. Today, CyberLink has announced the release of PowerDirector 9 which the company claims is the world’s first native 64-bit consumer video editing software.
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The regular Sandy Bridge motherboards from Asus

No fancy model names, but pretty decent features

IT’S REALLY QUITE amazing how advanced motherboards are these days, just about everything you need is already right there on the board and even more so now that we’re moving towards integrated graphics in every CPU. Not that long ago anything integrated onto a motherboard was frowned upon by anyone that knew anything about computers, but alas, today that is not the case.
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Asus adds tactical vest to its TUF motherboards

And a thermal radar

THE TUF SERIES of motherboards from Asus has always been a product range that we haven’t quite understood, as it makes bold claims about MIL-SPEC tested components and has never struck us as a must have type of motherboard. The latest addition to the TUF series is the Sabtertooth P67 and it adds even more head scratching features, although it’s very possible that we’re not the target market and that’s why we don’t understand Asus’ reasoning.
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Brazos performance numbers arrive

Good enough graphics, not quite as good CPU

AMD HAS FINALLY allowed the first benchmarks of its Brazos platform to be published and it’s without a doubt an Atom beater, well, at least the Zacate based E-350 is. As expected the graphics performance is quite good, albeit quite some ways away from AMD’s discrete offerings, however it seems like on the CPU side of things, VIA of all companies have managed to one-up AMD in terms of entry level processor performance.
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Intel Z68 chipset rumours start

K and Z were sitting in a tree…

AMIDST CONCERNS THAT Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors will lack much in the way of overclocking it seems like Intel might’ve come up with a solution that will appease the masses. We’ll take this with a grain or two of salt for now, as the leaked slide covering what is set to be a new performance chipset from Intel doesn’t quite look like an Intel slide, but that doesn’t mean we won’t entertain the thought of such a chipset being launched.
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