With 1GB less memory than standard 7850
cards, can it keep up?
MSI
HD 7850 1GB
Stock models of the Radeon HD 7850 2GB are
few a far between, with AMD's board partners instead furnishing the range with
multiple board and cooler designs. This has led to high variance in pricing and
specs, with 1GB versions retailing for as low as $209, and 2GB versions up to
around $306. Just shy of $209, MSI's $209 HD 7850 1GB is the cheapest on the
market currently, giving it a distinct advantage over other cards right out of
the gate. It's worth noting that 1GB SKUs are not officially supported by AMD.
The HD 7850 Pitcairn Pro GPU features 32
ROPs and 1,024 stream processors. With four 64-bit memory controllers, the card
has a 256-bit memory interface and since MSI has left the memory at the stock
frequency of 1.2GHz (4.8GHz effective), it boasts 153.6GB/s of memory
bandwidth. Other than the 1GB of memory it's missing, the main difference
between this card and the stock HD 7850 2GB is the clock speed, which MSI has
ramped up slightly from 860MHz to 900MHz.
With the extruding cooler, the card
measures in at 207mm, and is a dual slot card. The standard set of HD 7850
connections have been left intact as well, providing users with a dual-link DVI
port, a HDMI connection and two mini-DisplayPort ones. Six-screen Eyefinity
support is thus included along with support for two-card CrossFire. Three power
phases are used for the GPU, with another for the memory, and thus the card has
a total of 4+1 phase power, and accepts power via a single side-mounted six-pin
PCIe connection.
With
the extruding cooler, the card measures in at 207mm, and is a dual slot card.
The black and blue cooler uses a single
contact plate, transferring heat away from the GPU and into the fin stack via
two heatpipes. The fins rest above the memory chips and the power phase VRMs,
only providing passive cooling since no direct contact is made. It's all cooled
by single 92mm fan, which stays nice and quiet even under heavy load and more
importantly keeps the card very chilled. The majority of heat from the card
does get exhausted back into your case, however.
Cards in this price range are designed for
gaming at 1920x1080, and at this resolution the card is a beast. The card
easily keeps pace with its pricier 2GB brother, even outperforming it
occasionally thanks to the small overclock – a result that is reflected in the
3DMark11 benchmark results. At higher resolutions and in multi-monitor setups,
performance falls drastically as the 1GB of memory can no longer cope, and it
even runs into driver issues since it's not officially supported. At 1080p,
however, the card is rock solid, and it proves that 2GB of video memory is
unnecessary at this resolution.
Cards
in this price range are designed for gaming at 1920x1080, and at this
resolution the card is a beast.
Even better, the card overclocks really
well too. I was able to push the core to 1050MHz, which represents a 22%
overclock from stock HD 7850 frequencies. The memory also remained stable up until
1.31GHz (5.24GHz effective). At these levels, the card was able to pump out
frame-rates just shy of the $282 NVidia GTX 660 2GB, which is a fantastic
result for a $209 card.
If you're in the market for a budget card
capable of high performance at 1920x1080, this is the one to get. It offers
outstanding value, leaving the similarly priced GTX 650 Ti 1GB in the dust,
matching the more expensive HD 7850 2GB version and even closing in on the far
costlier GTX 660 2GB. The fact that it overclocks so well and has such an
effective cooler makes it an even sweeter deal. Just bear in mind that it won't
age as graciously as a HD 7850 2GB, and it entirely loses its appeal at higher
resolutions.
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Details
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Price: $207
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Manufacturer: MSI
·
Website: www.msi.com
·
Required spec: Two free PCIe expansion slots,
six-pin PCIe power connector
·
Quality: 7
·
Value: 10
·
Overall: 9
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