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AMD Radeon HD 6850 & 6870: launch-day pricing and availability

by Pete Mason on 22 October 2010, 10:29

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

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AMD's highly anticipated update to the Radeon family of graphics cards has finally been released, and we've already had the chance to put the HD 6850 and HD 6870 through the HEXUS wringer.

Based on a tweaked version of the previous generations architecture, these GPUs will offer better performance and efficiency than their predecessors at a comparatively lower price.

We're expecting the cards to cost around £150 and £190, respectively, and at those price points, they'll be mighty competitive. So without further ado, let's see what's available to buy today.

AMD Radeon HD 6850

retailer product availability price
scan.co.uk* XFX Radeon 6850 Pre-order £133.57
ASUS Radeon 6850 OC Pre-order £158.25
MSI Radeon 6850 Pre-order £158.25
Gigabyte Radeon 6850 Pre-order £159.42
Sapphire Radeon 6850 In stock £159.42
ebuyer.com XFX Radeon 6850 Pre-order £151.99
dabs.com XFX Radeon 6850 Pre-order £153.99
Sapphire Radeon 6850 In stock £158.98
novatech.co.uk Sapphire Radeon 6850 In stock £159.99
cclonline.com None available N/a N/a
*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.

As of this morning, availability of the HD 6850 is looking pretty patchy. Of the retailers that have listings, only Scan, Novatech and Dabs are ready and waiting with cards in stock, and even then, they only offer a single card each. This is a bit of a disappointment, but availability should improve by the start of next week.

Pricing is about where we expected, with most cards - including one overclocked model - floating in the £150-160 range. This matches the card up exactly with the 1GB GTX 460, which the new Radeon should outperform in most games.

XFX's card at Scan is worth a special mention, retailing for a very tempting £133. For reference, this is about the same price that most 768MB GTX 460s are selling for at the moment.

AMD Radeon HD 6870

retailer product availability price
scan.co.uk* XFX Radeon 6870 Pre-order £178.22
Gigabyte Radeon 6870 Pre-order £201.72
MSI Radeon 6870 Pre-order £202.90
Sapphire Radeon 6870 In stock £204.07
ASUS Radeon 6870 Pre-order £207.60
ebuyer.com Sapphire Radeon 6870 Pre-order £176.45
XFX Radeon 6870 Pre-order £195.99
ASUS Radeon 6870 Pre-order £197.45
dabs.com Sapphire Radeon 6870 In stock £198.99
XFX Radeon 6870 Pre-order £198.99
novatech.co.uk Sapphire Radeon 6870 In stock £204.99
cclonline.com None available N/a N/a
*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.

The beefier of the two GPUs is looking like it will be just as hard to find as its little brother, with only three cards in stock and shipping today. This time around, pricing is a little higher than we expected, with quite a few cards costing north of £200. Especially now that NVIDIA has dropped the price of the GTX 470 to £190, the 6870 will face stiff competition at this price point.

There are a few notable exceptions, though. Scan and Ebuyer have cards listed at £178 and £176, respectively, representing excellent value and undercutting even the cheapest GTX 470s by a significant margin.

AMD is launching its new cards fairly aggressively, and as pricing settles and factory overclocked cards are launched over the next few weeks, the £150~ and £200~ market segments will start to look very interesting indeed.


All pricing correct as of 10am, Friday October 22, 2010.



HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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wonder why ocuk was not mentioned ;)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=1866

similar pricing to the others now teh `omg` chpea as chips cards have gone that were about last night
Scan had a full selection of 6850's last night but most of them are gone. The 6870's were in shorter supply though.
Jimbo75
Scan had a full selection of 6850's last night but most of them are gone. The 6870's were in shorter supply though.

They were still there this morning too. When I started writing the story up, 4 of the 5 6850s were in stock. By the time I checked again just before going live, they'd all been changed to pre-order only.

Not sure if it was a mistake or if they just had a very limited number and sold out very quickly.
Couple people I know who work for retailers said they sold very briskly this morning. It's pay day for the majority of folk, and this launch was perfect in that respect!
At the rate many e-tailers are running out of stock i assume the 68xx cards are selling really well.