Nueva AMD Radeon HD6850 Silent, de PowerColor

PowerColor's SCS3 HD6850: Radeon HD 6850 Goes Fanless

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1.Introducing A Passively-Cooled Radeon HD 6850
• 2.The Card, In More Detail
• 3.The Card, In Pictures
• 4.Test System And Configuration
• 5.Benchmark Results: 3DMark 11 And Unigine Sanctuary
• 6.Benchmark Results: Metro 2033 And Aliens Vs. Predator (DX 11)
• 7.Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. And Call Of Juarez (DX 10)
• 8.Benchmark Results: Mafia 2 (DX 9)

• 9.Benchmark Results: Tom's Hardware Performance Index
• 10.Measuring Power Draw
• 11.Measuring Power Efficiency
• 12.Measuring Temperatures And Cooling
• 13.Measuring Temperatures Inside A Closed Case
• 14.Measuring Sound Level
• 15.Verdict And Purchase Recommendation

It takes guts to try passively cooling a 127 W graphics processor. PowerColor sells the first Radeon HD 6850 we've seen topped only with a heatsink. Does the triple-slot cooler do its job, or is Barts simply too complex of a GPU to cool like this?

Passively-cooled mid-range graphics cards are now relegated to endangered species status. Their power draw, and thus the heat they dissipate, is just too high. Even attempting to keep a moderately-fast GPU cool without fan requires two things: a sophisticated heatsink design and the right operating environment. Almost amazingly, PowerColor doesn't drop the clock rate on its SCS3 HD6850 1 GB card at all, and instead offers the performance of a regular 6850 card (only without a fan).

Knowing full well that the 960-shader Barts core is rated for 127 W, we were dying to figure out how a heatsink all on its own could keep the GPU cool enough. In order to reach that conclusion, we not only benchmarked the board in a number of games, but we also tested it in several enclosures to assess its viability out in the wild. In addition to that, we mounted an ultra-quiet fan on the card to compare how active cooling changes things.

Here's a bit of a spoiler. In the summer, installed in the wrong chassis, this card rides the edge of disaster, and may even cross over. Read on to find out how to avoid a meltdown. We'll address whether it makes sense to use this card at all.

Fuente y review completa: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fanless-graphics-card-scs3-hd6850,2990.html