Yes, the whole internet is now filled with news and reviews of the hyped up Radeon HD6850 and HD6870. But I can understand if you’re not interested in this launching. Many people are more interested in the “Cayman” Radeon HD6900 series.

Let’s have a recap. The previous Radeon HD5000 series was codenamed the Evergreen trees, and the current Radeon HD6000 series is codenamed Northern Islands, after islands in the Caribbean. Each GPU range is named after an island. They’re Barts, Cayman, Blackcomb, Antilles, and Whistler.

The card launched today is called the Barts, and the Radeon HD 6850 is known as Barts PRO, and the Radeon HD 6870 is known as Barts XT. Bart is named after Saint Barthélemy Island and will be the performance/upper-mid segment GPU series which can be considered to be the successor of the Radeon HD 5700 (Juniper) series, not the high-end segment as many of you expected. AMD made a shift in the naming schema, meaning the 6850 and 6870 as tested today will fit into the upper segment of the mid-range graphics card market.

The HD 6870 is priced at a MSRP of USD249.99, and the HD6850 is priced at a MSRP of USD179.99. However, a quick search at Newegg.com will easily get you a HD 6870 at 10 bucks cheaper.

Reviews:
vr-zone
Guru3D