AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - Aliens vs. Predator

Still demanding DX11 benchmark that we've used for a while here on the WSGF. Though it's closing in on two years old, the AvP stand-alone benchmark tool is still a good test of DX11 hardware. It isn't very demanding from a CPU perspective, so it gives a good test of the GPU itself.

The AvP demo also makes good usage of DX11 effects such as Advanced Shadows and Geometry Tessellation, particularly on the alien create and the alien "pods". There are also some unique lighting effects used, by placing mobile lighting sources in a floor lamp that is battered around by the alien creatures as they clamor down a tight hallway.

The HD 7800 family "trades jabs" with the HD 6900 family in widescreen. The HD 7870 just edges out the HD 6970, while the HD 6950 just edges out the HD 7850. All in all, they perform relatively on par with each other. Just remember that this is occurring at a much lower power profile, with reduced heat and noise as well. We see similar performance in Eyefinity. The HD 6970 and HD 7870 tie in performance, with the HD 6950 just edging out the HD 7850.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - DiRT 3

Dirt 3 has replaced our previous benchmark of Dirt 2. The Dirt 2 benchmark was the "urban" London circuit, which had several nice examples of water tessellation for the gar to drive through. The Dirt 3 benchmark we use is the Aspen track, which is a long winding snow course.

Rather than water and cloth effects in Drt 2, the Dirt 3 course showcases snow covered trees that flank a snow-covered course with tessellation effects on the snow tracks gouged into the snow. Additionally, there are continuous snow particles kicked up from the cars, and a better chance to see cars flipping and skidding. Overall, a nice and "pretty" update to our Dirt 2 benchmark.

We similar performance between the Radeon HD 7800 and the Radeon HD 6900 families. In widescreen, we see a tie at 1600x900, with the Radeon HD 7870 pulling ahead of the HD 6970. The HD 7850 comes in just under the HD 6950 in widescreen. Similar performance story in Eyefinity as well.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - H.A.W.X. 2

Sequel to the original HAWX title. This title updates the original by moving from DX10 to DX11, and utilizing tessellation on the mountainous landscape. The original HAWX demo provided a simple camera fly-through of an area populated by detailed cities and waterways. The "action" consisted mostly of ground explosions and some aircraft engagement.

The HAWX 2 demo removes the cities and water, and focuses on very detailed snow-covered mountain range with a large fleet of aircraft firing missiles. The viewpoint of the camera alternates between a third-person view over the top of a jet, as well as a first-person view inside the same craft.

We do see sizable wins by the Radeon HD 7800 family in HAWX 2, over the Radeon HD 6800. In widescreen the new cards best the previous models by almost 30%, and in Eyefinity we see improvements of almost 40%.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - Heaven 2.5 DX11

Update to the Heaven v2 demo, that has been an long-standing benchmark for many people. Though it's largely the same as the v2 demo, it does add a couple of new set pieces - particularly a new airship. This title is more demanding than the previous iteration, and adds a new tessellation options.

The Heaven demo continues to offer options for testing in DX9, DX10 and DX11 code paths. We have narrowed our testing to DX11, and are no longer testing the DX9 and DX10 code paths. The DX9 and DX10 were more CPU dependent and less of a test of the strength or weakness of the GPU. The DX11 truly stresses a GPU.

We see strong performance with the Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850. In widescreen, the 1 GHz clock speed of the HD 7870 pulls it into second place, ahead of even the Radeon HD 7950. Both cards come out on top against the HD 6900 family. In Eyefinity, they come in a few frames under the HD 6900 family.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - Mafia II

Demanding benchmark that is included in the Mafia II open-world crime title. The title begins with an exterior gunfight, highlighting cars losing parts and being destroyed. The demo then moves inside a warehouse which highlights a gun battle, with destructible environments (brick columns) and excellent flame effects.

One thing to note is that the demo performs much better on a second run-through. The first run shows noticeable hiccups during the loading of different scenes. Subsequent runs run much smoother, though the overall average isn't seriously effected.

In the pattern we keep seeing, the Radeon HD 7800 cards trade performance spots with their partners in the HD 6900 family. In Eyefinity, the HD 7800 series pull performance improvements of about 15% over their HD 6800 counterparts.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - Metro 2033

Demanding benchmark that is included in the popular FPS, Metro 2033. The demo is a camera fly through in a subway tunnel. There are large amounts of gunfire, cloth and lighting effects. The demo has a number of noticeable slowdowns from heavy flame, fog and motion blur effects. We run the game on the DX11 code path.

One a single GPU we see a number of dips, similar to Far Cry 2. When running in CrossFire multi-GPU, I do see noticeable micro-stuttering.

Same pattern as before, the HD 7800 performs on par with the HD 6900 and far outstrips the HD 6800.

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition & HD 7850 Review - Total War: Shogun 2

Benchmark that is included in Total War: Shogun 2. This is the one instance we are not running at full "max" settings with 4xAA/16xAF. The benchmark simply will not run at these settings in Eyefinity on any 1GB card. To enable a consistent benchmark across all cards I've used these settings: "Very High" preset, 2xAA, and all the DX11 options turned on.

The Shogun 2 benchmark has a unique feature in that it will not let you overrun the frame buffer. If it finds your graphics card doesn't have enough VRAM, then it simply fails to run and makes suggestions on what settings you can reduce. Running the game at these settings at 1080p, the benchmark tool reports back that you've over spent the graphics card VRAM by 1MB. So, at "close to" maximum visual fidelity, this is our first benchmark that needs 2GB for 1080p gameplay. We have plenty of games that require 2GB to play Eyefinity at 1080p, but this is the first time we've seen a 2GB requirement for single screen.

The title showcases a number of scenes - both broad views of large scale battles (with large numbers of units), and highlighting the detail in marching columns of soldiers.

The Radeon HD 7870 pulls well ahead of the HD 6970, due to it's faster core clock speed. The HD 7850 performs on par with the HD 6950, and 2GB of VRAM is the entry point into playing Shogun 2 at 1080p with 2xAA.