Performance Analysis

The MSI HD 6850 Cyclone’s 10-11 per cent overclock had the expected impact throughout our tests. In Dirt 2 we saw a minimum frame rate of 55fps at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA, rather than the 50fps minimum achieved by a stock HD 6850 1GB. Performance also increased in Bad Company 2, where the minimum frame rate of the Cyclone was a playable 27fps rather than a stuttery 24fps at 1,680 x 1,050 with 4x AA. However, in Arma 2 - a game we’ve come to expect to take advantage of every drop of system performance - the benefits of the Cyclone’s overclock were minimal at resolutions above 1,680 x 1,050 with 4x AA.

While its overclock wasn’t enough to see the Cyclone worry the Radeon HD 6870 1GB, it was competitive against the GeForce 460 1GB, which costs roughly the same amount of cash. We saw roughly identical performance from the two cards in Dirt 2, and while the GTX 460 1GB was faster in Bad Company 2 at 1,680 x 1,050, the Cyclone was quicker in Black Ops (at 2,560 x 1,600) and Arma 2 (at 1,680 x 1,050).

While the factory overclock had a reasonable impact on performance, it’s the card’s Cyclone cooler that really impressed us, delivering a superb load delta T of just 34°C and remaining very quiet throughout testing. Even with the card running under full load and the fan spinning at 65 per cent of its rated fan speed, it was inaudible over the other system fans.

Power consumption was also favourable, although the 10-11 per cent overclock saw peak power consumption rise by 15W (6 per cent) in comparison to a stock HD 6850 1GB.

Overclocking

MSI’s Afterburner tool has quickly become the enthusiast’s choice for graphics card overclocking, and was superb as ever, allowing easy and precise overclocking. With the software’s voltage control enabled we set about pushing the Cyclone to its limits.

We eventually settled on a stable overclock of a humongous 1GHz GPU and 1,175MHz memory (4.7GHz effective), using a vcore of 1,250mv. The GPU overclock is a massive 29 per cent higher than a stock HD 6850 1GB, and we saw plenty of extra performance. In Arma 2 at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA the minimum frame rate rose 15 per cent, to a noticeably smoother 30fps. Of course, every card will overclock differently, but our testing indicates that this card has plenty of extra performance in the tank.

Conclusion

MSI seems to be making something of a mockery of custom-cooled, overclocked graphics cards at the moment. Typically such a card would carry a price premium, but MSI is happy to sell these premium cards at the basic price: despite a factory overclock and excellent cooler, the Cyclone costs the same £140 as a basic HD 6850 1GB.

When you consider that the card has huge extra overclocking potential, it’s hard to justify choosing any other HD 6850 1GB. If you’re only looking to spend around £150 on your new graphics card, and don’t mind a bit of DIY overclocking, the Cyclone is a solid choice – it’s much faster than a £115 GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB, and the next-fastest card up the performance ladder worth considering is the £190 GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB.

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• 8/10

Score Guide