XFX FX7850 HD 7850 2GB Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

XFX are known for their aggressive pricing on all AMD graphics cards so we can certainly expect this graphics card to be competitively priced in that respect. However, even with competitive pricing I am not sure sure about how competitive this graphics card can really be. My main concern is with respect to the cooling solution and quite frankly the cooler used by XFX, despite how fancy it appears to be, isn’t that much better than a reference cooling solution. Furthermore, the cooler is very loud at idle though and at load it isn’t too bad but since your PC will spend most of its time in idle/at moderate loads its high noise output is of grave concern to me, and for anyone that values a quiet PC this is most definitely a deal breaker. I think if we look at what XFX have gone for with this graphics card, in terms of a beefy dual 10cm fan config, the rest of the card just doesn’t live up to what the fans promise. As we mentioned the heatsink is more of a lump than a fin array which means that the fans aren’t as effective as they could be and are essentially wasted. Furthermore, the HD 7850 is known for being an absolute beast of an overclocker – every HD 7850 is guaranteed to reach about 1100MHz, with most typically going to 1200MHz and even further, yet this comes at the stock 860MHz. The memory is also left at stock too despite having similar overclocking headroom. If XFX really wanted this to be as impressive as the fans make it look they would have to change or add several things including:

• A fan profile that starts at a much lower RPM for moderate loads and idle to tame noise output
• A heatsink array based on fins not a monolithic aluminium “lump”
• A hefty out of the box overclock to at least 920MHz, ideally somewhere in the 950MHz region. The memory should also be bumped up slightly.

Okay so I have been pretty harsh on this card so far but the main reason for this is that the HD 7850 has been out for a very long time and is coming close to the end of its life, yet this is a relatively new SKU from XFX and adds nothing new. Does this add positively to the huge array of HD 7850s we’ve already seen hit the market, including those from XFX themselves? I don’t think so. Sure this card looks quite fantastic, comes with a generous bundle and has good overclocking headroom but there isn’t really anything that impressive about it. If you are in the USA then the lifetime warranty may be tempting, though UK and European consumers will only see a 2 year warranty. XFX graphics cards have always impressed me in the past but I can’t help but feel this particular one is a bit of a dud. If you’re looking for a high performance HD 7850 with a high performance cooler then quite frankly XFX already make an excellent one of these in form of the XFX HD 7850 Black Edition 2GB. Only some extremely attractive pricing can save this HD 7850 from being mediocre.

Pros

• Aesthetics – looks great
• Easily reaches CCC limits
• Free copy of Far Cry 3
• Generous accessory package
• Lifetime warranty in the USA

Cons

• Despite the impressive looking cooler, thermals are quite average for a HD 7850
• The cooler is very loud at idle/moderate loads – deal breaker for people who value silence
• Current availability and pricing is virtually unknown
• No factory overclocks despite huge overclocking headroom on the HD 7850 GPU

The Bottom Line: “As far as HD 7850s go we have seen a lot better. XFX tried to make a high performance dual 10cm fan cooler work but the decision to retain stock clocks and equip quite a basic heatsink have meant that these high performance fans are all but wasted – this unit is pretty close to a reference design in thermals and worse with noise. The noisy nature of the graphics card leaves a lot to be desired when how much noise a graphics card produces is becoming a crucial buying consideration for consumers. XFX will probably look back on this graphics card as either a mistake or a wasted opportunity.”

Thank you to XFX for providing this review sample.