Powercolor HD6850 Single Slot Edition Review

The Powercolor HD6850 Single Slot Edition is a product which is going to target a very specific audience. Enthusiast users building a performance media center, or gamers who want a CrossfireX system with as much airflow as possible will find this solution very appealing. In QuadFireX these cards  would make for a very capable system indeed. Even better would be the power drain, as four cards would only demand around 400 watts when gaming.

Powercolor have been releasing some great graphics cards in recent months, and they are earning a very good reputation thanks to their continued efforts. The HD6950 Vortex II is a class leading card, and we also really liked the dual bios configured HD6950 PCS++ Edition.

With a single slot card, there are always going to be some compromises. Return To Idle times are generally much longer, as the limited cooler depth requires a longer time to deal with concentrated thermal hot zones. In the case of the Powercolor card, the return to idle times are not too bad, but the fan noise is easily noticeable when loaded. While Crossfire would be an ideal environment for these single slot cards we would feel that noise levels would be high, even with two in CrossfireX, never mind four.

There is no doubt however that this card is a solid buy, especially for media performance junkies who also want to game on their 720p or 1080p high definition television. The size of this card means that it will fit easily into a plethora of confined chassis designs without a problem.

Pros:

• single slot
• cooler is really good considering
• same price as a standard HD6850
• overclocking capabilities are decent
• ideal for CrossFire

Cons:

• can get noisy under load
• A custom dual fan, dual slot cooled HD6850 (such as XFX's) might make more sense for a larger audience

Kitguru says: A very good option for media lovers and people building a new system into a confined chassis

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