AFOX Radeon HD 6850 Low Profile Review – World exclusive review 11 years ago | Retro

1 - Intro, Overview and Specs 2 - Teardown and Details 3 - Optimizing the cooler: new fans 4 - Noise and Temperatures before and after 5 - Power Consumption 6 - Benchmarks and Conclusion

Benchmark summary and overall result

The card places itself exactly where you would expect it to be as a Radeon HD 6850. The single benchmark results correspond to those of a normal HD 6850 in the reference design, as can be seen in detail in our current VGA charts. The 1GB RAM is also enough for somewhat more demanding games even in high resolutions on a good flat-screen TV. 1920 x 1080 pixels are not an issue in almost all games, only the use of extreme edge smoothing should be handled very cautiously. The card is too weak for this.

Summary and concluding remarks

Great niche solution, but poor fans and a cheap heatsink. This is how one can and must outline this product. However, a fan conversion costs less than 7 Euros and can be done in a few minutes even by a layman. Only then do you get a fully usable product in low-profile format that is not only comfortable to play with, but also remains acoustically quite restrained. We will contact the manufacturer again and point out better fans. What also has to be mentioned in the conclusion is the omission of the additional power supply, which should definitely be critically questioned in the specific case in connection with the used board (see chapter on consumption measurement).

However, one thing must be conceded to Afox without envy: Our Asian friends fill market gaps just as industriously as busy municipal workers fill German potholes. It’s certainly not a mass product, but at least it’s a good idea. Passed the practical test by the skin of its teeth, even though it needed a bit of tweaking. The next flat HTPC can now also become a sprinter. Hats off and plugs in, the part is somehow ingeniously different. Despite the obvious quirks and also for lack of better alternatives.