One thing's for sure, AMD is really pushing hard at the mid-range segment right now to eke all it can out of the current recession. When that means better performance for cheaper prices, I'm not complaining! Instead of pushing the 6000 series forward with brute force, AMD is instead focusing this series on efficiency. Its current flagship, the 6870, has some specs that would give the impression of lesser performance when compared to the 5870. However, with AMD's chip advances, the 6000 series handily beats out is older counterparts with much more efficient hardware and processes. In fact, AMD is claiming over 35% more performance per square millimeter over its previous generation of cards. On top of that, AMD is reportedly using 25% less silicon than the 5850. This means more performance requiring less power and generating less heat. Along with the new process technology, AMD is bundling this new generational step with up to 2x faster tessellation and geometry throughput and multiple other features to keep its cards ahead of the game.With the HD 6850 PCS+, Powercolor is upping its offering beyond just reference designs as per the usual. This time, a much beefier cooling system has been slapped on and fairly substantial overclocks have been applied right out of the box. I am quite excited to see just how well this card stacks up against the slew of other cards saturating the market at this time.