7770 graphics card review: AMD Radeon HD 7750 & Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition Review: Evading The Price/Performance Curve

AMD Radeon HD 7770 And 7750 Review: Familiar Speed, Less Power

If you’re a regular Tom’s Hardware reader, then you’re already familiar with our monthly Best Graphics Cards for the Money column, written by Don Woligroski. Basically, Don maintains a list of the most value-oriented deals at a number of price points to help game enthusiasts make purchasing decisions. Once upon a time, the list was absolutely dominated by hardware from Nvidia. Slowly, though, I’ve watched it shift the other direction. And each month, as I’m editing the column, I grill Don on his selections in order to make sure the right recommendations make it in.

Well, for February, there were 18 total cards in his list, split between full endorsements and less enthusiastic honorable mentions. Fourteen of those were AMD cards. Four came from Nvidia. Under $200, every single card was a Radeon. Every. Single. One.

Right now, AMD is simply rocking the budget gaming space with cards like the Radeon HD 6770 and 6850. But with a new generation of derivatives following behind the Radeon HD 7970 and 7950, it’s hoping to trump existing recommendations with the Graphics Core Next architecture, along with a handful of value-adds.

To be sure, its fiercest competition doesn’t come from Nvidia. Rather, the company must do battle with its own compelling portfolio of fast, affordable gaming cards.

High-End? Check. Low-End? Check

After covering enthusiasts with those aforementioned 7900-series cards based on its Tahiti GPU, AMD is addressing the entry-level space with Radeon HD 7770 and 7750. Both boards sport the same Cape Verde graphics processor, manufactured using TSMC’s 28 nm node, in slightly different configurations.

Compared to Tahiti, a 4.31 billion-transistor, 365 square millimeter die, Cape Verde sports 1.5 billion transistors in a 123 square millimeter package. Its most complete configuration consists of 10 Compute Units, each one composed of four Vector Units containing 16 Stream Processors. All told, that’s as many as 640 shaders based on the Graphics Core Next architecture.

Cape Verde is equipped with four ROP partitions—half as many as Tahiti—limiting it to 16 raster operations per clock cycle. A memory crossbar connects those partitions to a pair of 64-bit dual-channel memory controllers, yielding a 128-bit aggregate bus.

Clearly, AMD took an interesting path to get from the Radeon HD 7970’s Tahiti to the 7770’s Cape Verde. Armed with 31% of the flagship GPU’s shaders and texture units, 50% of its ROP partitions, 66% of its L2 cache, and a mere 27% of its peak memory bandwidth, company representatives say they ran simulations and these were the ratios that turned back optimal performance. The target, they claim, is playable 1920×1080 performance. So, while frame rates may fall off at higher resolutions with AA turned up, that’s perfectly acceptable for a fairly mid-range card. Just don’t expect to do much multi-monitor gaming.

The gaping hole between AMD’s highest- and lowest-end Radeon HD 7000s won’t persist for long. Right in the middle, where the Radeon HD 6870 and 6900s currently live, you’ll soon see a third distinct GPU called Pitcairn. Back on topic, though…

Radeon HD 7770 And 7750

Officially, the top-end Cape Verde part is called Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition, paying homage to its 1 GHz core clock. This is a milestone, AMD says, meaning every partner board will bear the moniker, regardless of whether it’s a stock reference board or a faster configuration with aftermarket cooling. Of course, we all know that the core’s operating frequency is only one variable in the complex equation that defines a board’s performance, so that name ends up rubbing as self-congratulatory and, ultimately, superfluous.

The Radeon HD 7770’s 1 GHz Cape Verde GPU employs all 640 available shaders, theoretically yielding 1.28 TFLOPS of compute performance. Since each Compute Unit includes four texture units, 7770 also sports 40 texture units. An unmolested back-end turns up four ROP partitions and a 128-bit memory bus populated by 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 1125 MHz.

Measuring 8.5” long, this dual-slot card’s dimensions are almost identical to the Radeon HD 5770 we test it against. Whereas that older Juniper-based board uses a centrifugal fan to exhaust heat, the 7770 employs an axial fan mounted on an aluminum extruded heat sink. We’re normally not advocates of designs that recirculate hot air. However, an 80 W typical board power rating is conservative enough that other subsystems in a closed chassis shouldn’t be affected.

That 80 W rating exceeds the PCI Express bus’ 75 W limit, so the Radeon HD 7770 does require one six-pin auxiliary power connector. Even still, the 5770 was rated at 108 W—almost 30 W higher. Even more impressive, AMD’s Radeon HD 7770 benefits from the company’s suite of ZeroCore technologies, which purportedly take power use under 3 W during long idle periods.

Although one full slot on the 7770’s I/O panel is devoted to ventilation, you’ll still find one dual-link DVI port, one full-sized HDMI connector, and two mini-DisplayPort outputs back there, cumulatively supporting up to six screens (though practically, the limit is still four, since we still haven’t seen any DisplayPort 1. 2 Multi-Stream Transport hubs).

	Radeon HD 7770	Radeon HD 7750	Radeon HD 6850	Radeon HD 5770
Stream processors	640	512	960	800
Texture Units	40	32	48	40
ROPs	16	16	32	16
Graphics Clock	1000 MHz	800 MHz	775 MHz	850 MHz
Texture Fillrate	40 Gtex/s	25.6 Gtex/s	37.2 Gtex/s	49.4 Gtex/s
Memory Clock	1125 MHz	1125 MHz	1000 MHz	1200 MHz
Memory Bus	128-bit	128-bit	256-bit	128-bit
Memory Bandwidth	72 GB/s	72 GB/s	128 GB/s	76. 8 GB/s
Graphics RAM	1 GB GDDR5	1 GB GDDR5	1 GB GDDR5	1 GB GDDR5
Die Size	123 mm2	123 mm2	255 mm2	166 mm2
Transistors (Billion)	1.5	1.5	1.7	1.04
Process Technology	28 nm	28 nm	40 nm	40 nm
Power Connectors	1 x 6-pin	None	1 x 6-pin	1 x 6-pin
Maximum Power	80 W	55 W	127 W	108 W
PCI Express	3.0	3.0	2.0	2.0
Price	$160	$110	~$150 (Street)	~$105 (Street)

The Radeon HD 7750 is a drastically different graphics card, even though the same piece of silicon serves as its foundation. A 55 W power rating means that it doesn’t need an auxiliary connector at all—just a 16-lane PCI Express slot. And a 6.5” PCB is short enough to fit in space-constrained environments like diminutive desktops and HTPCs. We haven’t seen a serious graphics card with single-slot cooling for a while, but this board manages challenging feat, too.

Of course, there are necessary compromises. Two of Cape Verde’s CUs are disabled, leaving 512 functional shaders and 32 texture units. Also, core clock rate drops to 800 MHz, reducing peak compute performance to 819 GFLOPS. AMD does leave the back-end alone. One gigabyte of GDDR5 running at 1125 MHz on a 128-bit bus feeds four ROP partitions.

AMD says the 7750 also supports six screens, though with one dual-link DVI port, one full-sized HDMI connector, and one full-sized DisplayPort connector, your options for getting there are more limited.

Current page:
Meet Radeon HD 7770 And 7750

Next Page Overclocking With XFX’s R7770 Black Edition Overclocked

Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom’s Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.

Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition review

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A budget pixel pusher, but is it a false economy?

Cheap, but not cheap enough for the performance it offers

TechRadar Verdict

Cons

—
Not fast enough
—
Struggles with higher detail settings
—
Not great value for money

Can any card as cheap as the Sapphire HD 7770 GHz really be a good idea? False economies are certainly a major fear when it comes to PC components. It’s no good if this card offers great on-paper bang for buck if it doesn’t deliver a good enough gaming experience.

First, the on-paper bit. We’re talking AMD’s latest GCN shader cores to the tune of 640. For context, you get only 768 of the things in the Xbox One. What’s more, this card’s core is clocked at 1GHz to Xbox’s 853MHz. Not much in it for raw pixel pumping, then.

But there’s more to it than that. Part of the problem is the meagre 1GB of graphics memory and 128-bit memory bus. Then there’s the fact that the detail levels in PC games almost certainly already outstrip anything that’s likely to hit the Xbox One. Which is why the Radeon 7770 GHz chipset puts out such poor frame rates in most of our benchmarks. In fact, Grid 2 is the only game for which it manages playable frame rates at 1080p.

Benchmarks

1,920 x 1,080

DirectX 11 gaming performance
Sleeping Dogs: Frames per second: Higher is better (Min/Avg)
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition: 13/19
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC: 16/24
AMD Radeon HD 7850: 19/28
Asus GTX 650Ti Boost Direct CU II OC: 18/28
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760: 24/41
Asus HD 7870 Direct CU II TOP: 25/36
Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II: 27/39
Nvidia Geforce GTX 770: 30/52
Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X: 36/52
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780: 36/60
AMD Radeon HD 7990: 59/97
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan: 31/65

Grid 2: Frames per second: Higher is better
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition: 34/43
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC: 40/50
AMD Radeon HD 7850: 42/52
Asus GTX 650Ti Boost Direct CU II OC: 39/52
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760: 56/73
Asus HD 7870 Direct CU II TOP: 57/73
Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II: 56/71
Nvidia Geforce GTX 770: 67/90
Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X: 73/87
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780: 71/85
AMD Radeon HD 7990: 50/60
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan: 75/93

Company of Heroes 2: Frames per second: Higher is better
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition: 11/19
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC: 13/21
AMD Radeon HD 7850: 15/28
Asus GTX 650Ti Boost Direct CU II OC: 11/22
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760: 15/31
Asus HD 7870 Direct CU II TOP: 22/39
Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II: 21/35
Nvidia Geforce GTX 770: 20/40
Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X: 28/46
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780: 27/49
AMD Radeon HD 7990: 26/44
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan: 31/55

Metro: Last Light: Frames per second: Higher is better
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition: 13/22
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC: 19/28
AMD Radeon HD 7850: 20/30
Asus GTX 650Ti Boost Direct CU II OC: 14/33
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760: 8/45
Asus HD 7870 Direct CU II TOP: 19/39
Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II: 21/40
Nvidia Geforce GTX 770: 24/56
Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X: 25/51
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780: 21/65
AMD Radeon HD 7990: 23/75
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan: 27/70

BioShock Infinite: Frames per second: Higher is better
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition: 13/28
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC: 14/34
AMD Radeon HD 7850: 21/41
Asus GTX 650Ti Boost Direct CU II OC: 17/47
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760: 15/65
Asus HD 7870 Direct CU II TOP: 19/51
Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II: 16/57
Nvidia Geforce GTX 770: 21/78
Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X: 19/74
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780: 23/91
AMD Radeon HD 7990: 14/123
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan: 21/98

Heaven: Frames per second: Higher is better
Sapphire HD 7770 GHz Edition: 13/19
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC: 13/23
AMD Radeon HD 7850: 16/28
Asus GTX 650Ti Boost Direct CU II OC: 17/31
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760: 21/43
Asus HD 7870 Direct CU II TOP: 18/36
Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II: 20/40
Nvidia Geforce GTX 770: 24/52
Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X: 23/51
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780: 780 29/69
AMD Radeon HD 7990: 30/100
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan: 30/77

Verdict

Grid 2 aside, we’re looking at sub-30 frames per second. You’ll have to crush the detail settings to get things running smoothly, which makes this board a non-starter. The same applies to even the cheapest Radeon HD 7770 boards. Performance isn’t nearly good enough, so however low the price is, you aren’t getting value.

Contributor

Technology and cars. Increasingly the twain shall meet. Which is handy, because Jeremy (Twitter) is addicted to both. Long-time tech journalist, former editor of iCar magazine and incumbent car guru for T3 magazine, Jeremy reckons in-car technology is about to go thermonuclear. No, not exploding cars. That would be silly. And dangerous. But rather an explosive period of unprecedented innovation. Enjoy the ride.

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site .

AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Review

Written by

Antony Leather and Harry Butler

February 15, 2012 | 06:15

Tags: #hd-7770 #htpc #radeon-hd-7770

Companies: #amd

1 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Review2 — Test Setup3 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Arma II Performance4 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Battlefield 3 Performance5 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Dirt 3 Performance6 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Skyrim Performance 7 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Power and Thermals8 — AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Performance Analysis and Conclusion

Manufacturer: AMD
UK Price (as reviewed):£134. 40 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$189.55 (ex. tax)

At the low end of the spectrum as far as serious gamers are concerned, AMD has had few offerings as of late. The HD 5770 1GB is the card that most will have opted for in the super-budget bracket over the last year or two, where the HD 6850 1GB might have proved to be a little too expensive. However, the latter, which can happily handle many modern games at 1,920 x 1,080 at high settings, can regularly be picked up for less than £100, which means AMD is having to juggle between price and performance with its latest hardware release, the HD 7700 series.

Click to enlarge

Two cards are hitting shelves at an etailer near you, the HD 7770 1GB and the HD 7750 1GB – it’s reasonable to assume these are direct replacements for the HD 6870 1GB and HD 6850 1GB, given that if the HD 7770 1GB fails to knock either off their perch, there’s going to be a huge performance gap in 7000 series cards. This view isn’t quite as clear when you consider the RRP of the new hardware — £100 for the HD 7770 1GB and £85 for the HD 7750 1GB. Unfortunately, on the day of launch, these prices seem to have been very conservative, with the HD 7770 1GB actually coming in at £130.

The HD 7770 1GB is priced very similarly to the HD 6870 1GB, which is still readily available, so you’d hope the newer card would make the budget 6800 series models redundant overnight. However, this will mean that the HD 7750 1GB will be trampling on the HD 5770 1GB and HD 6770 1GB’s territory but more importantly, that AMD has left a huge price gap between the £100 HD 7770 1GB and the HD 7950 3GB, which costs more than £220 more.

The Cape Verde architecture

We’re happy to report that the 7800 series, or something similar, will drop at some point, then, and looking at AMD’s roadmap for the next eight weeks or so, a $199-$399 ‘Pitcairn’ offering looks set to come our way very soon. Hopefully this will come with marked performance increases over the current HD 6800 series, and offer something for those of us who consider £300+ too much, but £100 offering too little grunt for our needs (read sweet spot).

For now, lets take a closer look at the model we’re reviewing here – the HD 7770 1GB. Both the new HD 7700 series models sport the Cape Verde architecture – essentially a significantly cut down, 1.5 billion transistor version of the Tahiti architecture found in the HD 7900 series released late last year – and a 28nm manufacturing process.

There’s a total of ten compute units and 640 stream processors – quite a chop from the HD 7950 3GB’s 60 separate compute units and 1,792 stream processors, while the ROP count drops from 32 to 16.

Compared to the top end AMD card – the HD 7970 3GB, memory bandwidth is decidedly paltry – 72GB/sec compared to a stonking 264GB/sec, but if you’re hoping the HD 7770 1GB is game for high settings and oodles of AA at 2,560 x 1,600 in demanding games, then you’ll be disappointed, although you can check our tests to see how it fared anyway.

As we all know though, the numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but it’s unlikely the HD 7770 1GB is going to pull anything fancy out of the hat, despite it also sporting a 1GHz core speed – a first for a reference graphics card. The 1GB of GDDR5 memory is clocked at 1,125MHz (4.5GHz effective).

Click to enlarge

As you can see from the dismantled cooler, the HD 7770 1GB is a very simple affair, with a bi-directional exhaust. While we usually prefer the heat to be directed towards the PCI expansion slots, given that AMD specifies a typical board power of just 80W, we doubt heat will be anything remotely resembling a problem, especially as we’re dealing with a 28nm GPU.

Specifications

Graphics processorAMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB, 1,000MHz
Pipeline640 stream processors, 16 ROPs
Memory 1GB GDDR5, 4.5GHz effective
Bandwidth 72GB/sec, 128-bit interface
Compatibility DirectX 11, OpenGL 4. 1
Outputs/Inputs DVI, HDMI, 2 x mini DisplayPort
Power connections 1 x 6-pin, end-mounted
Size 210mm long, dual-slot

**please note that due to the HD 7770 1GB retailing for £130 and not £100 when it hit the shelves, we’ve amended this review, in particular the scores and conclusion to represent the new higher cost.**

Review and testing of the video card ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP GECID.com. Page 1

::>Video cards
>2013
> ASUS HD7770-DCT-1GD5

05/28/2013

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Video card ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP is a logical continuation of the previously reviewed version of ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU. The main differences between the model with the TOP index are a reinforced power system and a higher level of factory overclocking. We suggest that you go directly to the review and find out which video card, of the two versions, is worth paying attention to potential buyers, and what advantages the enhanced power system provides.

Specification video cards ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP:

Model	ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP (ASUS HD7770-DCT-1GD5 GPU 1170 MHz)
Graphics core	AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition (Cape Verde)
Number of universal shader processors	640 unified
Supported APIs	Microsoft DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4. 2
Graphics core frequency, MHz	1170
Memory frequency (effective), MHz	1150 (4600)
Memory size, MB	1024
Memory type	GDDR5
Memory bus width, bits	128
Tire type	PCI Express 3.0 x16
Maximum resolution	Up to 2560×1600 — DVI Up to 2048×1536 — VGA (via adapter) Up to 4096×2160 — DisplayPort
Display interfaces	DVI-I DVI-D HDMI DisplayPort
Support for HDCP and HD video decoding	Yes
Minimum power supply requirement, W	450
Dimensions, mm	225 x 125
Drivers	The latest drivers can be downloaded from the ASUS website or the GPU manufacturer’s website.
Manufacturer website	ASUS

All prices for Asus+HD7770-DCT-1GD5

ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP is a significantly improved version of the «reference» AMD Radeon HD 7770. Both the graphics core and video memory have been factory overclocked and operate at higher frequencies. So the graphics core, instead of the recommended 1000 MHz, operates at 1170 MHz, and the video memory instead of 4500 MHz is overclocked to 4600 MHz. The element base of the video card has also been significantly improved and an alternative cooling system has been installed.

Packaging and contents

ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP video card comes in a relatively small package made of thick cardboard and decorated with color printing. On the front side, the product belongs to the TOP line, support for Windows 8, as well as the amount and type of video memory used, and the presence of the GPU Tweak utility in the package. Separately, the use of DirectCU CO and the DIGI + VRM digital power system was noted, which should have a positive effect on the overclocking potential of the video card.

The reverse side of the box is reserved for a more detailed description of the advantages of the proprietary cooling system, digital power system, as well as the GPU Tweak utility. Nearby is a schematic representation of the interface panel. The list of system requirements for a computer in which ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP is planned to be installed is located on one of the sides of the box and, based on the recommendations, the power supply unit in such a PC must have a power of at least 450 watts.

In the box with ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP, in addition to the standard documentation and software CD, we found a DVI to VGA adapter and a CrossFireX bridge. Such a delivery set is quite sufficient, and given the relatively low cost of the video card, ASUS deserves special thanks for taking care of the buyer.

The ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP video card provides the following set of interfaces for displaying images:

1x DVI-I;
1x DVI-D;
1x HDMI;
1x DisplayPort.

This arrangement of video outputs can be safely called one of the most optimal. One of its undeniable advantages is the absence of the need for any adapters to connect digital monitors, which, you see, is very convenient.

The following resolutions are supported:

Digital — up to 4096×2160;
Analog — up to 2048×1536.

Appearance and element base

better components, a reinforced power system, as well as a completely different PWM controller.

The power stabilization system for the main components of the video card is made according to the 4 + 2 + 1 phase scheme (for GPU, memory chips and PLL, respectively). All power circuits use exclusively solid capacitors and ferrite core chokes. Recall that the power supply system of the reference AMD Radeon HD 7770 is made according to the 3 + 1 + 1 scheme. Thus, we see one added phase each in the GPU and video memory power circuits, which in theory should have a positive effect on overclocking potential.

Digi+VRM ASP 1213AH is used as a PWM controller. According to the «good» tradition, there is no freely available technical documentation for ASUS video card controllers with a similar marking.

In addition to the PCI Express bus, the video card is powered by one additional six-pin connector on the right side of the video card. Due to its close location to the CO, you will have to use some kind of improvised tool to disconnect the power cable.

The ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP video card is equipped with a connector for connecting a CrossFireX bridge, which will allow you to combine two similar accelerators for joint calculation of graphic effects

significant components.

ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP is based on the 28nm Cape Verde graphics core, which has 640 universal shader pipelines. The frequency of the graphics core, as we have already mentioned, has been increased by 17% and is 1170 MHz. Data exchange between the graphics core and memory is carried out via a 128-bit bus.

The video card’s memory is composed of four 256 MB chips manufactured by Elpida. They are marked W2032BBBG and have a nominal operating frequency of 5000 MHz, which allows us to hope for good overclocking over the factory 4600 MHz.

Cooling system

A video card with a DirectCU cooling system installed occupies two expansion slots and has a total length of 225 mm.

The cooler consists of a fairly compact radiator, which uses 30 nickel-plated aluminum plates, and one fan with an impeller diameter of 74 mm, mounted on a casing that covers the entire structure from above.

Two copper heat pipes with a diameter of 8 mm are used to evenly distribute heat over the entire area of the radiator. Note that the heatsink fins and heat pipes are covered with a layer of nickel, which is designed to reduce the drop in CO efficiency during operation caused by copper oxidation. As standard for the latest COs from ASUS, the heat pipes directly contact the graphics chip through a small layer of thermal paste. The main cooling system, unfortunately, does not directly contact either the power elements of the power stabilization module or the memory chips. Additional cooling elements are also missing.

Although the lack of solder between the heatpipes and heatsink fins can reduce heat transfer efficiency, the fins are simply tightly fitted to the heatpipes.

With automatic fan speed control, in the maximum load mode, the graphics core heated up to 67 degrees, and the cooler, judging by the monitoring readings, worked at only 28% of its maximum power.

In the maximum fan speed mode, the temperature of the GPU drops to 44 degrees. At the same time, the noise level can be described as “rather high”.

When there is no load, the graphics core and memory frequencies are automatically reduced to reduce the power consumption and heat dissipation of the video card. In this mode, the temperature of the GPU does not exceed 28 degrees.

In general, the ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU TOP cooling system proved to be a good solution that has both positive and negative features. On the one hand, it did an excellent job of cooling the overclocked GPU, but at the same time, the noise level at maximum fan speed may not suit lovers of silence in the PC system unit.

Review and testing of Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition FleX GECID.com. Page 1

::>Video cards
>2012
> Sapphire Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition

11-14-2012

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A performance card for little money, isn’t that what most sensible PC users dream of? As we perfectly understand, not all buyers are ready to spend $500-600 on a video card. Today we will get acquainted with exactly such a solution that will be available to most of our readers, namely, with the version of the AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition video card from Sapphire. The main advantages of the video card Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition , as its name implies, is a higher operating frequency of the graphics core (GHz Edition) than the regular AMD Radeon HD 7770, and the use of proprietary «FleX» technology. For more details, see our recent review of the Sapphire Radeon HD 79 graphics card.50 Flex.

We suggest you go directly to the review of the video card and first get acquainted with its specifications:

Model	Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition
Graphics core	AMD Radeon HD 7770 (Cape Verde)
Number of universal shader processors	640 unified
Supported APIs	Microsoft DirectX 11. 1, OpenGL 4.2
Proprietary technology support	CrossFireX, AvivoHD, Eyefinity 2.0, AMD HD3D, AMD PowerPlay, Zero Core
Graphics core frequency, MHz	1000
Memory frequency (effective), MHz	1125 (4500)
Memory size, MB	1024
Memory type	GDDR5
Memory bus width, bits	128
Tire type	PCI Express 3.0 x16
Maximum resolution	Up to 2560×1600 Dual-link DVI Up to 2048×1536 VGA (via adapter) Up to 4096×2160 HDMI Up to 4096×2160 DisplayPort
Display interfaces	DVI-I DVI-D HDMI DisplayPort
Support for HDCP and HD video decoding	Yes
Minimum power supply requirement, W	450
Dimensions, mm	220 x 95
Drivers	Latest drivers can be downloaded from the GPU manufacturer’s website.
Manufacturer website	http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1159&pid=1686&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

All prices for Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition FleX

we can see that the frequency of the graphics core and the frequency of the video memory correspond to those recommended by AMD for products based on the AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition. In fact, we have before us practically a «reference» sample of the model mentioned above, with the exception of the cooling system and several proprietary improvements from Sapphire, such as support for FleX technology.

Packaging and Contents

The Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition comes in a medium sized cardboard box with typical Sapphire printing. On the front side of the package, in addition to the name of the manufacturer, as well as the name of the video card model, we see a mention of the use of FleX technology, which allows you to connect up to three monitors using the DVI interface without using expensive active adapters or buying a more expensive DisplayPort monitor. You can also see a mark about the type and amount of video memory used, the availability of HDMI and DisplayPort ports, and that the PCI Express interface complies with the 3.0 standard.

On the reverse side we see a small advertising description of the product, a list of the main characteristics of the video card, as well as system requirements for the power supply of the computer in which the Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition is planned to be installed. The power supply must be at least 450W.

Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition’s delivery package is quite rich, as for a mid-price product. The package includes a disk with drivers and utilities, a user manual, a DVI-VGA adapter, an HDMI-DVI adapter, an adapter from Molex peripheral connectors to a 6-pin video card power connector. An HDMI cable is included as a bonus. Tellingly, on the official website of Sapphire the presence of a CrossFireX bridge is also stated in the kit, respectively, various configuration options are possible.

The Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition video card has the following set of interfaces for displaying images:

1x DVI-I;
1x DVI-D;
1x HDMI;
1x DisplayPort.

For most operating scenarios, the video output configuration of the video accelerator in question will be quite enough. And if you want to connect an analog monitor, it is proposed to use a complete DVI-VGA adapter. As you can see, the place of two mini DisplayPorts, as on the «reference» accelerator, was taken by a full-size DisplayPort and another DVI.

The following resolutions are supported:

Digital — up to 4096×2160;
Analog — up to 2048×1536.

Appearance and element base

The graphics accelerator Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition is made on a blue textolite 212 mm long. The arrangement of power elements and memory modules is standard, and fully corresponds to the «reference» sample of AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition.

The power system of the video card is made according to the 3+1+1 scheme. In this case, three of the five phases are responsible for powering the graphics core of the video card. It seemed a little strange to us that in the presence of branded chokes with radiators, which we saw in the Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 Vapor-X GHz OC Edition video card, standard chokes were used in the production of Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition.

The L6788A chip manufactured by STMicroelectronics is used as a PWM controller.

In addition to the PCI Express bus, the video card is powered by a single 6-pin connector on the side of the video card. We can note the correct location of this connector, since the cooling system narrows closer to the back of the textolite and, accordingly, does not cover the power connector, connecting and disconnecting the cable is quite convenient.

As in other versions of video cards based on the AMD Radeon HD 7770 GPU, the Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition has a connector for connecting a CrossFireX bridge. This connector allows you to combine two video cards based on AMD Radeon graphics processors to jointly calculate graphic effects, which will significantly increase system performance in games.

Four of the eight memory chips are located on the back of the video card. Since their cooling is not provided by the manufacturer, this can cause problems during extreme overclocking due to overheating of the chips. Apart from memory, the reverse side is devoid of any meaningful elements.

The Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition is based on the 28 nm Cape Verde graphics core, which has 640 universal shader pipelines at its disposal. The frequency of the graphics core, as we have already mentioned, corresponds to the recommended 1000 MHz. The total amount of memory and its frequency are 1 GB and 4500 MHz, respectively. Data exchange between the graphics core and memory is carried out via a 128-bit bus.

The video card’s memory is built using 8 128 MB chips manufactured by Elpida, marked W1032BBBG and a nominal operating frequency of 5000 MHz, which allows us to hope for good overclocking relative to the factory 4500 MHz.

Cooling system

Despite the fact that the cooling system of the Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition is very compact in length, it occupies two expansion slots in height. The total height of the video card with the installed cooling system is 115 mm.

The cooling system itself consists of a very compact, by modern standards, radiator, assembled from 37 nickel-plated plates. Due to their location along the textolite, part of the heated air will be able to go beyond the PC case. A separate bar is installed on top of the radiator, on which a fan with an impeller diameter of 83 mm is fixed. From above, the entire structure is covered with a protective casing.

Two 6 mm diameter copper heat pipes are used to distribute heat more evenly over the entire area of the radiator. The cooling system contacts the graphic crystal through a small layer of thermal paste deposited on a copper base. The Sapphire engineers deserve special praise for coating the base with a layer of nickel, which should promote heat transfer and prevent copper from oxidizing. Despite our flattering words about the company, there were also some unpleasant moments, in particular, the power elements of the board, as well as memory chips, do not directly contact the cooling system.

To test the Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition cooling system, we carried out a standard set of tests using the MSI Kombustor utility.

With automatic fan speed control, in the maximum load mode, the graphics core heated up to 69 degrees, and the cooler, judging by the monitoring readings, worked at only a third of its capabilities. Accordingly, an increase in speed even up to 50% of the maximum will help reduce the temperature by a few more degrees. Separately, I would like to note the level of noise emitted by the cooling system. At maximum load and automatic fan speed control, the noise level is very low and almost imperceptible against the background of the rest of the system components.

In the maximum fan speed mode, the temperature of the GPU drops to 60 degrees. The noise emitted by a single fan, however, remained very low and did not exceed the average level.

As a result, it can be noted that the complete cooling system for the Sapphire FleX HD 7770 GHz Edition video card does a good job of cooling the overclocked graphics core under high loads, and the noise level can be safely rated «excellent».

When there is no load, the graphics core and memory frequencies are automatically reduced to reduce the power consumption and heat dissipation of the graphics core. In this mode, the temperature of the GPU does not exceed 36 degrees. Accordingly, in this mode, you can hardly hear any noise from the cooling fan.

Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 review and testing

Introduction
Packing and contents
Appearance
Cooling system
PCB
Brief specifications
Test bench
Instrumentation and Test Method
Overclocking, temperature and noise
Conclusion

Introduction

Recently, the attention of hardware lovers has been riveted on the new flagship nVidia — the GeForce GTX 680 video card. outdated consoles) the top-end video card is clearly “too big”. When the FPS levels go off the charts in most tests, computer journalists have to go to various tricks to show readers “why all this is necessary at all”: extreme anti-aliasing modes and ultra-high resolutions provided by a multi-monitor system are used.

All this, of course, is very entertaining — the pure «power» of the latest flagships, indeed, inspires respect. However, given that there are only three to five games released a year that can fully exploit the potential of the Radeon HD 7970 or GeForce GTX 680 at standard Full HD resolution, today it seems much more reasonable to buy a mid-range card.

The capabilities of such an accelerator should be enough for the vast majority of games. At the same time, unlike the extreme «tops», the «middle peasant» makes much softer demands on the power supply, has a comfortable noise level at a low GPU temperature and good overclocking capabilities . .. At least ideally.

As is usually the case during the change of generations of accelerators, there are a lot of tempting offers on the market now — cheap cards of old series are being sold from warehouses. However, I propose to turn to the novelties. Still, modern 28nm GPUs are significantly superior in energy efficiency and frequency potential to the previous 40nm GPUs — what you need for a «cold» and at the same time productive card.

The «non-reference» Radeon HD 7770, released under the Sapphire brand, fell into the hands of the author. In itself, this model is interesting because it balances on the verge of «mainstream» (inexpensive cards that are quite suitable for games, but require careful handling of graphics settings) and the class of «strong middle peasants» (accelerators capable of «carrying» most games at maximum settings ). This is where you can feel the real benefits of overclocking!

With overclocking (and the 28nm Cape Verde GPU is very willing to increase the frequency, which is generally characteristic of small and not too complex cores), the Radeon HD 7770 can easily be turned into an “ideal video card” for a not too expensive gaming PC. The main thing is that the creators of the «non-reference» should not be greedy, because budget cards of the original design are often created precisely to reduce production costs, and not at all to conquer records.

Sapphire engineers are known for their serious approach to redesigning ATi/AMD accelerators. It is interesting to see if they were able to create a successful — quiet, cold, and suitable for overclocking model this time.

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Packing and contents

The video card is delivered in a small (by the standards of this class of devices) box — its overall dimensions are 285 x 240 x 70 mm. The mass of the accelerator is also quite small, so there should not be the slightest problem with transportation.

The packaging is more intricate than usual with Sapphire designers. The traditional girl is present, but now she is not just an abstract «semi-anime» character, but a carefully drawn «real soldier» in the style of today’s popular Battlefield and Call of Duty shooters. Against the background, a tank gun and a fence with barbed wire are noticeable — the artists did their best.

It’s funny that on the back of the box the same girl is shown from behind. According to this logic, on the side faces it would be worth depicting it in profile.

In general, the new design proposed by Sapphire looks interesting — let’s see if the «military theme» will be continued on the boxes of the company’s other accelerators.

There are no complaints about informational content — the box contains detailed characteristics of the video card, information about the «proprietary technologies» of Sapphire and AMD, as well as a list of awards that the company’s products received from various computer publications.

The accelerator is well packaged too — at least you don’t have to worry about the card’s safety during transportation.

Inside the thin, glossy “shell” box is a cardboard box:

The accelerator itself is in a form of papier-mache-like material (of course, this is also cardboard, but it does not look quite ordinary) and, in addition, is enclosed in a thick bag with “pimples”.

The items in the box are stored in a small compartment next to the box.

For a model of the middle price category, the card is equipped very worthy:

Molex -> 6-pin adapter allows you to connect it to almost any power supply, regardless of whether it has special connectors.

Given that the power consumption of the Radeon HD 7770 is very low, some users may want to use it in conjunction with low-power / outdated power supplies as part of a regular “home computer”, which means that an adapter can indeed be useful.

A DVI to VGA video output adapter allows you to connect monitors that do not have a digital interface to the video card.

Apparently, accelerator manufacturers abandoned the classic VGA connector early, such screens are still very widespread.

Another video output adapter is rare — Mini Display Port -> Display Port.

The cords of most monitors are equipped with a full-size connector, and on the Radeon HD 7770 only two «mini» ones are soldered. Of course, buying the right wire is not difficult at all, but the Sapphire designers took care of the client in advance.

In addition, a long HDMI cable was found in the box, which can be useful, for example, for connecting to a TV video card. This is also good — all the same «care for the buyer.»

So that an inexperienced user does not get confused, Sapphire provided the card with two instruction books at once.

One is extremely brief (the so-called «Quick Installation Guide», which provides only the most necessary information on installing the accelerator into the system), the other is more detailed (this book contains a detailed description of Sapphire’s proprietary technologies and other auxiliary information).

In general, we can conclude that the video card is securely packaged and equipped with a full set of accessories necessary for normal operation. This is the case when the manufacturing company does not save on trifles.