Radeon 7770: specifications and reviews

Game video adapter "three sevens" from the company AMD on hearing in all fans to play in resource-intensive dynamic games. Launching the Radeon 7770 video card on the market, the manufacturer made a huge step toward the potential consumer - it endowed the High-End device with an affordable price (8,000 rubles) and placed the accelerator in a budget niche, slightly limiting its performance. In the focus of the article - an overview of the characteristics of the video card, the study of products from different manufacturers and feedback from the owners.

Two acrobat brothers

The AMD Radeon HD 7770 Series video card went on sale along with its cheaper modification of the HD 7750. The manufacturer wished, therefore, to take two different price classes with a single graphics core. However, a significant difference in the performance of the two video adapters and a slight difference in price led to the fact that the cheap modification has practically no demand in the market.

And Radeon HD 7770 could go unnoticed if it were not for video card manufacturers who saw in the device a huge potential for overclocking, significantly increasing the performance of the video adapter, bringing it to the level of High-End. Low power consumption and a decent cooling system, as always, break records in the field of the game market, regardless of the graphics core and the manufacturer.

Specifications

High performance in games provides the video card Radeon HD 7770 graphics core characteristics. Chip Cape Verde is made by the process technology of 28 nanometers and places on the plate 123 mm ² 1.5 billion transistors. The new graphics processor is capable of operating at 1 GHz, and it still has the potential for overclocking. For the transfer of data, the GDDR5 memory bus responds, which works with a bandwidth of 128 bits and has on board 1 gigabyte of RAM, operating at a frequency of 4,500 MHz. Stream processors 640, texture units - 40.

One of the main features of this video card is low power consumption - 80 W in peak loads, which is at least half the size of similar competitors from the manufacturer Nvidia. Also on the Cape Verde chip is a controller that resets frequencies to a minimum when the video card is idle. In such cases, the power consumption will be approximately 3 Watts.

Acquaintance with the original

Externally, the AMD Radeon HD 7770 looks like a top-end device. The modification claims to have two slots in the system unit, and the protective cover of the cooling system has a directional blowing system of the printed circuit board. In general, it seems that the video card and the cooler cover are a single design. However, as noted by users in their reviews, the fan, which in a closed case is placed in the middle of the board and does not have a turbine - it just blows on the radiator, causes a doubt in cooling. A huge ventilation grid contributes to the removal of heated air, occupying the entire section of one fixing plate.

There are questions to the manufacturer from the owners of old monitors, who found only digital video outputs (for mini DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI) on the video card. The rather strange decision of the manufacturer has obviously reduced the interest in the video card on the Russian computer market.

Potential for factory overclocking

Before proceeding to study the devices presented by other manufacturers in the video card market, one must understand the technical capabilities of the reference video card Radeon HD 7770. The characteristics of increasing the speed of the graphics core here come first. So, in the process of testing the video card it was possible to overclock the graphics processor to 1170 MHz, and the memory to 6120 MHz. To do this, however, it was necessary to increase the voltage from 1.1 V to 1.2 V. In this mode, the video card shows high stability of operation without the appearance of artifacts and problems with the drivers.

Questions from the user can arise to a regular cooling system that does not cope with the task. During the test, the noise of the fan completely blocked the work of all the coolers in the system unit, but the temperature of the graphics core did not fall below 70 degrees Celsius. Based on the received data, we can conclude that the choice of the required video card from the options offered on the market should be guided not only by the overclocking potential, but also by a decent cooling system.

The monopolist's offer

The Radeon HD 7770, marketed under the Sapphire logo, has serious prerequisites to become the leader in terms of price-quality. The fact that it is positioned in the affordable segment of budget devices available to many customers, but the factory overclocking in performance puts the video card on one level with High-End devices. The graphics core works by default at 1150 MHz, and the memory is overclocked to 5000 MHz.

As practice shows, this potential of the video card is hidden behind the high-grade cooling system, which was installed in the Sapphire laboratory. It is thanks to the huge aluminum radiator, which covers the entire printed circuit board, and the copper heat pipes that distribute the heat correctly, the video adapter does not overheat. The air circulation is provided by one huge fan, which is installed from above, on the protective cover.

To the overclockers

And if the fans of Sapphire performance standard upgrade video card seems small, you can buy a device more powerful: Radeon HD 7770 Vapor-X GHz Edition OC. Modest at this video adapter only the price (8000 rubles), and the appearance and characteristics will surprise even the most demanding buyer. First, a professional cooling system is installed. The same is put on High-End devices: aluminum, copper, an evaporation chamber, two powerful fans, a protective casing with directional blowing.

The declared frequency of the graphics core is 1100 MHz, but in the process of overclocking the value easily increases to 1190 MHz. But with memory there are some problems - in the factory version it works at a frequency of 5200 MHz, but it is unrealistic to overclock it above 5980 MHz, immediately the system hangs up and the computer reboots. However, this overclocking is enough to get close to the top-end video card HD 6850 in gaming tests .

"Icy" offer

The world-famous company HIS, which produces video cards based only on AMD chipsets, also pleased the fans with the novelty Radeon 7770. The specifications of the device in the base configuration were not improved at the manufacturer's factory, although the cooling system underwent significant changes, clearly hinting to the owner of the huge potential for overclocking. This is also evidenced by the installation of a five-phase power scheme with the replacement of the PWM controller. During the testing, the increase in the frequency of the graphics core shows stable operation at 1210 MHz, and the memory copes with the tasks at 5780 MHz.

The appearance of the cooling system, although it attracts attention to itself, however, with a detailed inspection there is a significant drawback - the radiator completely adheres only to the graphics core. The remaining components, including memory chips, are simply blown by the airflow. Ice cooling of the video card HIS 7770 IceQ X, announced in the advertisement, is just a marketing move.

Consumer goods

The ASUS Radeon 7770 video card can be considered the best purchase on the market of productive devices. It's all about factory overclocking, which is covered by the seller's warranty obligations . The graphics core in the nominal mode operates at a frequency of 1170 MHz, and the memory - at 4600 MHz. Great results. Further increase in performance is meaningless, although the installed cooling system has a prerequisite for this: a copper core, an aluminum radiator, a protective plastic casing with a single fan.

It should be noted that there is one more copy of the HD 7770 video adapter on the Russian market, which has 2 GB of RAM on board. The manufacturer did not overclock the graphics core and memory bus, leaving this fate to the future owner. For the cooling of the video card there is a cooling system similar to the previous one, however, it is already equipped with two powerful fans. As a result, the overclocking of the graphics core is quite real up to 1200 MHz, and the memory is stable at 5000 MHz.

Leader of the Taiwanese market

Video cards based on Radeon 7770 with one and two gigabytes of memory at the same price were introduced by Gigabyte on the Taiwanese market. The manufacturer for both devices increased the frequency of the graphics core, setting at 1100 MHz, and also raised the memory clock to 5000 MHz. As it turned out, further overclocking is useless, the whole problem is hidden in the proprietary cooling system.

A regular aluminum radiator in sizes with a graphic core obviously does not cope with a decent blowing of the printed circuit board. Many users, judging by their feedback, had the impression that the cooler was borrowed from the Low-End device, at least, the efficiency is the same. An unexpected turn of events in the gaming market was done in the Gigabyte laboratory.

Quiet from MSI

The video card Radeon 7770, represented by the well-known manufacturer MSI in the Russian market, looks like a high-end device. Two huge fans on the radiator hood will definitely cause delight to all potential buyers. However, it is not necessary to hurry, because the company decided to go the other way: instead of racing for performance, it threw all the technology on the conquest of noiselessness in its work. And it succeeded 100%, because in tests with similar devices the rumble of the fans even in peak loads does not exceed 26 dB (quieter than the noise from the standard cooler of the processor).

The manufacturer did not overclock and provided the product in AMD's factory version. However, this does not mean that you can forget about the increase in productivity. The graphic core of the video adapter is able to work stably at a frequency of 1100 MHz, and memory - at 5200 MHz, which looks very acceptable when compared with competitors. The owners note that the potential for overclocking is available, but the whole problem is in the cooler speed limiter, if it is removed, then performance can be improved up to 1200 MHz by the core.

Strange player

The company PowerColor presented the market with its vision of the AMD Radeon 7770 chipset. One appearance to any potential buyer will be enough to understand the manufacturer's idea. A strange imitation of the turbofan, which is installed on the top devices of Nvidia's competitors, does not produce any special impressions. And if you look under the cover, then you can be completely disappointed in the brand - one section of an aluminum radiator the size of a graphic core clearly does not cause customers' confidence.

And if, thanks to the cooling system, overclocking is out of the question, then there are questions to the device price. The cost of a video card on the market is 9,000 rubles. Is the name of the brand so expensive? This is the only video adapter from the existing on the market similar devices based on the Radeon 7770, which is not recommended for purchase to all users. The manufacturer has not done anything to be equitably in the market with competitors.

Summing up

As one would expect, the favorite of all users in the market of video game adapters - the company Sapphire - once again presented its fans a surprise in the form of a productive video card in the inexpensive segment - Radeon 7770. The proprietary cooling technologies and the finalization of the power management system contributed to achieving maximum performance in Games. A good potential for the overclocking of HIS and ASUS companies is that the right approach to the customer is felt in the form of serious improvements related to the heating of power elements on the PCB of the video card. The rest of the brands, judging by the feedback of the owners, do not impress with their characteristics. Strange attitude of manufacturers to the chip is such a potential, but there is nothing to choose from.