AMD have unveiled their latest graphics card, the HD7770, based on the Graphics Core Next architecture. This card is aimed at the low- to mid-range segment of the gaming market as a replacement for the successful HD5770 graphics card from two generations back.

Let’s see how the card compares to its higher-end brethren.

Technology overview

The HD7770 from AMD is the first of the Cape Verde cards aimed at the lower- to mid-range segment of the gaming market. They sport the same list of features as the higher-end HD7900 series cards, including being based on Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture; HDMI 1.4a; DisplayPort 1.2 ports; and PCIe 3.0 interface support.

Being a HD7700 series card, the HD7770 ships with all the new technology AMD has to offer, including Eyefinity 2.0. The latest version of Eyefinity supports up to 4k displays over one output port, has intelligent bezel correction, and can split independent video and audio streams to selected monitors and more. For a full look at Eyefinity 2.0, read the Mygaming overview.

The HD7770 also features ZeroCore technology. This is a power-saving feature that allows the card to draw less than 3w during a long idle state when the computer is on – but not powering a monitor. Also present is intelligent power management for multi-graphics card setups. While working in a 2D environment, only the primary graphics card draws its normal amount of power, the rest are put into a long idle state.

For more on AMD ZeroCore, read the Mygaming Overview.

Performance

Metro 2033

Known as the new Crysis, Metro 2033 is one of the most demanding games on your hardware currently available. We played through a set level three times, and recorded the average frame-rate of the level using fraps. These averages were then averaged to get the below result. All graphics settings were maxed, while tessellation was turned off. The resolution was 1920 x 1200.

Scores:

• GTX570 – 24.5fps average
• HD6950 – 25.9fps average
• HD7950 – 35fps average
• HD7770 – 19.7fps average

Unigine heaven

First up for the Synthetic benchmarks is Unigine heaven, a DirectX 11 benchmark that focuses on a variety of methods to stress modern graphics cards. We made use of the HWbot Xtreme DX11 pre –configured settings during testing, and the benchmark was run three times on each card, with the upper and lower samples disregarded.

Scores:

• GTX570 – X1257.93
• HD6950 – X885.89
• HD7950 – X1406.308
• HD7770 – 750.41

Trackmania

The now-outdated DirectX 9.0c standard is often ignored in modern benchmarks, and for good reason. The standard is almost completely irrelevant for modern gamers, though as a quick and easy indication of real world performance for those who (like me) still enjoy the occasional classic title, so it was added in for good measure. Tests were run at 1920 x 1200, with all graphics settings maxed out, and AA set to 16x.

Scores:

• GTX570 – 87.3fps
• HD6950 – 65.8fps
• HD7950 – 78.2fps
• HD7770 – 50fps

3D Mark Vantage

3D Mark Vantage is still one of the best synthetic benchmarks to compare current generation graphics cards. While there are still a host of DirectX 10 titles on the market, performance in this segment will remain relevant.

Scores:

• GTX570 – 25481
• GTX570 – 20719 physics off
• HD6950 – 20630
• HD7950 – 22804
• HD7770 – 14365

3D Mark Vantage GPU

Scores:

• GTX570 – 21661
• GTX570 – 21657 physics off
• HD6950 – 21511
• HD7950 – 25845
• HD7770 – 13441

Heat and noise

The HD7770 has a full cover heatsink, utilising a central-placed fan rather than the rear-placed fan found on the higher-end HD7900 cards. This dumps hot air into the case as well as through the rear exhaust port of the card.

This would be an issue on a higher-end card that runs hotter than the HD7770, but because this card is aimed at the mid-range user, the heat output isn’t very high. So as long as your case has decent airflow, the HD7770 won’t really affect your other components’ temperature negatively.

We measured idle temperatures of the card in a 2D Windows environment one hour after startup at 32 degrees, on par with other mid-range offerings, and slightly lower than the higher-end HD7950.

Load temperatures hiked up to 60 degrees under max load with the fan profile set to automatic. This is once again on par with what we would expect from a mid-range card. This was cooler than the more powerful HD7950 equipped with a better cooling solution.

Noise at idle and load was indistinguishable from the rest of the system, so unless you’re running a totally fanless PC you won’t hear the HD7770 above other components.

Conclusion

The HD7770 is a worthy option if you’re in the market for a low- to mid-range gaming graphics card that is feature-rich and won’t break the bank.

It offers all of the new features found on the much more expensive HD7900 series, and has performance relative to its expected price point. No local pricing was available at the time of publication; though once we have a confirmed South African RRP we will update the review.

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