{"id":46236,"date":"2012-11-20T15:50:34","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T13:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=46236"},"modified":"2012-11-20T15:51:41","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T13:51:41","slug":"msi-r7770-power-edition-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/hardware\/46236-msi-r7770-power-edition-review","title":{"rendered":"MSI R7770 power edition review"},"content":{"rendered":"

MSI\u2019s version of the AMD \u201cGHz\u201d edition range of HD7770 graphics cards is dubbed the “power edition”, offering unique voltage adjustments of various graphics card components for improved stability during overclocking. This is one of a long list of features on offer with the MSI power edition, but is it enough to stand out among the crowd of competing graphics cards?<\/p>\n

Features<\/h3>\n

The R7770 power edition has a long list of features including the use of military class components on the graphics card. It also features TransThermal cooling technology with dust removal, and comes bundled with MSI afterburner software to control various aspects of the graphics card that affect performance.<\/p>\n

Dust removal technology allows the graphics cards to reverse the fan rotation for 30 seconds during boot up, to blow out any dust that has settled during operation.<\/p>\n

The power edition of the graphics card features the ability to adjust the voltage of the GPU, memory and VDDCI, for improved stability and higher potential overclocks.<\/p>\n

There is also a bundled fan which allows one of three different cooling configurations to be used. The first is single fan cooling for quiet operation. The second is dual fan cooling to improve airflow over an increase surface area on the graphics card. The third allows the removable fan to connect on top of the installed fan for double airflow mode, increasing the airflow to the cooler.<\/p>\n

\"MSI<\/a>

MSI R7770 power edition<\/p><\/div>\n

General use<\/h3>\n

The card remains relatively quiet throughout use even under high load. The single fan cooling mode is not louder than a mid range CPU air cooler, so for most case fans so it shouldn\u2019t be a bother, unless you\u2019re running an ultra-silent PC. Running dual fans on the card was also relatively silent and unnoticeable over other fans installed in the case. The dual fan mode with both fans installed on top of each other was mildly noticeable over other fans in the case, but not enough to become annoying. The card\u2019s dust removal feature was effective during every day use, preventing a dust build up even after days of constant use in a garage LAN.<\/p>\n

The MSI Afterburner technology also worked well and allowed the control of fan speeds and overclocking settings in windows, as well as the voltage settings of the GPU core, memory and VDDCI. The card would overclock well, though it had a problem with retaining the overclocked settings once a 3D application was launched. This turned out to be driver related, and once the GPU drivers had been updated, everything worked as it should have.<\/p>\n

Performance<\/h3>\n

The R7770 Power edition card runs at 1.1 GHz core and 1,125 MHz memory frequencies – higher than the default clocks of most HD7770-based graphics cards. This allowed the Power edition to achieve higher scores than the regular edition by a fair margin.<\/p>\n

The test setup used was an Intel Core i7 920 at 4GHz; 6GB of DDR3Team Xtreem RAM; at 2,000MHz CL9-9-9-24; Asus Rampage III Extreme; OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD; and a COrsair HX1000 PSU.<\/p>\n

\"MSI<\/a>

MSI R7770 power edition<\/p><\/div>\n

Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Metro 2033<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 result below. All graphics settings were maxed, while tessellation was turned off. The resolution was 1920 x 1200.<\/p>\n

Scores:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • GTX570 – 24.5fps average<\/li>\n
  • HD6950 – 25.9fps average<\/li>\n
  • HD7950 \u2013 35fps average<\/li>\n
  • HD7770 – 19.7fps average<\/li>\n
  • HD7750 \u2013 14.2fps average<\/li>\n
  • HD7970 \u2013 40.4fps average<\/li>\n
  • MSI HD7770 Power edition – 22.6fps average<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The Power edition pulls a 14.7 percent lead over the standard HD7770 in Metro 2033, bringing it close to older generation HD6950 performance.<\/p>\n

    Unigine heaven<\/strong><\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    Scores:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • GTX570 – X1257.93<\/li>\n
    • HD6950 – X885.89<\/li>\n
    • HD7950 \u2013 X1406.308<\/li>\n
    • HD7770 – X750.41<\/li>\n
    • HD7750 \u2013 X582.45<\/li>\n
    • HD7970 \u2013 X1879.34<\/li>\n
    • MSI HD7770 Power edition – x793.93<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      The Power edition also pulls a\u00a0 lead over the regular HD7770 in synthetic tests such as Unigine, though less impressive than in Metro 2033, with an improvement of around 5.8 percent.<\/p>\n

      Trackmania<\/strong><\/p>\n

      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.<\/p>\n

      Scores:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • GTX570 – 87.3fps<\/li>\n
      • HD6950 – 65.8fps<\/li>\n
      • HD7950 \u2013 78.2fps<\/li>\n
      • HD7770 \u2013 50fps<\/li>\n
      • HD7750 \u2013 45.5fps<\/li>\n
      • HD7970 \u2013 85.1fps<\/li>\n
      • MSI HD7770 Power edition – 54.7fps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        An older DirectX 9 game that seems to favour Nvidia cards, the Power edition still improved over it’s predecessor by 9.4 percent.<\/p>\n

        3D Mark Vantage<\/strong><\/p>\n

        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.<\/p>\n

        Scores:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • GTX570 – 25481<\/li>\n
        • GTX570 – 20719 physics off<\/li>\n
        • HD6950 \u2013 20630<\/li>\n
        • HD7950 \u2013 22804<\/li>\n
        • HD7770 \u2013 14365<\/li>\n
        • HD7750 \u2013 11408<\/li>\n
        • HD7970 \u2013 24712<\/li>\n
        • MSI HD7770 Power edition – 14928<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          The other synthetic benchmark in our comparison saw the power edition improve over the regular edition by nearly 4 percent.<\/p>\n

          3D Mark Vantage GPU<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Scores:<\/p>\n

            \n
          • GTX570 \u2013 21661<\/li>\n
          • GTX570 \u2013 21657 physics off<\/li>\n
          • HD6950 \u2013 21511<\/li>\n
          • HD7950 \u2013 25845<\/li>\n
          • HD7770 \u2013 13441<\/li>\n
          • HD7750 \u2013 10114<\/li>\n
          • HD7970 \u2013 28172<\/li>\n
          • MSI HD7770 Power edition – 13945<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Bottom line<\/h3>\n

            The MSI R7770 power edition offers improved performance over previous\u00a0 HD7770 cards thanks to factory overclocking, and has a long list of features that is sure to impress mid range gamers. The card is also priced well locally which makes it an attractive option for gamers who want a good mix of price and performance. The MSI R7770 Power edition comes recommended.<\/p>\n\n\t\t