Mid-Range AMD Graphics Card Round-Up (HIS 7770 GHz / HIS 7850 / Sapphire 7850)

1. Introduction2. HIS HD 7770 GHz Edition IceQ X Turbo 1GB3. HIS HD 7850 IceQ 2GB4. Sapphire HD 7850 Dual-X 1GB5. Testing Methodology6. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage7. Synthetic: 3DMark 118. Synthetic: 3DMark9. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven10. Synthetic: Unigine Valley11. Gaming: Battlefield 312. Gaming: Crysis 213. Gaming: Dirt 314. Gaming: Hitman Absolution15. Gaming: Metro 203316. Gaming: Sleeping Dogs17. Technical: Thermal Dynamics18. Technical: Acoustics Performance19. Technical: Power Consumption20. Technical: HIS HD 7770 GHz Edition IceQ X Turbo 1GB Overclocking21. Technical: HIS HD 7850 IceQ 2GB Overclocking22. Technical: Sapphire HD 7850 Dual-X 1GB Overclocking23. Closing Thoughts24. View All Pages

Sapphire's 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card is supplied in a dark box which features the Sapphire military Woman holding what appears to be an M16 assault rifle.

We think that the box should make more of a fuss about the card's Dual-X cooling solution so that potential purchasers can see that the model is custom cooled.

The 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card's bundle consists of a DVI-VGA adapter, a CrossFire bridge, a molex to 6-pin PCI-E power cable, a drivers CD, a case sticker and written material.

The Sapphire 7850 Dual-X 1GB features, unsurprisingly, Sapphire's Dual-X cooling solution. The open-fan design will blow hot air directly into the chassis, but should do so while maintaining quieter operation than a leaf-blower design.

Sapphire uses an aqua blue PCB which possesses a colour very similar to that of HIS' models. As with the HIS cards, a black PCB would be preferable.

The Sapphire 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card is a dual slot model. With the open-shroud design that is employed by the Dual-X heatsink, it is fair to assume that a percentage of the warm air will end up returning to the case's internal area.

A single 6-pin PCI-E power connector supplies the Sapphire 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card. Mounted at the edge of the PCB, rather than the side, the power connector is very easy to access, but it does increase the clearance requirement by about an inch.

A single CrossFire connector allows the Sapphire 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card to be paired with another AMD HD 7800 series model. If paired with a 2GB or 4GB variant, both cards will operate at the lowest available VRAM quantity (which will be 1GB).

Half of a vented PCI slot allows a small amount of hot air to escape from the cooler's heatsink area.

Graphics card outputs:

• 1x DisplayPort
• 1x HDMI
• 2x DVI-I (1x Dual Link & 1x Single Link)

Sapphire uses a non-reference PCB layout which sees the Pitcairn GPU and Elpida memory chips pushed further to the board's right side. Although this is technically a non-reference design, its layout shows resemblances to PCBs that many board manufacturers have opted to use.

Sapphire's 7850 Dual-X graphics card used the same 7 phase power design that is present on the reference HD 7850.

Eight Elpida W1032BBBG-50-F memory chips are used to provide 1GB of VRAM. These GDDR5 chips are rated for a frequency of 5000MHz. The chips' only difference to those used by HIS is the fact that they are part of a 1GB set, rather than a 2GB set.

A large copper base plate and a pair of 6mm copper heatpipes transfer heat away from the Pitcairn GPU to a modestly-sized fin array where the pair of fans can dissipate it.

The 497g Sapphire 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card measures in at 206mm. We are pleased to see that Sapphire's cooler has stuck to the PCB's length, rather than extend past the 206mm limit.

Out-of-the-box operating frequencies for the 7850 Dual-X 1GB graphics card are: 860MHz Core and 1200MHz Memory.

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