To test power consumption today we are using a Keithley Integra unit and we measure power consumption from the VGA card inputs, not the system wide drain. We measure results while gaming in Crysis Warhead and record the results.
In such an energy aware climate, AMD are making a big deal out of their new ‘ZeroCore Power’ technology. Many solutions today use power gating, clock gating and memory compression to reduce idle power requirements, but ZeroCore power technology can completely power down the core GPU while the rest of the system remains active.
Sapphire have clearly tweaked the power consumption of their HD7750 Low Profile card, as it only consumes 38 watts when gaming, and 49 watts under synthetic load. Incredible results and extremely impressive for a media center environment.
The AMD HD7750 is a reference point to work from, and we see that the XFX HD7770 Black Edition consumes the same level of power, which we would expect as they are clocked at identical levels.
The HIS HD7770 GHZ ED IceQ X is the most power hungry card on test today, which again we would expect due to the architectural differences, clock speeds and overall performance level. It is still a very efficient solution however.
Wow, that Sapphire card is really good. I had imagined I would get a prodigy case later this year and get a small video card for it ,just for video acceleration and image quality.
This looks the card to get.
I admit, you got me there.
i was expecting the HIS or XFX to win this, but you focused on EXACTLY the right points. power consumption, noise, size, lack of power connector etc.
Great job from sapphire, exactly what i need for my system, im using onboard and it sucks so badly for HD video. people dont understand the IQ differences between Intel on a CPU and a dedicated AMD card like this. its night and day. especially for colours and noise reduction options in the panel.
A HD7770 or GTX460 is more than enough, even today, for 1080p gaming. people get a false idea that a 7970 or 690 is ‘needed’. those are three screen solutions now. save the money, pick up one of these cards, classic little cost effective beasts.
Not sure im a big fan of these cards, but the sapphire model makes sense. im still wanting the 660, just trying to make sure I dont cripple myself for next month as I need to eat too.
Some good overclocks, but I agree, why did they reduce the shaders from 800? typical fing stupid AMD at times. they could be doing so much better if they had people making decisions who understood the gamers.
I like the HIS card best im afraid, if they hit £99.99 count me in for my second system.
These aren’t good enough for 1080p gaming, I want 60 fps, sorry. but good pricing now for people without the cash for a £200 card,. thats the sweet spot.
Am I missing something?
They are releasing ‘new’ 7750’s at 900mhz+? havent they been out for months already? you guys reviewed many.
bonkers AMD move. just drop the price, dont re-release them with bios updates. seems XFX were left out of the loop. Nice black reference edition :p
I bought a Sapphire flex 6770 flex from the last generation and its still good. I dont use AA and I have my system into a 37 inch tv. runs well.
Dont get sucked into the hype of needing 120fps for gaming, its bollocks.