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The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.
Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.
The Sapphire VaporX cooler manages to maintain a 8c variable improvement over the reference card, when idle. Under gaming load the fans spin up to 1,500 rpm, which translates to a 57c load temperature.
When stress tested with Furmark, the temperature rises to 66c, although we noticed that the fan never increased in speed.
When idle, the fans spins at 1,100rpm, so there is only a 400 rpm increase between idle and gaming. A very interesting, non aggressive fan profile for Sapphire.
Great card, but I agree, the HD7770 seem slightly overpriced as a whole. Im not completely sold, even if Sapphire have pushed it to the limit, as they always do.
That is a sexy looking little card, the colours are great. reminds me a little of the XFX DD cards !
That said, I think id rather spend £25 more and get the next model up. the shader count is very low (640) and it does impact performance. If they had kept 800 shaders like 6770 but increased the clocks with the new manufacturing process it would have been stronger.
Sapphire make good cards, thats not the question. I dont know how you can give this 8 out of 10 as the whole 7770 range is butchered and no better than the last generation. Sapphire have you in their pocket.
I wouldnt be so hard on it, the noise levels alone are really useful for a compact media center system for a living room. A single slot version would be nice, but it wouldnt be as quiet.
Who buys a sub-midrange card to play games at 2560×1600 and 1920×1080? Wouldn’t 1600×1050 or 1440×900 be a more realistic resolution?
I agree with the comment who buys a sub midrange card….. However, it seems to be just what I may be looking for. As I dont play games, there appears to be sufficient reserve performance if required and, most importantly, the power/ wattage used will not break the bank.