XFX Radeon HD 7790 Black Edition Video Card Review @ [H]

XFX Radeon HD 7790 Black Edition Video Card Review - Today we are strapping the XFX Radeon HD 7790 Black Edition to our test bench and pitting it against a GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost. Each card is equipped with 2GB of GDDR5 and is attractively priced for the value minded gamer. The gloves will come off and we will find out whether the Black Edition is worthy of a Black Belt or a Black Eye.

HD 7790 has no place in the USD 150+ market. another point which i like to highlight is there are a lot of HD 7790 1GB SKUs priced at USD 125 - 140 which is the correct price for that product. the other point is HD 7790 does not have the GPU power to run at settings which will require 2GB VRAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=HD 7790&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

also very few GTX 650 Ti boost cards are 1 GB. most are 2GB and priced at USD 170 and above.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

the way I see it HD 7790 is the best entry level sub USD 150 card. its all about segmentation.

the Sapphire HD 7790 OC sells for USD 125 and is the card to beat in the sub USD 150 market.

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-DL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-11210-01-20G/dp/B00BWHIOQC/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202029

somehow I get the feel that hardocp would not want to review a well priced AMD product SKU.

raghu78 said:

somehow I get the feel that hardocp would not want to review a well priced [BRAND] product SKU.

Click to expand...

If Kyle, Brent, David etc had a nickel every time someone said that... no matter what brand was inserted...
Good review, guys. And it reaffirms my purchase of the GTX 650ti for my htpc. $150 AMIR, and has been great. Not as quiet as I would have liked, but I suspect my case is at fault there...

I few weeks ago I bought a 2GB 7850 shipped to my door for $179.99--from NewEgg. I felt at the time it was a better choice than the 2GB 7790 that was shipping for very nearly the same price & game bundle (650ti was never a consideration--because I wanted the Tomb Raider, BioShock:Infinite game bundle @$110 on Steam at the time.) Got the 2GB 7850 for about ~$70, since I'd planned to buy those games anyway. Nothing can touch that deal, imo...

I'm seeing 7850's as low as 130$ after rebate.

Admittedly, I also read this and thought -u-oh...I am glad for once that I live in Australia, if only to verify in some places, these cards are the right competitors..

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=193_1442

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=193_1468

..yes, we always pay @least a 10% premium - but you will notice that the [H] guys are right in the ball-park, @least in this overpriced part of the world....so, yeh, good write-up, am very surprised at the difference in some games - my GF3 still beats you all(yawl)!!

This is kind of difficult purchase. I guess I'm having a hard time seeing this cards power being high enough to justify getting 2GB on it.

The conversation always comes up as "for just a little bit more" and you end up 40-50 over your budget. But it's not uncommon to see a 7870 for $169 after MIR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025

Yea, $185 isn't the MSRP and it's not the same market, but it mostly doesn't change the fact that it can be acquired.

I can see this having a niche market, such as a living room PC for moderate family gaming, or lower power/heat system. I would just have a hard time paying $170 for a card when I know it wouldn't be uncommon to see a 7850 or 7870 for 10-15 dollars more.

There's always going to be something better for "just a little bit more".