XFX R7770 Black Edition Super Overclocked Review @ [H]

B

Brent_Justice

Moderator
Joined
Apr 17, 2000
Messages
17,755
XFX R7770 Black Edition Super Overclocked Review - Today marks the launch of AMD's Radeon HD 7700 series of GPUs in the sub-$200 bracket. We've got a retail XFX R7770 Black Edition Super Overclocked video card just itching to show us what it can do. Will this Radeon HD 7770 based video card hold up to the likes of the Radeon HD 6870 and GeForce GTX 560 Ti? You may be surprised what this sub-$200 video card can do.
 
Last edited:
FINALLY. The midrange is here.
Edit: Hopefully the price dips a little from the $200 MSRP. Right now its still a tossup between the 6870 and this card. 28nm and lower temps add some value, but people like me who buy in this price range are generally looking at raw numbers for the $. Great review as always.
 
Last edited:
Roughly the same price for the same performance 15 months later doesn't exactly sound like a great product to me.
 
Ieat said:
Roughly the same price for the same performance 15 months later doesn't exactly sound like a great product to me.
Click to expand...

Consider also the 7770 is generationally equivalent to where the 6770 use to be.

The 6870 equivalent, generationally speaking, will be the 7870, or Pitcairn.

The price points of 6870 have greatly fallen from where they were though. The 6870 launched at $239, but has fallen drastically down to $159 or thereabouts currently. That's quite a big drop from where it launched at originally.
 
This card makes me want to see what the 7870 is capable of even more. To think a "budget" card is equal to my "mid-range" 6870 is pretty awesome.
 
Brent_Justice said:
Consider also the 7770 is generationally equivalent to where the 6770 use to be.

The 6870 equivalent, generationally speaking, will be the 7870, or Pitcairn.

The price points of 6870 have greatly fallen from where they were though. The 6870 launched at $239, but has fallen drastically down to $159 or thereabouts currently. That's quite a big drop from where it launched at originally.
Click to expand...

Fair enough when comparing it to the launch price of a 6870 but a 6850 which offers similar performance launched at $180 15 months ago. And I believe I've seen them as low as $110 after rebate. I think its the 6850 not the 6870 that makes the 7770 seem like a bad value. I'm sure Amd's 7 series are fine cards but at these prices they just don't make sense to me. It is definitely not what we are use to with new technology products.
 
Ieat said:
Roughly the same price for the same performance 15 months later doesn't exactly sound like a great product to me.
Click to expand...

This.

Until the 6870's are out of stock I cannot understand why somebody would pick this card. Bottom line is that the 6870 is marginally faster and also cheaper.
 
darkstarcow said:
This card makes me want to see what the 7870 is capable of even more. To think a "budget" card is equal to my "mid-range" 6870 is pretty awesome.
Click to expand...

An excellent point I discovered during my testing. Makes me think Pitcairn is going to be something special. Here's hoping.
 
Grammar nitpick on 3rd paragraph of the Where does the Radeon HD 7770 Sit? section:
"The XFX R7770 Black Edition was able to not only playable at 1920x1200, but in some games like..."
Should be :
"The XFX R7770 Black Edition was not only playable at 1920x1200, but in some games like..."
 
This is sort of what i hoped not to see. Similar performance to a 6870 but also similarly priced. My concern is that the 6870 might perform close to the 6970 but cost just as much which makes me wonder why I have waited so long to upgrade.
 
um am I looking at the wrong review? the factory overclocked 7770 is losing to the 6870 and would even lose to the 6850 in nearly every case. and a 6870 and especially 6850 are cheaper than the 7770.
 
Performance per watt is insane. I may upgrade my Shuttle from the 5850 when this gets a bit cheaper.
 
cannondale06 said:
um am I looking at the wrong review? the factory overclocked 7770 is losing to the 6870 and would even lose to the 6850 in nearly every case. and a 6870 and especially 6850 are cheaper.
Click to expand...

I was able to play at the exact same settings as the 6870 and have a similar gameplay experience, in every game tested.
 
Ieat said:
Roughly the same price for the same performance 15 months later doesn't exactly sound like a great product to me.
Click to expand...

actually it does when you consider that its comparable to the 6870 which was a high mid range card and the 7770 is considered a lower end mid range card. so if you can get the same performance with far less shaders, far less power usage and price in comparison to what the 6870 released at then i'd say its a pretty damn nice card. should be interesting though to see where the 7800 series fits in at performance and price wise.

hopefully afterburner can get an update so we can see what this card can actually do with some voltage tweaking. with far less shaders maybe 1300mhz+ on air might be possible with this gpu.
 
cannondale06 said:
um am I looking at the wrong review? the factory overclocked 7770 is losing to the 6870 and would even lose to the 6850 in nearly every case. and a 6870 and especially 6850 are cheaper.
Click to expand...

Nope. It's weird, we saw that list of supposed specs and prices a while ago but I didnt think amd would be crazy enough to price lower performing video cards above higher performing video cards but they actually have.
 
Hate to see them cripple good chips with 128-bit but guess it would come too close to the 7850.

Yeah... the 7850 for 50$ more should perform much better than this and it'll have 2Gig of ram.

Only redeeming feature for the 7770 is how far it'll OC once it's supported by third party software.
 
Brent_Justice said:
I was able to play at the exact same settings as the 6870 and have a similar gameplay experience, in every game tested.
Click to expand...
yeah but its factory oced by 12% and the 6870 is still beating it by around 15% on average. that means even this factory oced card it would only match the 6850 which can be had for 40-50 bucks cheaper. the 7770 is a poor card for the money and most other reviews have come to that conclusion too.
 
cannondale06 said:
yeah but its factory oced by 12% and the 6870 is still beating it by around 15% on average. that means even this factory oced card it would only match the 6850 which can be had for 40-50 bucks cheaper. the 7770 is a poor card for the money and pretty much every other review has come to that conclusion too.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I was going to write this, I said to myself "don't stir things up", then you wrote my thoughts exactly. Great minds think alike. Also, $160 (stock) is simply too much, even if it has newer technologies like ZeroCore and DX11.1 and 28nm lithography.

The real competition to this card is the 6850 and (on a good day) the GTX 560. I don't get why [H] compared it to cards that are noticeably faster (and they're not even overclocked). Brent says he got the same exact playable settings, but 15% is not a small difference.
 
When 6850/6870 stock is gone, the 7770's price/performance value will rise appreciably, When the 78750/7870 gets released, I am willing to bet the price on these drop to $120-130 and then they will really shine.

The fact is, while the price isn't ideal, the card itself is pretty amazing considering what it is capable of and that it is the low end offering. When has a low-end card ever been able to play almost any game at the highest graphical quality?

The HTPC crowd should go nuts over this considering power draw/heat output/performance.
 
What I would like to see is how these newer cards compare to older ones many of us currently have. Seeing the 7770 against the 5850/5870 and GTX460 would be very informative and maybe help those of us looking to side-grade to a less power hungry set up for the same great performance (I'd imagine these run wonderfully in Crossfire). Maybe for the 7850/7870 review?
 
Rauelius said:
What I would like to see is how these newer cards compare to older ones many of us currently have. Seeing the 7770 against the 5850/5870 and GTX460 would be very informative and maybe help those of us looking to side-grade to a less power hungry set up for the same great performance (I'd imagine these run wonderfully in Crossfire). Maybe for the 7850/7870 review?
Click to expand...

In raw power, i think the 5850 would still be more powerful. the 6850 actually matched/beat the 460 for the most part judging from the Hardocp 6850/6870 review, with i believe the 5850 performing similar to the 6870. they all look similar powerful. Not a Huge difference, but 10-15% difference from top to bottom card. So i really dont think it worth an upgrade.
 
darkstarcow said:
When 6850/6870 stock is gone, the 7770's price/performance value will rise appreciably, When the 78750/7870 gets released, I am willing to bet the price on these drop to $120-130 and then they will really shine.

The fact is, while the price isn't ideal, the card itself is pretty amazing considering what it is capable of and that it is the low end offering. When has a low-end card ever been able to play almost any game at the highest graphical quality?

The HTPC crowd should go nuts over this considering power draw/heat output/performance.
Click to expand...

Yup, prices should fall once supply stabilizes. Performance per watt of these cards though is nothing short of amazing, in fact the 7750 is the fastest card in the planet that does not require an external PCI-e power connector.
 
Hmm... some other reviews (Anandtech, Techpowerup) show the XFX HD 7770 trading blows with the GTX 460 1GB and the HD 6850 with the GTX 560 (non-Ti) and HD 6870 a good bit ahead. Don't see how the HD 7770 could be considered an upgrade for the GTX 560 under those circumstances. Plus you say the "gameplay experience" is the same, yet the GTX 560 Ti is obviously faster by a fair margin. The minimum FPS in Skyrim between the two cards speaks volumes which is going to deliver a better, smoother gaming experience. This is the first review here in I don't know when that has left me scratching my head.
 
So it's 30$ more expensive than 6870 and barely matches it in performance and card still gets Silver award ?

No suprise AMD sponsors [H] events they need to return some of the love they are getting from reviews here.
 
Also while it is nice to concentrate on gameplay performance, you didnt talk about raw power difference that could possibly make a game play difference in some games that wasn't tested. You may not have found a difference in the games you tried, but judging from the hardocp 6850/6870 review. Metro 2033 could have shown a difference. The 6870 ran it at 2560x1600 res, whereas the 6850 did it at 1920x1200. Which i think would show a game-play difference between the 7770 vs 6870.

I guess the big question is: How long will the 6800 series stock will last? Until they bite the dust, 7770 is not a good deal. Unless you want raw performance per watt.

Please take no offense to my criticism. Hardocp is my de facto place i love for computers on the net.
 
Michaelius said:
So it's 30$ more expensive than 6870 and barely matches it in performance and card still gets Silver award ?

No suprise AMD sponsors [H] events they need to return some of the love they are getting from reviews here.
Click to expand...
it does not actually match the 6870. even the factory oced card in this review would only match the 6850. a stock 7770 is slower than 6850. the 7770 is joke for its current price.
 
Funny how everyone keeps pointing out that the 6850/6870 cards are cheaper and call for AMD to price the JUST RELEASED cards cheaper. Well everything depreciates the older they get- if AMD keeps pricing their newer items cheaper than older tech well a few years down the line they'll have to release new cards for $0.
 
Teenk9 said:
Funny how everyone keeps pointing out that the 6850/6870 cards are cheaper and call for AMD to price the JUST RELEASED cards cheaper. Well everything depreciates the older they get- if AMD keeps pricing their newer items cheaper than older tech well a few years down the line they'll have to release new cards for $0.
Click to expand...

And if nvidia/amd keep releasing new cards with slower performance for higher prices... Scary, eh?
 
cannondale06 said:
yeah but its factory oced by 12% and the 6870 is still beating it by around 15% on average. that means even this factory oced card it would only match the 6850 which can be had for 40-50 bucks cheaper. the 7770 is a poor card for the money and most other reviews have come to that conclusion too.
Click to expand...

true, but i'd say most people looking at getting a 7770 aren't looking at it for its ungodly performance, they are looking at it for its power usage + heat and the fact it performs well while using much less power than comparable cards..


Teenk9 said:
Funny how everyone keeps pointing out that the 6850/6870 cards are cheaper and call for AMD to price the JUST RELEASED cards cheaper. Well everything depreciates the older they get- if AMD keeps pricing their newer items cheaper than older tech well a few years down the line they'll have to release new cards for $0.
Click to expand...

its the problem amd has created for them selves by releasing to many cards per generation. the markets far to saturated with all these card releases every 2 years. they need to start cutting back on how they release each generation. in my opinion with the 7k series the only cards they should only release the 7700 7800 and 7900 series and complete nix everything else. allow the prices of the older generation cards to fall below the 7700 series so that retailers can offload them. then when the 8000 series is released go ahead and release the ultra low end 28nm GCN cards. because right now all the ultra low end cards are just going to be rebrands basically, so why continue to saturate the market with crap thats already in the market.
 
Last edited:
Zohar78 said:
And if nvidia/amd keep releasing new cards with slower performance for higher prices... Scary, eh?
Click to expand...

Why would it be scary? These are luxury goods, you don't have to buy them. If they price it too much then don't buy.
 
Ok, i defended AMD's pricing of the 7970, since it actually offered better Perf/$ than it's competition, but these cards fell flat on their faces IMHO.


The 7750 is quite a great replacement for the 6670 series in niche market of 0 external power and price, but again, this 7770 doesn't click to me. Sure if i had to make a new HTPC system like my current one i would consider it, but i'm not sure that the lower power comsumption would drive me away entirely of the much better perf/$ of the 6850.

What this shows is how badly do we need Kepler on the market, to generate competition and with some luck stabilize at least the price of the 7770 (and once released, Pitcairn).
 
Teenk9 said:
Why would it be scary? These are luxury goods, you don't have to buy them. If they price it too much then don't buy.
Click to expand...

because of trend setting. How many people will buy a computer or a part and not really compare values? How many blatant sheep buy without doing their research, only seeing ooo 7700 is more than 6800? I know quite a few like that. The x3xx to x7xx range are volume range and meant to sell. If they can get away with charging more for less, then it will follow suit to the other ranges.

This is also why i just bought a 6850 past satureday, and not held out for 7700. Though i wish i could have jumped on that newegg shell shocker 560ti refurb for 139!
 
Zohar78 said:
because of trend setting. How many people will buy a computer or a part and not really compare values? How many blatant sheep buy without doing their research, only seeing ooo 7700 is more than 6800? I know quite a few like that. The x3xx to x7xx range are volume range and meant to sell. If they can get away with charging more for less, then it will follow suit to the other ranges.

This is also why i just bought a 6850 past satureday, and not held out for 7700. Though i wish i could have jumped on that newegg shell shocker 560ti refurb for 139!
Click to expand...

Please. Not like that's isolated to nV or AMD- that's how the whole world of business have operated since the first peoples learned to trade goods.

I personally think it's disingenious to use that as a reason to disagree with a company's product pricing strategy. I doubt people that say this are really concerned with the so called sheep buyers. It's just an excuse to put blame somewhere else for the disappointment felt when personal expectations of coveted products are not met.
 
You guys aren't getting it. The 7700 isn't a 6870 replacement. That's what the 7870 line is for. There will be a time in the near future where there won't be any 6870's and the price will lower. The reason why they are saying it's a decent card is because it's replacing a lower tier line (6770) and is on par with last generation's mid range line ( 6870 ). You guys overreact sometimes... even [H] said it their review that the 6870 is about the same price and performs on par if not a little better, but soon the store shelves will have nothing but 7700,7800 and 7900 series cards and that's where it's value will really shine. Right now AMD is dealing with an overlap of cards and this will soon over. Bottom line, and if I'm correct, the 7700(which is equiv but not replacing 6870) blows out it's replacement line,the 6770s, the 7870 ( which will be 6970 equiv) will blow out its replacements the 6870, and the 7970 line blows out its predecessor in the 6970. I think it's quite impressive actually and trust, the prices will get better.
 
Jeffredo said:
Hmm... some other reviews (Anandtech, Techpowerup) show the XFX HD 7770 trading blows with the GTX 460 1GB and the HD 6850 with the GTX 560 (non-Ti) and HD 6870 a good bit ahead. Don't see how the HD 7770 could be considered an upgrade for the GTX 560 under those circumstances. Plus you say the "gameplay experience" is the same, yet the GTX 560 Ti is obviously faster by a fair margin. The minimum FPS in Skyrim between the two cards speaks volumes which is going to deliver a better, smoother gaming experience. This is the first review here in I don't know when that has left me scratching my head.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure the article stated that the 7770 is not an upgrade for the 560... I am also pretty sure that in the article they explained that the actual game play "feel" was the same between the 7770, 6870, and 560, so while there was a FPS difference, it was not a noticeable difference in-game.

Zohar78 said:
Also while it is nice to concentrate on gameplay performance, you didnt talk about raw power difference that could possibly make a game play difference in some games that wasn't tested. You may not have found a difference in the games you tried, but judging from the hardocp 6850/6870 review. Metro 2033 could have shown a difference. The 6870 ran it at 2560x1600 res, whereas the 6850 did it at 1920x1200. Which i think would show a game-play difference between the 7770 vs 6870.

I guess the big question is: How long will the 6800 series stock will last? Until they bite the dust, 7770 is not a good deal. Unless you want raw performance per watt.

Please take no offense to my criticism. Hardocp is my de facto place i love for computers on the net.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that in the article that they said the 7770 is not for resolutions above 1920x1200. You are right about the 7770 not being a good deal (price/performance) until the price drops.
 
heatthegreat said:
You guys aren't getting it. The 7700 isn't a 6870 replacement. That's what the 7870 line is for. There will be a time in the near future where there won't be any 6870's and the price will lower. The reason why they are saying it's a decent card is because it's replacing a lower tier line (6770) and is on par with last generation's mid range line ( 6870 ). You guys overreact sometimes... even [H] said it their review that the 6870 is about the same price and performs on par if not a little better, but soon the store shelves will have nothing but 7700,7800 and 7900 series cards and that's where it's value will really shine. Right now AMD is dealing with an overlap of cards and this will soon over. Bottom line, and if I'm correct, the 7700(which is equiv but not replacing 6870) blows out it's replacement line,the 6770s, the 7870 ( which will be 6970 equiv) will blow out its replacements the 6870, and the 7970 line blows out its predecessor in the 6970. I think it's quite impressive actually and trust, the prices will get better.
Click to expand...
it is you that does not get it. a stock 6870 is easily faster overall than even the overclocked 7770. a stock 7770 will not even match a stock 6850 even though it costs quite a bit more. pretty much every review gets it so why cant you?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5541/amd-radeon-hd-7750-radeon-hd-7770-ghz-edition-review/24

if you go by launch prices you’re getting the same amount of performance per dollar today as you did in October of 2010. In reality the 6850 is much cheaper than that, with a number of cards selling for $159 before a rebate, while several more 6870s sell for $159 after rebate. The 7770 is so far off the price/performance curve that you have to believe that this is either a pricing error or AMD is planning on quickly halting 6800 series production.

The 7700 series is a fine lineup of cards, but AMD has finally shot itself in the foot with its conservative pricing. The 7750 can ride on the sub-75W niche for now, but the only way the 7770 will make any sense is if it comes down in price. Until then AMD’s worst competition for the 7700 series is not NVIDIA, it’s their 6850.



http://techreport.com/articles.x/22473/9

The Radeon HD 7770 isn't a bad product by any means; it just costs way too much. This is a card that belongs at around $130, just below the Radeon HD 6850. It has no business anywhere near $159 or, heaven forbid, $179 like our snazzed-up XFX entrant.



http://www./forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/51543-amd-radeon-hd-7770-hd-7750-review-16.html

Unfortunately for AMD, money talks these days and gamers who care about framerates will understandably overlook the HD 7770 since there are comparably priced cards which outperform it by significant margins.


EDIT: Hard blocks the last link for the popular Canadian review site.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top