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Review: Sapphire Radeon HD 7730 1GB GDDR5

by David Ross on 9 August 2013, 11:00

Tags: Sapphire, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabzjv

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Testing methodology

Comparison Processor Configurations

CPU
Intel
AMD
Core i7-4770K
Core i5-4670K
Core i7-3770K
Core i5-3570K
Core i3-3225
Core i7-2700K
Core i5-2500K
A10-6800K
A10-6700
A10-5800K
A10-5700
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
Gigabyte F2-A85X-UP4
BIOS
F4
F14
F4
Chipset Driver
Intel Inf 9.4.0.101 and IMEI 9
AMD Catalyst 13.6
DDR3 Memory
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Memory Timings
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz
11-11-11-30-2T @ 1,866MHz
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz
11-11-11-30-2T @ 1,866MHz
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz
11-11-11-30-2T @ 1,866MHz
Integrated Graphics
HD 4600
HD 4600
HD 4000
HD 4000
HD 4000
HD 3000
HD 3000
HD 8670D
HD 8670D
HD 7660D
HD 7660D
Discrete Graphics
Sapphire Radeon HD 7730 1GB (Catalyst 13.8 beta)
AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB (Catalyst 13.8 beta)
Disk Drive
Samsung 840 Pro 250GB
Optical Drive
Sony AD-7263S
Chassis
Corsair Graphite 600T
Power Supply
Corsair AX750
Operating System
Windows 8 64-bit

IGP Benchmarks

3DMark Vantage DX10, run at the default performance preset
3DMark 11 DX11, run with the performance preset
3DMark DX11, Fire Strike benchmark
BioShock Infinite DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality
DiRT Showdown DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality
Just Cause 2 DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality

Miscellaneous Benchmarks

General purpose LuxMark OpenCL using HDR Ball test and Bitcoining using GPUMiner front-end (discrete GPUs only)
Power Consumption While idling and when running DiRT Showdown

Notes

This system setup page is somewhat different than usual. We believe it makes most sense to compare the performance of the HD 7730 against the latest integrated graphics available on Intel and AMD CPUs. Doing so allows us to determine whether spending an extra £50-60 for a discrete card is worth it for folk who have built inexpensive PCs based around IGPs.

We've also tested the Radeon HD 6670 1GB (£50) and included those results in the graphs. Nvidia has just introduced a new GeForce GT 640 (Revision B, GK208) that is a natural competitor to the HD 7730, and we'll be looking at its performance in a later review by also comparing it to the GK107-based chip that's widely available.

We have some of the best integrated graphics of 2013 - Intel 'Haswell' HD 4600 and AMD 'Richland' HD 8670D - versus entry-level discrete cards that have been tested on the Core i7-3770K platform. Discrete cards should win, right?