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Review: Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition

by Parm Mann on 8 June 2012, 16:30 3.0

Tags: Sapphire, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabhx5

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Final Thoughts and Rating

Sapphire's Vapor-X cooling continues to impress and in applying the technology to AMD's Radeon HD 7770, we have a card that's cool under load, quiet in use and armed with healthy overclocks on both core and memory.

The HD 7770 Vapor-X is better than reference in more ways than one and there's not a lot wrong with Sapphire's implementation, but the shipping speeds and excellent cooler aren't quite enough to mask the limited performance of the underlying Cape Verde XT GPU.

Bottom line: Sapphire's card may be worthy of consideration if cool-and-quiet operation is of the utmost importance, but for performance seekers, there's no hiding the fact that 2010's Radeon HD 6850 costs less and continues to offer a smoother in-game experience.

The Good

Faster than reference
Cooler than reference
Quieter than reference

The Bad

Ageing HD 6850 is still faster

HEXUS Rating

3/5
Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition

HEXUS Where2Buy

TBC.

HEXUS Right2Reply

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HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Posted by Irien - Sat 09 Jun 2012 11:16
I am thinking about one of these to drive 3 monitors (DVI, DVI, HDMI). This was possible on the old Sapphire Flex range (6000 series), which seems to have been largely discontinued (only the anaemic 6770 flex seems to be available). So far, they don't seem to have made any 7000 flex cards, and I think I recall 7000 series having some changes to multi-monitor?

I'm not needing to run all 3 as one big hi-res desktop, but rather have dual DVI screens connected (for work), with a HDMI out to TV for movies etc.

Advice/suggestions very much welcomed. If this were possible, I think this card would be a nice update from my old 4850.
Posted by J3FFW1SH - Sun 10 Jun 2012 11:04
Irien
I am thinking about one of these to drive 3 monitors (DVI, DVI, HDMI). This was possible on the old Sapphire Flex range (6000 series), which seems to have been largely discontinued (only the anaemic 6770 flex seems to be available). So far, they don't seem to have made any 7000 flex cards, and I think I recall 7000 series having some changes to multi-monitor?

I'm not needing to run all 3 as one big hi-res desktop, but rather have dual DVI screens connected (for work), with a HDMI out to TV for movies etc.

Advice/suggestions very much welcomed. If this were possible, I think this card would be a nice update from my old 4850.

I don't thing you will have any problems with that setup, dual monitors and an output to a TV will be easily achievable with this card. Although if i were you i would pick this up from scan: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-hd-6870-double-d-cooling-4200mhz-gddr5-gpu-900mhz-1120-stream-processors-2x-dvi-hdmi-2x-mini - HD 6870 for £118.42, bargain! Strong all rounder and will beat the Sapphire if you wanted to play the occasional game!

Hope this helps…
Posted by scaryjim - Mon 11 Jun 2012 10:34
AFAIK the 7000 series can still only power two monitors natively via HDMI/DVI, and you'll need an active DP adapter to run the third monitor. NVidia's kepler cards can power three non-DP monitors natively, but there's no midrange cards available *yet* (they are coming though). Or wait for a Sapphire flex version of the 7000 series cards - it's bound to come eventually ;)

Incidentally, you describe the 6770 as anaemic, but the 7770 isn't actually that much faster - at stock clocks it generally puts less than 10% on top of a stock 6770. If you consider the 6770 anaemic, then you really need to be considering a faster card than the 7770, and if you want three screens that means a 6850/6870, or waiting until the midrange Kepler cards land…
Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH - Mon 11 Jun 2012 10:36
scaryjim
AFAIK the 7000 series can still only power two monitors natively via HDMI/DVI, and you'll need an active DP adapter to run the third monitor. NVidia's kepler cards can power three non-DP monitors natively, but there's no midrange cards available *yet* (they are coming though). Or wait for a Sapphire flex version of the 7000 series cards - it's bound to come eventually ;)

Incidentally, you describe the 6770 as anaemic, but the 7770 isn't actually that much faster - at stock clocks it generally puts less than 10% on top of a stock 6770. If you consider the 6770 anaemic, then you really need to be considering a faster card than the 7770, and if you want three screens that means a 6850/6870, or waiting until the midrange Kepler cards land…

You mean the power house which is the GT640?? :p

The GTX660 is most likely to be more than £200,I suspect otherwise Nvidia would have a huge price gap between it and the GTX670. Also,it appears the GTX660 is using a 192 bit memory controller too.

Aria had an HD7950 3GB with three games for £249.99 last week,so I suspect the HD7870 and HD7850 will start dropping to much lower price points.
Posted by Irien - Mon 11 Jun 2012 20:02
That 6870 looks good, but surely I need a Flex version if I'm not using a DP-adapater?

How much hassle are the DP adapters? I really need to keep this simple for other family members etc. The attraction of the flex cards is the “plug and play” element.

I don't need them to be part of one giant Eye-Finity setup, but I would like to have all 3 connected, and maybe use extended desktop etc (or clone first screen onto TV?).

It is hard to get a handle on what can be achieved without DP adapter without a Flex card. (And I can't find anyone reputable with a 6870 flex in stock - even tried Amazon!).

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