Testing methodology and notes
XFX Radeon HD 7790 Black Edition OC spec |
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GPU Comparisons |
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| Graphics Card | GPU Clock (MHz) |
Stream Processors |
Shader Clock (MHz) |
Memory Clock (MHz) |
Memory Bus (bits) |
Graphics Driver | Approx Price | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 1GB | 860 | 1,024 | 860 | 4,800 | 256 | Catalyst 13.3 | £125 | |
| XFX Radeon HD 7790 Black Edition OC 2GB | 1,075 | 896 | 1,075 | 6,400 | 128 | Catalyst 13.5 | £145 | |
| Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X OC 1GB | 1,075 | 896 | 1,075 | 6,400 | 128 | Catalyst 13.3 | £125 | |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD 7790 OC 1GB | 1,075 | 896 | 1,075 | 6,000 | 128 | Catalyst 13.3 | £115 | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7790 1GB | 1,000 | 896 | 1,075 | 6,000 | 128 | Catalyst 13.3 | £110 | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB | 1,000 | 640 | 1,000 | 4,500 | 128 | Catalyst 13.3 | £90 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB | 980 (1,033) | 960 | 980 (1,033) | 6,008 | 192 | GeForce 314.21 | £150 | |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost SC 2GB | 1,072 (1,137) | 768 | 1,072 (1,137) | 6,008 | 192 | GeForce 314.22 | £150 | |
| Palit GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB | 1,006 (1,072) | 768 | 1,006 (1,072) | 6,108 | 192 | GeForce 314.22 | £130 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB | 980 (1,033) | 768 | 980 (1,033) | 6,000 | 192 | GeForce 314.21 | £125 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB | 928 | 768 | 928 | 5,400 | 128 | GeForce 314.21 | £105 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB | 900 | 336 | 1,800 | 4,000 | 256 | GeForce 314.21 | £130 | |
HEXUS Graphics Test Bench |
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| Processor | Intel Core i7-3770K (3.50GHz, 8MB cache, quad-core) | |||||||||||
| CPU Cooler | Intel reference E97378-001 | |||||||||||
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH | |||||||||||
| Memory | 8GB G.Skill RipJaws (2x4GB) DDR3 @ 1,600MHz | |||||||||||
| Power Supply | Corsair AX750W | |||||||||||
| Storage Device | Samsung 830 Series 256GB SSD | |||||||||||
| Optical Drive | Generic 24x DVD-RW | |||||||||||
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite Series 600T | |||||||||||
| Monitor | BenQ 24in EW2430 (1,920x1,080) | |||||||||||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit, SP1) | |||||||||||
HEXUS Mid-Range Benchmarking Suite |
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| 3D Benchmarks | Mode and Resolutions | Quality Settings |
| 3DMark | DX11 | Fire Strike and Cloud Gate |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 | DX9 at 1,680x1,050 and 1,920x1,080 | 4xMSAA, High |
| Crysis 3 | DX11 at 1,680x1,050 and 1,920x1,080 | 2xMSAA, Medium |
| DiRT Showdown | DX11 at 1,680x1,050 and 1,920x1,080 | 4xMSAA, High |
| Far Cry 3 | DX11 at 1,680x1,050 and 1,920x1,080 | 2xMSAA, High |
| Just Cause 2 | DX10 at 1,680x1,050 and 1,920x1,080 | 4xMSAA, High |
| General Benchmarks | Description | |
| Power Consumption | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and while playing Far Cry 3 | |
| Temperature | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and while playing Far Cry 3 | |
| Noise | A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and while playing Far Cry 3 | |
Testing notes
Our plan was to use the same Catalyst 13.3 beta driver as on the other Radeon HD 7790s. However, for reasons yet unknown, the press driver wouldn't install correctly. We then upgraded this to the Catalyst 13.5. Reading through the release notes shows no out-of-the-ordinary performance benefits for the newer set.
The best comparisons are against the same-clocked Sapphire HD 7790 OC card, albeit 1GB, and the Palit GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB.
