Graphics card round up March 2013

1. Introduction2. XFX R7770 Core Edition3. XFX R7770 (Super High Res Gallery)4. Sapphire HD7790 OC5. Sapphire HD7790 OC (Super High Res Gallery)6. XFX R7850 Core Edition7. XFX R7850 Core Edition (Super High Res Gallery)8. XFX R7870 Core Edition9. XFX R7870 Core Edition (Super High Res Gallery)10. Sapphire HD7950 Vapor-X Edition11. Sapphire HD7950 Vapor-X Edition (Super High Res Gallery)12. Zotac GTX65013. Zotac GTX650 (Super High Res Gallery)14. Gainward GTX66015. Gainward GTX660 (Super High Res Gallery)16. Gainward GTX660 ti17. Gainward GTX660 ti (Super High Res Gallery)18. Zotac GTX67019. Zotac GTX670 (Super High Res Gallery)20. Testing Methodology21. Unigine Heaven Benchmark22. Unigine Valley Benchmark23. 3DMark Vantage24. 3DMark 1125. 3DMark26. Alien V Predator27. Total War: Shogun 2 (DX11)28. Dirt ShowDown (DX11)29. Sleeping Dogs (DX11)30. Max Payne 3 (DX11)31. Thermal Dynamics32. Technical: Acoustics Performance33. Closing Thoughts34. View All Pages

If you are looking for a new video card for your system then there has never been a better time to buy. Today we are looking at a cross section of high value for money AMD and Nvidia partner cards in a round up article targeting the budget to the high end. We have picked some of the best looking solutions on the market today. If you are looking for a new model to handle the latest Direct X 11 games, then which is the one for you?

Today's article won't be featuring the AMD HD7970, HD7990 or Nvidia GTX680 or GTX 690/Titan. Not because we don't like them, but because very few people can afford to buy them. The highest cost models in the test today are custom versions of AMD's HD7950 and Nvidia's GTX670, both very popular solutions. We also look at the GTX650, GTX660, GTX 660 Ti, HD7770, HD7790, HD7850 and HD7870 from Gainward, Zotac, XFX and Sapphire.

The XFX R7770 Core Edition ships in an artistic looking box featuring a 3D render of the word ‘CORE'. A nice high resolution image of the product wouldn't go amiss, we think.

A rather disappointing bundle, a ton of literature on the XFX power supply range, fitting instructions and a ‘Do Not Disturb' sign for a door handle.

The XFX R7770 is a tiny little card based around a black PCB. The XFX branded metal cooler is attractive and is finished in a silver and black colour scheme. A single large fan is positioned in the middle. This is a dual slot card.

The R7770 is Crossfire capable in a 2 way configuration. The R7770 has proven popular with users who buy a single card, then add another later for added horsepower.

The R7770 requires power from a single 6 pin connector.

The R7770 is fully loaded, with two DVI ports and a full sized HDMI and DisplayPort connector.

As we know from past experiences, AMD's HD7770 doesn't require a substantial cooler. XFX have opted for a small circular cooler, made from metal and painted black. It resides directly over the core underneath with the remainder of the card cooled actively via the fan.

Above, we can see an overview of the Cape Verde hardware built on the 28nm manufacturing process. The R7770 core is clocked at 1GHZ and the memory @ 1,125mhz (4.5Gbps effective). The HD7770 is bandwidth limited, featuring 1GB of GDDR5 memory connected via a 128 bit memory interface. There are 640 shaders onboard and 16 ROPS/40 TMU's.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

Sapphire enjoy their 3D rendered ladies and we aren't complaining. While we do like their artwork, a quality high resolution image of the video card itself would help showcase the lovely dual fan cooler within a retail store environment (yes, there still are a few of them open!).

The Sapphire HD7790 OC bundle is good. The company include power and video converters, a quality HDMI cable, literature and software discs.

The Sapphire HD7790 OC is an attractively designed discrete solution, built around a black PCB with dual fan cooler. The shroud may be plastic, but it looks great. It is a dual slot card and most of the hot air should be forced out the back of the chassis.

The HD7790 OC is Crossfire capable if you want to buy another card. Like all of these boards, it will only work in a dual card configuration. It requires a single 6 pin power connector.

The card has dual DVI connectors, an HDMI connector and a DisplayPort connector.

The Sapphire cooler is a modest dual heatpipe model, although they are thick pipes. They run into two separate racks of aluminum fins on either side of the core.

An overview of the Sapphire HD7790 OC Edition in GPUz. The Bonaire core is built on the 28nm manufacturing process. The core is running overclocked, at 1,075mhz and the memory is running at 1,600mhz (6.4Gbps effective). The 1GB of GDDR5 memory is running via a 128 bit interface. There are 896 unifed shaders on this card, which is a marked improvement over the HD7770. There are 16 ROPS and 56 TMU's onboard.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

Exactly the same ‘Core' artwork as the XFX R7770 box. No images of the R7850 on the front of the box which is unfortunate, as they are such an attractively designed solution.

XFX bundle a lot of literature with their cards, but sadly no converters or games with this one.

The XFX R7850 is longer than the R7770, built around a similar black PCB and black and silver metal cooler with XFX branding. It is a dual slot cooler.

The R7850 is Crossfire capable in a 2 way configuration. Ideal if you find you need more rendering power at a later date.

The R7850 takes power from a single 6 pin PCI power cable.

Underneath the shroud there is a separate circular Zalman style cooler, built around a single thick copper base and heatpipe which is bent in a circle through two racks of aluminum fins.

The XFX R7850 is built around the Pitcairn core, manufactured on the 28nm process. The core runs at 860mhz and the memory 1,200mhz (4.8gbps effective). AMD's HD7850 is much more powerful than the HD7770, featuring 2GB of GDDR5 memory connected via a 256 bit memory interface. There are 1,024 unifed shaders onboard along with 32 ROP's and 64 TMU's.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

The XFX R7870 Core Edition ships in a similar box to the HD7770 and HD7850, featuring ‘Core' branding and the product name.

The bundle contains a lot of literature, and unlike other XFX products today, a Crossfire connector. Not the best bundles from XFX to be honest, and rather disappointing.

The XFX R7870 Core Edition has a full sized, dual slot cooler. A large single fan is positioned in the middle of the cooler. It is built around a black PCB.

The XFX R7870 Core Edition is Crossfire capable in a 2 way configuration.

The R7870 Core Edition takes power from two six pin PCI power connectors.

The R7870 Core Edition features two DVI outputs alongside a full sized HDMI connector and two mini DisplayPorts.

The R7870 Core Edition features two racks of aluminium fins on either side of the core with four copper heatpipes running into both sides.

The R7870 is based around the Pitcairn core, manufactured on the 28nm process. The core is running at 1GHZ, and the memory at 1,200mhz (4.8Gbps effective), connected via a 256 bit memory interface. There are 1280 unified shaders, 32 ROPS and 80 TMU's on this card.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor-X box, another another moody 3D rendered woman, this time adorned in a kinky white outfit.

The bundle we received included a few video and power converter cables, Crossfire cable, software disc and HDMI cable.

The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition is built around a blue PCB with a large twin fan cooler taking centerstage at the front.

The Vapor-X cooler on this model is based on a new vapor chamber designed especially for this series. It is a very heavy graphics card, immediately noticeable when you first pick it up.

Sapphire are using two 90mm fans with aerofoil blades and dust repelling bearings. This is a dual slot cooler.

The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition is Crossfire capable in 2, 3 and 4 way configurations. It takes power from a single 8 pin and a single 6 pin PCI E connector. The reference HD7950 is a dual 6 pin configuration, so Sapphire are clearly driving for maximum overclocked performance from the Vapor X.

The HD7950 Vapor-X offers two DVI output connectors, alongside a full sized HDMI and DisplayPort connector. All outputs can be used simultaneously.

The copper heatsink is connected to 2x 6mm and 2x 8mm heatpipes, which run into two separate racks of aluminum fins on either side. Sapphire incorporate several heatsinks to help enhance cooling of the VRM's. The GDDR5 memory is directly cooled by the base of the main cooler above. It is clear that Sapphire haven’t cut any corners in the design of this massive cooling solution.

The card ships with a dual bios, which can be easily selected via the button above.

Above, the faster bios setting (the other is set at 925mhz). For the review today we are testing with the higher 950mhz core setting as we don't imagine anyone buying this powerful gaming card will want to run at the slower speeds. AMD's Tahiti core is built on the 28nm engineering process, equipped with 32 ROP's/112 TMU's and 1792 unifed shaders. The 3GB of GDDR5 memory is clocked at 1,250mhz, or 5Gbps effective and is connected via a wide 384 bit memory interface.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

The Zotac box artwork is rather bland, I see no reason not to feature a high resolution image of the card itself in the upper half of the box, rather than ‘Its Time To Play'.

The bundle includes literature on the product and a software disc. There is also a power adapter cable and a video adapter cable included in the box.

The GTX650 is a tiny little card, with the large orange fan almost the same size as the PCB undernearth. This card is built around a black PCB and is dual slot.

There is a single 6 pin power connector on this card.

Two DVI output connectors, alongside a Mini HDMI port. I would rather have seen a single DVI connector with a full sized HDMI port, for convenience.

The Zotac GTX650 cooler is quite small, although this hardware doesn't really produce much heat.

The Zotac GTX650 is built around the GK107 core on the 28nm manufacturing process. The core is running at 1,072mhz an the memory at 1,250mhz (5Gbps effective). There are 384 CUDA Cores, 16 ROPS and 32 TMU's onboard. The 1GB of GDDR5 memory is connected via a restrictive 128 bit memory interface.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

The Gainward box artwork is certainly eye catching, but yet again, using a capital G on the front rather than featuring the product itself, seems pointless.

Gainward include a driver disc and quick install guide.

The Gainward GTX660 is a dinky little card featuring a black plastic cooler with ‘G' logo on the fan. The PCB is black, like every other card in the article at this point. The cooler is dual slot.

The Gainward GTX660 is SLI capable in a 2 way configuration.

The card requires power from a single 6 pin connector.

There are two DVI connectors, a full sized HDMI connector and a full sized DisplayPort connector.

The cooler is formed around a copper base with two small heatpipes transferring the heat into two racks of aluminium fins.

The Gainward GTX660 GK106 core is built around the 28nm manufacturing process. The core clock is set at 980mhz, and the memory is set at 1,500mhz (6Gbps effective), connected via a 192 bit memory interface. There are 960 CUDA cores onboard, along with 24 ROPS and 80 TMU's.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

Exactly the same box as the GTX660, except from the product identification bottom right.

The bundle includes a quick start guide, software disc and power converter cable. Quite a poor bundle.

The Gainward cooler is rather menacing, all black with only gold lettering for the company name. The PCB is all black. This is a dual slot cooler design.

The Gainward GTX660 ti requires power from two 6 pin PCI connectors.

The card is SLI capable in 2,3 and 4 way configurations.

The cooler is unusual, as the PCB is actually quite small. The fan on the right overhangs the PCB completely, encased in plastic. Cool air is forced horizontally along the PCB and across the heatsink. The heatsink is also very small, with a copper block positioned in the middle making direct contact with the GPU core.

The Gainward GTX660 ti GK104 core is built on the 28 nm manufacturing process. The core is clocked at 915mhz, and the memory 1,500mhz (6Gbps effective). There are 1344 CUDA cores on this card and 24 ROPS/112 TMU's. The 2GB of GDDR5 memory is connected via a 192 bit memory interface.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

Zotac are using the same box artwork throughout their range, so sadly no picture of the GTX670 on the front.

The bundle includes a user manual, software disc along side video and power converter cables.

The Zotac GTX670 is a great looking card built on a black PCB, finished in black with orange ‘racing' trim. The cooler is plastic and the fan is off set to the side. It is a dual slot cooler and the hot air will be forced out the rear of the card and outside the case.

The GTX670 has two SLI connectors, for 2, 3 and 4 way configurations.

The card takes power from two 6 pin connectors, which are stacked on top of each other. I find these rather fiddly to fit and much prefer the traditional side by side configuration.

The card has two DVI connectors alongside a full sized HDMI and DisplayPort connector.

The cooler has a copper base which connects with the core. There are plates at the side to cool the memory.

The GTX670 GK104 core is built on the 28nm manufacturing process. The core clock is running at 954 mhz. The memory runs at 1,500mhz (6Gbps effective), and the 2GB of GDDR5 memory is connected via a 256 bit memory interface. There are 1344 CUDA cores onboard alongside 32 ROPS and 112 TMU's.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

This review is based on a wide range of cards from the budget sector (HD7770 & GTX650) to the higher end sector (HD7950 & GTX670). We are using the same system for the review today to ensure that no throttling will take place.

Obviously not many people buying a HD7770 would be using an overclocked 3960X Extreme Edition processor, but we need to maintain a stable testing platform so the results are all compatible when plotting performance graphics.

All AMD cards are using the latest 13.3 beta Catalyst driver and the Nvidia cards are using the latest 314.21 Forceware driver.

Test System:
Processor: Core i7 3960 X Extreme Edition @ 4.4ghz
Cooler: Antec 920 H20
Memory: 16GB G.Skill 2,400mhz @ 10-11-10-30
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Power Supply: Enermax Platimax 1200W
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Lian Li PC-A77FR Aluminium Red Full Tower Case
Boot Drive: Patriot WildFire 120GB
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung
Monitors: Dell U3011

Video Cards:
XFX HD7770 Core Edition (Catalyst 13.3 beta driver)
Sapphire HD7790 OC Edition (Catalyst 13.3 beta driver)
XFX HD7850 Core Edition (Catalyst 13.3 beta driver)
XFX HD7870 Core Edition (Catalyst 13.3 beta driver)
Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition (Catalyst 13.3 beta driver)
Zotac GTX650 (Forceware 314.21 driver)
Gainward GTX660 (Forceware 314.21 driver)
Gainward GTX660 ti (Forceware 314.21 driver)
Zotac GTX670 (Forceware 314.21 driver)

Games:
Alien V Predator
Sleeping Dogs
Total War: Shogun 2
Dirt Showdown
Max Payne 3

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

Some game descriptions are edited from Wikipedia.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the following settings: 1920×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11.

The Zotac GTX670 is the clear performance winner in this benchmark at these settings, averaging 75.4 frames per second. The GTX660ti scores very well, especially considering the modest price point. At the bottom of the chart, the HD7770 and GTX650 struggle in some of the more intensive sections of this test.

Valley Benchmark is a new GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. The forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains amazes with its scale from a bird’s-eye view and is extremely detailed down to every leaf and flower petal. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user.

Again the Zotac GTX670 manages to outperform the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X. In the middle of the chart the GTX660 scores well, outperforming the HD7850 Core.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature

-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

The top of the chart is a close run shootout between the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X and the Zotac GTX670.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

The Zotac GTX670 claims the top spot, with the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X around 500 points behind in second place. The XFX HD7870 Core is sandwiched between the GTX660 and the GTX660 ti.

3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance.

Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good.

To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.”

The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X claims top spot in this benchmark, around 300 points ahead of the Zotac GTX670. Again the XFX HD7870 Core is positioned between the GTX660 and GTX660ti.

Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today.

To test the cards we used a 1920×1080 resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. We use this with most of our graphics card testing so cards are comparable throughout reviews.

This engine has always favoured AMD hardware although the Zotac GTX670 manages to slightly outperform the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X.

Shogun 2 is set in 16th-century feudal Japan, in the aftermath of the Ōnin War. The country is fractured into rival clans led by local warlords, each fighting for control. The player takes on the role of one of these warlords, with the goal of dominating other factions and claiming his rule over Japan. The standard edition of the game will feature a total of eight factions (plus a ninth faction for the tutorial), each with a unique starting position and different political and military strengths.

We run the DX11 Graphics High 1080p benchmark, available for this game in STEAM. You can therefore directly compare against your own system. Frame rates are rounded up or down to the nearest digit.

Real in game performance varies substantially across the environments and levels, but we include these results so you can compare directly with your own system. If the game delivers good frame rates with the 1080p benchmark, you can sure it will run well with high image quality settings in game too.

The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X manages to slightly outperform the Zotac GTX670 at the top of the chart. The GTX660ti takes a very comfortable third place.

Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007.

We configured the game at the ULTRA preset with a 1080p resolution and 8x MSAA.

Dirt Showdown runs very well on AMD hardware and the HD7950 and HD7870 take top two spots. All of the cards right down to the HD7770 deliver smooth frames at these high settings, which is commendable. The only card to struggle, is the Zotac GTX650, unplayable at these settings.

Sleeping Dogs started development as an original title, but was announced in 2009 as True Crime: Hong Kong, the third installment and a reboot of the True Crime series. As a result of the game’s high development budget and delays, it was canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011. Six months later, it was announced that Square Enix had picked up the publishing rights to the game, but the game was renamed Sleeping Dogs in 2012 since Square Enix did not purchase the True Crime name rights.

We are using the highest possible image quality settings at 1080p, including the high resolution texture pack.

An extremely demanding engine at these settings. The only cards to deliver a truly smooth experience are the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X and Zotac GTX670. The Sapphire card has a slight edge, maintaining a higher minimum frame rate.

Max Payne 3 is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Max Payne 3 features a similar over-the-shoulder camera as its predecessors, with the addition of a cover mechanic, while also retaining much of the same run-and-gun style of gameplay. Max Payne 3 also marks the return of bullet-time in action sequences, for which the franchise is notable.

In bullet-time it is possible to see every bullet strike an enemy in detail. New to the series is a “Last Stand” mechanic, which gives the player a grace period after losing all health during which time the player may kill the enemy that wounded them in order to continue playing, however this mechanic is only usable if the player has one or more bottles of painkillers in their possession.

These settings exceed the onboard memory of the 1GB cards, and the game engine highlights the problem in red at the bottom.

The performance advantage shifts in favour of the Zotac GTX670 in this test, averaging 51 frames per second. The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X claims second spot, with a lower average frame rate, but only losing out by a single frame per second in the most important minimum frame rate position.

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 20c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.

The Sapphire cards rate very highly in regards to cooler efficiency, taking the top positions in the chart, next to the XFX H7770 Core which claims the top position. The most remarkable result is the powerful Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X, which hits only 57c when gaming. While the card is closely matched against the Zotac GTX670 in performance, the Sapphire cooler is much better.

We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests.

Ambient noise in the room is around 20-25dBa. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the closed chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

The loudest card on test was the Zotac GTX670, with the reference fan spinning up quite a bit when tasked with the synthetic Furmark load – it doesn't get this loud when gaming however. The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X, the second fastest card in our testing was the quietest solution thanks to the excellent, capable two fan Vapor X cooler. None of the cards are excessively loud however which is a good indication of how far the current technology has progressed.

The roundup today has highlighted that you don't need to spend £800 on a video card to get excellent gaming performance with high image quality settings at 1080p resolution. The current generation of budget to mid range video cards are capable of powering many Direct X 11 titles with the eye candy cranked, while maintaining a smooth frame rate on a 24 inch monitor.

When scoring these cards today it is important to factor in the cost, in relation to the performance. While the rich enthusiast user will be more willing to spend quite a bit extra for a minimal gain over a competitor card, the budget audience are entirely focused on getting the best bang for buck performance ratio.

This is why AMD and Nvidia keep dropping prices and releasing new video card updates every couple of months. Being competitive today requires constant adjustment to ensure partners sell as many cards as possible. In the sub £200 market specifically price is extremely important.

XFX HD7770 Core Edition

When AMD first released the HD7770 I wasn't that impressed. While the company clocked the card higher on the new manufacturing process, they also neutered performance by reducing the unified shader count from 800 to 640. When performance was analysed, it wasn't a huge upgrade from the last generation.

Luckily, when AMD partners got hold of the reference design, they improved the cooling and boosted the clock speeds. This XFX HD7770 Core Edition ships with the clock speed at 1GHZ and a custom, large, single centrally positioned fan which is very quiet.

There can be no argument that these cards are not the ideal solution for a die hard gamer who wants to maximise the image quality in the latest Direct X 11 titles … due to limited bandwidth they can run out of steam at 1080p. That said, for a media center, or in a Crossfire configuration they are very effective.

When the HD7770 was released they cost well in excess of £115 inc vat however prices have fallen in recent months. This particular card for example can be bought now from SCAN in the UK for only £93 inc vat. At this modest price point they are difficult to ignore, especially for a student, or younger gamer on a restrictive budget.

The benefits of buying the XFX HD7770 Core Edition are very low associated noise levels, a tiny demand on the power supply, and cost effective pricing. If you want to game at 1080p or above with high levels of anti aliasing with the latest Direct X 11 titles then you may need to look at a more expensive model, or saving to fund another HD7770 at a later date, for Crossfire.

Pros:

• Very quiet.
• physically small.
• low power demand.
• doesn't produce a lot of heat.
• decent performance.
• recent price drops.

Cons:

• runs out of steam with more demanding titles.

Sapphire HD7790 OC Edition

We reviewed the Sapphire HD7790 OC last week and our feelings since then haven't changed. The main positive we can take since our initial review is that prices have settled in the last week and you can pick this card up for £113.99 inc vat. This is actually good value for money and only £20 more than the XFX HD7770 Core Edition.

The Sapphire HD7790 OC Cooler is excellent and it reaffirms that Sapphire really do produce some of the best AMD based video cards on the market today. They tend to spend quite a lot of time optimising noise levels, and incorporate quality fans which all helps to improve the overall experience.

The biggest issue that the HD7790 OC faces is not only competition from Nvidia, but the current all time low pricing on the HD7850. We have seen HD7850's retailing for around £125 inc vat in recent weeks so there is certainly an argument to spend a little more cash for a lot more performance. The enhanced 256 bit memory interface really helps when running the latest demanding game engines.

All in all, this is an excellent card, and we are glad that AMD managed to get the pricing down to under £120 inc vat. It makes a lot more sense, but personally I would still spend the extra £10-15 and get the better equipped, more desirable HD7850.

Pros:

• very quiet.
• looks great.
• price point has settled under £120 inc vat.
• overclocks well.
• runs cool.

Cons:

• Stiff competition and for £15 more you can get a HD7850.

XFX HD7850 Core Edition

AMD's HD7850 has been a big seller for the company, especially as recent price drops have seen the card often available for less than £130 inc vat. This was the same price that AMD launched the weaker HD7790 at, last week. The HD7850 has decent shader power, and ships with a capable 256 bit memory interface to help improve performance when running at higher resolutions and image quality settings.

The XFX HD7850 Core Edition performs well, offering a balanced noise to performance ratio. The cooler isn't the quietest, and it is one of the hotter running cards on test today. If XFX had adopted a dual fan cooler for this solution, it would have been more effective in both areas, but sadly they cut costs a little by opting for single fan. The small circular heatsink looks great when you get the shroud off, but the performance is far from class leading.

Due to the slightly disappointing cooler, we would have scored this at 8 points out of 10, even though I am a big fan of the HD7850.  Thanks to the incredible pricing right now of only £126.94 inc vat at SCAN in the UK, it is a difficult solution to ignore,  so it earns an extra half point.

Even though the Sapphire HD7790 OC Edition has a better cooler and is quieter, I would still opt for the HD7850 Core Edition due to the increased performance characteristics especially with Anti aliasing enabled. It is only £13 more expensive than the Sapphire HD7790 OC Edition, which is the icing on the cake.

XFX's HD7850 at this price is one of the most cost effective gaming cards you can buy today. You could have two of these cards for only £250 inc vat and be getting similar frame rates to much more expensive single card solutions.

Pros:

• Great looking card.
• excellent performance.
• amazing price – only £126!

Cons:

• Dual fan cooler would have worked better.
• Runs a little hotter than we would like.

XFX HD7870 Core Edition

If the HD7850 isn't quite fast enough then the HD7870 is set to satisfy the audience who can't afford the high end HD7950. The HD7870 is noticeably quicker than the HD7850 and slots in between the GTX660 and GTX660 ti on a performance level. As an all round solution this XFX solution has plenty of positive traits.

The XFX HD7870 Core Edition is another single fan design incorporating the XFX Ghost Technology. Even though the XFX HD7850 cooler incorporated a single fan and was slightly disappointing, the HD7870 gets a proper full sized heatsink underneath the shroud with four thick copper heatpipes. This means the single fan can spin slower, reducing not only noise levels, but the thermal curve.

The cost of this card has dropped in recent months, and you can now pick it up for £166.54 inc vat from SCAN. At this price it is very tempting indeed and offers a great solution for a gamer who wants to play the latest titles at 1080p, even with some anti aliasing and higher image quality settings.

Is this card worth £40 more than the XFX HD7850 Core Edition? It really is a tough call. The XFX HD7850 Core Edition is one of the best value for money solutions you can get today, but if you need a little more horsepower to run at higher image quality settings then it is a wise investment. There is also the factor of futureproofing later this year.

Pros:

• Great looking card.
• excellent performance.
• price point is very good, although the XFX HD7850 Core Edition is £40 less expensive.
• Very quiet.
• Runs cool.

Cons:

• Dual fan cooler would have worked better.
• Stiff competition around £170.

Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition

I initially reviewed the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition in August last year and I thought it was a fantastic card. Seven months later, the market has changed, however my opinion of the Sapphire solution hasn't.

The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition has dropped in price by around £60 since it was launched, to around £265 inc vat today. At this price it would be one of my favourite cards, delivering fantastic performance at a very tight price point. The Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X is faster than the Nvidia GTX 660ti and in a close second place behind the Zotac GTX670 we reviewed today. This only tells part of the story however.

With all this performance, there is often a trade off in regards to noise levels and the thermal curve under load. There is no doubt in my mind that Sapphire currently make the best mainstream cooling solutions, as evidenced by our testing today. The Vapor X cooler on this card didn't just outperform the Zotac GTX670 cooler, but it managed to score third place in the load temperature graph and top place in the noise emissions test. Considering it was up against lower performing, cooler running Pitcairn cards such as the XFX HD7850 and XFX HD7870 is recommendation in itself.

If you need a high performance AMD graphics card under £300, then we wholeheartedly recommend the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition. It is one of the quietest, coolest running high performance cards you can buy.

Pros:

• looks fantastic.
• one of the best coolers on the market.
• very quiet.
• runs extremely cool under load.
• Dual bios.
• excellent performance.
• can outperform HD7970 when overclocked.

Cons:

• Still rather expensive for most people.

Zotac GTX650

The Zotac GTX650 is an attractively designed little card, featuring a large orange fan and a contrasting black cooler. It looks ideal for a media centre until you factor in that the cooler is a dual slot design.

Performance is lacking in all areas and it is seriously outperformed by the HD7770. UK availability is limited, although we found it on Amazon via one of their partners for £81.32 inc vat. We really couldn't advise anyone to buy this card, not when the XFX HD7770 is only £10 more, and the Sparkle GTX650 ti can be picked up for around £115 inc vat. Asus also have a nice dual fan GTX650ti available for £113.58 inc vat from SCAN.

The Zotac GTX650 really has little going for it in our opinion. Spending a little extra (£10) will get you a much better gaming video card, and the fact this is dual slot alienates it from many media center builds, normally an ideal environment for such a low power demand graphics card.

We have some reviews coming soon of the new GTX650 Ti Boost Edition, but they didn't make this particular review. As it stands the standard GTX650 is one we feel you should miss completely.

Pros:

• great looking little card.

• it should be silent, but its not.
• not dual fans.
• weak performance.
• dual slot.
• You can buy a lot more performance for only £10 extra.

Gainward GTX660

I really like the Gainward GTX660. Is is an impressive little card that slots in between the HD7850 and HD7870 in regards to performance. Throughout testing it managed to produce playable frame rates at 1920×1080 even with the image quality settings set high.

I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with the cooler. There are only two heatpipes attached to a tiny heatsink and the single fan is clearly audible under load. It finished around middle of the pile in regards to both acoustics and thermal performance. It is not a failure, but the design could have been improved.

These cards are available from buyer priced at £152.99 inc vat. We mentioned earlier that the performance rests between the HD7850 and HD7870, and fortunately so is the price. For another £10 you can get the faster HD7870 and this would have to be our recommendation.

That said, this is still a very good graphics card, although the cooler design is slightly disappointing. The price is very competitive and if you don't like AMD hardware or drivers, then this is an excellent value for money investment.

Pros:

• compact little design.
• good performance.
• competitive pricing.

• the cooler is slightly disappointing.
• needs a bigger heatsink.
• stiff competition from the HD7870, at only £10 more.

Gainward GTX660 ti

The Gainward GTX660 Ti is a monster card and is our joint favourite today. The price in the UK is a very competitive £221.50 inc vat from ebuyer. This card consistently performed just behind the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X and Zotac GTX670, and is priced accordingly.

Nvidia's GTX660Ti is possibly the best graphics card you can buy today, when factoring in the cost v performance ratio. It is perfectly capable of powering the latest demanding Direct X 11 engines at 1080p with the image quality settings set very high. It doesn't quite have the gaming prowess of the overclocked Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X, but it is priced around £40 less meaning it targets a wider audience.

It is also worth pointing out that the GTX660 ti are formidable cards when configured in SLi, they can give the high end flagship cards a run for their money with many of the most demanding titles at a fraction of the cost. This is why they are one of the best selling graphics cards on the market today.

If you are building a new system and want to ensure the system has plenty of future-proofing then investing in a GTX660 ti is a good move.

Pros:

• superb performance.
• Priced well.
• class leading performance in SLi.

• The cooler could be improved.

Zotac GTX670

Zotac's GTX670 was the fastest card in our tests today, slightly outperforming the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X at the top of the charts.There were a couple of games when the results were reversed, but generally the GTX670 took the top position. If the price was right, the card would have earned a higher award, but unfortunately this is not the case.

The Zotac GTX670 is rather exorbitantly priced in the UK today, available from ebuyer at £340.49 inc vat. This is £120 more expensive than the Gainward GTX660 ti, and £85 more expensive than the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X Edition. There is no doubt it is a fantastic gamers weapon, but the price point just doesn't make sense to me. If Zotac managed to get these cards reduced to £299.99 inc vat it might make a little more sense.

To make matters worse, the cooler is markedly inferior to the Vapor X cooler on the Sapphire HD7950. Load temperatures are a whopping 22c higher, and it was the loudest card on test today as well, into the bargain.

If you must have more performance than we recommend saving up another £50 and picking up a GTX680, it makes more sense. Nvidia seem to have huge partner pricing variances with their GTX670 cards. For instance, you can pick up this Palit GTX670 for only £290.40 inc vat. If you can find the Zotac GTX670 for around £299.99 inc vat however it would be a good buy.

Pros:

• fastest solution we tested today.

• cooler could be improved.
• this particular GTX670 is overpriced.

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