Sapphire HD7790 OC Review

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.

With only 1GB of GDDR5 these settings exceed the onboard memory, and the game engine highlights the problem in red at the bottom.

The Sapphire HD7790 OC manages to hold a frame rate of 25 or above during our level test, although it is borderline. A few settings would need reduced to give the card a little more breathing space. The HD7770 struggles completely to maintain any kind of playable frame rate at these settings. The 2GB of GDDR5 and improved shader power helps the HD7850 to pull out in front, by a clear margin.

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