AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition Pro Reviews

For gamers on a really tight budget, this is not a bad deal. But to get the most out of modern games, you'll need a more powerful card.

We saw a distinct, near constant performance trend throughout all of our testing with the Radeon HD 7700 series cards. The Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition offered good performance in all of our tests that was typically higher than the previous-generation Radeon HD 6790. The Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition was also faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti, but it trailed the GeForce GTX 560, sometimes by a fairly large margin. The Radeon HD 7750’s performance was also good considering its lower-price and more modest specifications, but its performance was typically lower than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti’s. It did, however, clearly outpace the previous-generation Radeon HD 6670.

We recognize that mainstream cards can sometimes leverage Crossfire or SLI to deliver an incredible value. Sadly, that's not the case with the HD 7770 or 7750. As we found in our first review, the HD 7700 series is priced against superior products with a wider memory bus, more bandwidth and more complex core designs. We hope this changes when Nvidia's next-generation cards arrive in the coming weeks and months. Until then, we can still only recommend a single HD 7750 for HTPC-like purposes.

Although it's a bit anemic for enthusiasts, the Radeon HD 7750 is an exciting new option in the sub-$200 territory and it should become a popular choice among budget gamers at $110. In the half dozen games we tested, the HD 7750 averaged 18% faster than the HD 6750 and it should become available at the same price. Compared to the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, the HD 7750 was about 2% slower (almost a rounding error right there), it will also be ~$20 cheaper and consume 30% less power, so its small performance deficit is justified. While we're overall impressed with the HD 7750, we acknowledge that some users might be a little disappointed with the card's showing, namely because it's not faster than the GTX 550 Ti in most cases, so it won't force Nvidia to make price cuts in the near future.

If you're a gamer, spend just a little more and you'll be a lot happier. If you're not, spend less and be just as happy with a card that's compatible with a wider range of PCs. We're not sure where the AMD Radeon HD 7770 fits in.

AMD’s Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition is priced right, but it doesn’t stand out when compared with older AMD and Nvidia video cards.

Overall the HD 7770 is a good product with lots of potential, if there weren't the sky high price. AMD's officially suggested retailer pricing is "starting at $159", so we'll probably see retailers cashing in on these cards with inflated prices, like on the HD 7970 and HD 7950. Even at $159 the cards are way too expensive. They are up against the GTX 460 which is 20$ cheaper and delivers similar performance. HD 6850 ($135) and HD 6870 ($155) are faster, and give you much more bang for your buck, up to 30% more! If you are willing to shop used, you can find HD 5770 cards for well below $100, that have all the same major features and better price/performance, too. It seems that in its lower mid-range segment, the HD 7770 is the most expensive, least money-efficient card. However, I'm confident that AMD has lots of headroom on pricing for future price wars with NVIDIA. In my opinion a fair price for the HD 7770 would be below $130.

AMD is promoting the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition as a competitor to the GeForce GTX 550 Ti. It really crushed this video card, being between 14% and 29% faster than it. But there is just a “small” problem: the GeForce GTX 550 Ti costs USD 130, while the Radeon HD 7770 GHz costs USD 160. At this price range, the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition in reality competes with the Radeon HD 6850 and the GeForce GTX 460 with 1 GB video cards that proved to be superior. Let’s see. The Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition was faster than the Radeon HD 6850 and the GeForce GTX 460 with 1 GB only at Deus Ex: Human Revolution (by 4% and 8%, respectively), being marginally faster than the Radeon HD 6850 on DiRT3. All video cards achieved the same performance level on Battlefield 3. On all the other games and simulations we ran, the other two video cards were faster. The Radeon HD 6850 was between 3% and 19% faster, while the GeForce GTX 460 with 1 GB was between 8% and 18% faster.

The AMD Radeon HD 7770 and Radeon HD 7750 are solid cards, but pricing and a market flooded with mainstream cards makes buying a mainstream video card confusing right now.

Some of the AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition's new features, such as 4K video and DirectX 11.1 support, may be a bit far ahead of the curve. But at $159, this card is a fine performer for the price, which should please gamers on a budget who are content with resolutions at or below 1080p. It's a worthy successor to the Radeon HD 5770, and we suppose AMD deserves some credit for releasing a card with a 1GHz core clock speed, even if that speed doesn't tell you much about actual performance. This card easily bested even an overclocked Nvidia GTX 550 Ti in our newer game tests, and in most cases outclassed the similarly priced HD 6850.