XFX FX-777A-ZDB4 Pro Reviews

XFX has built a fantastic video card around the new Radeon HD 7770. XFX has outfitted this video card with a custom PCB, custom cooling fan, and a substantial out-of-box factory overclock. At 1120MHz GPU and 5.2GHz memory frequencies, the XFX R7770 Black Edition Super Overclocked blasted through our games at 1920x1200 with ease. We were able to run every game at 1920x1200 and enjoy a gameplay experience at the highest in-game settings possible. The custom cooler on the XFX R7770 Black Edition kept this GPU cool, and we never heard a whisper from the fans. There even seems to be further overclocking headroom. We feel that with some voltage tweaking frequencies in excess of 1.2GHz will be possible on this video card. When overclocked to those levels, the performance is amazing for this price point. The XFX R7770 also delivered the best full-load power usage, being the most efficient video card here, even when overclocked. If you are going to get a video card in this price range, under $200, we recommend getting the fastest one you can, you need all the MHz you can get on the GPUs of this price range. The XFX R7770 Black Edition certainly has a high frequency out-of-the-box, and room to go even further. Opting for a custom video card, with higher clock speeds and custom cooling will give you the most value in this price range if you are going to go the Radeon HD 7770 route. The extra $20 on the XFX R7770 Black Edition is worth it.

With its overclocking, the XFX Radeon HD 7770 Super Overclocked was able to be between 6% and 12% faster than the regular Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition, allowing it to get closer to the performance level of its main competitors. The GeForce GTX 460 with 1 GB was faster than the XFX Radeon HD 7770 Super Overclocked on 3DMark 11 and DiRT3, with this model from XFX being faster than its competitor from NVIDIA on Battlefield 3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. On FarCry 2, StarCraft II, and Aliens vs. Predator, both achieved the same performance level. The Radeon HD 6850 was faster than the XFX Radeon HD 7770 Super Overclocked on 3DMark 11 (Entry profile) and Aliens vs. Predator, with this model from XFX being faster than the Radeon HD 6850 on StarCraft II, DiRT3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Battlefield 3. On 3DMark 11 (Performance profile) and FarCry 2, both achieved the same performance level.

What AMD brings to the table with the HD 7770 is the performance close to the HD 6850 yet at lower power consumption and greater computing power. Additionally, the card also brings DirectX 11.1, PowerTune, HD3D, and a slew of display ports. Unfortunately, the pricing of the card makes it hard to sell especially for consumers looking for the best performance for the buck. With the performance-level similar to the HD 6850 and GTX 460, it essentially has the same performance as cards one to two years old. Making the matter worse, AMD priced the card to be higher than the HD 6850. The HD 7770 is really not a bad card when we account for all of the new features and its strength and performance but it really should be selling at below $140 at price similar or slightly below the HD 6850. The HD 7770 is in direct competition from AMD's own HD 6850 which is selling at a lower price point. For people who are looking to upgrade from GTX 460 or GTX 550 Ti, the HD 7770 is certainly worth considering. However, users who already own HD 6850 or HD 6870 should not upgrade to the HD 7770 unless they have an urgent need for lower temperatures or power consumption. With NVIDIA getting ready to release the next generation of GPU, the HD 7770 will be hard pressed to stay competitive in its current price bracket.

XFX Radeon HD 7770 Black Super OC Edition is a great card in any respect. XFX overclocked its HD 7770 Black Super OC to 1120MHz for the GPU, whereas the GPU reference clocks stand at 1000MHz. The only thing where this card doesn't do to well is the price. We won't blame XFX for the $179 price tag, since it is our opinion that its Black Super OC is worth the extra $20. In our eyes, it is AMD who went a bit overboard with its pricing. Thankfully, the AMD still has time to play around with price corrections, since it has a solid offer of older $100-200 cards. Reference HD 6850s go for about $135 and they're quicker than the reference HD 7770. Luckily, XFX weaved some of its magic and put some punch into its HD 7770 Black Super OC, which is slightly faster than the HD 6850. XFX's HD 7770 Black Super OC comes with dual slot cooling with twin fans. The cooler does its job very well without being noisy. Despite the factory overclock, the card's power envelope remained at reference values. In other words, this is a card that boasts one of the best consumption-per-watt ratios. Playing on 1680x1050 is ideal for this graphics card, although 1920x1080 is possible as well, of course - depending on the game.

Although the XFX R7770 Black Super Overclocked Edition with Double Dissipation card benefits from XFX' first-rate hardware (2 ounce copper PCB, solid Japanese capacitors, dust-resistant fans, etc.), it's not enough to justify the much higher price. This card simply isn't competitive in the current market.

AMD's new Radeon HD 7770 delivers a substantial improvement over the previous generation HD 5770. The HD 6770 was just a HD 5770 with a "6770" sticker slapped on it, so the upgrade has been overdue. Averaged over all our testing we see more than 20% higher performance from the reference clocked HD 7770 vs. the HD 5770. This puts the HD 7770 on the same performance level as NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460, or a bit below the HD 6850. We have seen great overclocking potential from the AMD HD 7900 Series, and the HD 7700 Series is just like it. Overclocking the cards well beyond 1 GHz is quite easy. We reached between 1140 and 1180 MHz on the cards tested today. Memory overclocks well, too, resulting in a total real-life performance improvement of about 15%. AMD's new generation of graphics processors has great power consumption: below 70W during typical gaming is a first for this performance class. Idle power consumption is also down, at 7 Watts now, which is great for users who spend most of their time with productivity and rarely game. Overall performance per Watt is leading our charts, only to be bested by AMD's other card released today, the HD 7750. XFX's HD 7770 Black Edition Super Overclock has not only the long name going for it. In our testing it could impress us on all fronts. It comes with the largest overclock out of the box, which results in a nice performance increase without any additional tweaking requirement - great for novice users. XFX's dual fan cooler keeps the card cool without problems, provides good additional overclocking potential and is whisper quiet. I also liked the thick metal plate on the front which gives the card a much more "solid" feel than the plastic used on all other cards. The only drawback is that XFX charges a serious price premium for their card - $179 makes it difficult for the card to compete with other, cheaper, products that have been on the market for a while.

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.

Both the XFX and Sapphire HD 7770 perform well under stock and overclocked conditions. I was hoping for a little more performance to be shown off under the HD 7000 series lineup, but we can't have everything. It is a jump up from the HD 6770 cards in performance, but they also cost a little bit more too. Hopefully as the 12.x Catalyst drivers progress, we will see a little more performance from the 28nm cards. Soon, we should be seeing the HD 7800 cards which should be an interesting balance between the big dog HD 7900s and these more budget-oriented HD 7000 cards. As far as Eyefinity testing goes, expect to see those in the next couple of days. All in all, for about $160 this card is suitable for just about anyone who needs a card to play some of the latest games at suitable frame rates and not hurt too much from the purchase. Not only are these affordable, but they are quiet even at full speed and have low power draws at full load. Additionally, they look great with the combination of cooler and PCB schemes and with a short "wheel-base", fitting them into any case short of small form factors should not be a problem.

There is no doubt that XFX put a lot of time and effort into the design of these cards. They aren’t just great looking but they perform really well. These are the most powerful cards right now in this price range. These cards represent a really amazing value for the budget minded gamer. This is the market that these cards are aimed and they really do hit the mark. One thing that I am not all that impressed with is the way that the cooling shroud allows most of the hot air from the card to be dissipated within the case. If you don’t have a case with very good airflow, this is something to consider. To be perfectly honest though, there wasn’t all that much heat being generated from this card. It really didn’t blow that much hot air out of it at all. Using our laser thermometer we never recorded temperatures above 52 degrees Celsius on the GPU and the exhausted air was never more than 40 Celsius. That’s pretty impressive and it means that you really don’t have to worry that much about airflow. It’s always my recommendation though that you have a dedicated fan directed at your graphics cards and a decent exhaust fan for the top of your case.