Reviews - Sapphire Radeon HD 7730 1GB GDDR5

[HEXUS]

Meet the entry-level GCN card.

Read more.

[3dcandy]

I can only find DDR3 versions in stock after a very quick look about. At £57+ they're bad value at moment...

[sirtrouserpress]

I would like to know how this GPU performs directly against an APU such as the mid-range A8 or better still the old A6-3670 (which I still have )

[glitch]

Trinity/Richland A8 iGPU performs almost like a HD6570 so HD7730 is much better than any A8 APU.
Actually is better than any APU.

[scaryjim]

Much faster, largely thanks to its DDR5 memory interface. GCN isn't that much more efficient per shader than VLIW4 that Trinity and Richland both use, so you're looking at 384 shaders @ ~800MHz in both cases, but the 7730 is much much faster due to the much higher memory bandwidth on tap.

Although I agree, it would've been nice to see this paired with a lower end set up like a Core i3 or higher-end APU, which it's more likely to be coupled with in a real build.

Also, it'll make more sense when Kaveri lands, as the 384 shader GCN architecture will couple well in dual graphics.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I was expecting to be based on Oland. Sadly it isn't:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/Z/394...inal/Power.png

Oland with GDDR5 would probably have consumed less power than an HD6670 GDDR5.

[hb904460]

Would have been nice to include the 7750 in the charts, for comparison, as that card can be bought for only a few pounds more.

[flufflogic]

For around a tenner less than a 2GB GDDR5 7750, though, it's a terrible option. At £50 this might have a use.

[HalloweenJack]

hmmmm I can find DDR3 based ones - now how does one of those stack up with an A10 (or even an A8)


maybe grab one of those and test?

[Zak33]

this is the kinda card that makes me smile.

you can imagine the situation... your mate says "just bought a new Dell, and it's lovely, but it's crap at my games...."

you go see it.. and its a good machine, strong CPU and ram, but onboard graphics.

"will it cost me a fortune?" he says?

Nope.... gimme £70 and we're sorted... get the games loaded!