AMD recently expanded their Radeon HD 7000 series with some affordable options which included the HD 7770 and HD 7750. With an MSRP of just $159 US the Radeon HD 7770 is slightly cheaper than the GeForce GTX 560, yet more expensive than the HD 6770 which it is ultimately replacing.

Codenamed Cape Verde XT, this new budget orientated GPU features roughly 1500 million transistors in a die size of just 123mm2. Although the core configuration has been cut down when compared to the old Radeon HD 6770, AMD has adopted the new GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture which is more efficient.

The Radeon HD 6870, which was previously the highest clocked Radeon graphics card to date, operates its core at 900MHz. The Radeon HD 7770 on the other hand comes standard at a much more aggressive 1000MHz. However for those of you who think a 1GHz core frequency isn’t enough, it seems Gigabyte agrees as their OC version comes clocked at 1.1GHz.

The AMD AIC (Add-In Card) partners have been quick to jump on the Radeon HD 7700 series and already just 2 weeks after launch there are well over a dozen different examples. However if you are looking for a Radeon HD 7770 graphics card that sticks to the MSRP while still offering factory overclocking and an upgraded cooler, then we have just the product - the Gigabyte GV-R777OC-1GD, which is arguably the best value HD 7770 graphics card available at $159 US.

The most significant aspect of these Gigabyte cards is that they have been reworked from the ground up, and both the cooler and PCB are not part of the reference specification. In short, this is not your standard Radeon HD 7770.

Measuring just 20cm long, the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC is one centimeter shorter than the AMD reference design. This means the Gigabyte version will suit all mid-towers as well as small form factor cases much better than cards based on the reference design.

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC features their “Ultra Durable 2” design which they guarantee provides better overclocking capability, lower operating temperatures and greater power efficiency. This is made possible by the use of a 2oz PCB board, Samsung or Hynix memory, Japanese solid capacitors, Ferrite/Metal core chokes, and Low RDS (on) mosfet.

The cooler has been upgraded by using a large circular aluminium heatsink, cooled via a huge 100mm fan which generates just 21.7dBA under normal conditions, though when stressed can spin up to create 28dBA of noise. That said, throughout the testing phase we found the card to operate at near silence.

Gigabyte is shipping the HD 7770 OC edition overclocked from factory. The core frequency is boosted by an impressive 100MHz to 1.1GHz, while the memory frequency has been increased from 4.5GHz to 5GHz. This 10% increase in core frequency coupled with the 11% memory frequency boost should provide a few more frames per second.

The Radeon HD 7770 supports Crossfire and so there is a single connector for bridging with an additional card. The only other connectors are on the I/O panel. Gigabyte has gone with the standard configuration here by including a dual DL-DVI connector, a single HDMI 1.4a port and two Mini DisplayPort 1.2 sockets.

All HD 7700 series cards support a max resolution of 2560x1600 on up to three monitors. With a multi-stream hub using the Mini DisplayPort 1.2 sockets, the HD 7770 can drive up to five screens.

Hardware - Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz) - x4 2GB G.Skill DDR3-1600(CAS 8-8-8-20) - Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s) - Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC (1024MB) - AMD Radeon HD 7770 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7750 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6850 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6790 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6770 (1024MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 (1024MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1024MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 (768MB) - Gigabyte G1.Assassin2 (Intel X79) - OCZ ZX Series (1250w) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - Nvidia Forceware 295.73 - AMD Catalyst 12.2

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC provided a 6% performance increase when compared to a standard HD 7770 graphics card in the extreme 3Dmark 11 test, which was enough to place it ahead of the GeForce GTX 460 and Radeon HD 6850 graphics cards.

The Radeon HD 7770 was rather underwhelming when testing with Aliens vs. Predator which was an early DX11 title. The overclocked Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC graphics card doesn’t do much to improve performance here, offering just one more frame per second at 1920x1200 which was a mere 3% performance boost. This meant that the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC was still 19% slower than the GeForce GTX 560, 28% slower than the GTX 560 Ti and 16% slower than the Radeon HD 6850.

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC looks better in Alan Wake, sitting just above the middle of our chart. Although this is a newly released game its engine only takes advantage of DX9 rendering technology, though despite this Alan Wake is still very demanding on the GPU.

With an average of 27fps at 1920x1200 the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC provided 8% more performance than a standard HD 7770 graphics card, while it was 16% slower than the GeForce GTX 560, 18% slower than the GTX 560 Ti and 7% slower than the Radeon HD 6850.

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC performed better in Battlefield 3, averaging 43fps at 1920x1200 making it 5% faster than the standard HD 7770 OC graphics card. This meant that it was also 5% faster than the Radeon HD 6850, while trailing the GeForce GTX 560 by a 7% margin.

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC also looked quite strong when testing with Crysis 2 as it delivered 23fps at 1920x1200, making it 5% faster than a standard HD 7770 graphics card as well as the Radeon HD 6850.

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC had one of its best showings in Just Cause 2, where it averaged 47fps at 1920x1200, and although this meant that it was just 2% faster than a standard HD 7770 graphics card, it was also 2% faster than the GeForce GTX 560. This is the first time the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC has been able to beat the GeForce GTX 560 and yet despite the small win it was still 4% slower than the Radeon HD 6850 and 20% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

The King Arthur II game hammers these mid-range graphics cards when running in the DX11 mode with the visual quality settings cranked up to their maximum settings. The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC averaged just 16fps which is the same frame rate achieved by a non-overclocked HD 7770 OC graphics card. Overall the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC was 6% slower than the Radeon HD 6850 and GeForce GTX 560 graphics cards.

By manually overclocking the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC we were able to push the already overclocked core and memory from 1100/1250MHz to 1155/1300MHz. This mild increase meant that we only saw a 1-2fps increase in the three games that we tested.

The power consumption figures for the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC are almost identical to that of a standard HD 7770 graphics card. When under load we saw a system consumption of 291 watts which is considerably less than the Radeon HD 6850 and GeForce GTX 560 configurations.

The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC features the same after-market cooler as the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti and both cards provided very low temperatures when under load. The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC maxed out at 55 degrees making it 14% cooler than a standard HD 7770 graphics card.

“While we are not entirely convinced that the GeForce GTX 550 Ti is a worthy contender at $149 US, Gigabyte certainly has done a lot to improve its value. When compared to the Radeon HD 6850 which was consistently much faster, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti costs just 15% less despite being around 30% slower most of the time.

So if it were me, I would spring the extra $26 and pick up a Radeon HD 6850 instead. In fact for just $175 US gamers can get their hands on the Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 OC which features a 6% overclock and a seriously improved cooling solution.”

Today the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti costs just $120, which is a far better price for that product. The Radeon HD 7770 on the other hand was released with an MSRP of $159 just weeks ago and at that price even this impressive Gigabyte version is a tough sell.

The reason being that although the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC was on average 4% faster than a standard HD 7770 it was still 4% slower than the HD 6850 and even worse 9% slower than the GTX 560. This is bad news for the Radeon HD 7770 as the HD 6850 starts at just $140, while most custom built factory overclocked cards are priced at $159.

So, almost a year later I find myself writing almost the same conclusion for an entirely different graphics card. Based on current pricing I find the Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 (GV-R685OC-1GD) a more attractive option and until AMD drops the MSRP of the Radeon HD 7770 to something more realistic, like $139, my opinion is unlikely to change.

On a more positive note Gigabyte should be recognized for taking the Radeon HD 7770 and improving it. The shorter PCB design means that the card will fit better in mid-sized computer cases while the use of better components improves durability and could even help with overclocking performance. Finally the upgraded cooler is another significant improvement that not only helps keep this card cool but also very quiet.

So should AMD revise their pricing the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 OC would definitely be up the top of my sub-$200 graphics card list.