AMD launches HD 7750 and HD 7770 graphics cards

AMD today officially released the Radeon HD 7770 "GHz Edition" and HD 7750 graphics cards. Built on the Cape Verde GPU core, and using the GCN architecture introduced with Tahiti, these are AMD's new entry level discrete graphics cards, and offer a competitive power/performance ratio within their target price range.

Following close behind Tahiti, Cape Verde represents a push toward the entry level market. Charts compiled by AnandTech show that the HD 7700 series cards have a lower power usage than most similarly positioned GPUs, a factor which is important to many mainstream computer users. HD 7750 uses no external power cables, so draws power exclusively from the PCI-E slot, giving it a maximum rated power usage of 75W. HD 7770 has a single 6-pin PCI-E power connector giving a theoretical maximum power usage of 150W, to supply the rated maximum power draw of 100W.

GPU	HD7970	HD7950	HD7770	HD7750	HD6850	HD6770
GPU Clock	925 MHz	800 MHz	1000 MHz	800 MHz	850 MHz	850 MHz
Memory	3GB	3GB	1GB	1GB	1GB	1GB
Memory Clock	5.5 GHz	5.0 GHz	4.5 GHz	4.5 GHz	4.8 GHz	4.8 GHz
Memory Bus	384-bit	384-bit	128-bit	128-bit	256-bit	128-bit
Bandwidth (GB/s)	264	240	72	72	128	76.8
Compute Units	32	28	10	8	n/a	n/a
Texture Units	128	112	40	32	48	40
Z/Stencil ROP Units	128	128	64	64	128	64
Color ROP Units	32	32	16	16	32	16
Theoretical Single Precision Performance	3.79 TFLOPS	2.87 TFLOPS	1.28 TFLOPS	819 GFLOPS	1.5 TFLOPS	1.36 TFLOPS

As the table above shows, there is a large drop in both compute units and memory bandwidth from Tahiti to Cape Verde. This gap will be filled by the Pitcairn GPU, expected in March, which is rumored to have 22 compute units (HD 7870) and 20 (HD 7850). Also, the theoretical maximum compute power is lower on both cards than either HD6850 or HD6770. So it looks like AMD are trying to fill a wider market segment with less discrete cards from the new GCN architecture. This could be good news for anyone who wants to experience a GCN graphics card but doesn't have the finances to buy a higher performing card.

Other graphics cards at a lower performance level than Cape Verde will use the older Northern Islands GPUs, which are expected to be mostly Turks (HD 6600) and Caicos (HD 6400). These will be the same cores that will be used in Trinity APUs. It is normal practice for AMD to recycle graphics cores at the low end, and only update them every couple of generations, so this is no surprise.

Cape Verde GPUs use the same technologies as Tahiti, including the new Graphics Core Next architecture, ZeroCore Power and PowerTune, all of which make them more efficient with lower power usage. They are built using a 28nm process, which will also be used for Pitcairn GPUs (HD 7800 series).

Cards from various manufacturers, including Sapphire, Powercolor, HIS, XFX, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI, are (or will be) available worldwide, with a starting price of $159 for HD 7770 1GB cards, and $109 for HD 7750 1 GB cards.