Entry level graphics cards aren't designed to push as many pixels per-second as their high-end counterparts, but they still play a vital role in the market. In fact, graphics cards priced at or below the $100 mark make up the largest share of GPU's sold worldwide. The simple reasoning for this is that most home PC users can be categorized as light to moderate gamers who use their computers mainly for tasks such as photo editing, streaming videos, surfing the internet and multi-tasking. For this large majority, the graphics cards' price and manufacturer support are more essential than the absolute gaming power of the product.
In our labs we have two graphics cards that are positioned directly at these home PC users that are looking for a product that offers enough support for any type of use, but still inexpensive enough to be purchased by virtually anyone. Don't let the low prices fool you though, both the cards on our testing block can still pack quite the punch when it comes to gaming.
The first card is the Sapphire HD 6770 Vapor-X, which is the more powerful of the two graphics cards we are going to be looking at. However it does come with some controversy behind it. This is because the HD 6770 is essentially an HD 5770, as both use the same Juniper based GPU and have the same memory sub-system. The only real difference between the HD 6770 and its predecessor, aside from the new name, is that it comes with an tweaked BIOS that adds additional support. Also, as part of the Vapor-X line of graphics cards the HD 6770 has an updated Vapor chamber thermal solution.
The second card is the Sapphire HD 6670 Ultimate. This card is slightly the less powerful of the two, but it still has a 1GB GDDR5 frame buffer and 480 Stream Processing Units to allow it to fare reasonably well in resolutions at or below 1050p. Also, since the HD 6670 has been on the market for a few months now, Sapphire has had enough time to tweak with the design of the board using a custom PCB and adding an updated passively cooled thermal solution.
The HD 6770 Vapor-X and HD 6670 Ultimate have an MSRP or $134.99 and $99.99 respectively, but to improve the overall value Sapphire is including a free copy of DiRT 3 with both models.
The Sapphire HD 6770 Vapor-X is essentially a HD 5770 Vapor-X with an upgraded BIOS that adds support for HDMI 1.4a and UVD 3 video decoding. These updates will allow the HD 6770 to support features such as HD3D technology, meaning this card will have no issues supporting the resolutions and bit-rates needed to run H.264 MVC (Blu-ray 3D).
Aside from the updated BIOS, Sapphire has also improved the cooling of the model by adding their highly-efficient vapor chamber cooling solution and also by increasing the GPU clock speed to 860MHz. All other specifications are the same as any Juniper XT based graphics card, giving the HD 6770 Toxic-X some 800 Streaming Processors, 36 Texture Units and 16 ROPs. The memory sub-system is also the same, as it uses a 1GB GDDR5 frame buffer that comes clocked at 4.8Gbp/sec on a 128-bit interface. With these specifications there won't be any surprises in terms of performance, and this board will function at roughly the same level the the previous generation HD 5770.
The back of the board includes four of the eight Hynix based memory modules along with solder points for a single 6-pin power connector. The layout of the board is extremely similar to that used by the Sapphire HD 5770 Vapor-X, with the only noticeable difference being the PCB coming in blue instead of black. From this view you can also see the board includes dual CrossFire connections, which indicates this model can support up to 4-way CrossFire. It is nice to see this feature wasn't dropped, as most of the mid-range Northern Islands graphics cards only include 2-way CrorssFire support.
The reference HD 6850 has a TDP of 146 watts. Since the Vapor-X is only overclcoked by 10MHz, this model should have a similar power requirement, but it will be a couple of watts higher to compensate for the overclocked frequency. At 146W the board only requires a single 6-pin PEG power connector. The HD 6770 also supports AMD PowerPlay technology, which dynamically adjutants the power management for a consumption rating when idle.
The video output options on the HD 6770 Vapor-X include a HDMI 1.4a port, a single DisplayPort and dual DVI ports. The HDMI port has been updated through the BIOS to support Stereoscopic 3D Format, Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio. Also, like other models in the series the HD 6770 can support Eyefinity, but unlike the other models the DisplayPort does not utilize the 1.2 standard, so it can only support one display and not three independent displays. This gives the card Eyefinty support of up to three monitors, but either an adapter or DP monitor will be need to enable the third monitor.
In our labs we have two graphics cards that are positioned directly at these home PC users that are looking for a product that offers enough support for any type of use, but still inexpensive enough to be purchased by virtually anyone. Don't let the low prices fool you though, both the cards on our testing block can still pack quite the punch when it comes to gaming.
The first card is the Sapphire HD 6770 Vapor-X, which is the more powerful of the two graphics cards we are going to be looking at. However it does come with some controversy behind it. This is because the HD 6770 is essentially an HD 5770, as both use the same Juniper based GPU and have the same memory sub-system. The only real difference between the HD 6770 and its predecessor, aside from the new name, is that it comes with an tweaked BIOS that adds additional support. Also, as part of the Vapor-X line of graphics cards the HD 6770 has an updated Vapor chamber thermal solution.
The second card is the Sapphire HD 6670 Ultimate. This card is slightly the less powerful of the two, but it still has a 1GB GDDR5 frame buffer and 480 Stream Processing Units to allow it to fare reasonably well in resolutions at or below 1050p. Also, since the HD 6670 has been on the market for a few months now, Sapphire has had enough time to tweak with the design of the board using a custom PCB and adding an updated passively cooled thermal solution.
The HD 6770 Vapor-X and HD 6670 Ultimate have an MSRP or $134.99 and $99.99 respectively, but to improve the overall value Sapphire is including a free copy of DiRT 3 with both models.
The Sapphire HD 6770 Vapor-X is essentially a HD 5770 Vapor-X with an upgraded BIOS that adds support for HDMI 1.4a and UVD 3 video decoding. These updates will allow the HD 6770 to support features such as HD3D technology, meaning this card will have no issues supporting the resolutions and bit-rates needed to run H.264 MVC (Blu-ray 3D).
Aside from the updated BIOS, Sapphire has also improved the cooling of the model by adding their highly-efficient vapor chamber cooling solution and also by increasing the GPU clock speed to 860MHz. All other specifications are the same as any Juniper XT based graphics card, giving the HD 6770 Toxic-X some 800 Streaming Processors, 36 Texture Units and 16 ROPs. The memory sub-system is also the same, as it uses a 1GB GDDR5 frame buffer that comes clocked at 4.8Gbp/sec on a 128-bit interface. With these specifications there won't be any surprises in terms of performance, and this board will function at roughly the same level the the previous generation HD 5770.
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