Introduction

A few weeks ago AMD launched their Radeon HD 7700 Series. The cards use the all-new Cape Verde graphics processor which is based on AMD's new GCN Graphics Core Next architecture that promises increased performance and lower power draw.

Cape Verde is a downscale from the "Tahiti" silicon, on which higher Radeon HD 7900 series parts are based. There are fewer number of redundant components, so Cape Verde is left functionally-identical to Tahiti, but is smaller, built for more affordable graphics cards. Cape Verde also retains the basic hierarchy of the architecture as implemented in Tahiti.



The HIS HD 7770 iCooler features a custom cooler design, but relies on the reference PCB otherwise. Clock speeds are also not increased, but the card is currently the cheapest HD 7770 on the market with a price of $130.

Packaging

Contents

You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Driver CD + Documentation
• DVI Adapter

The Card

HIS is using a blue PCB and different cooler on their HD 7770 iCooler. The PCB design remains the same.


The card requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include a dual-link DVI port, one full-size HDMI port and two mini-DisplayPorts. You may use all the outputs at the same time.

An HDMI sound device is included in the GPU, too. It is HDMI 1.4a compatible which includes HD audio and support for Blu-ray 3D movies. The DisplayPort outputs are version 1.2 which enables the use of hubs and Multi-Stream transport.


You may combine up to two HD 7770 cards from any vendor in a multi-GPU CrossFire configuration for higher framerates or better image quality settings.


Pictured above are photos of the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods etc., please include a link back to this site or let us post your article.