After reviewing AMD's $550 Radeon HD 7970 in December, nosotros were excited to lay hands on some more affordable Southern Islands cards. That opportunity finally arose in Feb with the launch of the wallet-friendly Radeon HD 7750 and Hard disk drive 7770.

The new mainstream 28nm cards were specially welcomed considering AMD's sub-$200 lineup had grown a petty stale over the years, with the Hd 5750 and 5770 existence shamelessly rebadged every bit Hard disk 6750 and 6770 in the previous generation. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm was short-lived. The Hd 7750 was a tad slower than the last-gen GeForce GTX 550 Ti, though its operation detriment was hands justified by having a lower asking toll and consuming xxx% less ability.

Overall, we determined that the Hd 7750 wouldn't have much to offer for performance junkies (to be expected when y'all're talking about a $110 graphics card), but that it served as a valid option for HTPC-similar builds. That opinion still stands.

Similarly, the Hard disk drive 7770 was priced in line with the GTX 560 at $160, but the newcomer was much slower. At best, the HD 7770 was ~15% cheaper while performing ~ 18% worse, with its simply saving attribute being the substantial xxx% power savings. Sadly, ability consumption becomes less of a concern as yous approach higher-end configurations. We imagine someone shopping for a $160-$200 graphics card would much rather have more operation over lower consumption figures.

At the end of the day, neither HD 7700 serial card really pushed the envelope in terms of value. Part of that presumably stems from the fact that Nvidia hasn't launched its GTX 600 serial yet, assuasive AMD to take its way with the market.

When Nvidia'due south Kepler products finally get in (rumored for late Q1/early Q2), nosotros're hoping some pricing adjustments follow. If (when?) that occurs, the HD 7700 series could become more than attractive overnight -- and not just in single-card setups.

The quondam Hard disk drive 5750 and 5770 were popular Crossfire candidates and the same could exist true of the Hard disk 7700 series if it's priced right. Anticipating that twenty-four hour period, we're testing the Hd 7750 and Hard disk 7770 in Crossfire across more than a dozen games to see how well they scale and compare against cards such equally the HD 6870 and GTX 560 Ti.

Those looking for more info about the Hd 7700 series should read our launch day coverage. Everyone else: buckle up and let'southward have these cards for some other spin.