The VaporX Sapphire HD 7770 GHz OC Edition brings Quiet Overclocking to HD 7000 series

Performance Charts, Overclocking, and Noise

Overclocking and temperatures

Both the Sapphire HD 7770 GHz OverClock and Vapor-X Editions always ran cool and quiet due to their custom cooling and superb tuning at the factory. Even at the maximum overclock, the fan still did not ramp up loudly and one would not be irritated by even 70% if they used a manual profile.

The card sips power due to using just one 6-pin PCIe slot and takes advantage of the smaller 28nm process. In both cases, we were able to achieve a small core overclock, and no fan adjustment allowed it to go higher as each card was still running cool, so we kept the stock fan profiles for them in our testing.

Overclocking

Overclocking was easily accomplished using Sapphire’s own TriXX software

This is actually the first time that we used TriXX and it compares favorably with other vendor’s perhaps more well-known software.  It allows some voltage tweaking and we set ours to the maximum when we overclocked.  We did not adjust the fan profile as the card stayed cool under maximum load; we would have liked more voltage.  Surprisingly, Sapphire makes no mention of TriXX on their CD or the Vapor-X box although you can find it on their web site.

We got a very nice overclock on our Vapor-X memory to 1375MHz which was far more than we attempted with our OC Edition. Unfortunately, our sample of the Vapor-X HD 7770 could not quite make the 1200MHz that our OC edition managed (1200/1250MHz) so we settled on 1175/1375MHz as our highest stable overclock in all conditions still using the ultra-silent stock fan profile.

If the end user wants a bit more overclocking headroom or perhaps to stabilize an overclock, they have the option to increase the fan speeds and still have very quiet gaming.  About 60% is where it first starts to become noticeable on either card.  Other than that, the dual-fan solution of the Vapor-X is effectively silent during gaming.  It is very slightly quieter than the OverClock edition which is already a quiet running card.

Vapor-X technology and Noise

Vapor-X Technology is covered thoroughly on Sapphire’s web site.  Vapor Chamber Technology is based on the same principles as heatpipe technology. A liquid coolant – water in the Vapor-X 7770’s case – is vaporised at a hot surface, the resulting vapor is condensed at a cold surface, and then the cooled liquid is returned to the hot surface as controlled by a wick system.

Sapphire’s Vapor-X flattens the entire system into a slim chamber which is designed to contact the GPU.  Since the chamber is evacuated to a very low pressure, the water vaporisation process occurs at a much lower temperature than its normal boiling point. The card can be used in any orientation due to the flexible design of the wick system.

Here is how it works from Sapphire’s own diagram and explanation as found on their site:

1. Heat source heats Vaporization Wicks.
2. Working fluid, pure water, is easily vaporized due to the extreme low pressure (<104 Tor or less)
3. Water vapor moves easily through the vacuum until
4. It meets the Condensing Wick – adjacent to the cooled surface – and turns back to a liquid state.
5. The liquid is then absorbed by the Transportation Wick by capilary action and moved back towards the Vaporization Wick.
6. The recycled liquid is then reheated and re-vaporized by the Vaporization Wick and the process repeats.

The heat source is the overclocked and hot Cape Verde graphics chip and Sapphire’s Vapor-X module is mounted in contact with it as its entire surface transfers the heat into the cooling fins at the same rate, making it more efficient than most copper heatskinks.  Two dual-fans then work to transfer cooling air through the fins and to keep the surface of the Vapor-X module cool.

The result is a cool running Vapor-X HD 7770 even when overclocked.  And because it is cool-running, the fan’s rpm can remain lower and thus your card is very quiet even under load as we have noted.

Performance Charts

Before we look specifically at the performance of the new Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7770, let’s review the position the Sapphire’s GHz OverClocked edition  (1150MHz/1250MHz) occupies versus a reference HD 7770 (1000/1125MHz), and also overclocked to 1200/1250MHz.  In that evaluation, we also compared the OverClocked Edition against the GTX 550 Ti, the GTX 560 and the GTX 560 Ti, as well as AMD’s own discounted HD 6870 and the HD 6770 that the HD 7770 is replacing.

The Vapor-X Edition will also generally fit in where the 1150/1250MHz HD 7770 fits in (2nd column) to give you an idea of general performance versus the competion.  The ranking will not change with the Vapor-X edition although there may be a slight variation in the numbers as we shall see when we compare directly to the GHz OverClock edition.

As we can see from our charts, most of our games show the HD 7770 losing to last generation’s now discontnued HD 6870 and to the GTX 560. The HD 7770 only comes fairly close to them performance-wise in a few games and we can surmize that the HD 7770 would be closer to the HD 6850’s performance. Mostly the HD 7770 comes in ahead of HD 6770, and trades blows with the GTX 550 Ti, the Radeon winning more than it loses. The GTX 560 Ti certainly outclasses them but then it is much more expensive.

Now let’s look very specifically at the performance of the HD 7770 Vapor-X edition versus the performance of the OverClocked edition.

Vapor-X vs. OC edition

The first column represents the Vapor-X HD 7770 GHz OC edition out of the box experience with the latest Catalyst 12.4 drivers. The second column represents the out of the box experience with the HD 7770 GHz OverClock edition under identical conditons.  The third column represents our Vapor-X HD 7770 user-overclocked as far as we could go with the maximum voltage under Sapphire’s TriXX but with the stock fan profile; from the Sapphire reference clocks of 1100/1300MHz to 1175/1375MHz, and way up over AMD’s HD 7770 reference clocks of 1000/1125MHz.

In most cases, the stock Vapor-X HD 7770 is edged out by the GHz OverClock editon until it is overclocked and then in all cases, it is faster.  Of course. the OverClock editon still has some headroom, so the performance edge will mostly swing back to it.  In most cases, there is little performance difference and the main concern for most gamers will be the Vapor-X’ features and its extra quietness compared to the GHz OverClock editon.

Overclocking and temperatures

The Vapor-X Sapphire HD 7770 GHz OC Edition always ran cool and quiet due to its custom cooling and superb tuning at the factory. Even at the maximum overclock, the fans still did not ramp up loudly and one would not be irritated by even 70% if they used a manual profile.  The Vapor-X edition maintained temperatures in the mid to upper 60sC where the OverClocked edition would edge into the low 70sC.  Unfortunately, this made no difference to the overclock because the voltage is rather locked down by TriXX.

The card sips power due to using just one 6-pin PCIe slot and takes advantage of the smaller 28nm process. We were able to achieve only+50MHz more on the Vapor-X’ core and no fan adjustment allowed it to go higher as it was still running cool, so we kept the stock fan profile.