Earlier this year we covered a whole collection of HD 7790’s from various manufactures but there was one missing. I was a little late getting my hands on a Sapphire card and due to other launches I’m even later getting to telling everyone about it. That does mean we have a chance to compare how the HD 7790 is performing now and along with that we get to see how Sapphires Dual-X dual fan cooling design performs. If its anything like the past few aftermarket cooler designs that we have seen from Sapphire I should be very happy.
Product Name: Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X
Review Sample Provided by: Sapphire
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Specifications
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Specifications |
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Display Support |
4 x Maximum Display Monitor(s) support with 1 DisplayPort connected supports up to 3 display monitor(s) without DisplayPort 4 x Maximum Display Monitor(s) support |
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Output |
1 x HDMI (with 3D) 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 1 x Dual-Link DVI-D 1 x Dual-Link DVI-I |
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GPU |
1075 MHz Core Clock 28 nm Chip 896 x Stream Processors |
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Video Memory |
1024 MB Size 128 -bit GDDR5 6400 MHz Effective |
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Dimension |
215(L)x106(W)x35(H) mm Size. 2 x slot |
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Software |
Driver CD |
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Accessory |
DVI to VGA Adapter 6 PIN to 4 PIN Power Cable |
Packaging
Packaging for the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X takes from your standard Sapphire packaging but this time around they went with a red coloring on the bottom half. Ruby is all camo’ed up and ready for a fire fight with her gun hanging off her back and ammo hanging all over her. Although the packaging doesn’t give you the full details or specifications, you do have most of the important info like the model name, 1GB of ram, and the fact that this is an overclocked card. Around back there is a feature list with each having a nice icon next to them. Along with that you will also find a “what’s in the box” listing to show you what to expect before you dig in although to be honest the list is fairly general.
Inside the card is wrapped up in the padded static protective bag that I always love from Sapphire and sitting in a formed tray. All of your accessories are in the section along the bottom as well.
With everything out, we can see that the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X comes with a crossfire bridge, a very long Molex to six pin adapter, a DVI to VGA adapter, and an HDMI cable. Although HDMI cables keep getting cheaper and cheaper, it’s still great to see that they included one, this is rare to see with any of the other manufactures.
The Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X comes covered in plastic as well on top of the padded bag that it is shipped in.
Card Layout and Pictures
The Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X’s main feature is of course the Dual-X cooling. What that gets you is the two fan design that you can see below along with a cooling design similar to what we have seen from other non-reference designs. There is a heatsink that runs the length of the card with heatpipes that run from the heatsink to right on top of the GPU. This design helps spread the heat out over the larger cooler to make the dual fan design most efficient. To cover it all up Sapphire has covered it all up with a two tone plastic fan shroud that has an interesting edgy design that does a good job catching your eye. Being plastic this is a little less than what you get from XFX, ASUS, or MSI for example material wise.
From the top view we can see a few of the heatpipes going directly to the GPU to pull the heat out and onto the heatsink to keep things cool.
Even though most of the fan shroud does seem to funnel most of the air out of the case, the end of the card is completely open. This means that part of the heat of the card will also vent into your case. This is the price you pay with non-reference cooling generally, but it is something to keep in mind if your case has very limited ventilation.
The Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X comes with a full sized display port connection, a full sized HDMI connection, and two DVI connections (one with analog support). Sapphire has also packed the back panel full of ventilation, slipping vents in between each connection and even a few short vents above the Display Port connection.
Here we have two things going on. First you can see that the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X has a single crossfire connection meaning it will be limited to dual crossfire. Also here we have a good look at the Sapphire logo on the top section of the fan shroud. It’s not huge or flashy and because of that it looks good. This is much better than the stick on Sapphire stickers that we have seen on some of their previous cards.
For power, much like the other HD 7790’s that we have tested the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X has a single six pin power connection to power everything.
Last but not least, if you take a look at the back side of the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X you will see that Sapphire went with a black PCB. This is a small feature that goes a long way when you remember that the back of the card in your case is what you see the most. It’s also interesting to see that the PCB has been extended simply just to line up with the Dual-X cooler, you can see that they didn’t mess with anything other than moving the power connection out slightly for clearance.
Our Test Rig and Procedures
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Our Test Rig |
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CPU |
Intel i7-3960X |
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Memory |
Corsair Vengeance 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM Quad Channel (4x4GB) |
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Motherboard |
Asus Rampage IV X79 Motherboard |
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Cooling |
Intel Active Thermal Solution RTS2011LC |
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Power Supply |
Cooler Master Gold Series 1200 Watt PSU |
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Storage |
Kingston Hyper X 120 SSD Seagate Constellation 2tb Hard drive |
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Case |
High Speed PC Test Bench |
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Our Testing Procedures |
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Bioshock Infinite |
Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Bioshock Infinite on the “Xtreme” quality setting. This has a resolution of 1920x1080, FXAA turned on, Ultra Texture detail, 16x Aniso Texture Filtering, Ultra Dynamic Shadows, Normal Postprocessing, Light Shafts on, Ambient Occlusion set to ultra, and the Level of Detail set to Ultra as well. |
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Tomb Raider |
Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Tomb Raider on the “Xtreme” quality setting. This has a resolution of 1920x1080, Exclusive Fullscreen turned on, Anti-Aliasing set to 2xSSAA, Texture Quality set to Ultra, Texture Aniso set to 16x Aniso, Hair Quality set to TressFX, Shadow set to Normal, Shadow Resolution on High, Ultra SSAO, Ultra Depth of Field, High Reflection quality, Ultra LOD scale, Post Processing On, High Precision RT turned on, and Tessellation is also turned on. |
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Hitman: Absolution |
Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Hitman: Absolution on the “Xtreme” quality setting other than the MSAA setting is turned down from 8x to 2x. That setting puts the resolution at 1920x1080, MSAA is set to 2x, Texture Quality is set to High, Texture Aniso is set to 16x, Shadows are on Ultra, SSA is set to high, Global Illumination is turned on, Reflections are set to High, FXAA is on, Level of Detail is set to Ultra, Depth of Field is high, Tessellation is turned on, and Bloom is set to normal. |
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Sleeping Dogs |
Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Sleeping Dogs on the “Xtreme” quality setting. That means our resolution is set to 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing is set to Extreme, Texture Quality is set to High-Res, Shadow Quality is High, Shadow Filter is set to high, SSAO is set to High, Motion Blur Level is set to High, and World Density is set to Extreme. |
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F1 2012 |
We use the built in benchmark for F1 2012. We set our resolution to 1920x1080 and then use the “Ultra” setting. |
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Batman Arkham Asylum |
We used the built-in benchmark set to 1920 x 1080, Multi Sample AA 16XQ, Detail Level, Very High, Bloom: Yes, Dynamic Shadows: Yes, Motion Blur: Yes, Distortion: Yes, Fog Volumes: Yes, Spherical Harmonic Lighting: Yes, Ambient Occlusion: Yes, PhysX: Off |
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Total War: Shogun 2 |
Direct X11 Benchmark High setting |
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Crysis 2 |
Using Adrenaline Crysis 2 benchmark. 1080p, 4x Anti-Aliasing, DX11, Laplace Edge Detection Edge AA, on the Times Square map, with hi res textures turned on. |
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Battlefield 3 |
Using Fraps with the game set to Ultra settings with 4x MSAA Antialiasing Deferred, 16X Anisotropic Filter, at 1920x1080. |
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Sniper V2 Elite |
1920 x 1080 resolution, graphics detail set to ultra |
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Dirt Showdown |
1920 x 1080 resolution, 4x MSAA multisampling, Vsync off, Shadows: ultra; Post Process: High; Night Lighting: High; Vehicle Reflections: Ultra; Ambient Occlusion: Ultra; Water: high; Objects: Ultra; Trees: Ultra; Crowd: Ultra; Ground Cover: High. |
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Metro Last Light |
Using the included benchmark tool. The settings are set to 1920x1080, DirectX 11, quality is set to very high, Texture filtering is untouched at 4x, and motion blue is set to normal. SSAA is unselected, PhysX is unselected, Tessellation is off. We run through scene D6 three times to get an average score. |
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Synthetic Benchmarks |
For video cards our synthetic benchmarks are limited to 3DMark Vantage 2011, and 3DMark 2013 (AKA 3DMark). In 3DMark Vantage 2011 we run both performance and extreme benchmarks. The same goes for the most current version of 3DMark, we run through Fire Strike on standard and extreme settings. |
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Unreal Heaven Benchmark 4.0 |
Using the “Extreme” preset |
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Unreal Heaven Benchmark 4.0 heat testing |
We run through Unreal Heaven at 1080p for 30 minutes to test in game heat performance and noise output of the card while under load. |
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Power Usage |
Using Unreal Heaven Benchmark 4.0, we get our “load” power usage number from the peak power usage during our test. We get our numbers from a Kill-A-Watt connected to the test benches power cord. |
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Noise Testing |
Our Noise testing is done using a decibel meter 3 inches away from the video card on the bottom/fan side of the card. We test an idle noise level and then to get an idea of how loud the card will get if it warms all the way up we also turn the fan speed up to 100% and test again. The 100% test isn’t a representation of typical in game noise levels, but it will show you how loud a card can be if you run it at its highest setting or if it gets very hot. |
Cooling, Power, and Noise
So we have taken a look at the Dual-X cooling design but really what is important is how it performs right? Let’s take a look at the numbers and see where it falls. First up is its actual cooling performance. It’s interesting to see how it compares to the other HD 7790’s that we have tested. When under load it comes in a little warmer than the XFX dual fan cooler but the Gigabyte also out performs with its single large fan as well. It does outperform the Diamond though. I was expecting a little better but the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X isn’t at the bottom of the pack as well.
With two fans I wouldn’t expect the noise to outperform the single fan designs but to be sure I put the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X through our standard noise tests. At idle the noise level was higher than any of the other cards tested, but we are only talking about small differences from card to card. Under load the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X comes in the middle of the pack but it is the noisiest HD 7790 tested by two decibels.
As for power usage the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X at idle comes in slightly higher than the other HD 7790’s. I suspect this is related to the noise level as well, if the fans are running at a little higher speed it is going to pull a little more wattage. Under load though the Dual-X was on par with the Diamond card and less than the Gigabyte and XFX cards, not bad at all!
Synthetic Benchmarks
To start off our performance testing I put the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X through our synthetic benchmark suite. As expected it came right in the middle of our other HD 7790 results in each of the synthetic benchmarks. This still puts the performance right in line with the GTX 650 Ti Boost that Nvidia has kept on the market at least through the end of the year according to the product maps that they provided during the GTX 760 launch.
In game Benchmarks
Now we are on to the most important performance numbers, in game performance. I put the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X through our 12 game benchmark suite to see how it performed. I was specifically interested in Metro Last Light because this was implemented after our previous HD 7790 coverage. At the settings we tested, the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X comes in close to what most would call a playable FPS at 29FPS, turning things down slightly would get you up a little higher if you needed it without effecting quality much.
On all of the other benchmarks the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X came in right in the middle of the other HD 7790’s tested, just like in the synthetic benchmarks. Most of the games tested will get you performance in between 30 and 40FPS while there are a few games like Batman, Dirt Showdown, and F1 2012 where you will get higher than 60 FPS or in the case of Batman 145FPS. Of course on Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs you are going to need to turn down your settings considerably to get playable frame rates at a 1080p resolution. That is the downside to going with a budget card though, they won’t play everything perfectly.
Overall and Final Verdict
With every manufacture making multiple versions of the HD 7790, it’s hard for any one card to stand out. After spending time with the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X I feel that Sapphire has a card that will do the job just fine but doesn’t really stand out in an already crowded market. I loved the styling of the Dual-X cooler and had high hopes because of my previous experiences with their coolers but the performance just wasn’t amazing when compared to the other HD 7790’s that we have tested. Having said that, the actual in game performance was spot on with all of the other cards meaning beyond noise/cooling you are getting the same thing. The Dual-X does have a nice rebate going on right now that makes it a cheaper option than any of the other overclocked cards that we have tested, with that into account I think it’s what I would go with. But if the prices were even I would go with a card with a little better cooling/noise performance. In fact with the rebate this card comes in cheaper than most HD 7770’s as well. As for the price compared to Nvidia’s current options, this price point puts the Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X right in line with GTX 650’s and within a few dollars of GTX 650 Ti’s while you are getting performance comparable to the GTX 650 Ti Boost, meaning this is a great option in this price range.
