To buy 7770 OC or not OC

[snorri788]

I am going to get a Radeon HD 7770 for my new build, but don't know if i should stump up the extra £10 or so for the OC version. I had my eye on XFX or Sapphire.

Can I achieve the same clock rates with the non-OC version, thus saving me a tenner?

 

[jtenorj]

Possibly. It depends in part on the cooler. Can you link the cards you are trying to decide between?

Edit:After searching pcpartpicker.com(UK option), the cheapest 7770 with a good cooler is xfx double d for 96 pounds inc VAT and carriage at scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-radeon-hd-7770-dd-core-edition-4500mhz-gddr5-28nm-gpu-1000mhz-640-cores-displayport-dual-lin

Add the card to your cart to see final price with carriage and VAT. Unless you can get one for cheaper, I'd go with that. I hope this is helpful to you.

 

[snorri788]

http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=56510
1GB XFX Radeon HD 7770 DD Black Edition Super OC, 1120MHz

http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=53717
1GB XFX Radeon HD 7770 Core Edition, 1000MHz

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00776DHXW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Sapphire Radeon HD7770 OC Graphics Card 1150 MHz

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00761YFGQ/ref=asc_df_B00761YFGQ9814216?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B00761YFGQ
Sapphire Radeon HD7770 Graphics Card 1000MHz

 

[snorri788]

What about the XFX OC? It's considerably cheaper than the Sapphire

 

[jtenorj]

I don't know if you have read or take stock in newegg user reviews, but I would go with the cheapest xfx. The double d is a good cooler, and those
sapphires are supposed to clock very high, but users had more issues with the sapphires and the double d versus the simpler xfx core model. Some
users got a pretty decent overclock out of it as well. Based on all that, I change my vote to the cheaper of the 2 xfx cards you linked. Hope this helps.

 

[ish416]

I bought this one and have it running at 1175 Mhz Core / 1535 Mhz memory with no issues at all:

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-11201-00-20G-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B00782U10W/

 

[snorri788]

I have bought the XFX core DD from scan.co.uk

I'll give it a quite review in here. Hope it's good. Definately a step up from my ageing 8600GT

 

[snorri788]

Stuck the card in yesterday and it doesn't work. CCC won't install and I get no display output. I only get the Catalyst installer program, no drivers or anything. Please help!!!

 

[jtenorj]

It's been a while since I installed amd graphics card drivers. If you boot in safe mode, you should at least be able to get a display with the default windows graphics driver. If not, there may be something wrong with the card. You will need to have .NET 4.0 installed if you want to run catalyst control center in windows 7. Visit amd.com(safe mode with networking) and use the support and driver link, select desktop graphics, radeon hd series, hd7000 series, and your os. You will be given a list including Catalyst 12.8(whql?), 12.9 CAP 1, and 2 12.9 beta downloads(the latest beta driver with and w/o .NET 4.0 support).

You probably want at least catalyst 12.8 and 12.9 CAP 1, or you may want to try the 12.9 beta in either form(which you download will depend on whether you have .NET 4.0 installed). Install and reboot. Hopefully, all will go smoothly from there. Good luck.

Edit: maybe you should go with the 12.9 beta w/.NET 4.0 support.

 

[snorri788]

Unf the beta drivers don't work. I have .NET 4.5 installed. I think that the card is DOA. Will call XFX tomorrow I think.

 

[jtenorj]

Tough break. I hope the replacement card works alright.

 

[snorri788]

Tough break. I hope the replacement card works alright.

Hopefully Scan will take it back. I saw that they sell insurance for these cases which i did not take, so I am worried that they will not accept the faulty card

 

[jtenorj]

Even if scan doesn't take it back(which they should in a short period if it doesn't work in exchange for another), it is under the xfx warranty. You can send it to them for a replacement(not sure about all that since you live in the UK, but the warranty should apply to you as well).

 

[snorri788]

Looks like I might be able to get it running with a BIOS update. I checked and the card is not supported as is. However a BIOS update allows support for the 57** series. Maybe the 7770 will work with this update?

 

[jtenorj]

Are you referring to your mobo bios?

 

[snorri788]

Yeah. It's a AsRock 2CORE1333 mobo