We got our hands on two Radeon HD 7730 cards from Sapphire: one with 2 GB of DDR3 and the other sporting 1 GB of GDDR5. How do they compare to AMD's Radeon HD 6670s, and what might we glean from these boards about the upcoming Kaveri-based APUs?
AMD introduced its Graphics Core Next architecture in the Radeon HD 7970's Tahiti GPU way back in December of 2011. In the 20 months since then, the company's Radeon HD 7750 was the lowest-end model based on GCN. Below that, you'll find older VLIW5-based Radeon HD 6670, 6650, and 6450 boards. Those cards have been around so long that OEMs are rebadging the Radeon HD 6670 as a 7670 just so it sounds new. Bleh.
But AMD recently (and quietly) started shipping a new entry-level Radeon HD 7730 in Asia. Then, it started trickling into Europe. According to Sapphire, you'll soon see it in the U.S. as well.
Although a budget-oriented board centering on GCN isn't going to elevate anyone's heart rate, we really want to see how it compares to the Radeon HD 6600-series cards. More significantly, perhaps, the Radeon HD 7730 may give us a glimpse of AMD's next-generation APU, code-named Kaveri, which my not show up until early 2014.
There's a lot of misinformation floating around about the 7730's GPU, so we cleared things up with AMD to get you a more accurate depiction of its Cape Verde LE graphics processor.

We're not surprised that the Radeon HD 7730 comes armed with a cut-down version of the Cape Verde GPU found in AMD's Radeon HD 7750 and 7770. Both mid-range models have been around for quite a while, and it makes sense that the company would sort its chips to put the imperfect ones to use. The 7730's specifications are also typical of AMD's sub-$100 line-up. Two of Cape Verde's four render partitions are disabled, leaving eight full-color ROPs per clock. An aggregate 128-bit memory interface remains. The GPU has six of its 10 compute units turned on, each hosting 64 ALUs and four texture units, adding up to 384 shaders and 24 total texture units.
Before you try too hard to compare the number of shaders, texture units, ROPs, and memory bandwidth to AMD's Radeon HD 6670, remember that both GPUs leverage different architectures. So, while the 7730 comes up short against the 6670's shader count, we aren't expecting it to be slower. In fact, it should be more efficient, using less power for comparable performance.
When it comes to clock rates, the Radeon HD 6670 and 7730 share the same 800 MHz core frequency. The DDR3 versions of both cards employ 900 MHz memory, while the GDDR5 model of the Radeon HD 7730 enjoys a 125 MHz advantage over the 6670's 1 GHz setting. At the same time, the Radeon HD 7730 GDDR5 is specified for a 17 W-lower TDP than the Radeon HD 6670 GDDR5.
| GeForce GT 640 DDR3 | Radeon HD 6670 | Radeon HD 7730 | Radeon HD 7750 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shader Cores | 384 (Kepler) | 480 (VLIW5) | 384 (GCN) | 512 (GCN) |
| Texture Units | 32 | 24 | 24 | 32 |
| Color ROPs | 16 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| Fabrication process | 28 nm | 40 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Core (Shader) Clock | 900 MHz | 800 MHz | 800 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 891 MHz DDR3 | 900 MHz DDR3 900-1000 MHz GDDR5 | 900 MHz DDR3 1125 MHz GDDR5 | 1125 MHz GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 28.5 GB/s DDR3 | 28.8 GB/s DDR3 64 GB/s GDDR5 | 28.8 GB/s DDR3 72 GB/s GDDR5 | 72 GB/s |
| Idle/Max Thermal Design Power | 15/65 W | 10/44 W DDR3 11/60 W GDDR5 | 47 W | 55 W |
| Price | $80-$140 (Newegg) | $60-$80 DDR3 $75-$98 GDDR5 (Newegg) | ~$69 1 GB GDDR5 ~$79 2 GB DDR3 (MSRP) | $90-$155 (Newegg) |
Based on its specifications, we're thinking that the Radeon HD 7730 will probably perform a lot like the Radeon HD 6670 with the same memory technology on-board. That means it will do battle in the space underneath AMD's $90 Radeon HD 7750.
The competing Radeon HD 6670 GDDR5 and GeForce GT 640 show up too close to the superior 7750, so we have to hope the 7730 starts in the $60 range. Right now, that's what AMD is asking for its Radeon HD 6670 DDR3, which we consider to be the best entry-level discrete card.
Sapphire HD 7730 DDR3 and GDDR5

Sapphire sent us two Radeon HD 7730s to test. One is equipped with 2 GB of 900 MHz DDR3 and the second has half as much GDDR5 memory operating at 1125 MHz. Measuring 6.5"x4.25", both PCBs are the same size as AMD's reference Radeon HD 7750, although Sapphire employs a beefier dual-slot cooling solution. The two samples actually look pretty similar from up top; really, the biggest differences are down on the board.

The boards also look alike from the back, though you can see the 2 GB model's extra DDR3 memory up top.

Both of Sapphire's Radeon HD 7730 cards feature dual-link DVI, HDMI, and VGA outputs. It's unfortunate that you don't get DisplayPort connectivity, which you'd want for a three-screen Eyefinity setup.

The 7730's 47 W TDP falls well below a 16-lane PCI Express slot's 75 W ceiling, so you don't need an auxiliary power input.
Sapphire's Dual-X cooler is equipped with a single 75 mm axial fan, and the cooing block is solid aluminum with no heat pipes.
AMD doesn't arm these cards with a physical bridge connector for CrossFire, though the multi-GPU technology is purportedly supported via software.

Given an entry-level target, you don't get much bundled with these cards: a driver CD, quick installation card, and Sapphire's registration card. There are three different output connectors, so adapters really aren't necessary anyway. And although this a Radeon HD 7700-series product, we're told that these low-budget boards do not qualify for AMD's Never Settle game bundle.

- AMD's Radeon HD 7730: GCN Goes Entry-Level
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Results: Compute Performance
- Results: Metro: Last Light
- Results: BioShock Infinite
- Results: F1 2012
- Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Results: Tomb Raider
- Results: Company Of Heroes 2
- Power And Temperature
- Radeon HD 7730 Is Good, If The Price Is Right
Your comment, while being perfectly accurate, actually made me notice something interesting. Take a look at the charts, and you'll see that the GCN 7730s are less affected by the switch from DDR3 to GDDR5 than the VLIW 6670s! That means GCN is leaving less performance on the table if it's paired with slower memory, which is ideal for the situation an APU is usually in (PS4 aside).
Your comment, while being perfectly accurate, actually made me notice something interesting. Take a look at the charts, and you'll see that the GCN 7730s are less affected by the switch from DDR3 to GDDR5 than the VLIW 6670s! That means GCN is leaving less performance on the table if it's paired with slower memory, which is ideal for the situation an APU is usually in (PS4 aside).
The "secret sauce" that could really catapult this one would be if some of its disabled pieces might be able to be switched on.
Hopefully AMD has done more power optimisations and that won't be the case.
Also, how is this Cape Verde GPU a "Harbinger Of The Kaveri APU"? It is a trimmed down 7750 and since a 7750 can provide no real insight into the performance of upcoming Kaveri APUs then how does this entry level card provide any better insight?
(73C + 24C ambient = 93C)
Anyway, the GDDR5 HD 7750 looks like a viable game-enabler for PC gamers on a budget. Also, it's a nice refresh for that price point's options. I do hope it sells for around $60 or less. :-D
I have found a Trinity based APU more than enough for a HTPC. I would not have banked on Kaveri matching the XB1 and PS4's custom build silicon as in the name the APU designed for MS and Sony was of custom design and the hardware was always going to scale beyond that for desktop parts. If you offered me HD7730-7750 performance on a Kaveri I would be very pleased with that. What hasn't been brought to light is that the Spectre IGPU on Kaveri features around 512 Stream Processors and increased ROP's and compute units so it may very well be a potent iGPU.
Dual Graphics has improved with Catalyst 13.8 to the point it is now playable, if a Richland can DG with the HD7730's that would be tremendous fo gaming under $200 for chip and card.
All in all, not a bad budget card!
All in all, not a bad budget card!
Trinity's HD7660D and HD7650D are already faster than Intels desktop Graphics in HD4600 ilk and not just on Frame rates but latencies as well, They have done a review of HD5100 and 5200 Pro's with the HD5100 still slower than Richlands HD8670D by a margin and Iris is faster but costs around $600 for the all in one BGA setups which prevent expansion.
Kaveri will be based on the smaller Steamroller cores which will improve performance/watt clock for clock with Vishera based cores and the IGPU will be on a more efficient GCN opposed to the Turks based VLIW4 architecture. If Trinity and Richland are already impressive I think Kaveri is going to top it by at least doubling iGPU over Trinity/Richland and x86 anywhere from 20-40% depending on the nature of the application, then there is HUMA and the HSA environment it think its going to be a very exciting release if you accept it for what it is, it will not be a champion chip in traditional computing sense but in a HSA environment it will blow away everything before it, cue the adobe premier pro benches 6800K vs 3770K is already around 500% faster in that environment AMD is king in integrated graphics AMD will be head and shoulders above its competition.
But for me, I care more about the Kaveri APU. I've heard rumors that the flagship Kaveri APU, probably A10s, would sport iGPU like HD 7750/7770 which has 512 or 768 shaders (but the 768 may blow the sale of HD 7790 so making it 512 shaders is more possible), so we would see better performance. This review has a better picture for us and even if the flagship has equipped only 384 shaders the performance could be still impressive esp. using 2133 or 2400 mhz memory. We're looking forward to the launch of the new APUs and hope it would be a great leap forward compared w/ Richland and Trinity APUs