Benchmarking AMD's 768-Shader Pitcairn: Not For Public Consumption

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Last week we reported that an engineering sample card with 768 shaders accidentally found its way into our lab instead of the HD 7850 we were expecting. This GPU may be meant for engineers, but it piqued our interest, since it happens to fill a large gap.

Test Setup And Benchmarks

For this review, we're using the same hardware that also helps us generate our VGA Charts, giving us consistency across a wide number of cards and, consequently, a large number of competing products for the sake of comparison. There is one small change to note: as a result of the wear and tear associated with constantly switching out graphics cards, the x16 PCIe slot on our Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 B3 literally came off the board. We are using the Gigabyte Z68X-UD5 B3 in its place, giving us identical performance.

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2012 Graphics Charts Test Bench
CPUIntel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge), 3.4 GHz @ 4.5 GHz (45 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache
CPU CoolerProlimatech SuperMega plus Noiseblocker Multiframe
MotherboardGigabyte Z68X-UD5 B3, Intel Z68 Express
RAM2 x 4 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600
System DiskKingston V100+ 256 GB SSD
ChassisCooler Master Lab
Power SupplyCorsair AX1200
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1

In the same vein, we are also drawing on our gaming benchmark suite used for the VGA charts. Rather than testing with all three of our current presets, we chose the one most relevant to this card, namely Performance. You can find the specific settings used for each benchmark in its corresponding chart. For more information about our methodology, feel free to check out our article Meet The 2012 Graphics Charts: How We're Testing This Year.

71 Comments Comment from the forums
  • woe96
    i want one, that a amazing place in performance and probably only be $200
    Reply
  • s3anister
    I would never buy this card for myself but I would find myself recommending a 1GB model, like you mentioned, to family and friends. If the price is right AMD could have a great mid range card.
    Reply
  • wolley74
    while a nice card, the 6850 is incredibly close and nearly $60 cheaper, the only thing is it does consume more power
    Reply
  • borden5
    oh man that single slot would be really nice for people who wanted small factor rig
    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    Wouldn't 2 7750s in crossfire perform better than this rig and also consume less power at the ~$200 price point?
    Reply
  • erraticfocus
    Slomo4shOWouldn't 2 7750s in crossfire perform better than this rig and also consume less power at the ~$200 price point?
    Maybe, depending on your local market, but the single slot and price point is the whole point to this...
    Reply
  • Say hello to the AMD HD Radeon 7790.
    Reply
  • pwnorbpwnd
    This card would be an AMAZING pick for an HTPC, Single slot, Low power, 2gb DDR3 for HDTV's, not to say 1gb wouldn't be okay. But really AMD, do it up! All of this positive feedback is great reason to make a crippled 7850!
    Reply
  • weatherdude
    This card performs great and a 1 GiB version selling at ~$200 would fill in a very large gap in the market. It would only make sense if AMD is cooking up something they'll likely call a 7830 to do just that. I guess though it would differ from this engineering sample if they're so insistent that they aren't bringing it to market. Maybe it'll have less texture units or ROPs.

    Still this card with 1 GiB at ~$200 would be pretty sweet AMD *nudge* *nudge*.
    Reply
  • Doesn't the 7770 have 40 Texture Units and not 14?
    Reply