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

By Benjamin Kraft, Igor Wallossek
published

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.

Benchmark Results: DiRT3, StarCraft 2, And Battlefield 3

DiRT3

DiRT 3 used to be one of AMD’s favorite games and benchmarks. But, for some reason, the GCN-architecture seems to struggle with it more than it should. Nevertheless, our prototype board with its engineering sample GPU places right where we expect within the Radeon hierarchy. This time, it can’t touch Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560s, with or without Ti suffix, indicating very good driver optimizations on Nvidia’s part. That would also explain why even the older GTX 580 is able to pull ahead of the Radeon HD 7970.

StarCraft II

While the Radeon HD 7850 and the card with the prototype chip are basically neck and neck, slotting in right behind the 6850 and 6870, the field is pretty tightly packed in general, indicating a strong reliance on CPU power. In other words, our processor is the most likely bottleneck.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 also shows our pre-production board right where it belongs within the line-up of Radeon cards. It enjoys a small yet clear lead over the Radeon HD 6870, while the Radeon HD 7770 barely ties the HD 6850. This time, the two GeForce GTX 560s remain just out of reach, although the engineering sample’s frame rates are smooth enough as well.

Benjamin Kraft
Benjamin Kraft
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