Sapphire HD7850 Plug & Play Test

Now I know that a lot of people when they look at a review, they normally see the GPU performance tested on optimum pc hardware. While it's great to see the latest Gpu perform at their full potential, one tends to wonder “what if I don't have a good or balance system?” “Will the game run on my non-optimised pc on high quality settings?” “Will my Cpu that’s bottlenecking the card hampers the game to be unplayable?” And even “will my chassis be big enough to fit it?”   etc.

In short, this test is to see if one can still enjoy the latest games on an older or not-so-great RIG. This test will be focusing more on the playability of the games instead of the capabilities of the card, so I won't be testing on Furmark. I will also leave everything on stock values because I just wanted to know if the system could let the user enjoy playing games when they only know how to plug & play the GPU into their system   this will help the less IT-Savvy community breathe easier.

So having said that, I decided to jump head on & bought the Sapphire HD7850, install it on my own ‘mediocre' pc to see what kind of gaming performance we could get on a pc that most of us are and probably will be stuck with for a few years.

System setup:

• AMD Phenom x3 710 @ stock speed 

• Asus M4N785TD-V Evo

• Kingston DDR3 value ram 1333mhz, 8gb total 

• Samsung 500Gb Hdd & WD Blue 1Tb Hdd

• Huntkey 700W Apfc PSU

• Cooler Master CM690II Advanced 

• Dell 20" monitor (1600 x 900 )

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

• Sapphire HD7850 2GB (non-oc)

Software used: 

• HWMonitor

• Unigine Heaven Benchmark 3.0

• MSI After Burner v2.1.0

Games tested:

• Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0

• Dirt 3

• Battlefield 3

Testing method:

FPS will be recorded through the MSI AB and noted while playing games on the highest settings & explain the experience as best I could. In-game benchmark will be used instead if it’s provided. Temperatures will be captured by HWMonitor where its launched after 10 mins the PC is turned on to get the idle temps while the max temp shall represent the load temp after a game of Battlefield 3 for about 10mins.

The FPS Numbers Explained (Courtesy of Tweaktown.com)

When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Seconds (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother.

30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no dramas.

60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better and as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.

So without further ado….let the tests begin  

As you can see, the HD7850 idles at about 33C, which is good but the weird thing is that the fan kicks into 50% speed when it hits 34C, looks like some tweaking on the fan settings is needed. 

Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0 scores

(Quoted from the Unigine website) Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced UNIGINE™ engine. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk. It is the first DirectX 11 benchmark in the world, the original version was released at the moment of Microsoft Windows 7 launch in October, 2009.

The FPS count dips to 18 is when the test started. Average FPS is at 34.8 which is decent so games that have high graphical requirements may be played but I'll need to tone down the details a bit should I need that extra FPS.

Dirt 3 

Dirt 3 was relatively easy to test as it has a built-in benchmarking tool, released in May 2011 it’s a beautiful game utilising DirectX 11 which I expect to have the GPU working hard.

• Here are the settings used on this game with details set to Ultra where available

• And here is the result of the benchmarking

• To my surprise (and joy), the game is very playable on stock settings, although the with the average FPS at 62.13 and even if the minimum FPS is below 60, I hardly notice any difference while the game was running. There are some screen tearing every now and then but the game runs gorgeously nonetheless.

Battlefield 3 

Most of us would look for this game in online benchmarks, Dice’s Frostbite2 engine is said to tax the GPU heavily with its state of the art tessellation and lightings. Again, let me highlight that I'm running an AMD PhenomII x3 710 at stock settungs here so there is bound to be bottlenecks.

• Here is the screenshot of the game settings, which is of course set to Ultra, 4xMSAAAA enabled,16x AF enabled & HBAO enabled

Intro cut scenes are a breeze with over 200fps. However, once in the heat of the action, the game is not as smooth as I’d like it to be as the frame rates would dip as low as 29FPS at some point and as high as 57FPS when there is less action on the screen. So you might wanna tone down the settings a bit to play it smoothly. The game averaged at about 66FPS after a re-test with the AF lowered and HBAO disabled.

Summary & Conclusion

As you can see, even on a mediocre RIG like mine one can enjoy the latest games without sacrificing much on details on 1600x900 resolution. With the Sapphire HD7850 retailing for about RM760 in KL (Apr 2012), I’d say it’s an affordable GPU for most people looking for an upgrade. Size wise, it’s rather small so I doubt it will have trouble fitting in most standard ATX chassis. 

As a bonus, the card runs at a cool 55C on load (room temp) with the fans running at 50% on auto. You will hear a low hum coming from the GPU depending on where you placed your chassis (I had mine beside the monitor BTW) a good job from Sapphire for this cooler. Further tweaking of the fan settings Via MSI AB leaves the card inaudible at 30% fan speed idling at about 36C.

Although some sacrifices need to be made to the details of Battlefield 3, the overall experience is unaffected. Other games such as Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age 2 runs smoothly on full details even with the processor bottleneck in my system. This means that anyone that has the same or slightly better system will be able to enjoy the latest games without much trouble. You do need to consider a few things though, do remember that all the games in this test is running at a resolution of only 1600x900 so for 1080p the results will definitely be different.

Unboxing & Review : BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 120mm

Another article, another excitement! BitFenix is back to play hosts in my Unboxing & Review and this time they have sent me 2 of their newest Spectre Pro LED 120mm fans.

BitFenix as most of you would know entered the PC Hardware scene with their Colossus chassis that made waves in the modding community. They claim to be "Focused on combining superior design with the latest advances in technology, BitFenix creates state-of-the-art computer hardware and peripherals that blur the line between man and machine." and so far they haven't been disappointing.

Now, I often have people asking me for recommendations as to what kind of fan to use in their PC chassis or 3^rdparty heatsinks and I know I’m not alone in this. So this article will cover the BitFinix Spectre Pro LED 120mm fan as a focus and I will test it against 2 other well known fans in the local market.

Please bear in mind that I will not be able to test all aspects of the fans so the results will be limited to cooling the CPU mounted on the budget-friendly and widely used Cooler Master Hyper 212+.

The Unboxing

BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 120mm

Special thanks to BitFenix once again to provide 2 of their newest Spectre Pro LED 120mm fans one blue and another being white. 

The Spectre Pro LED is packed in a compact black box with a large window that shows the blades portion of the fan itself.

 The back details the specs of the fan.

And out of the box, you'll get the fan itself, a 5V molex adaptor, an LED control extension wire and a small bag of rubber mountings and washers for further noise reduction. I love what they have done here with the frame pattern and colour (smoked transparent) a few of these on a radiator should look sweet!! The 9 blades feels quite robust as they are reinforced with grooves to ensure that they stay in shape during operation. Through my experience, fans with wider blades often have higher Static Pressure ratings which made them suitable to be mounted on a CPU cooler or a radiator as they are able to force air through the tightly weaved fins to effectively dissipate the heat.

Instead of the traditional 4-spoked frame on most fans, the Spectre Pro has 12 spokes in total. This is so that the inner frame doesn't get distorted when it is separated from the outer frame. Yes you've heard me right, the modding community out there would be happy to know that the dual frame construction means that the outer square frame can be separated from the inner circular frame. So let your imagination run wild there folks though you do have to somehow disconnect the 5V LEDs that's affixed to the outer frame before doing so (the non-LED version doesn't have this issue). The Spectre Pro series are by all means high performance class fans, not many of these have LED lightings and honestly, not many of them looks this good. 

The LEDs can be turned on/off with the use of the BitFenix Hydra Pro fan controller simply by connecting the jumper onto the Hydra Pro with the included wire. It does seem that you could fix a simple switch to the jumper to replicate the effect but I have no sources to verify this. Alternatively, you could just do away with the jumper to turn the LEDs off should you desire. At about RM40 a piece, it is competitively priced and the features looks promising.

And here is how the BitFenix Spectre Pro LEDs look like in push/pull on the Hyper 212+, just bear with me on the mismatched colours.

The Competitors

Aerocool Shark Blue LED 120mm

This is something I picked up because of the aesthetics sometime around April 2012 so the packaging is long gone but you could check it out at Aerocool's website to have a look.

This unit was popular due to the way it looks when the LEDs are lit up, they were one of the few chassis fans out there that is bundled together with a speed limiter cum extension, sleeved connectors and rubber mounts; to top it off, it's relatively cheap compared to other fans with similar bundle. The downside? it's a pain to clean. with 14 blades all together separated by a few millimetres, it's no east task to get them completely dust-free.

Here is how they look like when mounted on the Hyper 212+

Artic F12 120mm PWM

This is a particularly well-known fan and probably the most used fan in the local forums. Basically it generated such a hype with it's good cooling/noise ratio for a fraction of the price from other high-performance 120mm fans which has caused it to be out of stock in local retails for quite some time.

The box is fairly plain-overall white with an illustration of the fan. The 6-year warranty on this thing will surely outlast a few builds.

This is the newer version of the F12 with the updated CFM rating. Another nice feature is the PST where you could daisy chain a few of them together sharing from a single motherboard header. If you're like me where there are only 3 fan headers on the motherboard with one of them being PWM, this feature is a lifesaver.

Here is how they look like when mounted on the Hyper 212+.

Here are all of the fans' specs in a nutshell:

Fan Name	Rated Speed (RPM)	Air Flow	Air Pressure	Bearing	Voltage	Noise Level	Current
Artic Cooling F12 PWM	600 - 1,350	74CFM / 125.7 m3/h	N/A	Fluid Dynamic Bearing	6V - 12V	0.3 sone (~ 12 DBA)	0.24A
Aerocool Shark Blue LED 120mm	1500	82.6CFM	1.273mmH2O	Fluid Dynamic Bearing	<9V - 12V	26.5 DBA	0.30A
BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 120mm	1200	56.22CFM	1.24mmH2O	Fluid Dynamic Bearing	5V - 12V	18.9 BDA	0.18A

It is almost an apple to apple comparison here as all the fans here are using the same type of bearing and dimentions. The variance in this test therefore, will be the speed and design. Please note that the Aerocool Shark is able to spin at 1800RPM despite of the rated speed of 1500RPM.

Tools/software used

• CPU-Z Ver 1.63.0.x64
• HW monitor Ver 1.21.0
• Bitfenix Recon Fan Controller
• Room temps to recorded via digital thermometer

Testing Methodology

The heart of my PC is an old AMD PhenomII x3 710 that is running on stock 2.6Ghz. 

All the fans will be mounted on the Hyper 212+ in push pull configuration in an enclosed BitFenix Shinobi XL with single 200mm top exhaust fan active at 500RPM. All fan speeds are controlled with the BitFenix Recon 5-Channel Touch Screen fan controller.

The following tests will be conducted:

• Test 1 – Both fans cranked to rated full speed via BitFenix Recon fan controller, temps taken after 30mins of said activity via HWMonitor
• Test 2 – Both fans are set at 1000 RPM via BitFenix Recon fan controller, temps are taken after 30mins of said activity via HWMonitor

To get the Idle temperature, HW Monitor is activated after 30mins of switching on the PC (no process). Only Max temps will be noted. This is then followed by Gaming for 30 minutes and Prime 95 for 30 minutes. As I do not have a sound measurement device, I have opted to record the fans while in operation via a desktop microphone.

Testing Results

The first test made all of the fans seems neck to neck with minor differences. At room temperature (30 degrees C) all 3 fans were almost neck to neck on idle with the Artic F12 faring better especially during Prime95 compared to the other 2. However, if you consider the speed of which these fans are spinning, the BitFenix Spectre Pro LED (1200RPM) is not too shabby as it's able to keep the temperature level with the Aerocool shark that's spinning at 1800RPM.

In test 2, we can see static pressure plays a big role here. Keeping the fans at 1000RPM does make the system operate at a higher temperature but the trade-off is that the fans are barely audible which is always good when you're listening to soft music and watching movies. The BitFenix Spectre Pro and the F12 performed similarly by being cooler than the Aerocool Shark overall. This means that both the Bitfenix Spectre Pro LED and the Artic F12 is able to operate effectively at lower speeds thanks to higher static pressure generated from their blade design whereas the Aerocool Shark depended on it's speed to push the air through the fins of the Hyper 212+. 

And here are the sound samples for the fans:

Conclusion

Having seen how the fans perform, the BitFenix Spectre Pro is definitely a viable choice in my books. I could understand how the Artic F12 is a favourite choice but the LED lighting option available on the Spectre Pro may well be BitFenix's gain. Another factor is that during the 1000RPM test, the BitFenix Spectre Pro LED matched the cooling performance of the Artic F12 which makes it even more appealing to me.

It's not like that the Aerocool Shark is a bad fan at all though, personally I still like the design and aesthetics but you'd have to settle with the loud noise of it when it's spinning at full speed. my suggestion? use it as a chassis fan instead of mounting it on a heatsink/radiator and plug in the speed resistor that's included.

It's very creative how the inner frame of the Spectre Pro can be separated from the outer frame, I do hope  that they will do something about the LED connectivity so that the LED version can be separated as easily. The low speed of only 1200RPM doesn't affect the cooling performance much while being quiet during operation makes it truly worthy to be used on a heatsink/radiator. Being available in 120mm, 140mm, 200mm and 230mm means that you could go for a theme build as well.

Pros

• Unique separable dual frame for easy cleaning or modding
• Quiet and effective
• Good looks with or without LEDs
• Available in almost, if not all sizes
• Competitively priced

Cons

• LED version needs a bit of tinkering before separating the frame

Unboxing & Review: Armaggeddon Phantom

This must be a first, the title for Armaggeddon Unboxing is shorter than usual haha. Jokes aside, We do have a Phantom unboxing & review here courtesy of Leapfrog Distributions.

For those of you who have been reading my articles (Thank You), you'd be pretty familiar about Armaggeddon's concept of gaming peripherals if not already to bring to the community gaming peripherals that is full of features without costing an arm and a leg. For a fairly new brand, Armaggeddon have made quite an entrance to the gaming community. If you're a fan and/or player of DotA 2, you might've noted that they hosted the recent DotA2 Grand Slam Asia 2013 in Singapore.

Straight from Armaggeddon's website, here are the Phantom's specifications & features:

• Macro-able™  Laser Class Gaming Mouse with 256KB on-board memory
• 7-level CPI adjustment on-the-fly [Default 600/1200/2000/3000/4800/6400/8200CPI]
• Adjustable light effects and up to 24 colour options indicate profile selected
• 6 Buttons + 4-Way Click scroll [Save Up to 11 Macros (6+5) in each profile]
• Assign button of choice for switching between 5 different profiles
• CPI toggle switch for both increasing and decreasing CPI on-the-fly
• Adjustable polling rate: 250Hz-4ms/500Hz-2ms/1000Hz-1ms
• High performance tracking speed: up to 150 inches per second
• 6-level adjustable weight management system
• AVAGO Laser sensor: AVAGO 9800
• Ultra durable 1.8m nylon cord
• High quality Teflon foot pad
• Frame rate: 12,000fps
• Acceleration: 30G

Phantom design for gamers:

• Rubberized Coating for Long Hours of Comfort
• 4-Way Click Scroll [save up to 3 macros/single keys]
• Scroll Up
• Scroll Down
• Scroll Left Click [Macro-able button]
• Scroll Right Click [Macro-able button]
• Scroll Click [Macro-able button]
• CPI Toggle Allows for 7 steps of increase/decrease of Mouse Sensitivity and [2 Macro-able button]
• Ergonomic right-handed design with [2 Macro-able button] for left and right click button
• Light Indicator shows Profile [Save up to 5 profiles in 256KB of onboard memory]
• Rubber grips on right and left sides, with grooves for more traction
• Lower button near thumb within easy reach [Default: Double Click] and [Macro-able button]
• Additional button within easy reach of middle finger [Default: Change LED color] and [Macro-able button]
• 2 Above thumb buttons design [Default: backward and forward] and [2 Macro-able button]
• Light indicator shows CPI level according to saved settings [Default: 600 / 1200 / 2000 / 3000 / 4800 / 6400 / 8200CPI]

Looks to be lotsa hype with this Phantom, for RM199.00 it looks to be quite a bargain for all these features. Let's get down to the product to determine if it lives up to the claims above shall we?

The Unboxing

So enough rattling, let's get on with the Phantom. Armaggeddon went for a rusty metal theme on the retail box that showcased the Phantom mouse on the main cover along with some of the features on the bottom left. Three main features are "badged" on the slanted side of the box, indicating that the Phantom has weight adjustment, 7 levels of CPI adjustment up to 8200 DPI and 256KB of onboard memory.

More of the features on the side.

The back details the features of the Phantom with visual pointers to show where exactly everything is.

Opening the flap, you will find an illustration / guide on the weight management system as well as some more descriptions of the switches used, the embedded sensor and the "Teflon" feets. On the opposite side is the mouse encased in a clear plastic shroud to let buyers inspect the product before proceeding to the checkout.

Prying the box open is standard affair and inside you'll find the mouse itself, a user guide, installation mini CD, a pill-box and extra Teflon feets. Very thoughtful of them to include the extra feets, even though they claimed that the ones on the Phantom is of high quality and will save us the hassle to looking for replacements once the original ones are exhausted. If you haven't guessed it already, the pill box contained the weights for the Phantom.

The Phantom mouse comes with a braided cable and terminates to what seems to be a gold plated USB connection (though there are no claims of it). The braided cable is somewhat stiff but flexible enough to be used without any problems. The top coating is rubberised except for the LED window on the palm area and the grey boarders. Mouse wheel has a solid scroll feedback to it and the 4-way click is easy to actuate. Can't say the same for the CPI switch behind the wheel though as you'd have to push it up / down to adjust the CPI and to me it seems a bit finicky as I prefer the 2-button click style. But you do get to switch anywhere between 600 to 8200 CPI.

The left side of the Phantom are where the 2 forward and back thumb buttons are situated. The textured rubber grip on this side is just okay, not as soft and comfortable as the one implemented on their own Armaggeddon G11 but it gets the job done. Note that there is an extra button on the thumb rest area that serves as a double-click by default; very creative in my opinion as it adds to the functionality of the mouse while having it easily accessible with the thumb. This button is also macro-able so let your imaginations run wild folks!! Up at the front part is where you'll find 4 LED indicators for the CPI levels.

At the right side, they've used the same textured rubber grip and another macro-able button that's accessible to the right ring-finger. By default, pressing this button will change the LED lighting on the palm area of the Phantom but not the profiles.

At the bottom are four Teflon feets, the Avago 9800 sensor and the access for the weight management system of the Phantom. Adding weights is an easy task, simply slide the small button to the side and the cover will slide right off, all that's left after that is to get the weights from the pillbox and insert to the corresponding slots under the mouse. There is no mention of how much each of these weight though so those of you who prefer a heavier mouse will have to feel it for yourself and taking it out is a pain as there is not much room for my fingers to get a grip on the weights.

 The Phantom is a sizeable mouse that will fit mostly medium to large hands. In the side by side comparison, you can see that it is about the size of a SteelSeries Ikari.

 The Software

Installation of the software suite is standard as usual, you pop the cd into the drive and just follow the prompt on the menu. For those of you that do not have a CD/DVD drive for whatever reasons, head on to Armaggeddon's website to download the driver.

First screen is the home base. Nothing much to do here except read so lets move on.

The second screen is the button settings. Here users will be able to assign specific commands to every button on the mouse. Just mouse-over to any of the drop-down menus on the sides and it will indicate the corresponding button that you're able to change. There are lots of commands that you could assign to each of the buttons which includes your normal cut, copy & paste to macros plus the option to disable the said button should you desire. After customising your Phantom, you could save it as one of the 5 profiles into the Phantom; that way you could bring these settings with you into your next LAN party without having to install the software suite. The factory default button will wipe all your customised settings so do be careful not to accidentally press it.

The colour settings tab lets you... erm... set colours to each of the profiles. You could also adjust the lighting intensity and the pulsating effects but there is only 24 colours to choose from not that it matters since you will not be able to see much of the mouse while using it.

Finally, we have the advanced setting tab that will allow you to set the mouse sensitivity, speed, scroll speed, double click speed, polling rate, axis and the CPI settings. 

Usage experience

Now when it comes to mouse, I tend to choose one that I could hold comfortably and that said, the Phantom is quite comfortable to use, buttons are responsive and it is quite sturdy but I do have qualms about the CPI switch (I prefer buttons) but since I could reassign any buttons on the Phantom it really is a small matter. Lift on the mouse is not adjustable but it seems okay while I was on my FPS games and glide is pretty much okay on a number of surface.

I do find one thing strange about the Phantom, where is the profile switch button? I mean think about it... the Phantom comes with built-in memory to store custom settings, but there is no way to change profiles without having to go into the software suite, kinda disappointing if you ask me.

Conclusion

In the end, the Phantom is a decent gaming mouse overall. You get a comfortable grip and contour, rubberized grips and coating, LED lighting and even weight adjustments that's all packed around the Avago 9800 laser sensor. A good package for the price.

Even if the Phantom probably eluded the designers on adding a profile switch button. Having to rely on the software suite to change profiles is not too bad, it only means that the Phantom is pretty much tied to your own PC as you'd need to install the software suite in order to switch between profiles. On the bright side, you'd be sure to know what profile you're on.

Pros:

• Tons of features for the price
• Good design, comfortable to use
• All buttons are macro-able

Cons:

• No physical profile switcher despite the on-board memory
• No specification on the weights