Sapphire Radeon HD4770 512MB Graphic Card Review

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 512MB Graphic Card Review

Arrgghh the wait is OVER!!! I ordered HIS Radeon HD4770 in April, to only found out that the shipment was behind the other brands. Chalk 1 up for being early bird, I was still waiting when people else had their card. The cards finally came at a wrong time when I was busy and when I finally found time to test the cards – they refused to work on Windows Vista 32bit! This was later confirmed by the distributor, so I lost like 5 days in total as I waiting for a new batch of cards – this time from Sapphire.

So here it is, the Sapphire HD4770. Don’t blame me for having 2 Sapphire product reviews within the same week. πŸ˜€

The Appearance

The first thing you’ll notice about this card is the rather ugly heatsink, but for me it’s alright as long as it cools the card.

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 Graphic Card Review

Yes, here’s another look at ugly.

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 Graphic Card Review

The next thing would be the mosfet heatsink. πŸ™‚ A very nice addition to a card of this price I must say.

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 Graphic Card Review

Here’s the side profile of ugly, while it seems inadequate, the heatsink and fan did prove to cool the 40nm GPU really well.

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 Graphic Card Review

The ugly heatsink doesn’t seem to be noisy even on load. Noise is noticeable only after pushing the RPM much higher under manual control, like say above 70%.

The Bundle

– Driver CD
– Manual
– 4-pin to PCI Express 6-pin power adapter
– DVI to VGA adapter
– DVI to HDMI adapter
– Component video adapter

Card Details

Here’s a summarized detail of the card.

GPU HD4770
GPU Code Name RV740
Memory Type DDR5
Memory Bandwidth 128-bit
Memory Capacity 512MB
Core Clock 750Mhz
Memory Clock 800Mhz (3.2Ghz DDR)

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 Graphic Card Review

(It’s x8 over there? That’s because I took the screenie while in Crossfire mode.)

More details at the official product page

Test Setup

The computer setup used for this review.

Processor Intel CoreΓ’β€žΒ’2 Duo E7200 @ 3.6ghz
RAM 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition
Motherboard Jetway X-Blue P45
Cooler Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer Heatsink 92mm
Monitor 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD
Power Supply Gigabyte Odin 550 GT
Operating System Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit
Driver Version ATi Catalyst 9.4

The Performance

All tests were done with 4xAA, I no longer use F.E.A.R for benchmark. It is now replaced with Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. πŸ™‚ However I do not have the results for the HD4830 on this test. (Odd isn’t it, F.E.A.R which is an abbreviated title, is replaced with H.A.W.X. which is another abbreviated title. Ahh the funny things we have at goldfries.com)

World In Conflict

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card Average
Sapphire HD4770 23
Sapphire HD4830 21
Sapphire HD4830 OC 25
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 28

Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card Average
Sapphire HD4770 46.9
Sapphire HD4830 30.6
Sapphire HD4830 OC 39.4
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 49.1

Wow, huge gain here. I can’t explain it but it really puts the card right up there with even the higher grade HD4850 card!

Lost Planet : Extreme Condition

Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946

Card Snow (Average) Cave (Average)
Sapphire HD4770 37.6 48.2
Sapphire HD4830 38.4 49.0
Sapphire HD4830 OC 42.4 54.0
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 49.6 59.6

Very close eh?

Crysis

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card Average
Sapphire HD4770 12.87
Sapphire HD4830 11.74
Sapphire HD4830 OC 13.62
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 14.11

H.A.W.X.

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050, not using DX10.1 for mode.

Card Average
Sapphire HD4770 38
Sapphire HD4830 33
Sapphire HD4830 OC 35
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 42

Furmark

Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050

Card Average
Sapphire HD4770 20
Sapphire HD4830 23
Sapphire HD4830 OC 26
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 25

Operating Temperature

Furmark was used for graphic card stressing.

Card Idle (°C) Load (°C) Stress (°C)
Sapphire HD4770 43 59 69
Sapphire HD4830 44 64 86
Sapphire HD4830 OC 44 67 90

Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.

Sapphire Radeon HD4770 Graphic Card Review

– Load, Furmark was run for 1 minute at 1680×1050 with 4xAA.
– Stress, Furmark was run under the Stress Test mode for 5 minutes.

I’m pleased with the temperature, I like how the card gave such awesome performance yet still being so cool with the reference cooling unit. Impressive!

Power Consumption

Please note that the numbers below indicate the wattage for the entire system, not the graphic card alone.

System Power Consumption Idle (w) Load (w)
Sapphire HD4770 56 121
Sapphire HD4830 44 193
Sapphire HD4830 OC 44 206
ASUS EAH4850 TOP 73 239

Readings taken with Gigabyte’s P-Tuner software.

The card seems impressive in terms of power consumption too! So now we not only have less heat but also less power drain, which actually explains why it’s less hot.

Conclusion

Realistically speaking – it’s nothing grand! There, I said it – NOTHING GRAND. I don’t know what’s the hype about the HD4770 because it just took over the price that was formerly occupied by the HD4830 cards and still performs similarly to the HD4830.

Put it simple, the same was done with HD4830 before, it’s just that the HD4770 is a little better but it’s not like OH SO GREAT like everyone else says so in the forums and all. The only main difference in my book, is the reduction of power consumption and lesser heat generated.

Alternatively, you could actually get the same performance for at a much lower cost with the HD4830, especially a used one. πŸ˜€ Confused? Just take the HD4770 la aiyoh, what’s so difficult about that? Go for the HD4830 if you want to cut cost. If you have a HD4830 already, there’s no good reason for you to sell it off just to get a HD4770.

Btw I’m selling them off at RM 375, want it?

goldfries recommended

13 thoughts on “Sapphire Radeon HD4770 512MB Graphic Card Review

  1. It’s nothing big if it’s a single card, but if CrossFired Tom’s Hardware claimed that it is on par with 4870,4890 with a cheaper cost.

    Why don’t you CrossFire the card and review it? πŸ™‚

  2. @purlezz – of course la. crossfire is 2 graphic system combine, the only single card crossfire is when HD3450 with HD3200 which is an onboard system. πŸ™‚ still 2 graphic systems combined.

    @xcen – yes, indeed it’s HD4870 / HD4890 at lower cost, but not to forget X38 / X48 boards aren’t cheap. btw I’ve already crossfired it on my P45 board on x8/x8. I just got an X38 board recently and I’ll be setting it up later this week for tests. πŸ™‚ which is why i haven’t publish anything on it yet.

    πŸ˜€ also, if all goes well I hope I manage to get a HD4890 to compare with!

  3. I can only see 2 wires connecting the fan. So, that means you cannot control the fan speed ler, am I right?

    PS: the design of this cooler is somehow similar to ASUS’s Glaciator fan, while the other 4770’s premium cooler looks exactly like 3870’s reference cooler. Just my observation.

  4. Hmm…. Reviews come our jor ka? πŸ™‚

    Btw, regarding the HIS, looks like it somehow worked… in the supplier’s PC… Drivers are replaced with the one’s “Copied” from Sapphire CD.. and it works flawlessly.. πŸ˜›
    But we haven’t tried on the new Catalyst… as time constrains… πŸ™‚

    Temp wize.. 1.C higher in Full load, where… very hard to be noticed, while taking temps in around yours…

    Now going to sell off my gainward 4670.. and patiently wait for 5 series πŸ˜› (and i don’t wanna 4770… please don’t poison me πŸ˜› )

  5. bro are u sure that power consupton is that low?
    cuz i see at tpu and other site its not that low…

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