One of the most talked about GPU – the HD4670! Today we have the Sapphire’s version to show us what it can do.
The Appearance
When I first opened the box, I was surprised to see how small a card the HD4670.
After a slew of big graphic cards of late, one can’t help but got used to using big cards. 🙂 The marvel of the HD4670 in my opinion, was that it doesn’t require additional power connector to run.
The heatsink on this unit is small and compact.
Card Details & Bundle
Here’s a summarized detail of the card.
Model | Sapphire ATi Sapphire HD4670 512MB DDR3 |
GPU | HD4670 |
GPU Code Name | RV730 |
Memory Type | DDR3 |
Memory Bandwidth | 128-bit |
Memory Capacity | 512MB |
Core Clock | 750Mhz |
Memory Clock | 1000Mhz (2Ghz DDR) |
The card comes with
– 1 x DVI to D-Sub adaptor
– 1 x DVI to HDMI adaptor
– 1 x S-Video to RCA
– 1 x HDTV Component out adapter
– 1 x Power cable
– Utilities & Driver CD
– Manual
More details at the official product page.
Test Setup
The computer setup used for this review.
Processor | Intel Coreâ„¢2 Duo E7200 @ 3.62Ghz |
RAM | 2x 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition |
Motherboard | Albatron PXP35 |
Cooler | Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer Heatsink |
Monitor | 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD |
Operating System | Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit |
Driver Version | ATi Catalyst 8.10 |
The Performance
In the test results, I’ve decided to place the HD4850 Golden Sample and 9800GT / 9800GT Golden Sample for comparison.
F.E.A.R.
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680×1050, 4xAA
Card | Average |
HD4670 | 39 |
HD4850 GS | 88 |
9800GT 1024MB Golden Sample | 71 |
9800GT 512MB | 66 |
World In Conflict
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050, 4xAA
Card | Average |
HD4670 | 16 |
HD4850 GS | 28 |
9800GT 1024MB Golden Sample | 23 |
9800GT 512MB | 20 |
Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050, 4xAA
Card | Average |
HD4670 | 23 |
HD4850 GS | 47.8 |
9800GT 1024MB Golden Sample | 34.1 |
9800GT 512MB | 31.2 |
Lost Planet : Extreme Condition
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946, 4xAA.
Card | Snow (Average) | Cave (Average) |
HD4670 | 28.9 | 21.8 |
HD4850 GS | 45.0 | 57.7 |
9800GT 1024MB Golden Sample | 37.7 | 53.0 |
9800GT 512MB | 35.6 | 49.4 |
Crysis
Graphic Detail : Maximum (Very High) @ 1680×1050, 4xAA
Card | Average |
HD4670 | 7.95 |
HD4850 GS | 14.52 |
9800GT 1024MB Golden Sample | 11.02 |
9800GT 512MB | 7.94 |
Not bad for an RM 300 card. That’s half the price of the HD4850 GS and the about 3/4 the price of a typical 9800GT.
Operating Temperature
The card idles around 45°C on idle and around 67°C. Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.
Conclusion
For an RM ~300 card, it performs really well. Sure, the price:performance ratio is similar to that of the 9800GT but do consider that the HD4670 does not require a PCI-E power plugged into it to run. This also means you can crossfire it with another HD4670 to get performance close to that of a HD4850 without requiring to power 2 cards from your power supply.
Let’s not forget that this card supports Blue-Ray playback on 1080p capable TV. 🙂
Just to add (thanks cyew86 for the comment! You reminded me to add this part which totally slipped my mind), I was reviewing the game Stalker : Clear Sky as well and I had tried it with the HD4670 and I was surprised the game was really playable even without changing any of the graphic setting – the same setting I used on GTX280 down to HD4870 and HD4850! Of course it’s not perfect, some scenes do lag a little but at least it’s really playable, meaning you can attain good framerates should you lower the graphic details or resolution a notch or 2.
I have always thought that this card is not suitable to run on high resolution (1680×1050) and it suits smaller screen better. I run mine on 17″ CRT 1280×1024 res and normally play games with 1024×768 res,
I do not play game much but on the other day my friend came and installed Stalker: Clear Sky on my PC for testing, I found that the default setting was set to High, but I could max everything out while running it smoothly (in the earlier level, not sure about the later stages).
And I notice that Sapphire’s card runs hotter than ASUS’ counterpart, where I recorded at about 32 degrees idle and 39 degrees load at around the same ambient temperature 🙂
For me, it is a good budget card, not to say bad for gaming but certainly not great either. But it suits for those who just do casual gaming and more on productivity works, as well as enjoying some movies on their PCs, and not to mention it is much less power consuming than the other higher ends cards. Btw, why isn’t there any testing being done on running HD files?
Oh, thanks for reminding me about the Clear Sky part that I forgot to add – it runs smooth even on max setting! Of course, not all the way la, some places it lags here and there (slow down in framerates).
Games generally work best with lower res but from from what i see, it doesn’t seem crappy on high res and would perform better with AA turned off and details lowered a little.
When Stalker : Shadow of Chernobyl was released, even RM 600 card couldn’t play it in full detail. Now on Clear Sky RM 300 card can. 🙂
Wow, nice card but the fps for most of the game is choking due to the 128-bit memory. 🙁 That’s sad. Still, the game are tested on 1680×1050. This card would be good for those user who runs their pc on 1024×768 resolution. 🙂
nice review… i’ve installed this card and played Red Alert 3 on it…. with 1280×1024 resolution, 4x AA and ultra high settings… super smooth! highly recommended budget card 😀
Nice RM320 budget card… But I feel the card should price a bit more lower… say RM250-RM280… Coz I can always pay slightly higher and get a 2nd hand 3870 or a 8800GT (256bit) for less than RM400…
Just an opinion…
@redrun – yes, the lower the resolution, this card works even better!
@fazco – yes, seeing how it performed. it’s really a good card.
@ndgoh – you’re not wrong at all. Top up say RM 30 and you get a 9600GT that performs even better! This card is good that you don’t need a power connector but for price:performance, it still loses to 9600GT.
can i run this card on a 15 inch CRT monitor at 1024*768 with a refresh rate of 60Hz.
please reply, i m plannin to get this card
@aamir – yes, in fact if you look at the results that I did, it was on 1680×1050. So on your 1024×768 you’ll get even MORE performance out of it.
can i run this card on a samsung syncmaster 793s monitor at 1024*768 an do i have to replace my motherboard becouse of hd 4670???? please reply…