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. 😀
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.
Yes, here’s another look at ugly.
The next thing would be the mosfet heatsink. 🙂 A very nice addition to a card of this price I must say.
Here’s the side profile of ugly, while it seems inadequate, the heatsink and fan did prove to cool the 40nm GPU really well.
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) |
(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 Coreâ„¢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. 🙂 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.
– 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. 😀 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?
crossfire? do we really need 2 graphics card to activate crossfire? @.@
and yea the heatsink makes it looks like ultraman oni! == lol
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? 🙂
@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. 🙂 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. 🙂 which is why i haven’t publish anything on it yet.
😀 also, if all goes well I hope I manage to get a HD4890 to compare with!
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.
Hmm…. Reviews come our jor ka? 🙂
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.. 😛
But we haven’t tried on the new Catalyst… as time constrains… 🙂
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 😛 (and i don’t wanna 4770… please don’t poison me 😛 )
bro are u sure that power consupton is that low?
cuz i see at tpu and other site its not that low…
It’s taken from the P-tuner software + Gigabyte PSU.
Just take it with a pinch of salt. 🙂