Faster Graphics For Lower Prices: ATI Radeon HD 4770
by Derek Wilson on April 28, 2009 5:15 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
And there you have it: 40nm has arrived, and it looks pretty good. The Radeon HD 4770 always outperforms the older 4830 and sometimes gives the 4850 a run for its money.
As for the competition, the 4770 comes out on top in the games we tested. The more expensive GTS 250 leads in Call of Duty World at War, while the 4770 blows the doors off everything in Age of Conan. As for the other benchmarks, they come out pretty close with the 4770 generally ahead. But the clincher is Far Cry 2 performance which shows the Radeon HD 4770 leading the GTS 250 fairly well in a heavy hitting graphics engine.
Our expectations for the hardware were a little higher while our idea of price was also a little lower, but from our perspective, the extra $10 isn't out in left field as this card generally leads a competitive part that costs even more and sometimes pushes up toward the Radeon HD 4850. At the same time, you can spend a little bit less and get some very good performance if you are into the value option.
We still don't like the fact that the AMD decided to name this the 4770 despite the fact that it consistently outperforms the 4830. Unfortunately, we can't do any more about it than we are already doing. So we'll have to make do in the meantime.
NVIDIA should have 40nm parts out this year as well, and both camps have their own way of rolling out new process technology. AMD continues to be a little bit more aggressive on that front, seemingly making the move on the earliest viable hardware whether it's low or high end. NVIDIA looks to play it a little more cautiously. It's all about cost benefit. Certainly it's a benefit to have smaller GPUs as they cost less to make. But early on in the life of a manufacturing process, yields can suffer driving price up. Timing the move well can have its advantages, and NVIDIA is counting on that this time around.
It isn't clear when NVIDIA will have a part in this generation of their architecture that competes in the near $100 market. For now, the best option is clear: the Radeon HD 4770 is the way to go.
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Proteusza - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
Looks like a good card. Hopefully the lessons learnt from this 40nm process will enable future AMD graphics cards (or even the 4870) to use it.One thing though - in light of the fact that the 4830 will be dropped, the naming scheme makes sense.
Relative performance is now:
4830 -> 4770 -> 4850 -> 4870
It will become
4770 -> 4850 -> 4870
And everyone is happy again. At least its not misleading - I mean the 4770 really is a different card altogether to the 4800 series, so its good that its name reflects that. Pity it requires an external power connector, but at least it isnt very power hungry.
AmazighQ - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
and the fact that the 4830 was only a temporarily solution to fill up the 100 dollar gap, is and was very well knownhere a beter review of the HD 4770 :http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/rad...">http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/rad...
Amiga500 - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
If AMD had named it the 4750 we'd all be happy.4750 -> 4850 -> 4870
Griswold - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
Why? There will be a 4750 with GDDR3 and lower core clock speed...wit p - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
it seems that power management in these 40nm parts is completely redesigned. Could we (readers, of course) know more on this? TDP of about 80W versus delta (full load - idle) of just above 40W? I wonder if this PCIe power connector and two-slot cooling aren't just a precautionary features... Maybe at AMD/ATI they couldn't approximate properly new parts' power consumption?IMO: the perfect first hit, I even don't regret these famous 10$ ;) 48xx must be sold ;)
Zoomer - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
There were many issues regarding TSMC's 40nm node. Apparently, there were many issues with leakage. ATi probably wanted to err on the side of caution after the adequate but much maligned 4850 cooler.FireSnake - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
.... it is excellent part.And, I don't know, how you talk about 110$, when this part is available in Europe (which tends to be more expensive, I don't know why) for 89€ (Listed for 87)!
http://geizhals.at/eu/a426956.html">http://geizhals.at/eu/a426956.html
And bitching about name ..... you would rather test overclocking capabilities.
evilspoons - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
Maybe because 89€ is $115 USD when you apply the exhange rate. Just a thought.Griswold - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
Just that you didnt include (or rather subtract) the 19% VAT they pay in germany in your equation, which is included in the 89€.balancedthinking - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - link
I agree, this seems very try hard by Derek to criticize at least something.It is even more funny to lash out at AMD for using a lower number for a better performing card. Compare that to the competition which renames with higher and higher numbers and the performance does not change. Talk about "understatement" versus "deceiving".