# AMD Radeon HD 4770



## W1zzard (Apr 21, 2009)

Today AMD released the world's first GPU that is produced in a 40 nm process. The HD 4770 is aggressively priced around ~$100 and offers great performance for your hard earned dollars. In our testing realized out that the card performs almost on par with the HD 4850. With the amazing 30%+ memory overclock we got on our sample, the HD 4850 will be surpassed easily.

*Show full review*


----------



## KainXS (Apr 28, 2009)

I was right about the heatsink, that is the reference designed heatsink but those damned partners are tryin to cash in:shadedshu

but its really sad they won;t be using it, it looks very good and also acts as a anti flex bar, but they went the cheap route with the POS cooler, i guess if you wanna overclock em you gotta buy you own sinks.


----------



## DaMulta (Apr 28, 2009)

I hope to see a CF review over these cards


----------



## AKlass (Apr 28, 2009)

Woah it beats the gts250 in some games at stock..... watch out nvidia


----------



## silkstone (Apr 28, 2009)

Damn video cards are so cheap in the US. Over here that card will have a $180 price tag


----------



## aj28 (Apr 28, 2009)

Wow... I mean, great looking card, and I'm sure driver optimizations will make it even better, but it got beat out by the 4830 in performance per watt?! And what's all this $110 nonsense on NewEgg?? I'm sure it'll drop over the next week or so, but as it stands the 4830 is still the better buy imo.

Congrats to AMD on 40nm though. I'll bet these things are pretty cheap to make too, at least compared to its bigger brother. Looking forward to seeing what aftermarket variants the AIBs come up with...


----------



## eidairaman1 (Apr 28, 2009)

This should be a good Card, now i wonder what would happen if the 4850/4830 are released with GDDR5


----------



## btarunr (Apr 28, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> This should be a good Card, now i wonder what would happen if the 4850/4830 are released with GDDR5



Palit already has a HD 4850 with GDDR5.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Apr 28, 2009)

The Sonic?


----------



## theorw (Apr 28, 2009)

I would SOOOOOOOOO buy a couple of them IF they CF ed with my 4850...
They are just GREAT!


----------



## nafets (Apr 28, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> This should be a good Card, now i wonder what would happen if the 4850/4830 are released with GDDR5



ATI already has something called the HD4870.

End of discussion.


----------



## Disparia (Apr 28, 2009)

> The HD 4770 supports CrossFire configurations with two cards. I did confirm with AMD that there is no support for CrossFire triple or quad.



I didn't know they supported it on a card by card basis. Do we have a list somewhere? Or is it easy, like all 4600/4700 support two and all 4800 support up to four?


----------



## btarunr (Apr 28, 2009)

Jizzler said:


> I didn't know they supported it on a card by card basis. Do we have a list somewhere? Or is it easy, like all 4600/4700 support two and all 4800 support up to four?



That info is specific to this card.


----------



## Disparia (Apr 28, 2009)

Thanks. After reading the review earlier this morning I started looking at other card reviews, AMD's website, and even the Crossfire wiki entry to see if other (newer) cards had that limitation.


----------



## lemonadesoda (Apr 28, 2009)

Superb price/performance and performance/watt. Silly cooler, needs replacing for something much quieter.

I'm very much tempted. nV needs to move their stuff over to 48nm, 45nm, or 40nm to get their power usage down to compete with noise and power factors.


----------



## mdm-adph (Apr 28, 2009)

Is there just no _official_ support for tri-fire and quad-fire?  Any review tested that yet?  Wonder why they'd leave that out -- this thing's almost as fast as the 4850.


----------



## newtekie1 (Apr 28, 2009)

Damn, outperforms the HD4830 and almost matchs an HD4850(and I'm sure it does match it once overclocked, not that the HD4850 can't be overclocked further).

Definitely looks like the card to replace my HD4670, once the release some with decent coolers on em that is.  I'll wait for HIS to release the IceQ version, maybe they will just put on the second reference cooler and use that for the IceQ version...


----------



## W1zzard (Apr 28, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Is there just no _official_ support for tri-fire and quad-fire?  Any review tested that yet?  Wonder why they'd leave that out -- this thing's almost as fast as the 4850.



AMD said: "By design, the 4770 is limited to two cards in CrossFireX". 

why dont you go out and buy 4 of these cards and find out? amd will sure be happy about your $$$


----------



## newtekie1 (Apr 28, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> "By design, the 4770 is limited to two cards in CrossFireX". why dont you go out and buy 4 of these cards and find out? amd will sure be happy about your $$$



Why have two crossfire fingers on the card then?  Wouldn't only one be needed for crossfire between two cards?

Did the HD4670 support more than two cards?

I mean it is all kind of pointless, since crossfiring with mid-range cards doesn't really pan out cost wise, but I'm still curious.


----------



## mamisano (Apr 28, 2009)

What exactly does this mean when you list the drivers used?

ATI: Catalyst 9.1, HD 4890: 8.592.1, HD 4770: 8.60


----------



## Disparia (Apr 28, 2009)

Expreview has two 4770's topping a 4890, so it's not like anyone would be hurting with only two cards, it just seems like the perfect card for a triple Crossfire.

- It's performance would be high. You're going to 4890+ performance all/most of the time.

- The cost would be within reach of a lot of people who would buy a 4890 (especially when they start selling for $99).

- And it extends your e-peen! Which is why the above two reasons make sense to me


----------



## mdm-adph (Apr 28, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> AMD said: "By design, the 4770 is limited to two cards in CrossFireX".
> 
> why dont you go out and buy 4 of these cards and find out? amd will sure be happy about your $$$



I'll buy two if you buy the other two and send them to me.    I have a feeling it'll work.



newtekie1 said:


> Why have two crossfire fingers on the card then?  Wouldn't only one be needed for crossfire between two cards?
> 
> Did the HD4670 support more than two cards?
> 
> I mean it is all kind of pointless, since crossfiring with mid-range cards doesn't really pan out cost wise, but I'm still curious.



Yes, and apparently it scaled really well, too:  http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3428325#post3428325

I don't see why they wouldn't want to do it with the 4770 unless they're scared it'll cut into the profits of the 4890 or something.


----------



## mudkip (Apr 28, 2009)

Seriosuly what a shit review? 

''Negative points''

 * High idle power consumption

    * No architectural improvements
    * Could be quieter
    * Cooler on our sample does not represent the shipping product
    * No support for CUDA / PhysX
*
No support for CUDA? / PhysX , oh come on! what you'd expect? It's ATi not nVidia and PhysX is nVidia only , also the list with physx support is so small it's even not important anymore . It's like when reviewing a nVidia card you say: It doesn't support AVIVO. Geez...*

    * Dual slot cooler

*When the HD4850 was released everybody was complaining about how hot the card was and that it would be bad for the card to get that warm. Now AMD listened to their customers and they placed a bigger cooler and now you're complaining about the size?*

Again a shit negative point


----------



## DrPepper (Apr 28, 2009)

800 MHz GDDR5? Does anybody even make such slow chips?".

I though it was a bit slow for gddr5 then I saw the OC results ... holy crap.



mudkip said:


> ''Negative points''
> *
> No support for CUDA? / PhysX , oh come on! what you'd expect? It's ATi not nVidia and PhysX is nVidia only , also the list with physx support is so small it's even not important anymore . It's like when reviewing a nVidia card you say: It doesn't support AVIVO. Geez...*



AMD and ATI are freely allowed to use CUDA but they refuse to. Hence its a negative point.


----------



## newtekie1 (Apr 28, 2009)

mudkip said:


> * Dual slot cooler
> 
> *When the HD4850 was released everybody was complaining about how hot the card was and that it would be bad for the card to get that warm. Now AMD listened to their customers and they placed a bigger cooler and now you're complaining about the size?*
> 
> Again a shit negative point



There are still people out there that frown on dual-slot coolers.

The HD4850 _needed_ a dual slot cooler, the single slot cooler was simply not enough to keep the core, memory, and vregs cool.  This card does not _need_ a dual-slot cooler, the core runs much cooler, the memory doesn't even need cooling, and the vregs don't need cooling either.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Apr 28, 2009)

well newtekie, you cant please everyone, so this is why ATI did this. TBH Im happy they went with the dual slot as its a Combo Design from the 3800 and the 2900/4870 (Blower Type Fan)

And it just proves these cards are not meant for cube cases anyway, unless if 3rd parties release single slot cards.


----------



## btarunr (Apr 28, 2009)

It is less likely that you will be seeing cards with this cooler in the market (at the $100 point, at least). 

The cheaper reference cooler that happens to be dual-slot is cheaper in comparison to the single slot cooler you're expecting. To make a single-slot cooler, the kind HD 2600/3850/4830/4850/8800GT came with, you need to have a high-speed fan, aluminum air-canals, parts of the block with copper infused. The present market-grade cooler is just a chunk of metal with a fan in the middle, and a piece of plastic on top.


----------



## Scrizz (Apr 28, 2009)

ooo very nice card


----------



## W1zzard (Apr 28, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> Why have two crossfire fingers on the card then?  Wouldn't only one be needed for crossfire between two cards?


that's exactly why I asked AMD about CF supoprt



mudkip said:


> Seriosuly what a shit review?
> 
> ''Negative points''
> 
> ...



Thanks for your feedback. As an educated reader you are certainly able to read the full review and then come to your own conclusions. Look at what I wrote, take this as inspiration, you are then free to disagree with it based on your personal preferences and requirements - all the data is there. Based on the outcome of your own personal reasoning you should then decide if you want to spend the money for the card reviewed here, another card, a hooker, some coke or anything else.

Why do you base "shit review" on two bullet points that you don't agree with?

edit: "Now AMD listened to their customers". As you have certainly read in my review the cards on retailer shelves will NOT have the same cooler as our review sample because ALL AIBs went for the cheaper cooler.


----------



## WarEagleAU (Apr 28, 2009)

Looks pretty good and Im still out on the cooler. Like the scaling though. Its something beefy for gaming but quiet enough perhaps for an HTPC.

I wouldnt knock it for not using CUDA, but they have AMD Fusion going and some other stuff, lets see what plays out with that.


----------



## W1zzard (Apr 28, 2009)

WarEagleAU said:


> Looks pretty good and Im still out on the cooler. Like the scaling though. Its something beefy for gaming but quiet enough perhaps for an HTPC.
> 
> I wouldnt knock it for not using CUDA, but they have AMD Fusion going and some other stuff, lets see what plays out with that.



too noisy for a htpc. get a passive card for that

personally i dont see much of a point in the current cuda application universe. but nvidia is pushing it aggressively and it is a feature that onr party has and the other don't. if you take a look at the conclusion, i specifically mentioned the numbers from our current poll there.


----------



## OnBoard (Apr 28, 2009)

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4770/images/back.jpg

That's some serious engineering there on the PCB. Weird seeing a low end card with so filled in components, almost looks like 4870x2.

Nippy 40nm though, except that idle power consumption higher than my GTX280 =)


----------



## mdm-adph (Apr 28, 2009)

OnBoard said:


> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4770/images/back.jpg
> 
> That's some serious engineering there on the PCB. Weird seeing a low end card with so filled in components, almost looks like 4870x2.
> 
> Nippy 40nm though, except that idle power consumption higher than my GTX280 =)



You're free to step the memory down yourself when you're not running a 3d app.


----------



## DaMulta (Apr 28, 2009)

So if the card only works in 2 card CF. Can you use the card in say a 4870 + 4870 + 4770, or X2 4870 + 4770?

Kind of funny that you can run 4 4830 cards together, but not with the 4770 cards. I bet they must scream in Quad, and at 400 dollars it would more than likely be a very good buy.


----------



## OnBoard (Apr 28, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> You're free to step the memory down yourself when you're not running a 3d app.



Yep, but you can't go low enough. Like with my card only to 830MHz and 2D clocks go to 100MHz. (well currently I use more power on idle, as 2D doesn't work with 2 displays plugged in).



DaMulta said:


> Kind of funny that you can run 4 4830 cards together, but not with the 4770 cards. I bet they must scream in Quad, and at 400 dollars it would more than likely be a very good buy.



Maybe it's on purpose, so this card doesn't also kill HD4870x2 sales? If 2 of them are faster than HD4890, surely 4 would beat the monster.


----------



## OnBoard (Apr 28, 2009)

W1zzard: why are there blue felt tip pen marks on every capasitor on ATI cards? That has bothered me for ages 

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4770/images/front.jpg


----------



## W1zzard (Apr 28, 2009)

quality control marked as ok


----------



## OnBoard (Apr 28, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> quality control marked as ok



That what I though about, but thinking of some poor men/women marking every reference design cards capacitors for the past few years seemed strange 

Wonder if you get a card for free, if you find a capacitor without a mark in it


----------



## newtekie1 (Apr 28, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> well newtekie, you cant please everyone, so this is why ATI did this. TBH Im happy they went with the dual slot as its a Combo Design from the 3800 and the 2900/4870 (Blower Type Fan)
> 
> And it just proves these cards are not meant for cube cases anyway, unless if 3rd parties release single slot cards.



I'm not one of those people that frown on dual-slot cards, I just explained why it is marked as a disadvantage.

Personally, I prefer a dual slot HSF as long as it vents out of the case, and I would have loved the blower type fan included in this review sample.  However, I won't buy the card with the actual reference fan.



W1zzard said:


> that's exactly why I asked AMD about CF supoprt



Perhaps it is a driver support thing that they just haven't sorted yet?  I don't see how it could be a PCB issue, though doesn't the crossfire logic reside on the GPU Core, is it possible the logic has been downgraded on RV740 to only allow 2 cards?


----------



## W1zzard (Apr 28, 2009)

again, amd said "By design, the 4770 is limited to two cards in CrossFireX".


----------



## AlexCuria (Apr 30, 2009)

btarunr said:


> Palit already has a HD 4850 with GDDR5.



Didn't know that Palit hat a GDDR5 version of the HD4850. Their website doesn't show it either. The HD4850 I do know that has GDDR5 is the Gainward HD4850 Golden Sample "Goes Like Hell". I'm looking desperately for a review but nothing. :shadedshu



nafets said:


> ATI already has something called the HD4870.
> End of discussion.



Put 2x 4770 in Xfire. Benefits? Almost same price, better performance, newer technology, ... Consumer can decide when to Xfire.

Regarding the cooler, well I agree it doesn't look too good but I actually don't care too much about the looks but rather about the performace and the main reason I didn't purchase yesterday the 4770 (was tempted) is that I'm waiting for overclocked cards with the full warranty. This way I have even more performance under warranty. I'd be interested in seeing versions with better coolers and all the capacitators like the reference design of ATI. I've read in a german review that the original reference design PCB had all the capacitators fitted for more or better power/voltage regulation. 

http://www.tweakpc.de/hardware/tests/grafikkarten/ati_radeon_hd_4770/i/radeon_hd_4770_5E.jpg

The price of the XFX card is 98 Euros in Spain. MIR and all those nice discounts don't exist in Spain so that's the final price. In comparison the cheapest price i've found for a HD4850 is about 125 Euros. I don't know if the price of the 4770 will get cheaper or more expensive after the initial launch so I'm like looking at the market reaction every day several times.


----------



## btarunr (Apr 30, 2009)

AlexCuria said:


> Didn't know that Palit hat a GDDR5 version of the HD4850. Their website doesn't show it either. The HD4850 I do know that has GDDR5 is the Gainward HD4850 Golden Sample "Goes Like Hell". I'm looking desperately for a review but nothing. :shadedshu



http://www.techpowerup.com/?86305

Gainward Golden Sample "Goes Like Hell" is aka Palit SONIC SE.


----------



## AlexCuria (Apr 30, 2009)

btarunr said:


> http://www.techpowerup.com/?86305
> 
> Gainward Golden Sample "Goes Like Hell" is aka Palit SONIC SE.



Are you sure Gainward is aka as Palit? I mean, I'm by no ways trying to be smarter but just asking.

The Gainward card I'm speaking about has a totally different cooler design.
See for yourself.

http://www.techpowerup.com/?88442

In any case I would be happy to find a review with the HD4850 and GDDR5 memory just to see how much of a difference the GDDR5 would make compared to GDDR3.


----------



## btarunr (Apr 30, 2009)

AlexCuria said:


> Are you sure Gainward is aka as Palit? I mean, I'm by no ways trying to be smarter but just asking.
> 
> The Gainward card I'm speaking about has a totally different cooler design.
> See for yourself.
> ...



Maybe that's a different design then, but that's the Palit card I'm referring to when I say HD 4850 and GDDR5.


----------



## totalz (May 1, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> AMD and ATI are freely allowed to use CUDA but they refuse to. Hence its a negative point.



Any article on the topic?

I like the reviewed version of 4770, at least there is a ram heatsink


----------



## DrPepper (May 1, 2009)

^^
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2324555,00.asp


----------



## mdm-adph (May 1, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> ^^
> http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2324555,00.asp



That's ridiculous.  "Pennies on the GPU" my ass.  Nvidia would charge ATI an exorbitant fee.  If not initially, then later on -- that's how the business world works.


----------



## DrPepper (May 1, 2009)

idk about that I just used it because it showed ati refused to use cuda.


----------



## newtekie1 (May 1, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> That's ridiculous.  "Pennies on the GPU" my ass.  Nvidia would charge ATI an exorbitant fee.  If not initially, then later on -- that's how the business world works.



I doubt it, nVidia has already said they know the only way the technology will truly catch on is for both nVidia and ATi cards to support it. So it would be benfitial for nVidia to give ATi a very good deal on the licensing.


----------



## btarunr (May 1, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> I doubt it, nVidia has already said they know the only way the technology will truly catch on is for both nVidia and ATi cards to support it. So it would be benfitial for nVidia to give ATi a very good deal on the licensing.



The deal will turn sour the moment CUDA becomes a standard powerful enough that NVIDIA can use it as a scuff around AMD's neck. (what AMD feels)


----------



## newtekie1 (May 1, 2009)

Actually, it sounds like AMD's feelings are more along the lines of nVidia won't play nice with them over time AKA, nVidia won't do all the work and then let ATi have it for nothing.


----------



## btarunr (May 1, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> Actually, it sounds like AMD's feelings are more along the lines of nVidia won't play nice with them over time AKA, nVidia won't do all the work and then let ATi have it for nothing.



In reality it's not an all-for-nothing deal that shows AMD is getting a bargain. If AMD has to get CUDA, it has to license it.


----------

