Triplex Designs Radeon HD 4830 Without Auxiliary Power Connector

[btarunr]

A relatively unknown company, Triplex, has designed a Radeon HD 4830 graphics accelerator that does not require the 6-pin PCI-Express power connector. This is especially interesting for two reasons: that it is RV770, and that it runs at reference clock speeds despite shedding its traditional power design. Spotted on XtremeSystems, this engineering sample PCB features a 2+1 phase power design, that draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot.

Also featured are 512 MB of 256-bit GDDR3 memory, DVI-D, HDMI and D-Sub outputs, and a seemingly two-slot cooler design that is yet to be pictured. The card lacks CrossFireX fingers. The GPU has 640 stream processors, DirectX 10.1 compliance, and a 256-bit memory interface. It has AMD reference clock speeds of 575/900 MHz (core/memory). For reference the third picture shows a Radeon HD 4670 accelerator of the same make, and PCB length.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[ShadowFold]

Nice find! These are PERFECT for HTPC's, I have a 4830 in mine and it's awesome.

 

[GFC]

Omg, it's tiny!! I'd like to see a photo of it next to 295.

 

[alexp999]

Is there going to be a minimum requirement of PCI-E 2.0 on this then?

Surely the 75w cap on PCI-E 1.1 would choke it?

 

[btarunr]

It is designed for any standard of PCI-E. The only thing that might be choked would be its overclocking potential, but this card isn't designed for overclocking anyway.

 

[alexp999]

I thought a 4830 used more than 75w even on stock clocks.

 

[hat]

If I didn't have such a good setup with having an onboard 8100 that I can use for Physx I would really be mulling this one over...

 

[nafets]

I thought a 4830 used more than 75w even on stock clocks.

The testing above was done with a reference sample HD4830. It used the same PCB design and power circuitry as an HD4850.

The power consumption is just a bit over the amount supplied by the 75W cap. Shedding the complex power circuitry, as Triplex obviously has done, could possibly lower this amount to just under 75W at 3D LOAD. They also might be undervolting it during load, supplying just enough to keep the card stable.

Their HD4830 certainly won't win any OC'ing contests, but should be great for users looking for a low powered card that doesn't need any additional PCI-E connectors...

 

[lemonadesoda]

Is this the RV770 or RV770LE (ie 640 or 800 shaders)? My guess is that this must be a 640 shader to fit within the power envelope.

 

[crazy pyro]

It's an HD4830 so it's 640.

 

[theorw]

Hasnt ANYONE noticed that there IS NO CROSSFIRE AVAILABLE????

 

[soryuuha]

Hasnt ANYONE noticed that there IS NO CROSSFIRE AVAILABLE????

we all already know it by reading the news (btarunr point it out anyway)

lol

 

[theorw]

oh right...

 

[lemonadesoda]

It's an HD4830 so it's 640.

Follow the link http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=4830+800+shaders&meta=&aq=f&oq=

 

[iStink]

reminds me of the x800xl

 

[W1zzard]

Hasnt ANYONE noticed that there IS NO CROSSFIRE AVAILABLE????

i dont think many people buy a 4830 and cf it

 

[crazy pyro]

I think you're wrong there W1zz, a load of people did it a few months ago since you could get two, lightly OC them and they'd beat a GTX280 in performance (at least that's what a news thread on here said).
Sorry for the offhand post earlier on LemonadeSoda, thought you were having a stupid morning (I know i have them) since it seemed an obvious question.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hasnt ANYONE noticed that there IS NO CROSSFIRE AVAILABLE????

why would you want to? surely your better off getting a 4850 or something around the same performance region would be a better idea.

secondly for advanced features like crossfire, i think you would need AUX power to keep the juice going

 

[anonymous_user]

I think that it would be possible to CF them without the CF connectors, just like the HD46xx series

 

[crazy pyro]

How exactly would you do that though? Also your user name is probably the fastest way to get banned without swearing in your user name lol (multi-account suspect is what I meant).

 

[DonInKansas]

People that buy cards like this aren't looking for Crossfire. This is an HTPC card through and through. A fine one too, by the looks of it.

 

[lemonadesoda]

i dont think many people buy a 4830 and cf it

The 4830 is a very sensible card to CF. Significantly more powerful than an OC 4850/70/4890, and cheaper too! Of course a CF 4850/70/4890 will outperform the CF 4830, but it is a very different budget too.

The 4830 is a more optimal combination of TMU/ROP/Shader than the 4850/70/90, according to the analysis here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=76280

The conclusions are based on existing typical software design/demand. Your milage may vary on other tests. It would be interesting to see the stats on the latest games. The best performance per $ is a 4830. The best CF performance per $ is a CF 4830. It is the best performance for circa EUR/$200 you can get.

If you have a larger budget, then the best performance is a CF 4890 of course! But that costs mucho $$.

 

[ShogoXT]

Now they need a low profile version that requires a power connector, but is low profile. Lately Nvidia has been owning those options. They have a 9800GT available in low profile right now.

 

[crazy pyro]

The 9800GT's the same price point but gets beaten by the HD4830 in performance so they're not exactly a fair comparison.
That's from what I've read though, may just be reading ATI loving sites.

 

[hat]

There are very few good dual-gpu solutions. Some people buy two GTX280s and SLI them. Sure you're going to get killer performance, but one GTX280 is already pretty much overkill so two would be like calling in a nuclear strike for a group of guys hiding in a foxhole. If you SLI lower end cards like the 9500GT, you will see a good performance gain because the 9500gt is a weak card so there's plenty of room for a second one to come in and do some work. However, some cards like the 9600GT and the HD4830 are perfect for dual gpu setups since they are good cards on thier own and don't really need the help to do the job, but you may find yourself in a spot where you're doing really good at medium settings and kinda chugging along at high settings so when you throw another one in you're doing really good at max settings for cheap (I'd rather spend $180 on two 4830s and get better performance than $330 on a GTX280)