Sapphire HD 4730 512 MB

[W1zzard]

Sapphire's new HD 4730 is based on the RV770 GPU which is used on the HD 48xx Series. Such a choice had to be made because the availability of the HD4770 GPU is extremely limited at this time - while customer demand is up. Sapphire offers their card with 640 shaders and 512 MB GDDR5 memory at an extremely competitive price point of only $79. But is that enough to take over that market segment?

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[ShogoXT]

Good review.

Good price, but it sucks power a little bit more than alot of cards. I guess it would be ok for people who want cheap upgrades, but have a decent PSU?

 

[krusha03]

Nice review, it's good to know it wont work with one 6-pin molex. I just found one minor mistake on page 3:

There is no official statement whether you can mix the HD 4830 with other RV770 based cards.

I guess you meant the HD 4730.

Unfortunately the card uses too much power for the performance it delivers. I have to agree the 4770/4830/9600GT/9800GT would prolly be a better choice

 

[BrooksyX]

Interesting. Looks like a disable 4830. Does have GDDR5 though. I think ill stick with my 4830s though.

 

[mdm-adph]

That's... horrible.

Well, I guess because the HD 4770 was so damn nice -- efficient, cooler running, 40nm technology -- this card has to suck ass to make up for it.

Kinda like a Zen thing, you know.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Any chance of getting a AGP 4670 Wiz?

 

[W1zzard]

I guess you meant the HD 4730.

yup thanks fixed

Any chance of getting a AGP 4670 Wiz

that's a definite no. test system is pcie only, i don't have any agp motherboard and i don't want one

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Spoken like a true enthusiast.

 

[ShogoXT]

Hey w1zzard, what do you think about AA in clear sky? I notice you usually leave it out of your tests. It does take up quite a bit of performance, but would be interesting to know which brand handles it better.

Then again I shouldnt even complain, the amount of cards and games you test in these reviews is mind boggling.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

This card is a fail in my book. In the long run, it will cost more due to the unusually high power draw for such a metaphorically little card. Spend a little extra and get the 4830, or get a 9600 GT.

Honestly, they need to work out the 4770 issue and get those back on the market.

P.S. What was that statement in the review about the 4830 stock being cleared? Are they going to be discontinued soon?

 

[W1zzard]

Hey w1zzard, what do you think about AA in clear sky? I notice you usually leave it out of your tests.

does the engine support aa on all cards? now is the time to speak up. i'm preparing a new vga test rig and will rebench all the cards so i am free to make changes now

 

[ShogoXT]

does the engine support aa on all cards? now is the time to speak up. i'm preparing a new vga test rig and will rebench all the cards so i am free to make changes now

Yes it does, but on Direct3d 10 only. It has 2x and 4xAA for both 10.0 and (dont know how) "better" AA for 2x/4x 10.1 .

Its in the drop down box in the advanced options.

EDIT: Thats my point of interest btw, performance of 10.0 AA vs 10.1 AA.

 

[krusha03]

does the engine support aa on all cards? now is the time to speak up. i'm preparing a new vga test rig and will rebench all the cards so i am free to make changes now

Another idea would be to change FEAR with FEAR 2 since it is more demanding. Also what would be really nice, if it's not too much work, is to have something like interactive VGA chart where you could compare 2 or more cards at a given benchmark showing min/max/avg or just avg for each card and % difference with card 1 used as base.

What you have now is really nice with such a wide range of cards compared to the one reviewed, but making this I think would make stuff even better.

 

[W1zzard]

cant automated fear 2 benchmarking. dont have min/max data. i'll look into what can be done with interactive charts, if it can be done it would be a new site feature, dont think it will be integrated into reviews

 

[Apocolypse007]

great review W1zzard

I think the mid-level market has been thoroughly saturated for this generation of cards. The 4730, while a decent performer, does not offer anything special. It will however, allow ATI to sell off current gen stock to make room for DX11 GPUs

When you think about it; it is hard to justify spending 80-100 on a mid range GPU when a 4870 can be had for ~$130. Its just not that much of a price difference.

 

[BrooksyX]

When you think about it; it is hard to justify spending 80-100 on a mid range GPU when a 4870 can be had for ~$130. Its just not that much of a price difference.

True, but thats kind of how things go when the current series starts to reach the end of its life cycle and the new series of cards is right around the corner.

 

[Neo4]

Good article but the given specs on the 4870 are wrong. 750 core and 3600 memory are the correct numbers. Thanks!

 

[W1zzard]

Good article but the given specs on the 4870 are wrong. 750 core and 3600 memory are the correct numbers. Thanks!

fixed thanks. copy and paste error

 

[newtekie1]

Can this be crossfired with an HD4770?

This card just doesn't appeal to me...

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Thanks for an informative article, though i paid more attention to the 4770 and 4830 #'s(thanks for that info as well).Without any volt mods (to the video card) my 4830 OC'ed runs as well as the 4850 on Crysis. far better on Prey,Cod4,Call of Juarez,and World at War, Thank you again I really liked the article

 

[ShadowFold]

Can this be crossfired with an HD4770?

This card just doesn't appeal to me...

No, this is RV770 and the 4770 is RV740.

 

[Mussels]

With the cooler the card requires two slots in your system.

More like 3, with only two slots the fan would get no air.
Edit: as you saw, when you did crossfire testing.


Heatsink looks like a stock intel cooler

 

[Imsochobo]

yup thanks fixed



that's a definite no. test system is pcie only, i don't have any agp motherboard and i don't want one

Ship it to me i got AGP NForce 3 AM2 with my 4ghz PHII ROFL

isnt my main systems which runs dfi 790fx/gx etc.

I found it pretty funny to run a Riva TNT2 with a 4ghz quadcore

I can tell you guys, just buy a damn PCI-E system, you can pick up high end systems at 350 euro easy.

 

[Cheeseball]

Great review, good price, but still a bad card.

 

[newtekie1]

No, this is RV770 and the 4770 is RV740.

Yes I know they use different cores, but it doesn't seem like it can be crossfired with RV770 cards either. They are both the HD4700 series, so they should be able to be crossfired together. ATi would be stupid if they couldn't, as it would be very confusing for the consumer. Up until now, everyone has been told that cards from the same model series work together in crossfire...