The idea of releasing a lower midrange card based on the RV770 GPU makes a lot of sense. It gives AMD an opportunity to sell off their ASICs that didn't qualify to be used on the higher end cards, and helps fill the void in the market that is caused by the HD 4770 shortage and makes for a potential successor to the HD 4830 which will see limited availability soon. Unfortunately the implementation of the card is less than optimal. In order to make up for the reduced shader count and memory bandwidth the core clock has been increased significantly. In order to achieve such high clock speeds, with current GPU bins, the voltage had to be increased. Higher voltage means higher power consumption which severely limits the card's ability to perform. The increased power causes more heat that has to be dissipated in the cooler, resulting in a more noisy experience.
Actually Sapphire's HD 4730 performance itself is quite sufficient to run all of today's games at modest resolutions. This makes the card an excellent deal at its current price point of $79. However, given the high power draw and fan noise, the 9600 GT, HD 4770 or HD 4830 are better choices at this time when you are looking for the best bang for the buck.