ATI Radeon HD 4770 In CrossFire: Unbeatable At $220

[sublifer]

Awsome article Chris! Really enjoyed seeing the pair take on the 280

 

[daft]

is it just me or do the graphs seem to contradict what is being said in the article. not all, just a few, like the power requirements, i never knew 2 4770's used less power than a 4870 and a 4870 used more power than a 4890.

 

[boudy]

I have been talking about this in the forums since I first heard about this card.

I think the biggest plus for this Crossfire setup is the power consumption. Sure you could probably get just as equal performance with 2 4850's or a 4890, but those would consume a LOT of power. Hopefully Sapphire plans to make a 4770X2 like they did with the 4850......Hopefully.

 

[knickle]

[citation][nom]jp182[/nom]couldn't agree more. I'm a gamer on a budget and I personally thought that the difference between $99 and $109 is negligible. Especially considering that the author is then ok with paying 2x amount; which I'm not disagreeing with, I just don't understand the logic. In either case, I'm not sure if I have a SLI mo-board as I cannot justify spending extra money on a SECOND videocard.[/citation]
This article was not really targetted at budget gamers. On the other hand, someone on a limitted budget can get one card now and add a second later if their motherboard supports it.

I personally am in the mid-range segment. I already bought my 4850 last summer, so the 2x 4770 wouldn't be enough of an upgrade for me. I would more than likely add a second 4850 instead. For anyone else building a new mid-range system or upgrading a pair of aging graphics cards, this would be a good combination to consider without breaking the bank.

 

[spanner_razor]

Pretty good article, nice to see reaction to public commentary. Neiroatopelcc - what about boards such as the amd 770 series many of which support the phenom II 940 and 955 and would offer suitable performance to be coupled with a high end card (besides which most games still gain more from a faster gpu than cpu). Though I have to agree the 4890 is a bit out of the price range of those systems.

 

[morfinx]

Chris, good article. One thing you may want to update the article with is that Newegg has the 4770 for $99 at this time, and most still have the $10 rebate which brings the price down to $89.

 

[bill gates is your daddy]

Newegg shows the HD4770 at $109 - $99 (HIS @ $89 with MIR)

Am I the only one that is wondering what this card would be like in a x3 situation? Say you actually got your MIR back from HIS you would be looking at $267 for 3 cards.

I am still in question about this card. I agree that it's a great performing card but you are already having to grab 2 of these to properly game with. I am thinking about down the road what happens when you want to upgrade. Do you purchase a 3rd or 4th and eat up space on your board and case?

How long will using 2 of these last in the gaming world? Will HD4770 x2 and an 9400GT running Physx work for awhile? And this raises another question...at that price point you can get a GTX 275 or a refurb GTX 280.

This is getting confusing. I am trying to place together a rig that is not going to break the bank and will stick around for a little while and give me some upgrading room in the future.

The core of the system is MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 with a Phenom II 720 BE. The board will support 4 graphic cards and I can later upgrade the CPU to better AM3 chips when the price lowers. I am looking to spend the least right now getting the best upgrade path.

 

[Onus]

Excellent review. I thought the limited number of comparisons was entirely appropriate. Those who want more should find it easy to refer to multiple sources. I do think those remarks really speak to the need to upgrade the graphics card benchmarks though. The last one is for Q3/2008; six months is a LONG time in this business.
I am one of those with a P35. It's a nice one, but Crossfire at x16/x4 will likely never make sense. If I were building new though, I'd likely get a board that can take two of these and start with one.
I appreciate the "X per Y" comments, particularly with regard to power usage. Since a pair of these uses less power than a single 4870, even a 500W PSU should be enough, which can be a consideration for people who cannot afford to upgrade their PSUs when they want to upgrade their graphics.

 

[NuclearShadow]

I use to be perhaps the biggest critic to CF and SLI but I must say its come along way and is actually starting to look worth it and has the potential to save money. I wonder how the 4770 in CF would perform if they had more Vram for those higher resolutions. If they ever make them and around a acceptable price range I would love to see any performance gain it would have.

 

[nerrawg]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]You're an epic moron at best dude! If you're running a p35 or similar board, chances are you're running an old 65nm intel part anyway, or even worse an x2 and can't even supply enough power for a 4890 in the first place. So on such a platform neither is an option.[/citation]

Hehe, I like that comment - agree with you on that neiro - why are there so many ignorant people who voice their opinions or ask stupid questions without thinking or reading up on stuff first? - oh .. wait.. this is on the internet! (licensed for ignorant abuse)

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]dario77[/nom]didn't bother to check and make sure that $109 price was still applicable before hitting "publish", did we? the 'egg has them all at 99.99, some still with a $10 MIR...truth be told, it was no shock at all that there was a $10 premium at launch. was not the ph2 720BE priced above its target price for the first week or so? pretty standard practice these days...not that its right or fair, just that it seems to be the trend. people raised by wolves know this.the wolves that raised them know this...minor complaints aside, the results speak for themselves...a fine article, and a darn fine card (in pairs)!its almost starting to feel like the old tom's again!!![/citation]

At the time of publication, all cards were min. $109 with $10 MiRs. MiRs are not counted against the retail price in any of our stories.

 

[spellbinder2050]

Yeah, wassup with the drop down menu. =[

 

[Oakley707]

Any chance we will get a 4770 1GB and would it actually help in 1920 resolution w/ AA?

 

[azcoyote]

Great article!

I would love to see specs/tests on a 3-way setup of these....

 

[etrnl_frost]

Holy... Considering the price discrepancy between the gtx and the radeon... nvidia must be pissed. ... or at least buying AMD stock

 

[Niva]

The proper name for these cards should've been a 4910 or something like that to show that this is indeed a manufacturing and architectural progress. I can't wait for the high end part on 40nm, you can be sure it won't be a 47xx name though...

 

[mitchellvii]

Hold it. You are missing something amazingly obvious. The 4770's in crossfire beat the 4890 UNLESS you like to turn on AA. Um, anyone else here think that AA improves their gaming experience raise your hand?

From what I saw the 4890 CLEARLY beats a pair of 4770's when using AA. You completely discount that. Also, after rebate the 4890 is the exact same price as 2 4770's AND you get a free $50 game with the 4890.

P.S., Don't forget that the 4770's DO NOT come with a crossfire bridge. You need to buy that for extra making a pair of 4770's MORE expenisve that the 4890 and worse with AA on.

 

[ailgatrat]

I couldn't help but notice that all the HD4770s I've seen for sale don't look anything like the cards you used for your review. I, for one, would like to know if there are any other differences?

 

[mitchellvii]

Is anyone else concerned that the 4770's go into the toilet the second you turn on AA at higher resolutions? For me that is instant deal killer.

P.S., You can pick up a 1920 x 1080p minitor now for about $200 so the higher resolutions are no longer as rare.

 

[voodooaddict]

Where are the 4770's with single slot coolers?

Those of us lucky enough to have Shuttle SFF systems that are SLI/Crossfire compatible could really make use of the 4770 crossfire configs.

 

[carcrazy202]

Given this test, I'd like to see what two HD 4830's can do against the GTX280 and GTX285

 

[carcrazy202]

^^ Never mind ^^

 

[voodooaddict]

[citation][nom]nelson_nel[/nom]No dropdown means MOAR AD REVENUES. Blah.[/citation]

Only if they don't do it right. Charge more for the Intro and Conclusion pages.

 

[fozzie76]

Not sure where yall got your pricing info but there are about 5 different makers of this card on NewEgg.com for $99. So the title should be "ATI Radeon HD 4770 In CrossFire: REALLY Unbeatable At $200"

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]nerrawg[/nom]why are there so many ignorant people who voice their opinions[/citation]
There aren't really THAT many of them. It's just that they keep doing so on a daily basis, so you notice them. There are serveral of those in this site, and if you read the news every day, you'll quite quickly notice which ones are in question. It was a lot easier when avatars weren't eaten by the design guys though.