HD 4770 Previews/Reviews

[Mats]

I wonder if all reviewers and users confirm with GPU-Z that the card actually enters the lowest state when measuring the idle power draw. My guess is that the card junps up to the next state very easily, or a driver issue. Maybe 9.5 makes some difference.

[Manicdan]

i think ati should give us some decent drivers that have better 2d low power settings for the 4770. the initial reviews kept showing it drawing as much and sometimes more power than a 4830, but we can also see that it has the potential to run much lower.

[Olivon]

Really a damn lil' card. Congratz DAMMIT

[Manicdan]

is this the only 40nm GPU on the market right now?

[ubuntu83]

is this the only 40nm GPU on the market right now?

Yes currently this is the only 40nm GPU in the market today.

[spursindonesia]

LOL, HD 4770 cards are sold out everywhere in my country, just around 2 weeks after its initial launch. The combo of good pricing policy from local distros and great value it offered, this baby is truly making a big success overhere. Peeps are b!tching in our local IT forums, complaining that they want the card but can't find them anywhere. It really hit the upgrading sweetspot for the legions of ex 8600 GT-9600 GT and HD 2600XT-HD 3870 users, they simply unable to resist it. The next batch is promised to be available around late May, but no firm confirmation whatsoever. This could mean missing the opportunity, but thankfully, nVidia's cards haven't been adjusted pricewise, i think nVidia's local distros are holding too many stocks of HD 4770 competitors that was bought with its initial higher price (on average, 9600 GTs are still priced around HD 4770 price here).

[acos]

I wonder if all reviewers and users confirm with GPU-Z that the card actually enters the lowest state when measuring the idle power draw. My guess is that the card junps up to the next state very easily, or a driver issue. Maybe 9.5 makes some difference.

yes i can confirm card was at 250/800 when idle. catalyst 9.5 didn't have
any difference
the only positive is that when gddr5 goes to 400 , consumption drops by 15w.
better than nothing. i really hope catalyst oc tool can have wider options
in latter versions i.e. 100MHz to 1200MHz for memory and core.

[Manicdan]

got my Kill-a-Watt meter, my pc uses 260w idle, and up to 450w in 3d mode gaming. time to turn off the PC when im not using it, and earn about a dollar a day.

[Tuvok-LuR-]

Chiphell tested a GDDR3 4770 (4750?), 8W less on idle and 20 on load

[Manicdan]

EDIT: ignore me, who cant read right

[Nomadsoul]

Gr8 performance

[joshua7]

LOL, HD 4770 cards are sold out everywhere in my country, just around 2 weeks after its initial launch. The combo of good pricing policy from local distros and great value it offered, this baby is truly making a big success overhere. Peeps are b!tching in our local IT forums, complaining that they want the card but can't find them anywhere. It really hit the upgrading sweetspot for the legions of ex 8600 GT-9600 GT and HD 2600XT-HD 3870 users, they simply unable to resist it. The next batch is promised to be available around late May, but no firm confirmation whatsoever. This could mean missing the opportunity, but thankfully, nVidia's cards haven't been adjusted pricewise, i think nVidia's local distros are holding too many stocks of HD 4770 competitors that was bought with its initial higher price (on average, 9600 GTs are still priced around HD 4770 price here).

Yeah, I am in the other part of the world (Hungary, Europe), but these hd4770s are just not available. They were to some extent, but for 1-2 weeks now, nothing...

[ninong]

the idle power consumption is the only thing thats holding me back from buying this one..do you guys think a driver update will lower it some more?

[Mats]

joshua7: Get one from Germany.

ninong: I don't think so. The high power consumption is because of the GDDR5 that neither underclocks not undervolts, and partly because of the new 40 nm process.

[Manicdan]

yes thats including slot power



a lot .. give me a few seconds to test

800 = 31.58W
700 = 29.88W
600 = 28.20W
500 = 26.40W
400 = 24.84W



assuming it's linear, that would be below 20W at 100 MHz

looks like the ram underclocks and saves power pretty nicely to me

i really wish they gave different profiles for power saving or high performance for the 2d clocks. since i play WoW in window, it uses the 2d clocks, and i have to force it to 3d which isnt hard, but it should be as easy as setting a profile in CCC.

[Mats]

looks like the ram underclocks and saves power pretty nicely to me

Well you're wrong, It's W1zzard that underclocks it. Here's a pic of the RAM settings, the 4770 never go below 800 MHz.

[Manicdan]

joshua7: Get one from Germany.

ninong: I don't think so. The high power consumption is because of the GDDR5 that neither underclocks not undervolts, and partly because of the new 40 nm process.

in your statement here, you make it sound like the gddr5 CANNOT be underclocked, which is false. and in the post you were replying too, they asked if they could release drivers to help save power, and the answer is that is yes if they underclock the ram in the new drivers. you say im wrong when you dont know what im saying.

your mixing what is done vs what can be done. im talking about whats possible for future drivers, you talking about past ones.

[W1zzard]

looks like the ram underclocks and saves power pretty nicely to me

i really wish they gave different profiles for power saving or high performance for the 2d clocks. since i play WoW in window, it uses the 2d clocks, and i have to force it to 3d which isnt hard, but it should be as easy as setting a profile in CCC.

windowed wow will run in 3d mode, unless you have a 4850x2 or 4870x2

[Manicdan]

windowed wow will run in 3d mode, unless you have a 4850x2 or 4870x2

i have a 2900xt, but the game is so old that i play 1920x1080 and still keep atleast 40fps in the busiest place (no aa, max af)

[Mats]

in your statement here, you make it sound like the gddr5 CANNOT be underclocked, which is false.

I didin't say what it can or can't do, I was talking about what it does today.
Then you entered the discussion and showed the result of manually changing the clock speed which is a whole different aspect, but YOU made it sound like it underclocks by itself. That's why I replied, just to explain what the graph was showing. Yeah, I've seen that graph before, remember I answered your question about Hybrid graphics on the same page?

and in the post you were replying too, they asked if they could release drivers to help save power, and the answer is that is yes if they underclock the ram in the new drivers. you say im wrong when you dont know what im saying.

You did imply that the 4770 underclock the RAM by itself when you don't explain what's actually happen in that graph

I still don't think a future driver for the 4770 would lower the RAM clock speed because:

− GDDR5 have been used in the reference 4870 for 11 months and the RAM still doesn't underclock. (If it does then I've totally missed it, at least it's not to much lower levels.) The experience ATI got from the 4870 didn't help them lower the idle RAM clocks in the 4770 at launch.

− The 4770 doesn't underclock at all when in idle. Lowering to 600 MHz doesn't sound like impossible, but the RAM stays at 800 for some reason.

− The 4870 even starts at 850 MHz, and then drops 800 MHz. This shows it is possible to change the RAM clock speed, but for some reason it is not safe to start at 800 MHz. I don't know why.

− Underclocking the RAM manually to a stable frequency and then modify the BIOS with the same figure doesn't work as expected. The 4770 can stop working after doing that, and I still haven't seen anyone doing it successfully.

− The 4770 can't undervolt AFAIK, just like if ATI have no intentions to change this in the future.

your mixing what is done vs what can be done. im talking about whats possible for future drivers, you talking about past ones.

I'm being realistic. Cutting the speed in half just to save 6 W at the cost of a unstable or bricked card isn't realistic to me. How many 4770 customers care about 6 W? It's less than 0.1% for sure.

What is possible is that some kind of third party design can use less power tho. But I'm talking about reference cards since ther're the only ones available now.

[Manicdan]

no need to get mad (if you are), in every post you say They, but never specify if thats in referance means the ram, or ati. so when i say they meaning something different, were at a miss-communication, no biggy.

and 6 watts is ~20% of its idle power, which can add up incredibly over time for the people who leave their computer on too much, like myself.

[Mats]

Nope, I'm not mad. I'm aware that I use the word "they" too much, but the context usually explains what I mean. I've done some editing now.

About saving 6 W, yes, there are many reasons to do so, but I still don't think ATI cares about that, especially if it causes instability.
And as I've already said, if ATI cared about it then something should have been done about the 4870 a long time ago i they (ATI) could.

[W1zzard]

i have a 2900xt, but the game is so old that i play 1920x1080 and still keep atleast 40fps in the busiest place (no aa, max af)

yes 2900 xt has that gay fullscreen-only-3d-mode switch too. i didnt mention it because i though it's too old

[Manicdan]

yes 2900 xt has that gay fullscreen-only-3d-mode switch too. i didnt mention it because i though it's too old

almost old enough to not get driver updates lol

[W1zzard]

but I still don't think ATI cares about that

oh you can bet they care. but they wont implement any feature if it makes the card unstable (not in this case). as i mentioned before, due to a hardware limitation the screen will flicker when changing memory clock. this could happen at any time during any game, even multiple times per second depending on the load the game creates. people would call ati support and demand rmas all day -> bad(tm)