Radeon HD 4770

[the shoe]

Can 2 of these cards really keep up to or out perform a GTX285?
I dont have much to go on> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102835
It would be nice since i cant afford a big card right now.
And how easy is it to setup the crossfire if I were to get 2 of these?

Thanx

 

[jennyh]

Ok, it's a new card lacking driver support right now.

I bought two of them and scored 14500 singular and 18500 xfire in 3dmark06 on my friends system. That was with bad drivers.

Catalyst 9.5 will be released either tomorrow or very soon and that should give us an idea of where the card truly sits in performance. With the dodgy drivers I've found it to be at least as good as a single 4870 in most games. With proper drivers two 4770's in crossfire will be faster than any single gpu available right now, including the 285gtx.

Crossfire isnt difficult to set up, just get 2 cables (the 4770 doesn't come with any), put both cards into your pcie slots, switch on crossfire in the catalyst control centre and that is pretty much that.

What card do you have right now?

 

[the shoe]

I just have the onboard card. Asus M3A78-T....whatever that is
Im really itchin to get a card and this seems to be a good deal if i can "upgrade" by getting a second one later on. Still really new to all this stuff.
So, should i wait until the drivers are released?

 

[jennyh]

Yep you'll be fine

This is your motherboard right? - http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_m3a78-t_790gx_phenom_9950/4.html

You can actually take 3 graphics cards. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 4770 if I were you, and add 1-2 later.

 

[the shoe]

yup. 3 of them

 

[jennyh]

According to that review, the blue one is the normal pci-e slot, the white one is used for 2-way crossfire and the black slot is used with 3-way.

Should be one helluva system. If you do decide to get 3 4770's please let us know how it works out.

 

[EXT64]

Yes, but note due to chipset limitations the third would just be 4x (or less, as I think the max PCI-E bandwidth is 16x, or 2 8x). That might work ok, but I think the combination of the falloff at >2 cards and the bandwidth limitation would make it not worth it (for three, that is. 1 or 2 is definitely worth it).

 

[jennyh]

I think it's that way by design tbh.

The first card draws 16x like on any new mobo. Two at 8x8x isnt unusual although that might lead to a slight performance loss vs the extreme high end systems.

The 3rd slot being 4x makes a lot of sense really, considering the drop off in performance when using 3 cards. That third card will always be underused so it doesn't need to be running at 16x. I believe the figures for crossfire/3-way are something like 80% 2nd card/40% 3rd card so 4x should be good enough on that third slot.

 

[EXT64]

Yes, but the thing I can't remember is that actual max bandwidth that can be allotted to the graphics PCI-E slots. I know the total PCI-E lanes is more than 16, but some are taken up by the southbridge.

 

[jennyh]

It depends on whether or not you have an FX or GX mobo. FX have more lanes and for sure will work better in 3-way or higher crossfire.

I think that taking the nature of the card into consideration, it will probably run very well on that mobo even with only 4x on the 3rd slot. I have a 16x/4x 780x mobo as well as an 8x/8x 790gx so I'll try it out and see how they compare.

 

[baron_of_angels]

I just bought two of these cards on Tuesday (should be at my door today). I have been reading and after seeing your post I am unsure if I need two or one crossfire cables. I plan to stop by and buy what I need on my way home.

I am running:
Asus M4A78T-E Mobo
AMD Phenom II 810
6 Gig OCZ 1600 DDR3
32 inch monitor
Corsair 750 psu

The on board gpu is a HD 3300 and drivers are no good. I updated them and it makes it worse. So I am hoping that these cards will work well even with the bare bones drivers.

I am about 6 years out of the PC hardware game. My last system lasted almost 7 years AMD 2500+, so I am just trying to make sure I am on the right path with these cards...

Thanks

 

[jennyh]

You need two crossfire cables.

 

[baron_of_angels]

Thanks. I will post my feed back once all is installed and running.

 

[the shoe]

when and if i decide to get a second 4770 will this have enough juice? http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?act=detail&id=3738


any clue on when the drivers will come out for the 4770?

 

[jennyh]

They are out, just maybe not on the AMD site yet.

Maziar's thread has links, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-264425_15_0.html

That PSU should be more than good enough.

 

[baron_of_angels]

I have tried to d/l the files but keep being told they are invalid links... I will try later today, again. I will say that these cards are pretty quite. I have them both in the case and the only time i hear them is on start-up, they are loud then and only then. Oh and by the way only needed one crossfire bridge to hook up two of them. Was waiting for the new drivers before I did any test.