Download the Tom's Hardware App from the App Store
The reference for current tech news
Yes No
Signin with

Power Consumption

by

Each of the cards we tested treats power management a little differently. The following table illustrates the idle/load clock speeds observed for each board:


Idle Clocks (GPU/Memory)
Load Clocks (GPU/Memory)
Radeon HD 4850

160/500

625/993

Radeon HD 4830

500/750

575/900

Radeon HD 4770

250/800

750/800

Radeon HD 4670

165/250

750/1100

GeForce GTS 250

738/1100

738/1100


At first, it seems strange that the 640-shader Radeon HD 4830 would idle at the same power consumption as the Radeon HD 4850. However, the 4830 is being run at significantly higher idle clocks. Under load, the faster HD 4850 widens the gap and uses the most power in this comparison.

The Radeon HD 4770 scales back idle power consumption to 152W (total consumption from the wall socket), just 4W less than the 55 nm RV770 LE running 250 MHz faster. With a load applied, however, the new ATI card is 18W under the Radeon HD 4830 and 29W under Nvidia’s GeForce GTS 250. In fact, the card’s closest competitor is the mainstream Radeon HD 4670, which uses 19W less under full load.

Share:
103
Comments
X
Submit

Comments
Dekasav 04/28/2009 4:16 AM
Hide
-5+

"Well-played ATI, well played."

Couldn't say it better, myself.

Looks to be a pretty good card, but nothing spectacular. 40nm is nice, a little cheaper HD 4850 (fewer FPS, too), but all in all, nicely done.

I wonder who'll sell more, now, the 4850 or the 4770?

anonymous 04/28/2009 4:24 AM
Show
kelfen 04/28/2009 4:38 AM
Hide
-4+

solid card for the average gammer ;)

bardia 04/28/2009 5:19 AM
Hide
-20+

I'm pretty blown away at the kind of performance that can be had for ~$100 these days thanks to ATI. It wasn't long ago when Nvidia forced us to choice between the incredibly crappy 8600GT for $150 and the ~$250-300 8800GTS 320.

ATI is leading us into graphics nirvana.

pharge 04/28/2009 5:19 AM
Hide
-10+

Wondering will 4770 a good one for crossfire? Can we have a review on it....? With its low power useage when fully loaded, cheaper price (~$40 cheaper than 4850 when CF), not much slower than 4850 (512MB), and nice overclocking range... It will be nice to see will 4770 CF setup be useful (playable) in games (1920x1200) with some visual goodies truned on.

anonymous 04/28/2009 5:32 AM
Hide
-2+

Wondering about 4770x2, should be wishful item

Summer Leigh Castle 04/28/2009 5:33 AM
Hide
-14+

bardia :
I'm pretty blown away at the kind of performance that can be had for ~$100 these days thanks to ATI. It wasn't long ago when Nvidia forced us to choice between the incredibly crappy 8600GT for $150 and the ~$250-300 8800GTS 320.ATI is leading us into graphics nirvana.


I spent almost $300 on my 8800GTS 320 OC when they came out and I thought I got a great deal. Things have changed! Competition = good for the consumers!

eklipz330 04/28/2009 5:38 AM
Hide
-5+

this card is amazing for 1680x1050, if they can manage to slap some aftermarket coolers on there, buying two for the price of a 1gb 4870, and overclocking them, im pretty sure we'd pass gtx 285 numbers.... simply amazing.

great card for 16x10 resolution. good job ati, you've done more damage to nvidia[and they're sickly pricing schemes] in the past year than they've done to you in the pass 3-4

eklipz330 04/28/2009 5:44 AM
Hide
-0+

*edit*

just checked newegg and they all have aftermarket coolers on them... wow *_*

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 70&x=0&y=0

Ryun 04/28/2009 5:50 AM
Hide
-1+

eklipz330 :
*edit*just checked newegg and they all have aftermarket coolers on them... wow *_*http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 70&x=0&y=0



Nah, they're reference coolers from AMD. From what I heard, AMD gave the AIB partners a choice between the dual slot and the, for lack of a better term, uglier cooler. Apparently the "uglier" one is cheaper so that's what you're probably going see for now.

aznguy0028 04/28/2009 6:18 AM
Hide
-2+

Ryun :
Nah, they're reference coolers from AMD. From what I heard, AMD gave the AIB partners a choice between the dual slot and the, for lack of a better term, uglier cooler. Apparently the "uglier" one is cheaper so that's what you're probably going see for now.


i actually like the "uglier" coolers. they look like a spaceship on the card xD. haha

anonymous 04/28/2009 6:24 AM
Show
JAYDEEJOHN 04/28/2009 6:33 AM
Hide
-2+

Im just hoping they spend as much space, and lines on ATI's DX10.1 whenever nVidia releases something, or in an nVidia review coming

anamaniac 04/28/2009 7:00 AM
Show
thepinkpanther 04/28/2009 7:14 AM
Hide
-4+

dang i thought the 4770 would suck compared to any 256 bit interface card,boy! was i wrong!

Ryun 04/28/2009 7:17 AM
Show
crisisavatar 04/28/2009 7:23 AM
Hide
-6+

excellent card but i think the extra 10 bucks made it loose some of it's charm.

cangelini 04/28/2009 7:46 AM
Hide
-6+

pharge :
Wondering will 4770 a good one for crossfire? Can we have a review on it....? With its low power useage when fully loaded, cheaper price (~$40 cheaper than 4850 when CF), not much slower than 4850 (512MB), and nice overclocking range... It will be nice to see will 4770 CF setup be useful (playable) in games (1920x1200) with some visual goodies truned on.



This is upcoming. I know they were asking for CrossFire in other countries as well, but we didn't receive two of these boards. There is a Radeon HD 4770 roundup in the works, however!

NuclearShadow 04/28/2009 8:15 AM
Hide
-1+

The price to performance ratio just keeps getting better and better. I'm simply amazed by this.

Best offers

All about Graphics Cards
 Graphics Cards performance charts
All Graphics Cards charts

Newsletters


OK