Asus EAH4770 PCIe Graphics Card
Conclusion
It was not so long ago that people would have scoffed at the thought of a sub £100 GPU being able to play Crysis at anything other than a slide show. The 4770 has changed all that which can indeed perform well at all but the highest resolutions. The 4770 cuts through ATI favourites such as GRID and even games not traditionally associated with ATI perform very well. Sure the 4770 wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to the extreme cards available today but then this card costs a fraction of the price. Couple two of these cards in Crossfire configuration and you have a setup then can play any game at any resolution, not bad for a setup costing £170.
The Asus EAH4770 is packaged well with everything you need to get you going. I would have like to have seen a Crossfire bridge included, which is a necessity for those looking to link two cards together. Most motherboards do not provide a crossfire bridge so those relying on Asus to include one with the 4770 will be disappointed. Apart from this oversight, the packaging was more than adequate with the card and accessories neatly packed which should ensure the product reaches you in perfect condition.
At around the £85 mark ,the 4770 appears at first glance to be a bargain. One must however consider that the HD4850 is dropping in price now and out performs the 4770. Indeed a basic 4850 costs sub £100 now, so for the 4770 to sell in the numbers AMD envisage, the price will have to drop further still as I feel most ‘in the know’ will opt for the higher performing, if somewhat noisier and hotter 4850 over the 4770 which is a shame as the 4770 is a cracking card, it just needs to be priced a little more competitively and is sadly a victim of AMD’s aggressive pricing strategy on older hardware.
The Good
– Good performance
– Excellent cooling
– Fantastic Crossfire scaling
The Mediocre
– Price could be more competitive
The Bad
– No included Crossfire bridge
Buy the Asus EAH4770 now at DCL for £84.99.
