HIS HD 4770 512MB PCI-E Graphics Card
Test Setup
Today we are going to be concentrating on a head-to-head comparison of the HIS HD4770 512MB, Zotac GTS250 AMP 1GB, and Asus 9800GTX 512MB graphics cards. The aim is to see whether the new HD4770 512MB card, based on 40nm fabrication, offers any benefits over the older 55nm cards.
| Processor | Intel Core i7 920 @ Stock |
| Motherboard | MSI X58 Platinum |
| Memory | 6GB Corsair Dominator CL8 1600Mhz |
| Power Supply |
Tuniq Ensemble 1200W |
| Operating System | Windows Vista x64 SP1 |
| Graphics Drivers |
Catalyst 9.4 and Nvidia Geforce 182.50 |
To put the cards through their paces the following list of programs and games were carefully chosen. Varying levels of quality, AA and both low and high resolutions were used to give an overall view of how each card performs under different levels of stress.
3DMark05
STOCK
1900×1200/4xAA
STOCK
1900×1200/4xAA
3DMark06
STOCK
1900×1200/4xAA
3DMark Vantage
PERFORMANCE
1900×1200/4xAA
Call of Duty 4
1600×1200/4xAA
1900×1200/4xAA
Enemy Territories Quake Wars
1600×1200/4xAA
1900×1200/4xAA
Crysis
1600×1200/0xAA/HIGH
1900×1200/0xAA/HIGH
Far Cry 2
1600×1200/4xAA/HIGH/DX10
1900×1200/2xAA/HIGH
Race Driver: GRID
1600×1200/4xAA/HIGH/DX10
1900×1200/0xAA/HIGH
Unreal Tournament 3
1600×1200/4xAA/HIGH/DX10
1900×1200/0xAA/HIGH
Overclocking
Using the Catalyst Overdrive overclocking utility we managed to reach 820Mhz on the core, and 840Mhz on the memory. With more time and further tweaking we could probably manage to squeeze a few extra Mhz out of the card, but the lack of heatsinks on the memory is likely to be a hinderance to the maximum overclock achievable.
The card remained cool and quiet regardless of the overclock. The fan did occasionally ramp up speed, but it was barely audible and a minor inconvenience considering the noise some of the leaf blower coolers produce these days.
To test the overclock 3DMark Vantage with “Performance” and “Extreme” settings was used. In Performance Mode the card jumps from 7732 3DMarks to 8239 and in Extreme Mode we see the score increase from 3018 to 3300 3DMarks. A very respectable increase ranging from 282-557 3DMarks. This highlights the worth in overclocking your card to utilise the extra performance lurking inside.
