If frame rate performance was equal, which solution would make more sense buying one expensive high-end video card, or combine two budget priced middle market video cards for less than the high priced unit? For most consumers, when all things are equal, it comes down to cost. That's the message in this article, don't pay more unless you're getting more. Because the truth is that two Radeon HD 4770 video cards can be combined into a CrossFireX set and perform better than more expensive alternatives at less than half the price. We will compare two Radeon HD 4770's assembled into a CrossFireX set against a large collection of high performance GPU's to check the actual performance. - Benchmark Reviews

Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 CrossFireX Config Preview

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 introduces the 40nm based RV740 chipset paired to 512MB of GDDR5 frame buffer memory, and a double height cooler allows this model to operate at 750MHz. This Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 sells for as low as $99, which allows gamers to create a very affordable CrossFireX array using this mainstream graphics accelerator. Faced by an economy in recession, it could be smarter to refine the products you have than to design and produce completely new ones from the ground up. AMD has decided to refine their Radeon HD 4000 series GPU's with the 40nm based RV740 for mainstream gamers.

Fresh on the heels of a successful Radeon HD 4890 high-end video card launch, ATI has returned to capture middle market segment. While the Radeon HD 4890 boasts an impressive RV790 core, their new Radeon HD 4770 offers a newly minted RV740 chipset with 826 million transistors built on a 40nm fabrication process. Taking after the bigger and faster graphics accelerators, the Radeon HD 4770 utilizes a similar layout and design. The GDDR5 frame buffer on the Radeon HD 4770 card operates on a 128-bit ring bus memory architecture, making it half as efficient as the other two iterations of the architecture, but crippled slightly.

Now judging the product appearance is a very subjective matter. Lately, almost everything has been encased in plastic housings with a contoured finish. This doesn't mean that you can't look sharp without the extra plastic body work, but there's a level of protection all of that stuff provides which goes missing on the Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 board. While decals and accents try to add flair to the cooling unit, it's still a rather awkward looking component as such on a graphics accelerator designed with a sleek externally exhausting unit. Although it gets the job done and that is what counts really, strange design or not.

In conclusion, this Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 card is perfect for home theater PC builders and casual gamers looking for performance at low value with excellent cooling and overclocking capabilities. The Radeon HD 4770 also matches well with AMD 770 chipset motherboards, which currently sell for as little as $55. We have completed our testing on the 40nm based RV740, and our results have the single unit performing just below the frame rate of a Radeon HD 4850, and well ahead of the GeForce 8800 GT. As such it will also fare well against the GeForce 9800 series, and should leave this well behind in various games.

Adding a second Radeon HD 4770 for CrossFireX makes all the difference, and our frame rate performance climbed beyond that of an overclocked GeForce GTX 285. With a double slot cooler secured to a power sipping 40nm GPU, budget enthusiasts can squeeze plenty more performance from this Radeon HD 4770 and get even faster frame rates for no additional cost.