HD4770 Overclocking Review

[Ulti]

HD4770 Overclocking Review

Introduction

I know it is slightly late to post about the HD4770 and that not many people will care about this card now but there haven't been much news about overclocking this card so I thought I'd post my own results.

I've got the PowerColor edition of the card. Got it for £55.35 off Ebuyer but it's out of stock now and was £61.99 before it went out of stock.

Came in the nice box that most graphics card come in, however when I opened the box it was pretty much just like an OEM box. There was the brown cardboard with the card at the top wrapped in anti-static material and nothing else other than a small booklet on installing the graphics card and a CD for the drivers.





There were no types of adapters at all.

Now the card comes at an original 750Mhz Core Clock and 800Mhz Memory (3200Mhz Effective GDDR5) Not sure why GPU-Z displays it as 750/850. Weird one.



Test System

My system consisted of:
-Processor: E5300 OCed to 3.75Ghz (1.42V)
-Cooler: Budget Akasa 965 with AC MX-2
-Board: Abit IP35 Pro XE (1.41V NB)
-Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red Oced to 1000Mhz 5-5-5-18 (1.95V)
-PSU: Corsair CX400W
-Monitor: Dell 17" 1280*1024
-Case: Cheap Casecom with 2x 120mm Front/Side Intake and 1x 92mm Exhaust.



Ah I didn't include it in my review but the other reviews have mentioned how to.

I'll basically repeat the steps.

How to overclock the HD4770

1) Firstly download:
-RivaTuner 2.24
-RivaTuner x64 signed Drivers (Only needed for 64 bit systems)

To be honest I dunno if you actually need the signed drivers for W7 64 bit.

2) Install RivaTuner 2.24

3) Install the signed drivers by copying it to RivaTuner's 2.24 folder and then re-running the RivaTuner installation file and allowing it to update itself.

4) Open Rivatuner.cfg in the RivaTuner folder.
Mine was here: C:\Program Files (x86)\RivaTuner v2.24 MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2009 edition

5) Edit the file by adding going to the [GPU_1002] section and on the last line “RV770 = 9440h-9443h,944Ch", add “, 94B3h”
This will enable the HD4770 to be supported.

6) Save the file and run RivaTuner 2.24

7) Click on the icon next to customize and click on "Low-level system settings"

8) Click on the little checkbox saying "Enable low-level hardware overclocking"

9) Have fun overclocking and post your stable results here!

Overclocking

I used RivaTuner to overclock my HD4770 as CCC would only allow a max overclock of 830/850. I would then test stability by running through the last level, All The Fury, of Crysis with the save point before the last Exosuit. If it passed I would then overclock again and repeat the last part of the level. Once it froze up I would go to my last stable overclock and run Furmark for 10 minutes just to test stability. I preferred this way as some overclocks that were stable for 10 minutes in Furmark would crash in Crysis.



I reached a maximum of 865Mhz core clock speed (15.33% increase) and 1151Mhz (4604 effective) memory speed (43.88% increase) My core clock is kind of low though but the memory overclock is impressive. I have even tried lowering the memory clock to try to increase the core clock but it doesn't work.



Benchmarking

I ran 3DMark Vantage firstly at stock and then at OCed speed on the preset Performance level.

GPU points increased from 6752 to 8348. (23.64% Increase)





I then ran Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Crysis Warhead and Left 4 Dead at the following settings on the following levels:

All games at 1280*1024 as this is my monitor's native resolution.

-Assassin's Creed:
Level: Beginning city, 'Masyaf'
All settings on max.



-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:
Level: 'Day 4, The Hornet's Nest'
All settings on max.



-Crysis Warhead:
Level: 'All The Fury', the save point before the last Exosuit 'boss'.
All settings on Enthuasiast but no (0x) AA.



-Left 4 Dead:
Level: The beginning of 'The Woods'.
All settings on max.



Here are the results:



Comparisons with other overclocking samples

Stock:
Core: 750
Memory: 800

Mine:
Core: 865
Memory: 1151

Guru3D:
Core: 850
Memory: 1000

LegitReviews:
Core: 931 (915 without Furmark locking)
Memory: 1000

Bit-tech:
Core: 880
Memory: 985

Xbitlabs:
Core: 860
Memory: 975

techPowerUp:
Core: 825
Memory: 1120

I wish I had LegitReviews' clock speed overclock

Conclusion

Well, the overclocking performance is great and with a max temperature of 68 degrees C and a quiet cooler that was the best £50 I have ever spent. 30 FPS for Crysis is enough for me and any other game I can play well. Next upgrade will definitely be a good Crossfire board and another 4770 for sure.

[sadbuttrue]

If you flash the bios with the asus one you'll be able to increase voltage, allowing the 900mhz+ gpu clocks. I don't trust my luck to do it myself.

The 4770 downclocks nicely too btw. I run mine in a 24/7 Power Saving mode of 250/400.

For gaming I've settled for 815/1000, even though it can get ~860 on the gpu. When overclocking anything my general rule is to allow a 5% margin from the absolute max, to offset any power/voltage irregularities.

[Ulti]

Ah, thanks for the advice but I'm not not too bothered with overclocking the card with voltage increases. Afterall, graphics cards do fail quite quickly compared to a few parts in the pc so I'll leave it at the voltage it's currently running at.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD4770 overclocks very nicely indeed. I have an HD4830 which is also has 640 stream processors and I can only get upto around 675MHZ to 700MHZ on the core(from the stock 575MHZ). The memory hardly budges at all though!!

At least it only cost me around £50 a while back and runs Crysis Warhead at 1440X900 on enthusiast settings in XP!!

I use ATI Tray Tools to downclock the core to 280MHZ and the RAM to 400MHZ under Vista although I can run lower clocks under XP!

[Mista157]

Apparently there's a way of volt-modding the 4770 without flashing the bios by using MSI AfterBurner.

Details here.

[Domestic_Ginger]

The memory chips are rated at 1000mhz (4000mhz effective). So running at 1000 you're only really adding to your energy bill and not suffering risk of damaging the components.

I love Techpowerup's reviews as you get to see lovely naked cards! they reckon its due to the lack of a power saving mode that it runs at 800 stock.

I would have liked a 4770 but they were not in stock anywhere when I was buying!

Grats on the OC; looks like a nice improvement.

[Ulti]

Ah no wonder most people's card could run at 1000mhz memory. (or close to anyway)

Forgot about TPU, gonna add their overclock.

[KidChameleon]

How exactly are you overclocking it? What version of RivaTuner and drivers are you using?

I have a 4770 and Windows 7 x64 with the 9.11 drivers and RivaTuner 2.24c. I keep getting the usual thing about drivers not being supported and the only answer I can find is to wait for the newer version of RivaTuner, due out June 2009.

[Ulti]

Ah I didn't include it in my review but the other reviews have mentioned how to.

I'll basically repeat the steps.

1) Firstly download:
-RivaTuner 2.24
-RivaTuner x64 signed Drivers

To be honest I dunno if you actually need the signed drivers.

2) Install RivaTuner 2.24

3) Install the signed drivers by copying it to RivaTuner's 2.24 folder and then re-running the RivaTuner installation file and allowing it to update itself.

4) Open Rivatuner.cfg in the RivaTuner folder.
Mine was here: C:\Program Files (x86)\RivaTuner v2.24 MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2009 edition

5) Edit the file by adding going to the [GPU_1002] section and on the last line “RV770 = 9440h-9443h,944Ch", add “, 94B3h”
This will enable the HD4770 to be supported.

6) Save the file and run RivaTuner 2.24

7) Click on the icon next to customize and click on "Low-level system settings"

8) Click on the little checkbox saying "Enable low-level hardware overclocking"

9) Have fun overclocking and post your stable results here!

[sadbuttrue]

nm, what he said ^^

I can confirm MSI afterburner works for increasing the voltage, without the need for a bios update. I'm still not sure if it's worth the risk tho.

[KidChameleon]

5) Edit the file by adding going to the [GPU_1002] section and on the last line “RV770 = 9440h-9443h,944Ch", add “, 94B3h”
This will enable the HD4770 to be supported.

That's the bit that got it working, thanks. I can't seem to get above about 850MHz for the RAM. I might leave it for a day when I don't have a cold.

[Ulti]

That is really weird, according to Domestic Ginger the RAM is rated at 1000mhz. Even if it were to be a bad chip I'm sure 850Mhz shouldn't be impossible.

Maybe you were REALLY REALLY REALLY unlucky :/

[Pob255]

Nicely done Ulti

I think the 4770 was mainly overlooked at the time it came out because it was way too much money.
It was around £120 if I remember correctly, and with a few 4830's still about around the £65 mark and the 4850 around £135 at the time I didn't really have much of a market.
That and it didn't have that much over the 8800gt/9800gt which where around £90-100 at the time.

At £55-65 it's a far better price

[Ulti]

Hence I will definitely crossfire another one of these once I P45 motherboards drop in price (not sure if they do have decent crossfire performance but I'll assume they do)

It's amazing how fast Ebuyer sold out of their Powercolor PCS edition and the "Extra Value" or whatever the "cheap" version was though. I guess everyone saw the price tag and jumped onto the 4770 wagon haha.

[Pob255]

Yes the 4770 does crossfire very well if I remember correctly

The mid preformance range cards in a series tend to get the best dual card performance boost.
Granted lower end cards often get closer to the theroitical 100% performance increase but they are starting from a far lower performance to make it practicable.
The high end cards while being the fastest tend to get the least performance gain from being paired up.
Strange yet true

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It could be that there is less CPU overhang when using two lesser cards. TBH, it is still not worth using a pair of HD4770 cards for £120 as if you factor in the cost of the motherboard you might as well have waited and bought an HD5850 instead.

I am sticking with my HD4830 for as long as possible. £100 in even 6 months time could buy you a very powerful DX11 card for the price.