Conclusion

In fact, we can say that the recommended price of graphics cards on ATI Radeon HD 4xxx series processors correlates very well with their performance. In other words, we have every reason to conclude that the company’s marketing specialists were working closely with the engineers that is why we don’t see any obvious miscalculations within the lineup. At the same time we can point out a few most interesting graphics card models from the ones tested today.

The first one that deserves a special word is Radeon HD 4770 512 MB, which in my opinion is the necessary minimum requirement for more or less contemporary games. The performance if inexpensive Radeon HD 4650 and 4670 is so low that these graphics accelerators simply can’t provide the gamers with acceptable framerate even in low image quality modes and screen resolutions. After our today’s test session we have absolutely no regrets that we didn’t include Radeon HD 4350 and HD 4550 (their tests would be completed by Radeon HD 58xx launch at best). Radeon HD 4370 seems to be really close to Radeon HD 4770 in performance, but it is less energy-efficient, requires additional power supply, has higher heat dissipation and generates more noise. Moreover, it is simply bigger in size. Radeon HD 4770, on the contrary, is a quiet and economical graphics solution with acceptable performance, which is often comparable even with that of Radeon HD 4850. Its heat dissipation is also quite modest due to the use of 40 nm GPU.

The second graphics card from the old cavalry that we can recommend is Radeon HD 4890 1024 MB, which is in fact none other but further enhancement of the Radeon HD 4870 with higher clock frequencies, almost the same heat dissipation and noise levels, and the same power consumption, but with twice as much memory. Yes, their prices differ dramatically that is why I am sure that you will make the final decision yourselves. As an option, you can consider getting a Radeon HD 4870 with 1 GB of memory and the price point somewhere between HD 4870 512 MB and HD 4890. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a graphics card like that at my disposal at the time of tests that is why we can’t draw any conclusions about the price difference.

Finally, uncompromising and wealthy gamers should go for the dual-processor Radeon HD 4870 X2. And if the new single-processor Radeon HD 5870 graphics card that launches in a few days turns out faster, more energy-efficient and quieter than the today’s ATI flagship solution, it will really become a significant step forward for AMD/ATI and definitely a stimulus for the other company to release even more powerful solutions. I am pretty sure you know who will benefit most in this case :)