System setup and notes
Hardware
| Graphics cards | HIS Radeon HD 4770 512MB GDDR5 | Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 GDDR3 512MB | Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 512MB | Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB | XFX GeForce 9600 GT 512MB | Palit GeForce 9800 GT 512MB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £85 (estimated pricing) | £57 | £75 | £110 | £70 | £85 |
|
| Shader model | 4.1 | 4.0 | |||||
| Stream processors | 640 | 320 | 640 | 800 | 64 | 112 | |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 750 | 750 | 575 | 625 | 650 | 600 | |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 750 | 750 | 575 | 625 | 1,625 | 1,500 | |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 3,200 | 2,000 | 1,800 | 1,986 | 1,800 | 1,800 | |
| Memory bus width (Bits) | 128 | 128 | 256 | 256 | 256 | 256 | |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz, 1,333MHz FSB, dual-core) | ||||||
| Motherboard | Foxconn P45A-S | XFX nForce 780i | |||||
| Motherboard BIOS | P05 | P01 | |||||
| Mainboard software | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | NVIDIA device driver 15.17 | |||||
| Memory | 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR PC8500 | ||||||
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-15 2T @ 1066MHz | ||||||
| PSU | Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W | ||||||
| Monitor | Dell 24in 2405FPW - 1,920x1,200px | ||||||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB - 32MB cache - SATAII (ST3500320AS) | ||||||
| Graphics driver | Radeon HD 4770 press driver (8.60-090316a1-078299C-ATI) | Catalyst 9.4 | Catalyst 9.4 | Catalyst 9.4 | ForceWare 181.20 | ForceWare 182.50 | |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business SP1, 64-bit | ||||||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.7.568, HEXUS
custom-recorded benchmark: DX9 - high quality Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts v2.400: DX10 - high quality Enemy Territory: Quake Wars v1.5, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark. OpenGL - high quality Far Cry 2 v1.02 - medium quality Race Driver: GRID v1.2, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark - high quality |
|---|
Notes
We've brought together six GPUs ranging from £57 through to £110. Four, including the HD 4770, belong to ATI's flagship R4K series. NVIDIA is represented by the volume-selling GeForce 9600 GT, still going strong after debuting in February 2008, and the GeForce 9800 GT - a 'rebrand' of the 8800 GT that launched in October 2007.Speaking of rebranding, the only GPU missing is the £99+ NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which is a rebrand of a GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB (stay with me here), that was, more or less, a rebrand of a GeForce 8800 GTS, albeit with higher clocks. We'll add the NVIDIA
Benchmarks were run at our mid-range settings of 1,280x1,024 and 1,680x1,050 with varying degrees of image-quality enhancement.
