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power consumption: EAH3850 vs 4770?

B

bassballboy

Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
526
Hey all, looking for a good excuse for me to get the 4770 :) Are there any comparisons as to any potential power savings for the 4770 over the 3850?
 
the 4770 eats the 3850 alive, and costs $99, what more of an excuse do you need?

but to answer you question, i believe the 3850 peaks draw around 185-200w under load, the 4770 peak a little higher around 215-220 but its idle is about 30w higher around 150w where as the 3850 idles closer 120w.
 
Do you mean total system load Sbeeze? Neither card comes close to having that much of a power requirement. Last I knew the 4770 barely needed a power connector, it consumes about 80 watts according to ATI, but review sites said it was even lower.. Can't say I know about the 3850 either. I doubt the difference between 10-30 watts will show up on your electric bill anyway.

Just get a HD4770 and be done with it :D.
 
The 3850 draws something like 65 watts.

edited: ^^ above link surprised me, didn't know the 4770 had that much of a power savings. It performs almost like a 4850 with like half the power. It's just the better card. :)
 
no, sorry thats total system load(based on info at hardwarecanucks), i was under the impression that the 4770 had a higher w draw at load .

imo i don't think it matters, the card is a beast for the money and you can always add a 2nd down the road for some serious firepower. if you especially if you overclock you can blow away a 4850 with one.
 
Last edited:
Jalidi said:
The 3850 draws something like 65 watts.

edited: ^^ above link surprised me, didn't know the 4770 had that much of a power savings. It performs almost like a 4850 with like half the power. It's just the better card. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, ATI surprised everyone after reports showed that TSMC's 40nm process sucked. The 4770 offers %90-95 the performance of the 4850 for half the power.

I am certain that the move to GDDR5 played a hand in power reduction, but the GPU still had the biggest drop.

This new card is so good, I'm actually tempted to sell my 4850. With summer coming-on, it would make for a cooler house :)
 
I dunno, weren't there conflicting reports on idle power consumption at the 4770's release, with the consensus being that it was surprisingly high for a 40nm card? Could it have been a pre-release driver issue that might have caused this discrepancy?
 
IIRC the power issue with the 4770 in the reviews was idle power draw, as the memory didn't clock down.
 
Noteleet said:
IIRC the power issue with the 4770 in the reviews was idle power draw, as the memory didn't clock down.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's the problem with GDDR5 on the ATI cards (or in general maybe): changing the frequency causes the screen to flicker. If it did it automatically, people would raise hell.
 
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