http://media.msi.eu/main.php?g2_view=co ... emId=32015

Check page 3. Maybe it's pure marketing.

Yep, here's a large pig of the review version, both components are identical, well exept that there's a 5 instead of a 6.

Ok so you know the review version and the MSI version have the same chips. Can you confirm on any other non review version?

Do the HIS, Powercolor, Sapphire, and XFX all have the same power control circuitry?

decision? i guess it was, "lets be sloppy". ati just rushed and stuffed all the power circuit to the right and run out of space, so they just moved the holes to the left. simple as that. how cares about compatibility?

well, this wouldnt be strange phenomenon.

they made the best 4830 that was faster than reference yet drew less power on load and idle.

the "OC" edition. high quality components it had. I was going to get it but then i heard of this card and waited.

I heard all 4770 seem to have working powerplay.
But did anyone notice from reviews what freq does it drop to? Is that 250 and 600 in SPCR review?

That 4830 doesn't have GDDR5 which makes it easier to achieve lower power. The question is if MSI are willing to underclock the 4770's RAM, that is if it's possible like my XS quotes suggests.

Hm, so does this mean that we should wait for non-reference boards to come out and hope they have lower idle power draw?

That's kind of what I was thinking. I had high hopes for the idle consumption of this card. Hopefully some manufacturers will make non-reference versions that live up to that.

well, i bit the bullet, because I needed a card in that price/wattage/performance range, anyway.

Id be curious to see what to of these in Xfire, OC'd, would do against a pair of 4850's in Xfire.

That and if I could actually get an S1 on them. This might actually be the impetus to build that build I have been planning (and upgrading) for the last 2 years. Funny, the price never changes ($1200) but the technology is so much better, and I don't even own the darned thing yet!!!

I am going to wait for non reference and see what aluminum Water blocks might fight it.

This is the perfect crossfire setup. It would kick a 4870's butt in a huge way. The wait for non reference is that if theres a slight wattage difference, its always x2.

Really interesting, but they wont do it: is to make a better power design and put 2 on a board for single card crossfire. THAT would be a killer, but its a bit niche

4770 crossfire benchmarks are up on expreview site

Was the card SPCR reviewed even downclocking properly at idle? SPCR's review states:
The 4770 that Xbit reviewed idled at 250 on the core (as it should); I guess that might be the reason for the difference in idle power consumption. Assuming that the above quote is correct, maybe there was something preventing the SPCR card from entering a full idle state, eg. a background process, as the RBE bios screenshots indicate the card was capable of downclocking to 250 core speed.

I would really want the review sample with GDDR5 heatsinks, twoslot rear exhausting dual heatpipe cooler version and not their retail version without GDDR5 heatsink, heatpipe exhaust cooler and 9 condensators less version... Sure full copperheat sink with 80mm fan seemed to be nice and rather quiet... but still, review sample seems so much better...

but I would still like to have 4-pin fan plug, all condesantors and all the nice trinkets they put on the review sample. If they make that a overclocked model and put higher price tag, I'd still get one...

XFX has first premium 4770. Mem heatsinks and extra condensators seem to missing though.

You know, one of these with a 256-bit bandwidth (which could then run lower clockspeeds and use less voltage) would be awesome. It could probably run passively cooled and not bake itself to death like a lot of passively cooled higher-end cards tend to do.

If only...

we need some testers! I really hope we can get some low power states to at least match the idle power of the 38xx series, if we can with reference/premium reference designs, then I'll be upgrading.

The retail version is missing voltage controlers and capacitors. The fan connector is only 2pin vs 3pin in the card that made to the media.

This doesn't seem good.

maximum profit! edited for the blind users over here-

There is one too many green stars on that pic. The review version of the board doesn't have a cap in the place where one of the green stars is.

Also the star to the left of the fan controller, I think there is a difference there but they didn't remove the part, they just put a different part in it's place (oh and the same component swap was made right above the e in review).

Still it'd be nice if the reviewers would follow up with a retail card and amend the reviews to reflect the reality that us mere mortals will face when buying cards that weren't review samples.

I'd really like to know how much that changes the idle power draw.

nop, sorry but you are wrong. just look at the pics above my post. each green star represent something that's either missing or changed.

Take a close look at the blue star, silo..

Take a close look at the blue star, silo..



ok i see it, never the less damage control much?

1 ) "one too many green stars" =/= just 1


2) what about the rest ? that's still a lot of stuff missing @ changed

Not really - your posts here have been pretty full of crappy attitude. This place is generally mercifully free of the ATI <-> NV fan wars but that seems to have escaped you. Now it turns out you've made a mistake in your rush to mouth off. Hardly surprising that people are going to pull you up, regardless of your or their preference for colour of graphics card.

You can go on forever about those caps, when there's already been shown that it doesn't affect non-extreme overclocking, the cheaper cooler is quieter, and heatsinks aren't needed for the factory underclocked RAM. .

Get a GTS 250 or start a new thread,or stop being so full of something. Get some facts instead and don't bother me with more stupid posts.

nvidia fanboy? please gtfo, its clear that nvidia also sucks, but we are not discussing that particular subject here. If you like to support deceptive bs like this, then FINE, but is it you the one with a shit attitude here, not me. all this reviews are simply pointless, they do not reflect the actual truth about the product you are getting because the actual item is severely gimped . For all i know it could have an idle consumption of 80W and no powerplay. ok whatever enjoy your trashy videocards guys.

Is it that hard to understand why I start a thread about ATI's upcoming midrange GPU three months before its launch?

Do you really think I'm a Nvidia fanboy? Gtfo of my own thread? Get real and start your own.
Can you tell me how many reviews that are based on the retail(gimped) model? If you have read this thread you'd know the answer.

could this run on my system? see sig

btw its got a Antec EA-380W

Yes, easily ^^