Graphics card name-bashing

[chronodekar]

Seriously this is getting ridiculous !!! About 6/8 months ago I buy a Nvidia 8600GT and a week later I hear something better came along.

OK, that's life. I can put up with that.


But to tell me that the ATI 4770 is better than the 4850 is just too much. ATI, I had respect for you. I really did. Now ... I just don't know what to think any more.

Is the numbering of the graphics card important to you guys too ? Or is everyone so used to the situation, that I'm just making noise?

Moved from PC Gaming
- Anandtech PC Gaming Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[Red Irish]

I heard that the 4770 is close to, but not better than the 4850, where did you hear otherwise?

http://www.fudzilla.com/index....view&id=13258&Itemid=1

 

[newb111]

I don't care about the number, I care about the performance

 

[vj8usa]

In your poll, wouldn't "no" and "I don't care" mean the same thing?

And you might want to use 4830 instead of 4850 in your example. The 4770 is faster than the 4830, but with a lower number.

Anyways, my personal opinion: I don't care. Just like with all the rebadging of cards, this doesn't really affect me, as actual performance is the only thing that matters.

 

[HOOfan 1]

The 4770 is ATI's 8800GT. A mid lifecycle process shrink, with a name that many would think implies that it is slower than and older part, that it is actually faster than. Also cheap enough and performance oriented enough that it completely makes other parts from its generation obsolete.

 

[MarcVenice]

Whats wrong with you? Are you the kind of person that would upgrade his 8800gt to a 9800gt? If so, this thread has no merit, if it has any to begin with.

And HD 4770 isn't better then HD 4850, it's better then HD 4830.

 

[Wreckage]

Well no one should follow what marketing tells them to buy. Just do a little research. The 4770 is just a rebadge of some other part @ 40nm. Probably should have named it 4840 but whatever.

Go look at LCD TV's every company has like 40 model numbers just for their 52" part. That's why I just hit ole google to find what was what.

Originally posted by: MarcVenice

And HD 4770 isn't better then HD 4850, it's better then HD 4830.

Guru3D seems to say otherwise
http://www.guru3d.com/article/...deon-hd-4770-review/20

"I mean, for less than 100 bucks you'll be able to get a videocard that performs pretty much the same as the Radeon HD 4850."

 

[SlowSpyder]

The 4770 isn't faster than the 4850 in general so the number fits. It may pass it in a benchmark or two, but overall the 4850 is still the faster part.

Wreckage, a GPU built on a completely new process with a completely different memory configuration from the 4830 as well as completely different power useage charactoristics, different PCB/cooler is a 'rebadge'?

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Wreckage, a GPU built on a completely new process with a completely different memory configuration from the 4830 as well as completely different power useage charactoristics, different PCB/cooler is a 'rebadge'?

Are you talking about the GTS250? LOL!!!

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Wreckage, a GPU built on a completely new process with a completely different memory configuration from the 4830 as well as completely different power useage charactoristics, different PCB/cooler is a 'rebadge'?

Are you talking about the GTS250? LOL!!!

The 9800GTX+ wasn't built on 55nm like the GTS250? I'd like you to tell me, what is the difference between this 9800GTX+ and this GTS250? They're both factory overclocked, there is a 16MHz difference from EVGA. Otherwise tell me, what is the difference besides the stickers.

 

[dflynchimp]

4770 will beat 4850 in places where memory bandwidth matters more, due to its GDDR5 memory, but in most cases the 4850 still beats 4770, from the reviews that I've seen.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Wreckage, a GPU built on a completely new process with a completely different memory configuration from the 4830 as well as completely different power useage charactoristics, different PCB/cooler is a 'rebadge'?

Are you talking about the GTS250? LOL!!!

He means a native 640SP core, not a 800 with 160 disabled ones. Plus it's running a 128bit bus, not a 256 like the 48xx series. And 40nm process, not 55m. The whole die is physically different. And takes like 40W less under load (that's a third less for the GPU).

Where the GTS250 is the same core as the 55nm 9800GTX+. I mean to the last gate. And is an exact shrink of the 65nm one. Same memory bus, same shader count, same things on a smaller process.

As for the name, I find it nice if the numbers mean something and can give you a rough idea of what to expect. I'd say this is the case here. The fastest of the 47xx series is a bit faster than the slowest of the 48xx series. And it came 6 months later. I'm guessing the HD4830 will be EOL'ed and we will have HD4670 (60$-ish), HD4770 (100$), HD4850 (130$) and HD4870 (160$). And finally the HD4890 for 200$. Looks like a clean and nice line-up.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Stop using a non-reference 9800GTX+ to troll with. We already covered that.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: Qbah
Looks like a clean and nice line-up.

I notice how you left out the 4830 to keep it clean. :laugh:

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Stop using a non-reference 9800GTX+ to troll with. We already covered that.

I'm pretty sure that is the new reference model. It's a revision that Nvidia made to save money since the 9800GTX was no longer a high end card. They had to save money to have it compete with AMD's offerings that were priced lower. That is the revised reference card. Tell me what the difference is besides the stickers. Answer the question.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: Qbah
Looks like a clean and nice line-up.

I notice how you left out the 4830 to keep it clean. :laugh:

Are you being intentionally thick? Missed the part where I wrote (I quote myself)?

I'm guessing the HD4830 will be EOL'ed and we will have HD4670 (60$-ish), HD4770 (100$), HD4850 (130$) and HD4870 (160$). And finally the HD4890 for 200$. Looks like a clean and nice line-up.

Even put the major reason for my list in bold. Just in case you missed it in this short quote.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: Qbah

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: Qbah
Looks like a clean and nice line-up.

I notice how you left out the 4830 to keep it clean. :laugh:

Are you being intentionally thick? Missed the part where I wrote (I quote myself)?

I'm guessing the HD4830 will be EOL'ed and we will have HD4670 (60$-ish), HD4770 (100$), HD4850 (130$) and HD4870 (160$). And finally the HD4890 for 200$. Looks like a clean and nice line-up.

Even put the major reason for my list in bold. Just in case you missed it in this short quote.

I noticed how Wreckage likes to ignore things to make his arguments seem valid.

 

[hooflung]

It makes sense that it is called the 4770. It uses a chip that has the same amount of stream processors but has a 128bit bus. The fact that it uses GDDR5 makes it competitive but it is still a smaller chip than the 4830 which is the lowest they want to go. I mean their only other real choice was 4840 or 4820. 4840 is really an eye sore and would imply that it has a chip better than the 4830 which it technically does not.

Naming on this card is all about the memory bus. Be thankful they didn't rename it 4850 and rebadge the 4850 as a 4950. That is what Nvidia would have done.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Model numbers are model numbers. There's only consistency in certain ways. The first number is the overall generation. The second is the series within that generation. The third is where the card goes in that series. Model numbers do not allow you to compare any two GPUs (or CPUs, for that matter) regardless of which generation/series they're in. They only let you compare within the series. Obviously the 47xx series will generally be better than the 46xx series and generally worse than the 48xx, but there could be some overlap.

Think of this. Intel's Core 2 numbering. The E6300 should be better than an E5200, right? Wrong. The E6300 was numbered the way it was because of how it compared to other CPUs available at the time. But the E5200 is better than it in almost every way. It's just how things ended up based on what else was available.

 

[nitromullet]

You really can't base much on the model number anymore. Especially with mid-cycle die shinks. It really changes up the game quite a bit. You might end up with a card that should be slower than a previous card, but because it's based on a shrink it might clock higher and thus perform better. Add to that the overlapping use of 128-bit and 256-bit memory interface and DDR3 and DDR5 vRAM, and you'll have a number or outliers and results inconsistent with expectations for different games, resolutions, and (specifically AA) settings.

 

[taltamir]

I LOVE it when companies make lower number cards which are faster... its like a stupidity tax that subsidizes my own purchases... i can go and safely buy a faster and cheaper card because i bother at least LOOKING (it takes less than 5 minutes) at the performance of what i plan on buying.

 

[OCGuy]

The next person that gives either company crap for naming conventions will be linked to a 4770 and GTS250 thread.

Both companies are guilty of confusing names. But as I have always said, who cares? Do your homework before you buy your card, dont go off of the shiny packaging and cool letters and numbers.

 

[Sylvanas]

Personally, I don't care what it's named I care how it performs and what features it has. It's not difficult to Google search reviews on a card and then read through the review, look at the pretty bar graphs then decide what to buy given your budget and how card x performs in games etc- the cards name doesn't matter one bit.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Whats wrong with you? Are you the kind of person that would upgrade his 8800gt to a 9800gt? If so, this thread has no merit, if it has any to begin with.

And HD 4770 isn't better then HD 4850, it's better then HD 4830.

Yech on "upgrading" from 4870 to 4890
- i am SO underwhelmed with my 4890 i am going to keep using 4870 as my test card

or very little from GTX260+ to 275

or 10% going GTX280 to 285

Just overclock till the next gen

this reminds me of back in the days of x800>x800xt>x800xtPE>x850>x850xt>x850xtPE
.. and i forgot the numbers game Nvidia was also playing with them

at least the Price is Down for the top cards
-that IS progress

 

[Lonyo]

According to the Dailytech article, the HD4830 is being retired, so HD4770 performing better and having a lower number wouldn't matter.
The effective result would be going from:
HD4830 < HD4850 < HD4870 < HD4890
to
HD4770 < HD4850 < HD4870 < HD4890

Both of which are entirely reasonable. It also wouldn't be surprising if they did retire the HD4830 since it won't be as cost effective to make, and thus have worse margins, than the HD4770 assuming yields for the chip are used in the 48xx's are good.