Wednesday, May 13th 2009

PowerColor HD 4770 AGP Gets Listed, Fastest AGP Card in the Making?

ATI looks to be still in the mood to cater to the dying breed of AGP motherboard users. A Radeon HD 4770 graphics card made by PowerColor surfaced on Amazon.com (model: 1A1-G000004992), that boasts of support for the AGP interface, although a picture of the PCI-E variant accompanies it. The store claims it to be in stock, and priced at US $99, although PowerColor's website has no trace of it. We are in the process of finding out more about this card.

If indeed PowerColor made such a card, AGP users have something to rejoice: the fastest AGP accelerator, one that puts them into the current-generation of GPUs. The card features 640 stream processors, is DirectX 10.1 compliant, and features 512 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit memory interface. Until now, the fastest AGP card from ATI is the Radeon HD 3850 AGP.

Update (05/13): PowerColor responded to this article saying that the product is falsely advertised, and that the company neither has an HD 4770 AGP accelerator, nor is it currently in the works. In the course of the conversation however, the company disclosed that it is working on products based on the Radeon HD 4600 series (HD 4650, HD 4670) that are AGP-compatible.
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55 Comments on PowerColor HD 4770 AGP Gets Listed, Fastest AGP Card in the Making?

#26
alexp999
Staff
btarunrUpdate (05/13): PowerColor responded to this article saying that the product is falsely advertised, and that the company neither has an HD 4770 AGP accelerator, nor is it currently in the works.
:rolleyes:
Posted on Reply
#28
Yukikaze
douglatinsDamn AGP DIE ALREADY!!!! :mad::mad:
No! :rockout: :D
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#29
_h2o_
AGP compliant motherbard users are continuing Radeon HD3850 AGP.
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#30
a_ump
well shit even a HD 4670 will be the new best card for AGP. It does AA a lil better than the HD 3850, and then you won't need power connectors for it also which is another plus, better overclockability. Does anyone know how much power the AGP slot provides?
Posted on Reply
#32
Polarman
I tough that the 3850 was already bottlenecked by older CPU's.
Posted on Reply
#33
lemonadesoda
PolarmanI tough that the 3850 was already bottlenecked by older CPU's.
Actually, it depends on WHAT you are doing with it. The CPU will be a bottleneck, and will limit your max FPS in a game (for example), but:

1./ You can play at high resolutions (this is GPU bottleneck, not CPU)
2./ You can turn up shader effects, and AA etc. (this is again GPU stuff not CPU).

So if you are running a game on a 3850 on an older PC, on a 4770 you might not get a lot more FPS, but you can play with a higher resolution and with more shader based eye-candy. Remember, you only really need 60fps for smooth gameplay. While a new CPU might be able to do 120fps, the 60fps is quite good enough... so long as you are at a decent resolution and can turn AA on etc.

PLEASE NOTE however, that an "older" AGP based CPU could actually be a decent AMD processor (better than P4), or even a s775 based modern Intel. For example, I run a Q6600 on an AGP mainboard and the bottleneck is the HD3850 and not the processor.
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#34
MKmods
Case Mod Guru
now if they would just make a pci version my Lego comp would be epic:laugh:

By the way thanks again btarunr for posting all this cool stuff.:respect:
Posted on Reply
#35
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
MKmodsnow if they would just make a pci version my Lego comp would be epic:laugh:

By the way thanks again btarunr for posting all this cool stuff.:respect:
you made a case out of Lego?? Im gonna go to the shop & buy £50's worth of bluetack & build myself a case out of it.
Posted on Reply
#36
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
btarunrUpdate (05/13): PowerColor responded to this article saying that the product is falsely advertised, and that the company neither has an HD 4770 AGP accelerator, nor is it currently in the works. In the course of the conversation however, the company disclosed that it is working on products based on the Radeon HD 4600 series (HD 4650, HD 4670) that are AGP-compatible.
aparently there was a similar confusion with Amazon.co.uk - they placed a 4770AGP up for sale then withdrew it later after people started placing orders & Amazon released a statement that they had been working very closely with Powercolour & that Amazon would not be stocking or selling any 4770's

(Or something along the lines of that)


but seriously??? how many people still run AGP systems?? I doubt OEM's would start building budget AGP machines to cater for those who cant afford a PCI-E system.

but ANY AGP card now is going to be expensive, a few years back I was lookin for a 7900GS+ to replace my x850xt pe but MOST places were selling for what seemed to be at least £30-50 more then the going price for a X1900xTx which was all the rage back then.
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#37
Hayder_Master
enaherusing the same proc, and same memory its very possible a agp card outperforms its pcie brother...
yes my friend i know but imagine this card overclock memory at 900mhz , so as an ddr5 the 900 mhz will be 3600 mhz frequency on AGP
Posted on Reply
#38
lemonadesoda
FreedomEclipsebut seriously??? how many people still run AGP systems??
There are tens of millions of AGP systems out there. The question however is if these people would ever KNOW ABOUT or WANT to upgrade to the 4770.

The 4770 is a great way to improve an AGP system. Make it quieter. Less power. Less heat. And better performance. It will also have Dual link DVI and 2x DVI sockets for runing hi-res and multiple screens. Overall net positive.

But the question remains: marketing to this consumer group is difficult, because most ENTHUSIASTS are on PCIe now. And most consumers dont read up on tech nor buy extra bits for their ready-made all-in-one computers.

Not withstanding that, I have 3 machines I would upgrade to 4770, since they are already Q6600 and have quite enough CPU horsepower.

DID YOU VOTE? www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=agp+4770 click through to the poll on TPU. The link through google is to "rank it up" a bit.
Posted on Reply
#39
MKmods
Case Mod Guru
FreedomEclipseyou made a case out of Lego?? Im gonna go to the shop & buy £50's worth of bluetack & build myself a case out of it.
check out my avatar
Posted on Reply
#41
RadeonProVega
MKmodsnow if they would just make a pci version
I hope they do :)
Posted on Reply
#42
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
An agp 4770 would have been really cool. I do wish agp would die off and thats what it looks like have happened unless this gathers enough support.
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#43
RadeonProVega
To be honest, i think they should stop making PCI and AGP cards, seriously. And i am not just saying that because i have 3 pcie slots now and i plan to move on to pcie. I am saying that because just looking at the market, well i would say it just don't seem to make sense anymore. Just make MB's with one PCI or 2 pci slots and and the rest pcie slots.

But i am not against people making them, if they continue to do, hey i am not mad about it.
Posted on Reply
#44
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
u2konlineTo be honest, i think they should stop making PCI and AGP cards, seriously. And i am not just saying that because i have 3 pcie slots now and i plan to move on to pcie. I am saying that because just looking at the market, well i would say it just don't seem to make sense anymore. Just make MB's with one PCI or 2 pci slots and and the rest pcie slots.

But i am not against people making them, if they continue to do, hey i am not mad about it.
they need one PCI slot right at the bottom of the board, for sound cards. everything else is either good quality onboard these days, or better in PCI-E. Sound cards have more good PCI cards than PCI-E cards.
Posted on Reply
#45
Yukikaze
a_umpwell shit even a HD 4670 will be the new best card for AGP. It does AA a lil better than the HD 3850, and then you won't need power connectors for it also which is another plus, better overclockability. Does anyone know how much power the AGP slot provides?
It doesn't need power connectors on PCI-E, but PCI-E feeds more power than AGP through the slot, so I am pretty sure you will need a connector. I used to have a Sapphire HD3650 AGP and it required extra power via a floppy drive 4-pin connector.
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#46
15th Warlock
My AGP HD3850 can still play most recent games at max details, and when compared to its PCIe sibling in similar setups it gives me the same average performance overall...

What is it with ppl crying for AGP to die? I mean are you directly affected by companies still supporting an old interface?

To me that's just selfish, live and let live ppl....

Anyways, for $99 this would have been a really sweet deal to keep my old HTPC AGP rig up to date, damn you Amazon for setting my hopes high for nothing :p
Posted on Reply
#47
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
15th WarlockMy AGP HD3850 can still play most recent games at max details, and when compared to its PCIe sibling in similar setups it gives me the same average performance overall...

What is it with ppl crying for AGP to die? I mean are you directly affected by companies still supporting an old interface?

To me that's just selfish, live and let live ppl....

Anyways, for $99 this would have been a really sweet deal to keep my old HTPC AGP rig up to date, damn you Amazon for setting my hopes high for nothing :p
i guess they just want everyone on PCI-E, letting those AGP factories make PCI-E instead would make everything a tiny bit cheaper.
Posted on Reply
#48
15th Warlock
Musselsi guess they just want everyone on PCI-E, letting those AGP factories make PCI-E instead would make everything a tiny bit cheaper.
Well, maybe the Rialto chips used as bridge may increase the cost a tiny bit (not that much tough, this is a 4 year old chip), and PCB costs shouldn't be higher to the PCIe versions, besides increasing design costs a bit, I don't think it would affect the bottom line for companies such as Sapphire, Powercolor and HIS so much that they would have to increase the price for PCIe cards, otherwise these companies would just stop selling these cards...

It's obvious they still see a market for these cards in old AGP rigs :)
Posted on Reply
#49
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
15th WarlockWell, maybe the Rialto chips used as bridge may increase the cost a tiny bit (not that much tough, this is a 4 year old chip), and PCB costs shouldn't be higher to the PCIe versions, besides increasing design costs a bit, I don't think it would affect the bottom line for companies such as Sapphire, Powercolor and HIS so much that they would have to increase the price for PCIe cards, otherwise these companies would just stop selling these cards...

It's obvious they still see a market for these cards in old AGP rigs :)
the more produced an item is, the cheaper it is. If more factories start making PCI-E cards, the costs to produce them will drop (probably by about 2 cents)
Posted on Reply
#50
15th Warlock
Musselsthe more produced an item is, the cheaper it is. If more factories start making PCI-E cards, the costs to produce them will drop (probably by about 2 cents)
Good point, :) but do you think this alleged 0.09~0.15% drop in production costs will actually translate to lower prices for the end consumer? I know you just the used the 2 cents as an example, maybe getting rid of the extra hours spent designing an AGP board and actual production costs would lower the PCIe production cost by a higher margin.

But my point is, do you think this justifies the "Why wont AGP just die" attitude, when there's a lot of ppl out there who still have AGP systems, I mean, if I had to choose between having the price for my GTX285 going from $340 to $337.99 when I bought it, but having to sacrifice any chance to upgrade my old AGP rig, or even let my father upgrade his old PC at home, or my cousin get a new AGP card for his good ol gaming PC, I would gladly choose to pay the extra $2...

Now, I don't see this as an "AGP Tax", and I really have no idea of how much droping AGP production completely would affect the price for PCIe parts, but does it really affect me so much to just wish other ppl didn't have the opportunity to upgrade?

Anyway, in the end the card doesn't even exist so, we may finally be witness to the end of AGP, an end that was supposedly due about 4 years ago; and for today the HD3850 remains king among old AGP rigs... :rockout:
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