At the back of the ASUS EAH4770 videocard are two dual-link DVI outputs capable of a maximum resolution of 2560x1920 each. The S-video connection supports component video output. The card itself requires one 6-pin power connection and is Crossfire X compatible so multiple videocards can be teamed.

The Asus EAH4770 videocard is equipped with a large and fairly quiet aluminum heatsink with inset fan. The additional height of the heatsink means the EAH4770 videocard will occupy two expansion slots instead of just one. Under testing the fan made an audible hum at full speed, but was practically silent when set to run automatically.

ASUS' fan design doesn't exhaust hot air out through the rear of the computer case, so any hot air is dumped back inside the system chassis. While this will raise ambient temperatures inside the case by a few degrees, adding in a system fan can easily remedy the problem.

Given its competitive pricing, it's not surprising that the ASUS EAH4770 comes with relatively few extras. Inside the box you'll find a pair of driver CDs, a short installation guide, a molex to PCI Express power adapter, a Component adapter, a DVI to VGA adapter, and most importantly a DVI to HDMI adapter. Since this is an AMD Radeon HD videocard, the HDMI adapter is HDCP complaint and will also carry audio signals without the use of any additional cabling.

Total System Power Draw Comparisons

Here's how the ASUS EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A videocard stacks up for power consumption in real life against a couple different graphics cards. PCSTATS measures total system power draw and compares that in 3D loaded (max value recorded in 3DMark06) and idle states (at Windows desktop). The power supply used in each test is an A-PFC compliant PC Power and Cooling 750W model.

Videocard Power Consumption (Total System Power Draw) Idle at Desktop Watts Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 177 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 153 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 222 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 165 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 137 ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 120 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 108 ASUS EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 101 Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT CrossFire 195 ASUS EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A 160 ASUS EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A 150 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 120 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 170 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 96 nVidia Geforce 9600GTs in SLI 166 ASUS EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M 152 Palit Geforce 9600GT 512 151 MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E 196 MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE 183 MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E 165 Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH 140 3D Loaded: Watts Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 421 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 390 ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 610 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 330 ASUS EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 225 ASUS EAH4850 HTDI/512M 202 MSI R4830-T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 177 ASUS EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 153 Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT CrossFire 549 ASUS EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A 333 ASUS EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A 252 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 214 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 316 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 160 nVidia Geforce 9600GTs in SLI 313 ASUS EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M 220 Palit Geforce 9600GT 512 221 MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E 345 MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE 315 MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E 277 Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH 213

Overall power draw numbers illustrate what a 40nm die shrink can do to save power; the ASUS EAH4770 videocard (& complete PC system) draws just 153W under load in 3DMark06! That's pretty impressive given the performance this mainstream videocard is able to dish out as you'll see momentarily. At idle, the Radeon HD 4770 system is about par with the new energy efficient versions of the NVIDIA Geforce 9600GT, such as the Gigabyte NV-G96TSL-1GI videocard.

Next up PCSTATS overclocks the ASUS EAH4770 videocard!