Radeon HD 4770: New Graphics Chip from ATI
With a new, powerful chip generation, ATI is challenging Nvidia at the low end.
The new chip generation is called RV740, which ATI hopes to serve as a kind of test balloon for the next high-end RV870 chip. It's somewhat unusual to launch a new chip generation with a low-end model, which is not least of all why ATI describes its HD 4770 as "recession-proof." Technically the chip is a 40 nanometer RV770 chip (of the Radeon HD 48.0 generation) that AMD/ATI stresses is the first commercial chip of that size that its manufacturing partner TSMC has produced.
Because ATI raised the clock of the 128-bit memory bus to 1.6 GHz to get to to a reasonable 51.2 Gbytes/second memory bandwidth, no significant power savings should be expected. However, the Radeon HD 4700 can fall back to a 512-MByte GDDR5 RAM, GDDR5 being rather a novelty in the low-end market. Running at 750 MHz and with 128 unified shader units and 15 raster units, the 826 MIO transistor chip delivers a 12-Gpixels/second fill rate (24 Gpixels/second texture rate). It can also theoretically deliver, with 960 Gflops, twice the processing power of its direct competitor in the low-end market, the Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT. The HD 4770 is available now on graphics cards from numerous manufacturers at around $109 street price.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Digital Autonomy
• The Answer Was Already on the Shelf
• Changing the Chip Industry: How Public Investment Has Grown Open Silicon
• United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
• EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
• France Says “Au Revoir” to Microsoft
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Pine64 Halts Production of Linux Devices
With continued DRAM and eMMC shortages, Pine64 has decided to discontinue production of Linux devices.
-
The Bullet-Proof KDE Software Initiative Is Coming
KDE, Techpaladin, and Kubuntu Focus have announced a new initiative that will provide at least three years of support for KDE Plasma 6.6 LTS and related software.
-
Linux Mint Shares a Possible Kernel Cleanup Solution
For those on Linux Mint who like to keep multiple kernels around but don't want them to take up too much space, you might be getting a new automated tool.
-
CachyOS Gets an Update
CachyOS August 2026 release is now available with the latest version of KDE, some new features, and plenty of improvements.
-
The Linux Kernel Dev Staging Area Now Rejects AI-Generated Patches
Unless a kernel patch is a valid security fix, it will be rejected if it was created using AI.
-
Linux Surpasses Double-Digit Market Share
According to two sources, the Linux operating system has hit a major milestone in market share that naysayers thought would never happen.
-
AI Helped Develop a Linux Exploit
A use-after-free race exploit was discovered and exploited on CentOS Stream 9.
-
Yet Another Linux Kernel Vulnerability Discovered
Affecting millions of systems, a kernel flaw discovered by Qualys could allow users to gain root privileges.
-
Ubuntu 26.10 to Include Ubuntu Certified Hardware Check
If you've ever wondered if your laptop or PC is officially certified to run Ubuntu, that curiosity will soon be met.
-
Substantial Update to IPFire Now Available
The lastest version of IPFire features a fundamental change to how the system handles DNS.