The AMD Radeon RX 480 Preview: Polaris Makes Its Mainstream Mark
by Ryan Smith on June 29, 2016 9:00 AM ESTGaming Performance
So with the basics of the architecture and core configuration behind us, let’s dive into some numbers.
Overall, AMD is pitching the RX 480 as a card suitable for 1440p gaming as well as 1080p gaming and VR gaming. In the case of 1080p the card is clearly powerful enough, as even Crysis 3 at its highest quality setting is flirting with 60fps. However when it comes to 1440p, the RX 480 feels like it’s coming up a bit short; other than DiRT Rally, performance is a bit low for the 60fps PC gamer. Traditionally cards in the $199-$249 mainstream range have been 1080p gaming cards, and in the long run I think this is where RX 480 will settle at as well.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
449 Comments
View All Comments
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
So it cant to 60FPS constant at 1080p, but it CAN do 90FPS constant at 2160x1200? Did you fail math?Sushisamurai - Friday, July 1, 2016 - link
I think the point of yojimbo's post is that it should be able to hit 90fps @2160x1200 at medium to low settings. It can't hit 60FPS at ultra high settings at 1080pYojimbo - Friday, July 1, 2016 - link
Yes exactly. Ironically, math is my area of expertise.cocochanel - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
You must be smarter than the engineers at AMD. They said this card was designed for VR, they would not make such a claim if the card did not deliver. 3-4x higher performance ? Where do you live ?CiccioB - Friday, July 1, 2016 - link
In a world where marketing claims results to be false for most of the times.Wasn't Polaris 10 going to have 2.5x efficiency gain vs GCN? An AMD engineer told that as well. And has even put it on a slide.
I just saw 40% gain. While Pascal gained more than 60% over Maxwell. Which was still 40% better than GCN.
If an AMD engineer tells you that this card can fly, would you accelerate the fan at the level to try that claim? You know, an engineer has told you that it can! And it was an AMD engineer, nothing less!
FriendlyUser - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Perf/W would be much better if they had used GDDR5X, which they did not, for cost reasons. HBM is even more power efficient. Then you have the board itself, which probably is not as electrically sophisticated as the much more expensive nVidia 1080 board. Finally, you don't know which of the two process technologies is better for perf/W (two different foundries). In the end, I don't think the chip design is the main difference.Yojimbo - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
The RX 480's perf/W is really no better than the GTX 970, which uses GDDR 5 RAM like the RX 480 as well as a 28nm process compared with the 14nm process of the RX 480. I do think the architecture is the main difference. Polaris 10's architecture seems to be significantly less efficient than Maxwell's, after accounting for the advantage of the 14nm process of the RX 480. Pascal is even more efficient architecturally than Maxwell.Meteor2 - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
The 1080/1070 take the performance/power crown. But the 480 comfortably takes the performance/price crown. What's interesting is that the 1080 isn't quite fast enough for AAA titles at 4K and the 1070 sits in no man's land, while the 480 runs AAA and 1080p and does VR. It's clear which option is the solid buy.Yojimbo - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
Yes the RX 480 will take the performance/price crown assuming supply can keep up with demand, but for how long? The GTX 1060 will be out in a month or two and be very competitive in price/performance.The 1080 is fast enough for AAA titles at 4K if one doesn't max out the settings. A similar thing can be said for the 1070. Also similar is RX 480's VR claim. It can only manage VR gaming when settings are not maxed out. Are you a console gamer or you just have selective memory? This paragraph should be redundant for a PC gamer.
Demibolt - Friday, July 1, 2016 - link
Not here to argue, just fact checking.GTX 970 can be purchased for ~$240 from several online retailers (less if you get a used one from ebay). Given the close performance figures between the 2 cards and the inevitable price-drop that will happen with the GTX 970, It is objectively too soon to say the price/performance benefit of one cards beats out the other.