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.
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warreo - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Who said the 1060 will be $330+? Source?If it follows the previous gen's price differential to the 1070, it will be priced at $250...your argument is even more absurd and biased than webdoctors'. Pipe down.
K_Space - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
You're both "right" in inverted commas because we don't have hard facts yet. But if you believe the green leaning WCCFtech, the GTX 1060 will launch at $250:http://wccftech.com/nvidia-gtx-1060-special-launch...
As its rumoured to launch with 3Gb and 6Gb, I suspect these will come in $199 and $250 respectively. 3Gb strikes me as quite low, not sure if it'll affect 1080p performance though. Either way, potential gamers will see 3Gb versus 4Gb and grab the 480 (ditto for the bigger versions).
TL;DR I doubt the 1060 will "wipe the 480 out of the landscape"
fanofanand - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
The 1060 3 Gb being $199 is awfully optimistic. Nvidia is like Intel, they REALLY like their profit margins.D. Lister - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
In the 480's defense, it offers GTX 970+ performance (esp. In dx 12), plus an extra 4GB of VRAM, while consuming less power. If both were OCed, the 970 would probably beat it in most benches, but c'mon, it is a mainstream product, and most people who already have a 970, paid much higher than what it goes for now.smilingcrow - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
The 480 consumes slightly less when gaming but a lot more at idle so overall I'd say it loses in terms of power efficiency. Good value all the same.just4U - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Wouldn't this new process have a ton more overclocking headroom than 28mm?D. Lister - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
Well, you get what you pay for. Think of the 480 as a fully factory-overclocked GPU, that is for people who haven't even heard of overclocking, but want to play modern games at 1080p/60FPS, while having to pay the minimum for that tier of performance.Eden-K121D - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Overhyped shitty card by AMD.What a brilliant F**K up by AMDD. Lister - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
C'mon now, they told everyone well in advance that it would be ~$200 and target the mainstream. For that, it offers extremely reasonable performance. If you were expecting a 1070-beater for $200 then, with all due respect, the problem is with your expectations, and not this product.Notmyusualid - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Indeed.Haters are just gonna hate.