AMD Radeon RX 480 Review: Performance for the masses

[Steve]

"Compared to what exactly? It is an improvement I will give you that, significant? Yeah NO."

and your previous comment

"It offers slightly more performance for a slightly better price while not improving power consumption and offering dismal overclocking performance"

Nice 180. So at first you state no improvement in power efficiency and now it does? The RX 480 is around 22% more power efficient than the 380 all the while providing over 50% more frames on average. Massive increase in FPS and they managed to decrease the power usage.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10446/the-amd-radeon-rx-480-preview/4


Overclocking gains don't mean anything if the card is already throttling at stock, like the 1080. "signs of hope" is in your completely subjective opinion and could mean anything.

"No that is a problem for AMD. The R8 380 and GTX 960 were already out the door at the $200 price point. Hell at the time of release the GTX 960 was selling for as low as $160, over 30% less than the RX 480 8GB price. The RX 480 is coming in against the R9 390 and GTX 970 at $240, please come to terms with that basic fact."

Because if Steve says so it magically makes the card a RX 490? FYI, and I stated this before and you ignored it, the only reason the 970 and 390 are at their current price points is because of the RX 480. Also your pricing on the GTX 970 is off.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133620&buyingoptions=New

You can get the GTX 970 above $260 in limited quantities only. Notice how newegg only has one model at that price. Most other models start at $280+. If you aren't going to compare model to model you should at least compare price to price. Even the GTX 960 is often costs more than the RX 480 and it is a far slower card. You are trying to argue that either AMD / Nvidia's out of production, limited stock cards are right to compare to a in production card. That's great if the intention of your review was to mislead. In reality there aren't many of these cards left and they are last gen. If you take the higher price and the value of next gen tech into consideration it's easy to see why the RX 480 is the far better value.

Also, another point you dodged, the lack of any benchmark criteria or what system was used is pretty stark compared to other review sites.

I really don’t have time for this pointless fanboy nonsense so don’t expect a follow up to this post, I will just clarify a few things for you.

The first comment regarding power consumption not being improved was in relation to the GTX 1070. Context is important I guess. The GTX 1070 and RX 480 consume the same amount of power, yet one is considerably faster. To me this is not an improvement, or at least not a good enough improvement I should have said.

The second power comment was comparing the RX 480 to the R9 390 which in my own review showed an improvement of 50 watts for the entire system.

The GTX 1080 doesn’t suffer the throttling issues you would like to believe it does, my benchmark results confirm this and so do those carried out by others.

Also, another point you dodged, the lack of any benchmark criteria or what system was used is pretty stark compared to other review sites.

What? I used the same test rig I always use for GPU testing, it’s on page 2.

So AMD discounted the R9 390 at the time of the RX 480 release to what … make the RX 480 look better? :S

Anyway I am out so take that as a win, you deserve it

 

[Evernessince]

I really don’t have time for this pointless fanboy nonsense so don’t expect a follow up to this post, I will just clarify a few things for you.

The first comment regarding power consumption not being improved was in relation to the GTX 1070. Context is important I guess. The GTX 1070 and RX 480 consume the same amount of power, yet one is considerably faster. To me this is not an improvement, or at least not a good enough improvement I should have said.

The second power comment was comparing the RX 480 to the R9 390 which in my own review showed an improvement of 50 watts for the entire system.

The GTX 1080 doesn’t suffer the throttling issues you would like to believe it does, my benchmark results confirm this and so do those carried out by others.



What? I used the same test rig I always use for GPU testing, it’s on page 2.

So AMD discounted the R9 390 at the time of the RX 480 release to what … make the RX 480 look better? :S

Anyway I am out so take that as a win, you deserve it

Usually, when someone says "improves", they mean on the last iteration. Here's the definition of improve

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/improve

So didn't try to wiggle out by claiming that. I have never heard a reviewer try to claim a video card didn't improve based on something it couldn't have even been derived from.

The fact that you deride multiple of your readers as fanboys is a sign of your poor communication in the article. For what I've read on this forum, you are the only one throwing around the "fanboy" card, everyone else has been very civil for a new GPU release.

If you want to know how to setup a test system right, look at Tom's Hardware's RX 480 review. Clearly labeled and it's objective is clear.

GTX 1080 doesn't have thermal throttling?

reviews
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-pascal,4572-11.html
http://techreport.com/review/30281/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-graphics-card-reviewed/13
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nvidia_geforce_gtx_1080_review,29.html

Forums
https://hardforum.com/threads/how-a-gtx-1080-thermal-throttles-and-how-to-overcome-it.1900560/
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/364042703862873069/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4l31ve/gtx_1080_thermal_throttling_testing_by/

You sure can talk but it looks like just about everyone but you knows about the thermal throttling. Either you somehow didn't know about it all even though you are supposed to review these cards or you are simply puffing smoke to defend a shambling argument.

 

[dividebyzero]

Compared to what exactly? It is an improvement I will give you that, significant? Yeah NO.

I think some people count a 2% betterment of a 2 year old ASIC on a older process node as a monumental win. Go figure.
If the claim of a substantial perf/watt increase over Tonga is the point, then I'm not sure why he's harping on about the GTX 970...sounds like the very definition of plucking low hanging fruit that just highlights Tonga's abysmal efficiency.

 

[Puiu]

Actually the RX 480 significantly improve power usage

Compared to what exactly? It is an improvement I will give you that, significant? Yeah NO.

Another problem, the RX 480 doesn't replace the 390, it replaces the 380. As a reviewer you should not be comparing apples to oranges.

No that is a problem for AMD. The R8 380 and GTX 960 were already out the door at the $200 price point. Hell at the time of release the GTX 960 was selling for as low as $160, over 30% less than the RX 480 8GB price. The RX 480 is coming in against the R9 390 and GTX 970 at $240, please come to terms with that basic fact.

Dismal overclocking performance? Oh, just like the GTX 1080 or about every reference card out there? At least the RX 480 doesn't thermal throttle at stock settings like the 1080 does. It's funny how you forget these things for Nvidia cards but take points off for the AMD cards.

The GTX 1080 FE showed over 15% gains in most of my overclocking benchmarks and we weren’t impressed with that at the time but at least it showed signs of hope. As it stands I have produced one of the best reference card overclocks on the RX 480 and we gained 8% more performance. Most have been lucky to get 5% more from what I have seen.

And without it everyone would be still be paying twice as much for mid to entry level enthusiasts cards. Once again you are treating a mid tier card like a high end one. Hey, at least people can actually buy this card and it did cut the prices of cards in it's performance range, unlike the GTX 1080 and 1070 which can't be had unless you camp out a website for it. Or are you saying this card is worth less because it's good for the consumer?

I am simply stating the facts as I find them. Are you trolling all the RX 480 reviews because from what I have seen they are all much the same. The RX 480 is a good graphics card, it just isn’t a great one.

Finally if I based my cost per analysis on the $200 4GB model like AdoredTV did despite testing the $240 8GB card then yes the RX 480 would have looked a lot more impressive.

I'm sorry, but where the are you getting the $240 for the 970? the cheapest is around $270 (most versions are above $300) and in europe it's above 270 euros.

 

[Steve]

I'm sorry, but where the are you getting the $240 for the 970? the cheapest is around $270 (most versions are above $300) and in europe it's above 270 euros.

The GTX 970 was listed as $260 for the lowest price in the review. Prices will continue to change, the lowest on newegg.com right now is $265 though there are a few for $270...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709 600536049&IsNodeId=1&Description=GTX 970&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

The $260 price can be had on Amazon right now...

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-TURBO-GTX970-OC-4GD5-ASUS-Graphics-Cards/dp/B00WJOU7DA/ref=sr_1_13?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467365681&sr=1-13&keywords=GTX+970&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:6147184011,p_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin:6147187011,p_n_feature_four_browse-bin:6066316011

Just to be clear though you shouldn't buy these cards. The RX 480 is the better deal, just wait for partner cards. It might also pay to check the GTX 1060 out in the coming weeks.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that you probably just misunderstood what I meant by this "The RX 480 is coming in against the R9 390 and GTX 970 at $240, please come to terms with that basic fact."

I am saying the RX 480 @ $240 is coming up against the now discounted R9 390 and GTX 970. This was said in the review in pretty much those words but I had to repeat it in the forums for some reason.

 

[Burty117]

Looking forward to all the AMD fans standing up for the card though! As we tend to see here on Techspot

I'm quoting myself here as I called it on the 6th comment...

 

[Zoolook]

When reviewing a card with a 150W TDP, which has 8GB of 8GHz of GDDR5 you can't ignore the power draw of the memory.

A performance per watt chart should reflect that, it's not even mentioned in passing.


As it is, it shows the performance per watt for this card in this comfiguration, for comparing the efficiency of Plaris vs Maxwell and Pascal you need to eliminate the powerdraw of the memory from the measurements or atleast compare similar configurations (memory size & speed)

 

[Steve]

When reviewing a card with a 150W TDP, which has 8GB of 8GHz of GDDR5 you can't ignore the power draw of the memory.

A performance per watt chart should reflect that, it's not even mentioned in passing.

As it is, it shows the performance per watt for this card in this comfiguration, for comparing the efficiency of Plaris vs Maxwell and Pascal you need to eliminate the powerdraw of the memory from the measurements or atleast compare similar configurations (memory size & speed)

The 8GB model should only draw around 15 watts more than the 4GB model. GDDR5 memory doesn't consume that much power.

The Polaris vs. Maxwell power consumption isn't as crucial as the Polaris vs. Pascal power consumption comparison, as we will no doubt see shortly when looking at the GTX 1060.

 

[amstech]

Comparing a two year old 970 to a new shiny GPU with launch day pricing... you can't get anymore noobsauce then that.

 

[meric]

I expect to see 300w AMD cards competing with 200w-225w Nvidias in the high end Rx480 is a very good card for what it is but the high end competition will be the same as last gen (if not worse for AMD) I tell ya, mark my words

 

[HardReset]

I think some people count a 2% betterment of a 2 year old ASIC on a older process node as a monumental win. Go figure.
If the claim of a substantial perf/watt increase over Tonga is the point, then I'm not sure why he's harping on about the GTX 970...sounds like the very definition of plucking low hanging fruit that just highlights Tonga's abysmal efficiency.

How about putting same figure on DX12 performance per watt? Nobody cares about DX11 performance any more.

 

[Azshadi]

How about putting same figure on DX12 performance per watt? Nobody cares about DX11 performance any more.

Because if one buys a card they would to play Ashes and only that on it right? Or it's because we're stockpiling on GPU's for the nuclear fallout that is DX12 in a couple of years from now ? Get over it when a title will have only DX12 preset the "future proof" card won't be worth a lead nickle.

 

[HardReset]

Because if one buys a card they would to play Ashes and only that on it right? Or it's because we're stockpiling on GPU's for the nuclear fallout that is DX12 in a couple of years from now ? Get over it when a title will have only DX12 present the "future proof" card won't be worth a lead nickle.

So GTX970 is not worth a nickle now That's two year old card and in two years there will be many DX12 titles.

 

[HardReset]

The Polaris vs. Maxwell power consumption isn't as crucial as the Polaris vs. Pascal power consumption comparison, as we will no doubt see shortly when looking at the GTX 1060.

Even if the DX12 performance does end up weighing in AMD's favor once we have more than one real title, that doesn't change the fact that the RX 480 is at best a mild improvement over the R9 390.

I don't think so. At best the games where the 8GB card will have an advantage under playable conditions will be far and few between.

So you are essentially claiming following:

8GB memory will be useless for RX 480. No proof for this claim.

DX12 performance will be useless for RX 480. No proof for this claim.

GTX 1060 (specs and name currently unknown) will rock against RX 480. No proof for this one either.

These Nvidia fanboys seem to be too stupid to think about future unless Nvidia may perhaps have some kind of advantage.

 

[Puiu]

Comparing a two year old 970 to a new shiny GPU with launch day pricing... you can't get anymore noobsauce then that.

it's normal to compare against what's available at that price point and performance. it doesn't matter how old the hardware is and it helps people decide if it's time to upgrade or not.

 

[Azshadi]

So GTX970 is not worth a nickle now That's two year old card and in two years there will be many DX12 titles.

That's the conclusion you reached? Wow (y) to you sir!
Here's a list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_12_support
Notice the key word is support there's also a handy dandy little section that says notes you might want to check that one out

 

[HardReset]

That's the conclusion you reached? Wow (y) to you sir!
Here's a list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_12_support
Notice the key word is support there's also a handy dandy little section that says notes you might want to check that one out

So at least eight DX12 games coming 2016.

How about 2017 then? And 2018????

 

[Zoolook]

When reviewing a card with a 150W TDP, which has 8GB of 8GHz of GDDR5 you can't ignore the power draw of the memory.

A performance per watt chart should reflect that, it's not even mentioned in passing.

As it is, it shows the performance per watt for this card in this comfiguration, for comparing the efficiency of Plaris vs Maxwell and Pascal you need to eliminate the powerdraw of the memory from the measurements or atleast compare similar configurations (memory size & speed)

The 8GB model should only draw around 15 watts more than the 4GB model. GDDR5 memory doesn't consume that much power.

The Polaris vs. Maxwell power consumption isn't as crucial as the Polaris vs. Pascal power consumption comparison, as we will no doubt see shortly when looking at the GTX 1060.

It's more like 30W+ extra, acc. to Anandtech GDDR vs HMB deep dive, they estimated 38-50 W for the DRAM on a 290X (4 GB and slower speed).

 

[Azshadi]

So you are essentially claiming following:

8GB memory will be useless for RX 480. No proof for this claim.

http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-radeon-rx-480-4gb-versus-radeon-rx-480-8gb_183576

GTX 1060 (specs and name currently unknown) will rock against RX 480. No proof for this one either.

This will have to wait since there is no GTX 1060 out yet. Can't judge on thin air.

DX12 performance will be useless for RX 480. No proof for this claim.

Sure it's not useless if you plan on gaming on those titles that support DX12 but only on those.

So at least eight DX12 games coming 2016.

How about 2017 then? And 2018????

So making assumptions about how this thing will perform in 2 years time with new line-ups coming seems like a good idea?. Thing is it's not mainstream yet if you would look closely through the list you would see that DX12 is getting patched in for most of them => their are still written in DX11 code. Until this thing matures we don't know how it will turn out for either camps. One thing is for certain the new GPU line-up for 2017/2018/2222 or what have you will have better and better support for this as DX12 slides into maturity.

 

[Burty117]

Seriously everyone, @HardReset does this on every single Graphics Card Review since he joined Techspot.
You will NEVER win.
He will ALWAYS be right.
AMD will ALWAYS beat anything the competition has to offer no matter how much evidence smacks him in the face.
He ALWAYS has the last word.

Just give up, I unblocked him just so I could see all the rubbish he's been spewing out but I will now block him again as he just spouts nonsense.

Little guide on how to block this guy:

1. Go to his Profile [here]
2. Click on the "ignore" button at the top right
3. Enjoy!
Now that fanatic Fan Boy is out of your life

 

[Squid Surprise]

All this commentary and arguing... you'd think that you were actually employees of AMD or Nvida...
You can't compare this card to anything yet - its competition hasn't come out yet... that would be the 1060....

To say it's better than the 970 is all well and good... The Fury is better than a 280 as well - anyone care?

 

[HardReset]

http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-radeon-rx-480-4gb-versus-radeon-rx-480-8gb_183576

BF4 2013 and Fallout 4 1997. Yeah!

This will have to wait since there is no GTX 1060 out yet. Can't judge on thin air.

Exactly. But then Steve should either add every future aspect in consideration or stay on this day.

Sure it's not useless if you plan on gaming on those titles that support DX12 but only on those.

Of course and considering Microsoft wants to promote Windows 10, best fay for it is DX12.

Also good to remember that Vulcan games are essentially Mantle games and considering performance Mantle = DX12 = Vulcan (not exactly but very much).

So making assumptions about how this thing will perform in 2 years time with new line-ups coming seems like a good idea?. Thing is it's not mainstream yet if you would look closely through the list you would see that DX12 is getting patched in for most of them => their are still written in DX11 code. Until this thing matures we don't know how it will turn out for either camps. One thing is for certain the new GPU line-up for 2017/2018/2222 or what have you will have better and better support for this as DX12 slides into maturity.

It really seems like good idea. Many games are patched DX11 games because DX12 was not ready early enough. But upcoming games will be DX12 from start. We already know AMD will be much better on Mantle/Vulcan/DX12 games. Remember that it has taken almost two years from Nvidia to even support Async shaders...

Seriously everyone, @HardReset does this on every single Graphics Card Review since he joined Techspot.
You will NEVER win.
He will ALWAYS be right.
AMD will ALWAYS beat anything the competition has to offer no matter how much evidence smacks him in the face.
He ALWAYS has the last word.

So far I have always been right. Nvidia fanboys don't accept that but that's expected.

"Competition" smacks very few evidence so that's not possible.

Wrong. I do not always have last word as you can see from driver thread for example.

Just give up, I unblocked him just so I could see all the rubbish he's been spewing out but I will now block him again as he just spouts nonsense.

Little guide on how to block this guy:

1. Go to his Profile [here]
2. Click on the "ignore" button at the top right
3. Enjoy!
Now that fanatic Fan Boy is out of your life

These Nv*****s are so pathetic You cannot do nothing else because you are wrong, and you know that. Tells lot about you.

All this commentary and arguing... you'd think that you were actually employees of AMD or Nvida...
You can't compare this card to anything yet - its competition hasn't come out yet... that would be the 1060....

If so, then why GTX 1080 received 100/100? It's competition hasn't come out yet....

 

[Squid Surprise]

The 1080 HAS no competition from AMD.... And probably will never have any... Kind of like the Titan X before it.... The fact that AMD has led with their midrange instead of high end card kind of confirms this.

AMD's only hope is to crank these out and hope that they can trick people into thinking they are getting a high end card for cheap - before Nvidia's competition comes out.

We KNOW the 1060 is coming - and pretty soon. We have no real idea what high end AMD card is coming - nor when.... But by looking at the power numbers of the 480, we know that it will be a bloodsucking beast....

 

[HardReset]

The 1080 HAS no competition from AMD.... And probably will never have any... Kind of like the Titan X before it.... The fact that AMD has led with their midrange instead of high end card kind of confirms this.

AMD Vega will be that competition. And GTX 1060 is not yet out.

AMD didn't bother to release high end card now because no wise buyers will buy it. HBM2 cards are coming quite soon. Also AMD probably thought AMD fans are clever enough not to buy old 28 nm tech for high price, Nv*****s who bought GTX 980 Ti full price now regret it.

We KNOW the 1060 is coming - and pretty soon. We have no real idea what high end AMD card is coming - nor when.... But by looking at the power numbers of the 480, we know that it will be a bloodsucking beast....

How do you know that? It's possible that Nvidia NEVER releases GTX 1060. Much more is known about AMD Vega than is known about GTX 1060. Also GTX 1060 will have no chance against RX 480 unless playing some already old titles.

 

[meric]

Also GTX 1060 will have no chance against RX 480 unless playing some already old titles.

)) this sentence would alone win you a best troll oscar with no additional effort