AMD Radeon RX 500 GPUs are reportedly Polaris rebrand, coming in April

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I like to support the underdog, but this (AMD stuff) has been going on so long now, they would have to pull a diamond out of their behind before I would even look their way again. Tired of paying for underwhelming cards and for me the GTX 1070, 1080 etc, series is just the nail in the AMD coffin for this consumer. Even reading on the ads the GTX 1080 Ti will be out causing a $100 reduction in 1080 prices. It just keeps looking better and better on this side of the street.

AMD is famous for giving their old tech the obligatory 50 Hz speed bump in both base and boost clocks, slap on a different looking cooler with a fresh coat of paint, a new nomenclature then try fob it off as a "new & improved" card. It smacks of cheaping out and it's a trick that's gotten real old that fools only the sucke, err...uninitiated. When they do occasionally release an all new architecture, it's actually very good but it happens far too infrequently.

 

[erickmendes]

Vega will cascade down when the time come... AMD may be just rebranding better binned chips now, but at least they are getting better tech to market too...

I would love to see the 500 series be all based on Vega, but it will come... Perhaps in RX 600 series.

 

[Puiu]

I don't understand why people are talking about this rebranding as if AMD isn't releasing anything else this year (hell this first half of the year).
if they do indeed bump the performance by around 5-10% and keep the same price as the 480 then it pretty much forces Nvidia to cut the price of the 1060 or release their own refresh, GTX 20 series, sooner.

 

[Evernessince]

I've spoken to people at AMD, and the indication is that Vega won't be ready until Computex in late May.

The RX 500 series, according to this report, will launch roughly two months earlier

Thanks for the update! I've seen a few YouTubers like JayzTwoCents with Golden RX 480 samples that reached close to 1800 on the core clock. Hopefully with a more mature process they will be able to push the core clock much higher.

I like to support the underdog, but this (AMD stuff) has been going on so long now, they would have to pull a diamond out of their behind before I would even look their way again. Tired of paying for underwhelming cards and for me the GTX 1070, 1080 etc, series is just the nail in the AMD coffin for this consumer. Even reading on the ads the GTX 1080 Ti will be out causing a $100 reduction in 1080 prices. It just keeps looking better and better on this side of the street.

Yeah, I can't blame you. AMD has a limited budget so there's only so much they can do. You need performance and Nvidia is the only offering on the high-end right now. I'm guessing that even when Vega comes out it will likely compete with the GTX 1080 and not the 1080 Ti. I'm in the same boat as you, I can't buy an AMD card that doesn't exist. AMD needs to take it's Ryzen money and invest all into R&D ASAP.

So does this mean that the 500 series is launching in 3-4 weeks? Because 2 months earlier than late May is Late March....

Early April is close though

Yep, if they keep on schedule. That's really close. I wonder why release a rebrand so quickly? Are they going to have a decent performance bump?

No one cares about amd's current graphics cards and what do they do? Call it something different and overclock it so it runs even hotter. Just use all the money you spend on making crap and make something that can compete with nvidia. The vega show (what ever it was called) only made me less exited, you had nothing to show so it will probably be a flop. And the host was horrid, he might do good work in his actual job but they should get someone else to be on stage.

That was a developer conference... I'm guessing you're not a dev?

Also, the jokes on you. AMD doesn't spend much on R&D because it doesn't have much.

So, this is the 300 series all over again, with the true flagship months out from the actual launch, and a bunch of rebrands filling the space in the meantime?

Jeez, cmon AMD. Nvidia is eating your lunch, and you are just sitting there. This is why you dont give your opponent half the market unopposed.

When you only have a king and two pawns, there's not much you can do against a full board.

 

[Scorpus]

So does this mean that the 500 series is launching in 3-4 weeks? Because 2 months earlier than late May is Late March....

Early April is close though

I meant "roughly" 2 months earlier. The report says early April for RX 500, and I expect Vega to launch at Computex at the end of May with general availability in June

 

[Squid Surprise]

I meant "roughly" 2 months earlier. The report says early April for RX 500, and I expect Vega to launch at Computex at the end of May with general availability in June

hehehe...I know... was just being tongue and cheek....

Yep, if they keep on schedule. That's really close. I wonder why release a rebrand so quickly? Are they going to have a decent performance bump?

I think they might be feeling the pressure from Nvidia's offerings and feel that their current crop of cards need a rebrand in order to sell... Or maybe just a way to clear out the old inventory before Vega is ready...

 

[Evernessince]

hehehe...I know... was just being tongue and cheek....



I think they might be feeling the pressure from Nvidia's offerings and feel that their current crop of cards need a rebrand in order to sell... Or maybe just a way to clear out the old inventory before Vega is ready...

Those are good suggestions, I just don't think customers will fall for a rebrand a second time. Crossing my fingers that AMD is able to get significant clock bumps but not holding my breath.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Those are good suggestions, I just don't think customers will fall for a rebrand a second time. Crossing my fingers that AMD is able to get significant clock bumps but not holding my breath.

Hope you're right... if companies keep getting away with this, they'll have little incentive to truly innovate. Let's hope that Vega is actually good enough to push Nvidia into doing more than just releasing a "Ti" version of their top-end card... not exactly holding my breath either...