james888I did not understand why people were so overhyped for this card, and and I now do not understand how people are so disappointed. The 480 is exactly what AMD said it would be. It hit the performance target AMD said it would hit. It hit the price point AMD said it would hit. It is the current king of price/performance. Did people not realize this was going to be competitor of the 1060 and not the 1080?

I agree that no realistic person should be disappointed. I expected this to at least beat a 970, and hopefully come close to a Fury. Unfortunately it was on the lower end of my estimates, but still within reason.


I will say though there are rationally 2 things people are worrying about:

1) Bad overclocking. I am hopeful the AIB cards will unlock the full potential, but otherwise this is what stopped me from getting the card. Considering this is the first 14nm GPU launched, I was hoping for 7970-like headroom. Pascal's overclocking performance was abysmal, but this is even worse!

2) Power usage. No one should complain that this card uses 150w - that is an easy power envelope any system can handle. However if this is the average efficiency of GCN 4.0 then AMD is f'd in the high end. It means it would likely take a 300w card from AMD to compete with the 1080 Ti (That will only be using 225-250w). Not good! I am not worrying about this one quite yet because I believe this is just due to using the incredibly early junk yields to keep this cards price down while they save up good yields for the PS4K and RX 490.

jboydgolferWow, really?! the 970's here are just about the same, give or take $10
yeah, if the 480 is faster, kinda makes the "decision" not a decision ;)

EVGA gtx 970 $247 with included promo
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487136&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker, LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Good to see they have dropped to $374 here, in just over a week since I last looked.

Caring1Good to see they have dropped to $374 here, in just over a week since I last looked.

thats Fu@king robbery. i understand the reasoning, but imo, the ones Here are too expensive, nevermind $100 more. i feel for You.

Captain_Tom1) Bad overclocking. I am hopeful the AIB cards will unlock the full potential, but otherwise this is what stopped me from getting the card. Considering this is the first 14nm GPU launched, I was hoping for 7970-like headroom. Pascal's overclocking performance was abysmal, but this is even worse!

There's a fine balance between releasing what can be seen as an under performing card with good overclocking headroom or simply pushing the card to it's potential right from release direct from the manufacturer. I get that the performance enthusiast crowd likes to invest the work in improving their system by overclocking it themselves, but AMD needed to come out swinging here and show solid performance right from the start. It's taken the price / performance crown right now, so they probably hit their intended sweet spot.

Captain_Tom2) Power usage. ... I am not worrying about this one quite yet because I believe this is just due to using the incredibly early junk yields to keep this cards price down while they save up good yields for the PS4K and RX 490.

490 will be Vega and shouldn't be using these yields at all. The power improvements over previous architectures is significant and they are headed in the right direction. HBM2 will give them even more power savings for 490. I think AMD may have been better served to have released the 480 with additional power from 8 or 6+6, but non-reference designs can explore this. It IS a low to mid card design though, so working to get it in the widest range of cheaply powered systems was probably part of their design philosophy.

Seeing how much shorter the pcb is on the card I wonder how will the AIB partners adapt their cooling solutions on this card.

jboydgolferWow, really?! the 970's here are just about the same, give or take $10
yeah, if the 480 is faster, kinda makes the "decision" not a decision ;)

EVGA gtx 970 $247 with included promo
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487136&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker, LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Throw in the fact that a used 970 will cost less than the RX 480, and it's now even more of a no brainer.

I just picked up an EVGA Founders Edition GTX 1080 new for £500. Meanwhile resellers are selling them at £650 and are consistently out of stock. Though even at that ridiculous £650 price, whomever hinted at the idea that 480 crossfire would be a better option than a 1080, is smoking something amazing. I can't think of one thing the 480 is doing that makes it worth buying over Nvidia cards, especially given the prices at the moment.

Going to buy the 4GB version to finally upgrade my 7950. :toast:

newconroerThrow in the fact that a used 970 will cost less than the RX 480, and it's now even more of a no brainer.

I just picked up an EVGA Founders Edition GTX 1080 new for £500. Meanwhile resellers are selling them at £650 and are consistently out of stock. Though even at that ridiculous £650 price, whomever hinted at the idea that 480 crossfire would be a better option than a 1080, is smoking something amazing. I can't think of one thing the 480 is doing that makes it worth buying over Nvidia cards, especially given the prices at the moment.

It's not worth buying over used AMD cards, either. What a steaming pile.

RejZoRI'm speculating something at this point. Is it possible that AMD didn't go all crazy on power efficiency here to reduce card costs? They designed it and said, this is good enough, lets keep it cheap. Which would also kinda explain why there are some rumors about Vega chips featuring even newer GCN 5.0 shaders at which point they could go all crazy on power efficiency design because cost won't be of such concern and they have to look at performance more.

That was the plan all along: polaris is a new fab which leads to acceptable consumption but Vega have All the new technology AMD spend all their money on. I bet you max 10% of their R&D went into polaris, and rest of gfx R&D into Vega 1/2 with new interposer and HBM1/2 memory. Too few realizes that AMD have a technological advantage right now and both polaris and Vega represents it: polaris with its productioncost in a segment that focus on price, and with Vega with HBM headstart and dx12 benifits /gcn. Im not saying NVDIA cant react, but they will be playing AMDs game and thats a new thing.

deuThat was the plan all along: polaris is a new fab which leads to acceptable consumption but Vega have All the new technology AMD spend all their money on. I bet you max 10% of their R&D went into polaris, and rest of gfx R&D into Vega 1/2 with new interposer and HBM1/2 memory. Too few realizes that AMD have a technological advantage right now and both polaris and Vega represents it: polaris with its productioncost in a segment that focus on price, and with Vega with HBM headstart and dx12 benifits /gcn. Im not saying NVDIA cant react, but they will be playing AMDs game and thats a new thing.

We just saw Glofos performance. AMD can't do shit to save 50% power and will never achieve clocks to beat nvidia. The game is over. Zen or bust.

Tiny talks alot but he tends to shoot straight.....some interesting info about how the 480's need more power and how to reach performance target.

TheGuruStudIt's not worth buying over used AMD cards, either. What a steaming pile.

Seems like this gen is shaping up to be a waste of time from both companies.

TheGuruStudWe just saw Glofos performance. AMD can't do shit to save 50% power and will never achieve clocks to beat nvidia. The game is over. Zen or bust.

I was about to argue you but thank you for showing me not to engage it an actual discussion with you! I know you are either a troll or completely new in hardware; either way I will let you do your thing!

deuI was about to argue you but thank you for showing me not to engage it an actual discussion with you! I know you are either a troll or completely new in hardware; either way I will let you do your thing!

Yes, I'm new to the game when I've been in it for 20 yrs. AMD doesn't have the R&D nor apparent will to shave power down (and help get clocks up). HBM can only help so much. If the clocks were there, then it wouldn't matter b/c perf would be great. The game is done for AMD this gen. It doesn't matter how good Vega is (super limited by power anyway), b/c nvidia has a giant chip they can paper launch and steal all the sales and marketing.

Fury is a prime example of what's going to happen, again. Good card, but a little pricey, then nvidia dumps a better card with high OCing ability.

I'm just going to leave this here.
Draw your own conclusions. I still like the cards performance.
www.game-debate.com/news/20667/check-out-a-comprehensive-breakdown-of-radeon-rx-480-in-9-part-video-series
and
www.game-debate.com/news/20665/reports-claim-radeon-rx-480-exceeds-pcie-power-specs-and-may-damage-motherboards

A reference RX480 here costs about as much as my entire rig:

Roughly a bit over $500 at current exchange rate. Seems like the next-gen on either side is way out of my reach.