Monday, October 15th 2018
AMD Launches a 2048SP Version of the RX 580 in China: An RX 570 in Disguise?
In a silent event that occurred earlier today, AMD's Chinese product page for the Radeon RX 580 graphics card now shows a new addition- the RX 580 2048SP. Contrary to every other RX 580 on the website, including OEM and system integrator solutions, this new SKU has 256 fewer stream processors (2304 vs 2048, respectively). As it turns out, this appears to be a China-only graphics solution that launched on October 15, 2018 and TechPowerUp can confirm this is a Polaris 20-based Radeon product as well.
Looking purely at the specifications, this appears to be an RX 570 with a higher boost frequency (up to 1284 MHz vs 1244 MHz), so this is a confusing strategy by AMD to call it an RX 580 instead. The tinfoil hat nearby suggests that this may well be taking advantage of consumers who go simply by the name scheme and do not look up what a stream processor is, and indeed this is similar to what AMD did last year with the downgraded Radeon RX 560 that started out to be a Chinese-region product and then found its way elsewhere as well. Retailers have started listing this as a product available for consumer purchase already, and a search for RX 580 brings up both these and the other versions together. Not cool, AMD, not cool.
Source:
AMD China
Looking purely at the specifications, this appears to be an RX 570 with a higher boost frequency (up to 1284 MHz vs 1244 MHz), so this is a confusing strategy by AMD to call it an RX 580 instead. The tinfoil hat nearby suggests that this may well be taking advantage of consumers who go simply by the name scheme and do not look up what a stream processor is, and indeed this is similar to what AMD did last year with the downgraded Radeon RX 560 that started out to be a Chinese-region product and then found its way elsewhere as well. Retailers have started listing this as a product available for consumer purchase already, and a search for RX 580 brings up both these and the other versions together. Not cool, AMD, not cool.
22 Comments on AMD Launches a 2048SP Version of the RX 580 in China: An RX 570 in Disguise?
This is like the 560/560D shit all over again. And you thought RTG learned their lesson. Haven’t they fired Raja already?
Pitch forks and pop corns ready. Let the drama begins.
At least this card has additional naming, so there's some sort of differentiating. And it's only for china, so there's that.
But honestly this naming bull.... needs to stop.
RX 580 with only 2,048 stream processors
Why?
Better calling it RX 575, downgrading and still calling it RX 580 is really cheeky.
b) This is pretty low. This is a factory OC'd 570, nothing else. It's not as bad as the GTX 1030 debacle, but still ... AMD: please stop.
Think about how many different products have the same name, but often very different specifications, many of which directly affect performance. For me, the first thing that comes to mind are automobiles. For example, Ford sells the F-150 with many different combinations of engines, transmissions, differentials, two- and four-wheel drive, various equipment packages (which may or may not affect performance), trims (again, which may or may not affect performance), etc. Buyers must do a significant amount of research or potentially risk purchasing a vehicle that does not perform the way they might have assumed it would. The same can be said for virtually every automobile model manufactured and sold around the world; same name (possibly with some additional letters or numbers added to the end), but the differences in performance might be starkly contrasted.
So, while it might seem like a deceptive practice on the part of AMD and Nvidia to sell two or more products by the same name/model number, but with differences that affect performance, the blame doesn't entirely fall on them. As long as the specifications are made available, consumers should take a moment to study them and do some research rather than assuming it will perform the same as every other product with the same or very similar name.
Edit: They do, but as the 570 and the 570X. Seems like they have a X and non-X line. There are 5 different 580 variants there, 580X, 580, 580 2048P, 580G, and the 580 OEM.
This is a line that has a few shader/CUs that are broken, just like NV cards with 5G ram or 3/1.5. They ain't full fleged 580s but are still far better than 570s.
This is like the 290/290X, the Less CUs of the 290 didnt make a huge lack over the 290X, thus feels the same. I do feel that they should market the card as a 580L.
Hey @Final_Fighter Do you see these as project cards like the 560D?
At first glance it would seem that this strategy would not work because it would seem like such a small market but it really is not in china. you also have to think about all those shops that will take these cards and flash them to fully functional chips and resell them. amds current market strategy seems to be to get as much market share as possible. and thats not really a bad idea if they can make a profit while pushing older hardware out the door before its competitor brings something to the table that completely erases any reason to buy your product.
these are just my thoughts but sense i dont have access to one of these cards ill have to just wait and see how it plays out.
I'm not saying that this won't be possible, but as a marketing strategy it is incredibly convoluted and weird, and as likely to cause harm to their brand as do good. And naming them "580" still doesn't make sense. At least borrow the "D" designation from the previous (also China-only) 470D. That would make it easy to tell apart, and might actually make people buy them to see if they could be unlocked. If they're just called 580, that will never happen.