Friday, June 12th 2020

ASUS Releases Polaris 12 Phoenix Radeon 550 Card

The Polaris architecture was debuted by AMD in the RX 400 series almost 4 years ago, since then AMD has released two new generations of graphics processors, Vega and Navi. It seems that the Polaris architecture will be living on a bit longer with the release of the ASUS Phoenix Radeon 550 2GB GPU, based on the Polaris 12 GPU.

This product may seem familiar and that's because ASUS released the Phoenix Radeon RX 550 back in 2017, the new Phoenix Radeon 550 uses a different memory configuration of 2 GB GDDR5 / 64-bit / 6 Gbps which is a significant step down from the 2/4 GB GDDR5 / 128-bit / 7 Gbps of the Phoenix Radeon RX 550 especially considering that card was released 3 years ago. This new card seems to have been available to OEM's for some time and is only now making it's way to retail at a hopefully cheap price.
Source: ASUS
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33 Comments on ASUS Releases Polaris 12 Phoenix Radeon 550 Card

#1
Verpal
Same name, same polaris, much less memory bandwidth.

This better work and advertise as iGPU replacement instead of letting OEM ticking the dGPU box as cheaply as possible, imagine the horror for people buying this and expect semi-decent gaming experience.
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#2
Apocalypsee
It would be justified to release to retail if the card is made half height and single slot, would be good for old Dell/HP slim desktop for budget game build but it isn't.

Reason for 64-bit bus is to reduce PCB size/complexity. Seems like to them it much easier to use some compatible PCB with cooler they already have and slap this 550 GPU on it.
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#3
Chrispy_
Bait and switch to prey on the ignorant.
Thanks Asus, you scumbags.
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#4
r.h.p
i wonder if this is better with cpu than a cpu onboard graphics combo like 3200g ....
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#5
Chrispy_
r.h.pi wonder if this is better with cpu than a cpu onboard graphics combo like 3200g ....
Cards like this exist solely for people who need a dGPU because their CPU of choice doesn't haven an IGP.
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#6
ARF
ApocalypseeIt would be justified to release to retail if the card is made half height and single slot, would be good for old Dell/HP slim desktop for budget game build but it isn't.
There are other single-slot cards available:



www.google.com/search?q=amd+single+slot+gpu&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJ7LCVh_zpAhWUgVwKHcLHAdMQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=1536&bih=731

They could have even used the legacy design like that:



Benchmark or two:
laptopmedia.com/video-card/amd-radeon-rx-550-laptop-64-bit-2gb-gddr5/


Asus is Asus, don't expect too much from them.
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#7
Valantar
ARFThere are other single-slot cards available:



www.google.com/search?q=amd+single+slot+gpu&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJ7LCVh_zpAhWUgVwKHcLHAdMQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=1536&bih=731

They could have even used the legacy design like that:



Benchmark or two:
laptopmedia.com/video-card/amd-radeon-rx-550-laptop-64-bit-2gb-gddr5/


Asus is Asus, don't expect too much from them.
They were asking for half height single slot, not just single slot. Single slot HHHL is currently limited to the Radeon Pro series,WX 4100 and below.

As for this GPU, is it actually being released to retail, or are they for some reason just distributing a press release about a low-end OEM GPU?
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#8
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
This would've been a good release when GT 1030 was the budget king. This is hella late.
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#9
ARF
Chloe PriceThis would've been a good release when GT 1030 was the budget king. This is hella late.
True.

It's like AMD has no time for anything besides Zen and has completely lost focus on the graphics department.

These low-power cards are perfect for blower style of cooler that could push all the warm air directly out of the case.
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#10
Valantar
ARFTrue.

It's like AMD has no time for anything besides Zen and has completely lost focus on the graphics department.

These low-power cards are perfect for blower style of cooler that could push all the warm air directly out of the case.
... given that this GPU has been on the market for years, I sincerely doubt this release has anything to do with AMD. They're no doubt busy working on RDNA 2 GPUs and the upcoming consoles.
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#11
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
Valantar... given that this GPU has been on the market for years, I sincerely doubt this release has anything to do with AMD. They're no doubt busy working on RDNA 2 GPUs and the upcoming consoles.
Good point there, Asus probably just wants to get rid of their spare Polaris 12 GPUs.
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#12
IceShroom
Chloe PriceThis would've been a good release when GT 1030 was the budget king. This is hella late.
AMD did launched the RX 550 in April 2017. Even XFX launched a silgle slot version of it, but people didn't cared. That is why this new SKU from ASUS looks like new launch of RX 550.
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#13
ARF
They could relaunch it as a rebranded RX 610 or something.
I am a fan of such rebrands which result in lowering the market and performance tier of the corresponding GPU.
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#15
Valantar
ARFThey could relaunch it as a rebranded RX 610 or something.
I am a fan of such rebrands which result in lowering the market and performance tier of the corresponding GPU.
Asus doesn't have the power to rebrand AMD products on their own. And as I said above, there is no reason to think this "release" has anything to do with AMD. This is Asus doing its thing, probably trying to clear out some stock, nothing more.
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#16
windwhirl
Chloe PriceGood point there, Asus probably just wants to get rid of their spare Polaris 12 GPUs.
Makes me wonder just how many cards ASUS and the rest of AMD's partners have in inventory, collecting dust. They're sort of bothering to make a new box and do all the legal work required for launching a new product, so it can't be that they have, say, just a thousand left or so.
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#17
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
windwhirlMakes me wonder just how many cards ASUS and the rest of AMD's partners have sitting in inventory and collecting dust. They're sort of bothering to make a new box and do all the legal work required for launching a new product, so it can't be that they have, say, just a thousand left or so.
Never even thought about that. When thinking that how many different products manufacturers have based on the same GPU, they'll probably have a hella large stock of these lying around, since they can just release an ultra-low end model whenever they want.
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#19
Valantar
Yeah, I'm hoping for some new and interesting <75W GPUs this upcoming generation, as it's sure been a while since the last one. The GTX 1050 was pretty good, admittedly, but nothing has lived up to the 750Ti in terms of bang/buck and relative perf/W compared to its competitors. If RDNA 2 actually delivers on 50% increased perf/W we could get performance along the lines of a low-clocked/original BIOS RX 5600 XT in a dual slot HHHL form factor. That would be epic.
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#20
ARF
Yes, if the upcoming RX 6000 series lineup consists of the following or similar:

514 mm^2 Navi 21 XTX 400W
Navi 21 XT 300W
Navi 21 XL 250W

340 mm^2 Navi 22 XTX 225W
Navi 22 XT 185W
Navi 22 XL 150W

240 mm^2 Navi 23 XTX 120W
Navi 23 XT 90W
Navi 23 XL 75W
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#21
Valantar
ARFYes, if the upcoming RX 6000 series lineup consists of the following or similar:

514 mm^2 Navi 21 XTX 400W
Navi 21 XT 300W
Navi 21 XL 250W

340 mm^2 Navi 22 XTX 225W
Navi 22 XT 185W
Navi 22 XL 150W

240 mm^2 Navi 23 XTX 120W
Navi 23 XT 90W
Navi 23 XL 75W
I doubt those three dice alone will scale that far down, though of course it's possible. I would still prefer a bespoke 75W-and-down die, as a larger die is pretty much impossible to fit on a HHHL card (large package, lots of VRAM traces, etc.).
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#22
IceShroom
ARFYes, if the upcoming RX 6000 series lineup consists of the following or similar:

514 mm^2 Navi 21 XTX 400W
Navi 21 XT 300W
Navi 21 XL 250W

340 mm^2 Navi 22 XTX 225W
Navi 22 XT 185W
Navi 22 XL 150W

240 mm^2 Navi 23 XTX 120W
Navi 23 XT 90W
Navi 23 XL 75W
Are you still believing that nonsence! Even Adored said it is nonsence and pulled down his video.
Normaly AMD dont exceed 300W TBP, except some limited edition like RX Vega 64 Liquid or R9 295X2. And also 505mm2 7nm 400W card is uncoolable beside LN2. Way too much theemaldensiy for such a small area.
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#23
CheapMeat
Really wish there were more HHHL options.
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#24
Caring1
ValantarThey were asking for half height single slot, not just single slot. Single slot HHHL is currently limited to the Radeon Pro series,WX 4100 and below.

As for this GPU, is it actually being released to retail, or are they for some reason just distributing a press release about a low-end OEM GPU?
Yestoon make this funky little number.

www.ebay.com.au/itm/Yeston-RX550-4G-D5-Graphic-Card-Video-Card-Radeon-Chill-4GB-128Bit-Memory-VGA/233506004665?_trkparms=aid%3D1110007%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.DISC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200423072919%26meid%3D339333c4828d4f1bafe31306c6eae2da%26pid%3D101110%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D2%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D124217479371%26itm%3D233506004665%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2563228%26algv%3Ddefault%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2563228.c101110.m1982
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#25
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
TartarosStill the low profile passive cooled GT1030 gave it a run for its money on some games. I don't know, unless this one is pitting against GT710 price bracket and such, this new revision is uninteresting.
Yeah, I had also a GT 1030 not that long ago and with better cooling it boosted to around 1900MHz. Hella great card when thinking about that it has just a 64-bit memory bus.

In fact it was an Asus Phoenix one and had a similar heatsink as this card here. :D
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