AMD Retail Radeon RX 480 4GB to 8GB Memory Unlock Mod Works, We Benchmarked

[Fluffmeister]

To be fair, the card is too slow for Nv fanboys to even consider.... just messing!

Like I said, lets hope they all flash to 8GB, less money for AMD at the end of the day, but we all hate corporations am i right????

 

[Makaveli]

TPU sure loves finding mods for AMD cards.
..and I sure love TPU for it.

Is this your doing again, W1zard?

haha this is exactly the kind of stuff that has had me coming to this site for so long.

Been a Radeon user for a long time!

 

[Lionheart]

Lol this a scam? Whining over something that's not even an issue, basically a tech headed feminist

 

[xkm1948]

Lol this a scam? Whining over something that's not even an issue, basically a tech headed feminist

Yep. Calling this a scam is even a new low for fanboynism. These idiots should be named fanbabies or fanembryos.

 

[Mrcrunch08]

I hope people don't get all excited and expect this. It was made clear shortly before the NDA lifted that AMD sent out cards that are able to be 4gb and unlocked to 8gb to reviewers so the can send a reviewer one card and still have both configs reviewed. It would be awesome if it was true for everyone but there are already pics of the 4gb internals from some that clearly show only 4gb of physical ram.

 

[xkm1948]

I hope people don't get all excited and expect this. It was made clear shortly before the NDA lifted that AMD sent out cards that are able to be 4gb and unlocked to 8gb to reviewers so the can send a reviewer one card and still have both configs reviewed. It would be awesome if it was true for everyone but there are already pics of the 4gb internals from some that clearly show only 4gb of physical ram.

Where? Who posted it? Source? Pictures?

Anyone can claim anything. It means next to a causal fart if no evidence is supplied to back it up.

Wizzard bought a retailed RX480 4GB, flashed the card with 8GB BIOS and have shown all picture proof. How about you show us the part yous said?

 

[Melvis]

Just another reason to take your time buying a new product Now is the time to buy a RX 480

 

[Maddox]

Nvidia: sells a 3.5gb card as 4gb, legions of people defend it. "Nobody needs 4gb"

Amd: sells 8gb card as 4gb, make it possible for you to unlock. Hordes of people calling it "scam"

This is why we cant have nice things, too much stupidity and ignorance.

I buy and currently run both brands in various PC's, but for my money, nvidia fanboys are up there with Nintendo's and Apple's. Not saying that AMD doesn't have its few, but there is an obnoxious air about nvidia's legion of cultists that's really pungent.

I particularly like how every summer they go nuts over whatever Titan card drops and go on and on about its insurmountable gaming prowess, then suddenly, around every following Thanksgiving, when a half-the-price and superior x80Ti variant comes out, we're suddenly lectured by the same people that the Titan is actually a production/compute card and was never really meant for pure gaming (although it's a bonus it games well).

Every year. Do they notice the trend?

 

[BlueFalcon]

Why even bother releasing a 4GB card if it's the same 8GB card? AMD scamming people again to buy 8GB cards.
AMD really ought to learn - but good luck to those that flash from 4 to 8Gb!

We are consumers/enthusiasts not AMD/NV shareholders, or at least one would hope so. Any extra hidden value that we can unlock is welcome. Since most PC users will not risk/know about these types of perks, it's not as if AMD is scamming the market since this type of mod would void the card's warranty.

There have been many examples of extra value added in the past:

6800 non-Ultra pipeline unlock:
http://www.overclock.net/t/56654/guide-to-unlock-pipes-on-a-6800nu

9500 Pro to 9700 unlock:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/how-to/radeon-9500-to-9700-mod-faq-a-follow-up/

6950 2GB to 6970 2GB unlock:
https://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159

It's remarkable how some people will find anything to complain about. It's even worse to have the useless KINGPIN version of a 980Ti that overclocks no better on water than a standard EVGA SSC 980Ti and then talk about how AMD "scams" gamers on a $239 RX 480 8GB card.

Using your logic Intel was scamming PC gamers back in the days by selling Pentium 4 C 3.2Ghz when Pentium 4 C 2.4Ghz could easily reach those speeds, and the same for AMD's XP3200+:
http://techreport.com/review/6341/overclocking-the-athlon-xp-m-2500-processor

If extra value added for mainstream/performance gamers upsets you, I am sure NV will welcome you with open arms with Titan e-Peen edition.

 

[xvi]

soooo.... what would you like with the extra memory?

The ability to use higher resolutions, the ability to load more/higher-res textures, the ability to put whatever you darn well please in to GPU mem, etc. Some people want a fast car and others want a fast car that seats 8.

Cept when you unlock that power you find out the rest of the drive train like the transmission and the rear end can't take the power could possible cause damage to the thing.

It's a car that was designed for 500HP and artificially limited to 400HP with, oh I don't know, a restrictor. We're just bringing it back to what it was designed for.

The only thing is there are some folks (like us) know that you may be able save a few bucks by rolling the dice a little bit

Exactly this. Yes, we'll be rolling the dice. We rolled the dice on HD 6950s, we rolled the dice on x800/x850s, we rolled the dice on 9800s.. we even rolled the dice on AMD Athlon XPs back in the Socket A days, sometimes even shorting out CPU pins for our own evil gains! nVidia users are no exception either.
I was disappointed to hear the initial reports of PCIe power issues on this card, but my interest is re-piqued. This is the positive bump in the media that this card needs and I wouldn't be surprised to see people flocking to these just for the excitement that they might get more than they paid for (which is the same thing that made us love all the other "hidden performance for free" goodie bits).

It's even worse to have the useless KINGPIN version of a 980Ti that overclocks no better on water than a standard EVGA SSC 980Ti and then talk about how AMD "scams" gamers

To be fair, it's meant for sub-zero and it's EVGA's marketing, but you're right in that a lot of people seem to buy them thinking they're going to get better overclocks on air/water. You're 110% right about everything in this post though.

 

[Mrcrunch08]

Where? Who posted it? Source? Pictures?

Anyone can claim anything. It means next to a causal fart if no evidence is supplied to back it up.

Wizzard bought a retailed RX480 4GB, flashed the card with 8GB BIOS and have shown all picture proof. How about you show us the part yous said?

I know I'm not the only one with google and if you care enough use it. With all the videos and info looked up I do not feel like searching google to make someone else happy. I am not that concerned with the issue and just wanted to make sure everyone doesn't expect this and purposely buys a 4gb model thinking they are saving money and getting an 8gb model. I see you highlighted a section of my comment like I was implying those pics means it's not true when I clearly said it was confirmed at least for one particular reason. You just glossed over the fact I said they told reviewers there was a reason for that at one point. It was probably just easier for them to make their first batch all the same. I already returned mine but I hope it is true for everyone in every case that purchased the reference model 4gb version. You need to relax and take in the entire comment instead of the part that pisses you off and get carried away.

 

[RichF]

I know I'm not the only one with google and if you care enough use it. With all the videos and info looked up I do not feel like searching google to make someone else happy. I am not that concerned with the issue and just wanted to make sure everyone doesn't expect this and purposely buys a 4gb model thinking they are saving money and getting an 8gb model. I see you highlighted a section of my comment like I was implying those pics means it's not true when I clearly said it was confirmed at least for one particular reason. You just glossed over the fact I said they told reviewers there was a reason for that at one point. It was probably just easier for them to make their first batch all the same. I already returned mine but I hope it is true for everyone in every case that purchased the reference model 4gb version. You need to relax and take in the entire comment instead of the part that pisses you off and get carried away.

If you can spend that much time posting you can post a link.

 

[truth teller]

there are already pics of the 4gb internals from some that clearly show only 4gb of physical ram.

oh come on, you cant create a new account to post that and then not provide anything to back up your "claims"

*something something something dark side* *something something something complete*

just a picture, thats all it takes, its less time consuming than writing all that konami code verbatim

 

[jigar2speed]

LOL, nvidia fangirls are funny, this is scam ??? Bawahahahahaha...

EDIT: I was just wondering, the person that wrote this was a scam, was he able to keep his face straight. I mean how do you function on daily basis dude ? Its a miracle you are surviving with such IQ in today's world.

Its a scam!!! Bawahahahahaha...

 

[RichF]

LOL, nvidia fangirls are funny, this is scam ??? Bawahahahahaha...

EDIT: I was just wondering, the person that wrote this was a scam, was he able to keep his face straight. I mean how do you function on daily basis dude ? Its a miracle you are surviving with such IQ in today's world.

Its a scam!!! Bawahahahahaha...

Lotteries are scams. There are based on a weakness of human psychology. Variable ratio reward systems are the most addictive. Lotteries thrive on that.

Lotteries are profitable precisely because they don't give people enough payback to justify the pay-in. They only provide the illusion of doing so. Of course, this is the basis of all profitability. Businesses that give people equal value are "out-competed" by the scammers, provided the scammers are savvy enough. Business that give people more value than what the buyer paid for go out of business in short order.

The problem with lotteries that makes them worse than the general profitability scamming is that the buyer doesn't know what they're buying. Instead, they're buying a hope or a dream — via the variable reward system. That's a step worse than the buyer just not knowing what what they're buying is worth (or not being able to leverage their power to force a seller to provide equivalent product) — the basis of profitability.

It's bad business, in terms of ethics, to do things like the panel lottery in televisions. Even if it reduces the price tag to the consumer a smidgen it reduces the overall value potential of the purchase more when there is high variability in panel quality. So, the more "lottery" a purchase is the more abusive it is, particularly when it involves a large amount of money.

Since this card does not look to benefit all that much from the additional RAM and isn't a good value for Crossfire (in comparison with just buying one high-performance Pascal) the lottery effect here seems to be rather small.

 

[techy1]

this is actually very good for AMD (actually so good, that they might leaked it by them selves). why it is good... Let's count out:

1) rx480 is a decent card, but a "meh" card... nobody loves it or gets excited about it - now everybody excited.

2) gtx 1060 is about to come out - excitement about that card is forgotten for a moment

3) knowing points 1) and 2) we can assume that price drops are inevitable

so basically amd made a little price drop now, but not from position: "please buy our card, stock pile up - see we even dropped price for you, please do not make us price drop again :'( "... but now "shyt - look stock s are empty everywhere, people line up to get that "4GB" card so they can "steal/download/hack" a +4GB from us for "free" "

 

[laszlo]

due the fast launch they don't have available 4gb cards ready and solve it with bios....

this won't last for sure so who can grab now one is lucky

 

[jigar2speed]

due the fast launch they don't have available 4gb cards ready and solve it with bios....

this won't last for sure so who can grab now one is lucky

Yeah, i suggest people to hurry and get scammed before the stock last

 

[BiggieShady]

Yeah, i suggest people to hurry and get scammed before the stock last

I skimmed over the thread and to be honest scamming was never mentioned in the way you put it ... not "doing the scam" but "feeling scammed". Some people would feel scammed if they bought 8 GB version for extra $30 yesterday, and some would feel saved from bios flashing for only 30 bucks.

 

[the54thvoid]

Perhaps I shouldn't have used the word scam. I did earlier rephrase but in your slobbering masses you have elected to ignore that point.

As for the Kingpin point, utterly invalid. Like a luxury watch, or a sports car, I simply wanted one. I read all about it, read the EVGA overclocking forum, listened to Vince and understood unless you used exotic cooling it would reach somewhere in the 1500's and it did and that's where I game.

Again, if people want roll around calling me a Fanboy then that must be AMD's fault for not making the fastest single GPU solution. If Vega is as awesome you all hope, I'll likely move to that card.
But imagine if Vega came in two memory amounts and I bought the more expensive higher memory version only to find out I didn't need to because the lower one had the same memory.
It's not the same as fusing it off. Leaving it there is lazy. And if you charge more for an identical product that's a but unfair.
I know Nvidia have done the same in the past and released cards with more shaders under the same card model, so I'm not being blind. I'm pointing out AMD are effectively conning the initial buyers who bought the 8Gb model when the cheaper one has the same functioning memory.

So once more, if anyone is capable of logic, its great news for the 4Gb owners but it is a 'little' unfair on those that paid extra for the 8Gb model.

 

[laszlo]

owners of 8Gb can return it if they wish and ask a refund or a 4Gb version if they feel "scammed"

problem is shipping charges cost more than difference...

 

[jigar2speed]

I skimmed over the thread and to be honest scamming was never mentioned in the way you put it ... not "doing the scam" but "feeling scammed". Some people would feel scammed if they bought 8 GB version for extra $30 yesterday, and some would feel saved from bios flashing for only 30 bucks.

You know when people feel scammed ? When all AMD RX 480 4GB were converting into 8GB and that not the case here. So its more appropriate to call it a lottery. Try to understand the difference, you can call it a scam when company is/was deliberately cheating their customer or soon to be customer - example - dare i say driver gimping performance of Nvidia GTX 6** and GTX 7** cards ???

EDIT: Oh and i forgot to add that FE addition example, where people were scammed into paying $100 extra to Nvidia for a card that had nothing extra over reference card and i also forgot to mention about how GTX 1080 customers were further scammed by "retailers" overcharging them for the same overcharged FE card for more than $300 dollars extra. I think we both can agree paying $30 extra and missing out on a lottery is nothing compared to an actual daytime scam that happened in front of everyone. (I think it is still happening no ?? )

EDIT 2: You know, i thought about your response once again and thought how it would have felt to be an SLI customer - EVGA charging extra for some highend SLI Bridge that promises extra performance but when you read Techpowerup review you see it does nothing extra. - Is it called scamming people into buying same stuff but charging extra ? NO ?

 

[Recon-UK]

 

[rhythmeister]

I'm SO tempted to go for one of the reference 4GB ones for £180 at ebuyer at the mo just to see if I can unlock the extra 4GB! At 1920x1080 I don't even need the extra yet so it's worth a gamble for the lol factor isn't it?

 

[Totally]

I'm not a fan boy you idiot.

Though it's amusing that people cannot see logic as it stares them in their red little faces. It's as simple as this. I buy a 8gb card for 'x' amount but the same card is sold at '<x' with bits simply hidden. People in the know can just enable the extra 4Gb and have the same card I paid extra for. It's not a scam but it's fucking lazy of AMD.

So is it fair that people have rushed out and bought an 8Gb card and paid more for it because it has 8Gb when the cheaper card is also an 8Gb card but AMD didn't tell anyone? If you think that's fair - you're a douche.

'logic'....ahahaha. To my knowledge happens with every single card albeit with another spec and that is clockspeed. People are more than happy to pay 25-50$, for the same exact card with slightly higher clocks. It's just a matter of opening up the manufacturer provided software and moving a couple sliders. I don't see you or anyone complaining about that when it's the same damn thing in that aspect. To twist your words a bit: "I buy a 1300MHz card for 'x' amount but the same card is sold at 'y' with with the slider moved down to 1100MHz."

I wonder if any shady businessmen after seeing that would have thought to buy a bunch of these peeloff the sticker, flash them to 8gb and resell them at the 8gb price. To boot there would be nothing wrong with this, since according to 54th, they'd just be correcting AMD shortcomings.