Introduction

AMD today launched the Radeon RX 500 series of graphics cards, led by the Radeon RX 580 at $199 for the 4 GB variant and $229 for the 8 GB variant and followed closely by the new Radeon RX 570, which occupies an interesting price-performance equation. The 4 GB variant of this SKU starts at just $169, and AMD claims it has the chops to run any of your games at 1080p with high to extreme settings. Full HD 1080p continues to be the most popular PC gaming resolution according to Steam Hardware Survey, owing in part to the extremely low prices of displays, which can start for as little as $90 for a 21.5-incher, around $140 for a 24-incher, and no more than $170 for a 24-inch IPS-panel display. You also get "gaming-grade" monitors with support for the royalty-free AMD FreeSync technology for under $200. Given these, the RX 570 enjoys an enviable price-performance position that targets both gamers upgrading after 3 years and those building their rigs for under $600.

The RX 570 continues to be based on the 4th generation Graphics CoreNext architecture, aka "Polaris," but is not exactly a rebrand of the RX 470. The underlying ASIC is the same Ellesmere GPU as on the RX 470; same transistors, just manufacturing improvements. This means that the core configuration of the two is identical, but the RX 570 is able to run at higher clock speeds. This chip is clocked at 1168 MHz, with 1244 MHz Boost, and a slightly faster 7.00 GHz (GDDR5 effective) memory. Although it's available in both 4 GB and 8 GB variants, 4 GB is purported as the standard memory amount for the RX 570. AMD is also formally launching a suite of software features with the RX 570, which should also be available to the RX 470 through driver updates, such as FreeSync 2. With the RX 570, AMD hopes to extend its performance lead over the GTX 1060 3 GB and inch a little closer to the GTX 1060 6 GB, which is endowed with more shaders. Its launch is particularly opportune for the Summer upgrade season, when AMD's Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors are grabbing some serious attention.



It seems the Radeon RX 570 will be launched mostly in the form of custom-design cards through AMD's add-in board (AIB) partners, so you may not see many or any reference-design cards in the market. Leading the charge is Sapphire with its Radeon RX 570 Pulse 4 GB graphics card. The card features a brand new custom-design PCB with a stronger VRM setup that draws power from a single and 8-pin PCIe power connector, and a simple Dual-X cooling solution with a design focus on low noise. The cooler features a dense aluminum fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of fans.