AMD Polaris Thread: Radeon RX 480, RX 470 & RX 460 launching June 29th

[IEC]

I do recall the Fury X launch being hyped to the moon, and we all know how that turned out...

Let's hope this isn't a repeat.

From all the leaks thus far, I expect a RX 480 to approximate a R9 390X/GTX 980. I expect the hype train to miss the mark, but I also expect the Negative Nancies here to also miss the mark.

Gibbo's realistic assessment:

Basing hope on overclocking dreams is very bad idea.

Look at 1080 and 1070, custom cards are doing very little for OC. Also was Fury X or was it Nano not touted as an Overclockers Dream? Basing hopes on OC performance is a very bad idea as overclocks are not guaranteed.

Lets wait, not long to wait now, I am sure people will be pleased with performance in games and the features on offer.

I am certainly excited about RX-480, its going to be a very successful card for sure.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=29655858&postcount=5071

 

[crisium]

Stop posting all this wrong info.

Here's the absolute truth from HE WHO KNOWS ALL.


Keeping in mind that HardOCP have not been briefed or sampled on the new RX 480 by AMD as I type this, we have gotten solid information as to supplies on launch day...whenever that is. Expect around 8,000 cards to be available in North America.

http://hardocp.com/news/2016/06/21/amd_radeon_rx_480_supplies_at_launch

Needs page hits so badly? Comments are hilarious. Remind me of a cult following.

I'm not even gonna click it, but man, is he becoming more and more transparent lately if he said what you posted here.

 

[Abwx]

reference blower coolers are not cool - I know it's not a high TDP card but I'm expecting lots of noise and high temps under prolonged load anyways, with reduced lifetime of the card as a result

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=29653170&postcount=4711

So, what s next..?...

 

[Eymar]

Since AMD is not targeting high end they really should emphasize Freesync and how with FS 10-20% difference in FPS is probably not that perceivable (ie. have reviewer's guide make the reviewer play the game with FS at stock and OC speed and see if reviewer can tell the difference). It would help if the 480 is good at 1440p then 1080p users looking to upgrade their monitor as well would definitely look at 480 + 1440p monitor vs GTX 1080 and existing 1080p monitor.

 

[lukart]

Since AMD is not targeting high end they really should emphasize Freesync and how with FS 10-20% difference in FPS is probably not that perceivable (ie. have reviewer's guide make the reviewer play the game with FS at stock and OC speed and see if reviewer can tell the difference). It would help if the 480 is good at 1440p then 1080p users looking to upgrade their monitor as well would definitely look at 480 + 1440p monitor vs GTX 1080 and existing 1080p monitor.

Great point.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

Only 8K cards? Really lol? I just heard that the PC Digital Plaza over here in Taipei, the biggest stores have like 600 RX480 cards ready (mostly MSI and some ASUS). If just those stores supposedly have that many cards ready, why would NA only have 8K?

 

[sze5003]

Since AMD is not targeting high end they really should emphasize Freesync and how with FS 10-20% difference in FPS is probably not that perceivable (ie. have reviewer's guide make the reviewer play the game with FS at stock and OC speed and see if reviewer can tell the difference). It would help if the 480 is good at 1440p then 1080p users looking to upgrade their monitor as well would definitely look at 480 + 1440p monitor vs GTX 1080 and existing 1080p monitor.

It will do 1440 but you won't be able to max everything in all games depending on what you play. This would be the best option for me because I thought about upgrading my monitor. The 1070 is good for 1440p but it's not the best option for me as it's not a good long term card. With the 480 I can just sell it as soon as Vega comes out and keep that as long as I've had my 7970ghz (4+ years).

 

[Eymar]

It will do 1440 but you won't be able to max everything in all games depending on what you play.

That's where AMD's reviewer guide needs to suggest settings to turn down that don't affect graphics fidelity. AMD should make some high res YT comparison videos showing which features are turned lower and maxed out and link them in reviewer's guide. Of course, AMD should check other cards don't benefit more before suggesting this.

 

[monstercameron]

Only 8K cards? Really lol? I just heard that the PC Digital Plaza over here in Taipei, the biggest stores have like 600 RX480 cards ready (mostly MSI and some ASUS). If just those stores supposedly have that many cards ready, why would NA only have 8K?

its called talking out your ass.

 

[DeeJayBump]

Says:]


Keeping in mind that HardOCP have not been briefed or sampled on the new RX 480 by AMD as I type this, we have gotten solid information as to supplies on launch day...whenever that is. Expect around 8,000 cards to be available in North America.

http://hardocp.com/news/2016/06/21/amd_radeon_rx_480_supplies_at_launch

TLDR: Clowns Gonna Clown, when called on the Clownishness, Clowns double or triple down.

Damn shame because once upon a time, [H] was a force in the tech community, now they will be consigned to the dustbins of history as bought and paid for clowns.

 

[crisium]

That's where AMD's reviewer guide needs to suggest settings to turn down that don't affect graphics fidelity. AMD should make some high res YT comparison videos showing which features are turned lower and maxed out and link them in reviewer's guide. Of course, AMD should check other cards don't benefit more before suggesting this.

Nvidia usually does a great job with showing settings in some of their Gameworks games.

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-graphics-and-performance-guide

I used this guide to tailor my settings for ROTTR to choose the best combination of visual fidelity and performance to my own eyes.

I'd love to see AMD make a blog for RX 480 like this for major releases. Demonstrate how it can be a capable 1440P card. For example in a major release, if of the 8 settings you turn 1 of them down to medium, 4 down to High, etc, and get a large performance boost with negligible image quality lost. With 480X basically being their mainstay for an unknown time table, it would be beneficial.

Unlikely to happen, but one can hope.

 

[Yakk]

Damn shame because once upon a time, [H] was a force in the tech community

Ehhhh, nobody should be surprised by their behavior by now.

 

[sze5003]

That's where AMD's reviewer guide needs to suggest settings to turn down that don't affect graphics fidelity. AMD should make some high res YT comparison videos showing which features are turned lower and maxed out and link them in reviewer's guide. Of course, AMD should check other cards don't benefit more before suggesting this.

There are a lot of settings where I really could not tell a difference between very high/ultra and high. Things like motion blur, ambient occlusion, many other effects don't add much, I'll usually turn lighting and shadows just to high and increase sharpening for better visual effect. Most of those extra effects decrease performance too.

But not all reviewers do this they test all the games on the same setup, with cranked settings.

 

[maddie]

TLDR: Clowns Gonna Clown, when called on the Clownishness, Clowns double or triple down.

Damn shame because once upon a time, [H] was a force in the tech community, now they will be consigned to the dustbins of history as bought and paid for clowns.

The question is now this. How do we have any faith in their reviews going forward?

 

[JDG1980]

This is that NH article translated:

"Boost frequency of around 1.4 GHz will be fully viable with simple overclocking while with extra excitement and a little more serious work to reach the 1.5 gigahertz frequency boost with traditional air cooling."

What this tells me is 1.4ghz OC is easy & simple. 1.5ghz will require extra work, such as voltage modding.

Unless AMD have changed the way GCN clocks and OC work, you need to manually adjust the voltages if you want to maximize the OC. Doing OC of GCN on stock volts, will get 5-10% tops.

IMO, that's actually a good thing. Most of the 28nm GCN cards are substantially overvolted by default, which hurts perf/watt. We will see more efficiency from Polaris if it runs at a more reasonable standard voltage. For those who want to overclock, we've seen a leaked screenshot indicating the new Crimson control panel has voltage control built in, so it should be easy.

 

[DeeJayBump]

The question is now this. How do we have any faith in their reviews going forward?

We can't, that much is plain and clear to all but the most willingly blind amongst us.

As evidenced by their actions over the last several weeks, even some of [H]'s most ardent followers are beginning to see and admit the no-longer hidden, off the charts bias that continues to be exhibited by the [H] crew.

Haven't personally visited [H] since shortly after their epic butt-hurt Polaris rant. I only plan on a single return to [H] to call them on their "info/sources" and close my account there when the Polaris reviews (from other more trust-worthy sites, of course) are out.

 

[JDG1980]

there isn't a lot of heat sink on the 480 so it makes sense that on ref you would hit a heat wall pretty quick once you touch the voltage.

I think the power limit is probably a bigger factor. Remember, reference RX 480 has 1x6-pin connector, which means per the PCI specification it's not allowed to draw more than 150W. 2x6-pin or 1x8-pin on AIB cards would allow up to 225W, which would give far more headroom.

The power limit may be adjustable in Crimson, but pushing it far beyond specs is probably a bad idea, especially if your PSU is marginal.

 

[Armsdealer]

I think the power limit is probably a bigger factor. Remember, reference RX 480 has 1x6-pin connector, which means per the PCI specification it's not allowed to draw more than 150W. 2x6-pin or 1x8-pin on AIB cards would allow up to 225W, which would give far more headroom.

The power limit may be adjustable in Crimson, but pushing it far beyond specs is probably a bad idea, especially if your PSU is marginal.

Absolutely - the exact relationship between power consumption and voltage / frequency IS

P_dynamic = c * V^2 * f

What is more complicated is the relationship between f and V (when V is limiting f), but regardless of whose numbers you take, Power scales *at least* as f^2 (abwx numbers),

maybe close to f^3
http://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...h-the-processor-frequency-in-a-typical-comput

and in this anandtech thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2195927

they regressed the data and found a best fit that is actually quintic (f^5)

Regardless, the point is that the relationship is not linear at all once you start overclocking *with* voltage adjustments, and power consumption goes up very rapidly.

That's why at least I'm not going to buy a 6-pin card.

 

[Kenmitch]

Only 8K cards? Really lol? I just heard that the PC Digital Plaza over here in Taipei, the biggest stores have like 600 RX480 cards ready (mostly MSI and some ASUS). If just those stores supposedly have that many cards ready, why would NA only have 8K?

He sees things in dollars with no sense. Probably just dropped the last two zeros...Silly him.

You are located closer to the source for the AIB cards so it would make sense that you would have availability sooner than the US and other distant countries. I guess it really depends on the shipping methods chosen for distribution as far as the other countries go. There is a saying " it's on the slow boat from China " that comes to mind.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

You are located closer to the source for the AIB cards so it would make sense that you would have availability sooner than the US and other distant countries.

Maybe, though some of these same stores here still don't have any 1070s or 1080s so I presume being nearby isn't necessarily an advantage in some cases.

 

[dark zero]

Only 8K cards? Really lol? I just heard that the PC Digital Plaza over here in Taipei, the biggest stores have like 600 RX480 cards ready (mostly MSI and some ASUS). If just those stores supposedly have that many cards ready, why would NA only have 8K?

Because the card is targeted to China, Europe and LATAM? (believe or not, there are stock on there too!)

 

[Despoiler]

Polaris Tech Day Screenshot
http://videocardz.com/61293/amd-radeon-rx-480-rumors-part-3

Polaris Tech Day Bench
63.1
68.3
67.8
55.1

My unlocked OC'd Fury Air same settings
47.6
54.5
51.9
39.3

Granted I don't have the same CPU, but Polaris is FAST.

 

[trane]

Those are 2 x 480 benchmarks. Your OC'd Fury will be ~30%-40% faster than a single 480.

 

[Bacon1]

Those are 2 x 480 benchmarks. Your OC'd Fury will be ~30%-40% faster than a single 480.

Look at the % GPU bound, most of the time its CPU bound so cards aren't running @ 100% usage.

Shows it doing better than the 1080:

BTW, did Nvidia ever fix their drivers in ashes? I've never seen any proof of them being fixed yet and actually rendering snow correctly.

 

[Abwx]

Only 8K cards? Really lol? I just heard that the PC Digital Plaza over here in Taipei, the biggest stores have like 600 RX480 cards ready (mostly MSI and some ASUS). If just those stores supposedly have that many cards ready, why would NA only have 8K?

That s FUD at its peak...

8000 Polaris chips require about 32 waffers..