Official AMD Polaris Review Thread: Radeon RX 480, RX 470, and RX 460

[poofyhairguy]

Why do you think Apple didn't wanted the Polaris 10?

Because we got a fully enabled Polaris 10 right out the gate. When Apple lays claim to a new GPU we only seem to get the reject chips they don't want, or at least that is what happened last time with Tonga. Their leverage over AMD is massive.

Hell it took over a year after the 285 release for us to finally get a full Tonga on a non Apple product.

And OSX has always supported more cards than they technically ship with. I have been hackintoshing for 11 years and not once did I have the exact GPU a Mac had. Driver support gives no indication to future Mac products, but a crappy leaking cut down 460 does.

 

[zinfamous]

3x: MSI Gaming X, Sapphire Nitro, and Sapphire Ref 4gb 470s currently in stock at Newegg

 

[boozzer]

And this is an NVIDIA sponsored DX-12 game.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/RX_460_STRIX_OC/20.html

Anyone still wants to recommend the 2GB GTX 950 over the 4GB RX 460 in 2016 is more than welcome to do so.

damn, so basically more people asking for help will get screw by some zealous members.

essentially it is the same thing all over again. if you plan to keep your card for more than a year, buy AMD. in this case, if you want to play dx12/vulkan games, in the near future, buy amd.

 

[SPBHM]

460 OC 4GB kind of does well against the 280 (7950 OC), that's kind of nice

it's a shame the pricing is not so great and the 950 is there, as they said the 470 looks so much better

 

[Masochrist_]

So, been reading the newly released Polaris whitepaper, and it says the new adaptive clocking and voltage techniques are responsible for increasing frequency up to 140 Mhz and matching operating voltage to the frequency, reducing power that way.

However, it is widely known Polaris 10 chips operate at voltages up to 100 mv higher than needed and the frequency of retail silicon only increased 30% compared to the previous Tonga chips. When you add the fact that FinFETs should boost frequency even more, something doesn't add up here. I keep reading that the adaptive voltage and frequency thingies aren't really working properly at this moment, that might explain it

People like to blame the 14LPP process, but really we have no other point of reference to compare it to, or it could simply be the fact that this is the first 3D design made by GloFo, which puts them more than one year behind TSMC.

If AMD could get some more efficiency gains from that process, they would not be that far behind NVidia, considering the 480 packs more vram and has 30% more transistors compared to the 1060.

 

[RussianSensation]

XFX Introduces new 3+2 Year Warranty on select videocards.

XFX's 3 + 2 Year Warranty
Giving you the performance you have come to expect from XFX.

Even though we trust that our high quality products will continue working at peak performance well beyond your use of it, we want to put our word behind that promise. That is why we offer our 3 + 2 Year Warranty with this series of graphics cards. This means that your product is protected by a 3 year limited hardware warranty on manufacturing defects of anything on the card. Additionally, we'll extend that warranty on the fans by an additional 2, a total of 5 years, giving you even more protection than any competitor. That's the trust we have in the quality of our products.

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd-radeon-rx-400-series/rx-480-gtr-8gb-dd-led-rx-480p8dfa6

Other XFX series cards have bumped up the warranty from 2 years to 3 years with the new 3 Year Warranty.

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd-radeon-rx-400-series/rx-470-rs-4gb-sf-triplex-rx-470p4sfd5

Reference Polaris cards do not get these benefits and only get the traditional 2 year warranty.

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd-radeon-rx-400-series/rx480be-rx-480m8bba6

 

[guskline]

RS Nice warranty. I was lucky enough to snag a reference Sapphire RX480 8g for $239.99 so I am now back in the AMD camp with a video card. I want to take advantage of some of the Mantle/Vulcan improvements.

I'm pleasantly surprised how well it runs games even at 1440p.

 

[AtenRa]

AMD compares Radeon RX 460 Desktop to RX 460 Mobile

http://videocardz.com/63230/amd-compared-radeon-rx-460-desktop-to-rx-460-mobile

 

[zinfamous]

Well, that's impressive for a mobile GPU. Are those generally cheaper than the desktop version?

 

[crisium]

Well, remember there is a large gap between 4GB/6-pin 460s and 2GB/no-pin 460s. Which do you really think they are comparing it to? I have a guess.

 

[Bacon1]

Well, remember there is a large gap between 4GB/6-pin 460s and 2GB/no-pin 460s. Which do you really think they are comparing it to? I have a guess.

Well they are giving you FPS in the chart, so compare them:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/RX_460_STRIX_OC/14.html

Seems to be doing just as good as the 4GB OC'd version on their chart for the desktop version.

 

[Yakk]

Being stuck to replace expensive custom Asus dread fans, XFX's 3+2 warranty is looking mighty appealing I have to say. No more custom Asus cards for me.

 

[boozzer]

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsa...fx_radeon_rx_480_rx480p836bm_8gb_23984_27591/

235$ xfx 480 8gb. as good as it gets atm for this card

 

[RussianSensation]

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsa...fx_radeon_rx_480_rx480p836bm_8gb_23984_27591/

235$ xfx 480 8gb. as good as it gets atm for this card

Not the same card, but the 11" GTR model costs ~$345 USD after taxes in Canada. My used R9 295X2 cost me only $110 more 5 months ago. Crazy how much GPUs drop in value once they hit the used market.

 

[boozzer]

Not the same card, but the 11" GTR model costs ~$345 USD after taxes in Canada. My used R9 295X2 cost me only $110 more 5 months ago. Crazy how much GPUs drop in value once they hit the used market.

it used to drop even more. the current values are holding pretty well because the last 3 years haven't seen much increase in performance. just thinking about mid range gpus matching the previous gen top card, that would drive down used card prices super fast. 50-70% easily after a year. it now takes 2+ years for prices to go that low on used parts.

 

[Abwx]

https://www.computerbase.de/2016-08/xfx-rx-460-grafikkarte-mit-polaris-11-erstmals-ohne-luefter/

 

[fuccboi]

Sadly you can't really recommend AMD cards into a budget PCs, which usually have a budget CPUs, not into anything below new i5 really. The driver overhead is still there as you can see here.
I'm not really sure why would they choose to release and focus on a budget oriented lineup like this considering the above.
Even the reviewers are really cutting them some slack by continually ignoring this issue on an AMD cards. It's not like they are really trying to compete or to offer anything reasonable, the rx 460 is an epitome of that.
I'm really curious on how the Deus Ex dx12 patch turns out.

 

[poofyhairguy]

A picture of all my Polaris: a 480, a 470, and a 460.

The 460 surprised me, it's a tiny little thing.

 

[SpaceBeer]

Sadly you can't really recommend AMD cards into a budget PCs, which usually have a budget CPUs, not into anything below new i5 really. The driver overhead is still there as you can see here.

As I see there, GTX 970 has better score with i3 than with i5. So I think there is nothing worth watching in this video.

 

[SPBHM]

for what is worth the 460 (4GB) is matching the 950 (2GB) on the Digital Foundry test while using an i3 4130, so it doesn't look to bad for this game at least, the DX11 overhead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uym9KOt_uGg

 

[Erenhardt]

As I see there, GTX 970 has better score with i3 than with i5. So I think there is nothing worth watching in this video.

That is some serious BS. If it is CPU bottleneck why would we see such a gap between 270-280 and 480.

Anyway, Digitalfoundry results are a lot different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uym9KOt_uGg

 

[poofyhairguy]

If anyone wants a 470 here is one that is less than $170 with the 15% off coupon:

https://jet.com/product/ASUS-ROG-ST...-with-DP-14-/9f3d205624bf460e8329e8396eeb4f44

Might as well use the Jet.com coupons before Wal-Mart (who just bought Jet) ruins the party.

 

[MajinCry]

Isn't NVidia's driver overhead only applicable for select D3D 11 games (that are programmed to use driver command lists) and OpenGL? That'd fit in line with that draw call benchmark lying around (3D Mark?).

 

[fuccboi]

As I see there, GTX 970 has better score with i3 than with i5. So I think there is nothing worth watching in this video.

The author confirmed in the comment section that the numbers are correct, you can check his other videos, it's great that someone actually tests these cards with a budget CPUs.

 

[f2bnp]

Finally gave up and picked up a PowerColor RX 480 from ComputerUniverse. It was actually the cheapest one, despite being probably the best AIB RX 480 you can get your hands on.

It'll take a week or two to arrive, can't wait to play with this badboy!