Who bought/is buying a Radeon RX 480?

[cytg111]

I really want to upgrade my VR experience, however

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1748?vs=1718

this suggests that I am looking at 1070+ or waiting for Vega.
(unless this SMP-stuff is taking off, in which case boom.)

 

[GIS]

Waiting on AIB RX480 cards: Sapphire Nitro, MSI Gaming, Asus Strix. Also interested to see the comparison to the $149-179 RX470. If the 480 mines 24-25MH, will likely order a dozen or so. Will most likely purchase mid-August.

You suggested me to pick up the RX 480 based on my gaming needs in the other thread. I forgot to ask your opinion on which AIB brands (for AMD) has the best customer service, specifically RMA service?

Since you listed Sapphire as first I just wonder you might have some stories to tell . I never own a Sapphire card, but from what I read, it seems like Sapphire does not really focus on after-sales experience and their RMA service is done by a 3rd party company in California.

It would be great if I can also get some perspectives from others!

Nonetheless, I'm beyond ready to upgrade my 5 years old XFX HD 6950 2GB!

 

[ozzy702]

You suggested me to pick up the RX 480 based on my gaming needs in the other thread. I forgot to ask your opinion on which AIB brands (for AMD) has the best customer service, specifically RMA service?

Since you listed Sapphire as first I just wonder you might have some stories to tell . I never own a Sapphire card, but from what I read, it seems like Sapphire does not really focus on after-sales experience and their RMA service is done by a 3rd party company in California.

It would be great if I can also get some perspectives from others!

Nonetheless, I'm beyond ready to upgrade my 5 years old XFX HD 6950 2GB!

I've had extremely good luck with Sapphire. I've probably owned a dozen or so Sapphire cards.

 

[Elixer]

I really want to upgrade my VR experience, however

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1748?vs=1718

this suggests that I am looking at 1070+ or waiting for Vega.
(unless this SMP-stuff is taking off, in which case boom.)

What VR gear you got?
I don't see any VR tests in that link either.

I am thinking that dual 480 cards would be excellent in VR (depending on the gear you hook it up with), but I would still wait to see what 1060 offers, and since (good) VR games so far are pretty darn barren, I see no need to rush into anything at this time until they finally get a few AAA killer VR games (which don't seem to be coming any time soon).
I also think it is going to take another generation or two of VR gear to start to be good, the current crop are just really poor overall.

 

[Kallogan]

15W less when properly cooled by AIBs is my guess, 80°c is too high

 

[Layer8]

I'll get an AIB RX480 for my main PC (5820k) as intermediate card while waiting for Vega (or maybe a GP102 if Vega doesn't cut it).

I own a LG 4k display, so I either want a full grown 4k solution or FreeSync support.

 

[Silverforce11]

15W less when properly cooled by AIBs is my guess, 80°c is too high

Whatever power savings from better stock vcore or cooling will likely be put into higher clocks, rather than 1266mhz @ less power, could be 1328 to 1350mhz @ 150W. That's the usual case with custom designs.

I've had time to play with my cards, and they are bandwidth bottlenecked. I can up performance in games I play now simply with a memory OC. 2000 to 2200mhz nets me around 7% extra performance in Total War Warhammer, Fallout 4, Far Cry Primal w/ 4K textures. OC on the core alone without memory scales around half. It's not a complete bottleneck, but definitely affected.

Therefore with GDDR5 at it's limits, I just don't see how a highly clocked custom 480 is going to be much faster at all even if it can OC to 1500mhz by some miracle due to bandwidth issues. Basically custom design will offer a better cooler so that you can run it OC without the noise/heat issues.

 

[cytg111]

What VR gear you got?
I don't see any VR tests in that link either.

I am thinking that dual 480 cards would be excellent in VR (depending on the gear you hook it up with), but I would still wait to see what 1060 offers, and since (good) VR games so far are pretty darn barren, I see no need to rush into anything at this time until they finally get a few AAA killer VR games (which don't seem to be coming any time soon).
I also think it is going to take another generation or two of VR gear to start to be good, the current crop are just really poor overall.

I got the Vive and the experience is really stellar (even though 2x4K would really set it off.. ill be buying next gen and next gen too).
But good point, wait for the AAA.
And anandtech really needs to update that Bench with some VR content.
Going dual 480 (or sli otherwise) seems counter productive for VR with this gens SMP-like capabilities (both nv and amd).

 

[sze5003]

You suggested me to pick up the RX 480 based on my gaming needs in the other thread. I forgot to ask your opinion on which AIB brands (for AMD) has the best customer service, specifically RMA service?

Since you listed Sapphire as first I just wonder you might have some stories to tell . I never own a Sapphire card, but from what I read, it seems like Sapphire does not really focus on after-sales experience and their RMA service is done by a 3rd party company in California.

It would be great if I can also get some perspectives from others!

Nonetheless, I'm beyond ready to upgrade my 5 years old XFX HD 6950 2GB!

My current card is a Sapphire and luckily I've had no issues with it. I've heard bad warranty stories from all three brands to be honest. But as always there are good ones too. Chances are it may be DOA which you can hopefully return to the retailer for an exchange.

I wouldn't worry about that. The nitro looks to be like a really neat design, removable fans, etc as well as decent cooling. I've heard MSI did something to the board so it's not as power efficient. Think it was discussed here a few pages back.

There's also the powercooler devil that looks really good. Personally I'll be trying to grab whatever is in stock.

 

[cytg111]

Have you guys seen this?

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4qfy9d/i_work_at_amd_the_time_has_come_to_ama_about/

also

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amdgpu-rx480-linux&num=11

while not on par with team green yet, it IS open source (and better than it used to be). That might mean something to some folk too .

 

[sze5003]

Again some more pictures of the custom cards.

They say the powercooler model should be revealed July 13..does that mean we can buy it that day?

http://videocardz.com/62101/more-pictures-of-custom-radeon-rx-480-graphics-cards-emerge

 

[f2bnp]

PowerColor DualCool seems right up my alley, had a TurboDuo R9 290 as of early June, so can't wait to get my hands on a new card!

 

[Stuka87]

Anybody heard a time window for the Sapphire Nitro?

 

[Kenmitch]

Hmm....Maybe she could use those 4 arms to slap the marketing department around.

Looking forward to seeing some of the AIB cards in action.

 

[sze5003]

Anybody heard a time window for the Sapphire Nitro?

July 22 according to the UK. Not sure about the US. I thought the powercool devil card was suppose to be out today.

 

[AnotherGuy]

How come I cant find 1 rx 480 card in stock anywhere... not even a 8gb card, forget the 4gb ones. They said they have plenty on release day. This sux I need to buy 1 and I cant find 1.

 

[Kenmitch]

How come I cant find 1 rx 480 card in stock anywhere... not even a 8gb card, forget the 4gb ones. They said they have plenty on release day. This sux I need to buy 1 and I cant find 1.

The inability to buy the refrence card today is a good thing. You'll really want the AIB card in the end. Supply is stripped by the current demand....Really good for those with weak willpower that are really wanting the AIB cards.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The inability to buy the refrence card today is a good thing. You'll really want the AIB card in the end.

You can't assume that for everyone. As you can see from my Mini ITX picture a blower card in that small of space is preferable, as every open air card I have shoved in there has been suboptimal (even the barely use power 750 ti). Plus there is the whole fact that 4GB reference cards are really 8GB. I flashed mine to be a 8GB model without even looking at the actual memory chips, I am that sure (willing to risk a brick) that no "real" 4GB reference models exist. That is two good reasons to buy a reference model.

So far I have really liked the 480, but it's outpacing my dual core CPU in that rig (even OCed) like crazy. Last night I temporarily moved it over to my main rig (the big case 2600k one) because my 390x is now crashing games at stock speeds (hope they let me RMA it). My 480 can't OC at all really, but even at stock speeds I really can't tell a huge difference from the 390x. If they won't RMA my 390x I might just get a AIB 480 down the road to replace it.

 

[RussianSensation]

You suggested me to pick up the RX 480 based on my gaming needs in the other thread. I forgot to ask your opinion on which AIB brands (for AMD) has the best customer service, specifically RMA service?

Since you listed Sapphire as first I just wonder you might have some stories to tell . I never own a Sapphire card, but from what I read, it seems like Sapphire does not really focus on after-sales experience and their RMA service is done by a 3rd party company in California.

It would be great if I can also get some perspectives from others!

Nonetheless, I'm beyond ready to upgrade my 5 years old XFX HD 6950 2GB!

I have never had to RMA any GPU. If you are concerned about warranty, I would go for a card with the longest warranty (Gigabyte, MSI or Asus have 3 years). Among those 3, MSI Gaming may have double ball bearing fans, giving it a theoretical longevity edge. I also want to hear about the Sapphire's new fan swap feature. I think if the fans fail, Sapphire will now just ask you to send the broken fans and send you back the replacement. This is a big deal based on some horror stories/pictures of Asus RMA mishandling the cards. I also heard XFX very often upgrades you to a card that's better if they don't have your exact card.

What are your CPU specs again?

I would also wait for AIB 480 and 1060 and see where they land in price and price/performance. Can't rule out the 1060 until we see reviews because if an AIB 480 is $259-269 and some faster AIB 1060 are $259-269, unless mining Ethereum, the 1060 could actually be a better choice.

I am also concerned about AIB 480/1060 reaching $280-300 levels. At that point I would seriously consider hunting down a used 980Ti for $330-350. Strictly looking at the 480 side, I am not even sure paying $250-260 for an AIB one is worth it over the $199 RX 480 4GB, if you can find one. RX 480 or 1060 was never designed to last 4-5 years. It's even trickier because every new generation of consoles, GPU demands rise exponentially. I remember people used to say GTX680/Titan was enough to last the entire PA4/XB1 generation. I'd guess PS5/XB2 will come out by 2019-2020. For that reason I view both the 1060/480 as good mainstream 2, maybe 3 years of useful life cards. I would try to limit the expenditure. By 2018, we should have 1070's level of performance or faster in a $249-299 Volta. If budget is an issue, I'd rather spend as little as possible closer to $200 and upgrade again in 2/2.5 years, or just go up to a 980Ti/1070 right away and enjoy it for 3-4. That's why the closer RX 480/1060 nudges towards the $300 level, the less appealing it gets.

 

[Kenmitch]

You can't assume that for everyone. As you can see from my Mini ITX picture a blower card in that small of space is preferable, as every open air card I have shoved in there has been suboptimal (even the barely use power 750 ti). Plus there is the whole fact that 4GB reference cards are really 8GB. I flashed mine to be a 8GB model without even looking at the actual memory chips, I am that sure (willing to risk a brick) that no "real" 4GB reference models exist. That is two good reasons to buy a reference model.

So far I have really liked the 480, but it's outpacing my dual core CPU in that rig (even OCed) like crazy. Last night I temporarily moved it over to my main rig (the big case 2600k one) because my 390x is now crashing games at stock speeds (hope they let me RMA it). My 480 can't OC at all really, but even at stock speeds I really can't tell a huge difference from the 390x. If they won't RMA my 390x I might just get a AIB 480 down the road to replace it.

I never really assumed that for everybody. A person who really wants a reference model needs to be on the F5 alert program or just preorder/backorder at one of the many sites offering such a thing. Looking around it seem like availability will be around the same time the AIB cards should start trickling in anyways.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I never really assumed that for everybody. A person who really wants a reference model needs to be on the F5 alert program or just preorder/backorder at one of the many sites offering such a thing. Looking around it seem like availability will be around the same time the AIB cards should start trickling in anyways.

Yeah that is a good point, there is almost no choice but the waiting game.

 

[Kenmitch]

Yeah that is a good point, there is almost no choice but the waiting game.

I missed the boat at launch. BestBuy had both available but the prices were flipped. The 8GB version was listed at $199 wit 4GB at $249. Sadly I slept in too long that day and they were already sold out of the 8GB cards. Not sure if they honored the price or not in the end. Would have impulse bought a pair of 8GB's at that price.

Amazon had the 8GB Diamond branded for preorder @ $239 available around the 16th. Just went out of stock as I typed this message. They're going quick it looks like.

 

[sze5003]

Even with AIB models coming out you will still be waiting. If you don't need a card now, it's a good thing. Expect to wait another month before getting a popular one.

 

[Sonikku]

God damn, I kick myself for not getting a $250 290x back in 2014. Wait wait wait. Waiting and more waiting... This 7770 has to go...

 

[sze5003]

God damn, I kick myself for not getting a $250 290x back in 2014. Wait wait wait. Waiting and more waiting... This 7770 has to go...

The worst part is when don't even know when the AIB models will launch. Or if all will launch in the same day/week. With my luck I'll go to check newegg and find nothing but auto notify buttons.