AMD Announces RX 470 and RX 460 cards

ihatelag · 14 Jun 2016 at 10:13

Polaris Architecture-Based Graphics Cards to Deliver Premium Engineering for Unprecedented Performance, Extraordinary VR Experiences and Future-Proof Technologies(1) LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/13/16 -- E3 2016 -- Today at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) CEO Lisa Su delivered a pre-launch showcase of the full line of forthcoming Radeon™ RX Series graphics cards set to transform PC gaming this summer by delivering enthusiast class performance and features for gamers at mainstream price points from $100-$300. AMD previously showcased the Radeon™ RX 480 graphics card, designed for incredibly smooth AAA gaming at 1440p resolution and set to be the most affordable solution for premium VR experiences starting at just $199 SEP for the 4GB version. Joining the Radeon RX family are the newly announced Radeon™ RX 470 graphics card delivering refined, power-efficient HD gaming, and the Radeon™ RX 460, a cool and efficient solution for the ultimate e-sports gaming experience.
The Radeon™ RX Series of graphics processors are designed to transform the PC gaming industry across a variety of form factors, delivering on three fundamental "entitlements" for gamers and game developers:

Extraordinary VR experiences at price points never offered before - Previewed at Computex, the Radeon™ RX Series will expand the VR ecosystem by democratizing exceptional VR experiences, making them available to many form factors and millions of consumers by lowering the cost barriers to entry.

Great game content delivered to PC Gamers in real time - Through a combination of Radeon™ RX Series performance profiles and close-to-the-metal APIs that closely mirror console APIs, AMD believes that developers will be further empowered to co-develop high quality, high performing game content for both consoles and PCs, enhancing the PC gaming ecosystem.

Console-class GPU performance for thin and light notebooks - Gaming notebooks have traditionally been large and cumbersome or under-powered for today's gaming needs. The Radeon™ RX Series addresses this with flagship technology that effectively gives mobile users GPU performance that rivals that of consoles with exceptionally low power and low-z height to drive thin, light and high-performance gaming notebooks, and 1080p 60Hz gaming experiences for both eSports and AAA titles.

"Gamers and consumers today are being left behind," said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. "Today only the top 16 percent of PC gamers are purchasing GPUs that deliver premium VR and Gaming experiences.2 Hundreds of millions of gamers have been relegated to using outdated technology. Notebook gamers are often forced to compromise. And tens of millions more can only read about incredible PC VR experiences that they can't enjoy for themselves. That all changes with the Radeon™ RX Series, placing compelling and advanced high-end gaming and VR technologies within reach of everyone."
Gamers in the market for a new graphics card need look no further than the forthcoming Radeon™ RX Series, consisting of:

Superior technology engineered for unprecedented performance - The Radeon™ RX Series features the most advanced graphics and gaming technologies ever seen in a GPU priced under $300 SEP, delivering cutting-edge engineering to everyday PC gamers and VR consumers. The Radeon™ RX Series harnesses the revolutionary Polaris architecture optimized for the 14nm FinFET process, the most cutting-edge process technology in the world featuring the smallest transistors ever used in a GPU, engineered to deliver unprecedented performance and power efficiency from incredibly small and thin chips.

Extraordinary VR experiences never widely affordable before - With models starting at $199 SEP, the Radeon™ RX 480 is the most affordable solution for a premium VR experience, supplying the graphics capability necessary to bring high-quality PC VR experiences from Oculus and HTC3 to anyone who wants it.

Future-proof technologies1 - The Radeon™ RX Series continues the Radeon™ tradition of innovation, like being first to 14nm FinFET process technology, first in memory types and bandwidth like HBM, and first to support low overhead gaming APIs. Gamers will enjoy these products for a long time to come with a range of "future-proof" benefits including:

Leading DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™ gaming - The Polaris architecture-fueled Radeon™ RX Series is built to deliver phenomenal DirectX® 9, DirectX® 10, and DirectX® 11 gaming performance, and designed to absolutely scream in DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™, the future of gaming. Polaris architecture uniquely supports asynchronous compute for superior experiences in games and VR applications using DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™. AMD brings gamers incredible DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™ game experiences including phenomenal VR content, by collaborating with the top DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™ developers in the world who want to develop on Radeon™ to bring the best games to market.

Next-generation display technologies - Radeon™ RX Series includes support for next-generation HDR gaming and video on new HDR monitors and TVs. The Radeon™ RX Series also supports HDMI™ 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.3/1.4 supporting the new generation of high-resolution HDR and high-refresh displays. The Radeon™ RX Series features exceptional accelerated H.265 encoding and decoding, enabling effortless streaming or recording of 10-bit 4K video at 60 FPS4.

Radeon Software designed to provide the best performance, features, stability and control - Equally as sophisticated as the Radeon™ RX Series graphics cards is the software that powers them. Radeon Software enables the ultimate in performance, features and stability to ensure an exceptionally smooth and fast out-of-box experience, and one that gets better with age as updates roll out.

For more information on Polaris architecture-based Radeon™ RX Series graphics cards, stay tuned to the AMD newsroom and associated social media channels.

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, confirmed that RX 460 will have a TDP below 75W and new card will not require any additional power connectors. This model will likely be equipped with three display outputs: DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort.

Interesting that they are coining a card for e-sports.

FoxEye · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:07

So now that the 1060 and 480 are launched (if unavailable

) and we know their (extortionate in some cases) pricing, who among us is turnign their attention to the 470?

From various reputable (lol) source like Reddit, people are suggesting that the perf diff between the 470 and 480 is only 3%. And that AMD are holding back the 470 until September to get more 480 sales.

But as nice as it would be to further hone my patience, I can't help but think that's going to turn out to be BS.

Why would AMD not disable more cores, etc, to make a large difference between them? I can't see why they wouldn't be able to do this.

Griffildur · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:14

FoxEye said:
Why would AMD not disable more cores, etc, to make a large difference between them? I can't see why they wouldn't be able to do this.

if AMD's idea of offering multiple GPUs is to build just one and then disable cores and memory, one cannot help but wonder why would anyone bother buying anything but the absolute cheapest card available and then simply unlock everything pretty much like it happened with the 4 gb vs 8 gb 480 variants.

FoxEye · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:20

What I was saying tho is why would they release a 470 that similar in perf to a 480? With the rumours being only 3% difference.

They could just hack a bit more off until it's sufficiently gimped...

Which is why I don't believe the rumours. It'll be a good 15% slower I'd imagine.

Bantu · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:21

Griffildur said:
if AMD's idea of offering multiple GPUs is to build just one and then disable cores and memory, one cannot help but wonder why would anyone bother buying anything but the absolute cheapest card available and then simply unlock everything pretty much like it happened with the 4 gb vs 8 gb 480 variants.

Often the disabling is done physically (by lasers), so unlocking them is impossible.

Griffildur · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:21

Bantu said:
Often the disabling is done physically (by lasers), so unlocking them is impossible.

ah ok, thought it was a software one.

Armageus · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:25

Griffildur said:
if AMD's idea of offering multiple GPUs is to build just one and then disable cores and memory, one cannot help but wonder why would anyone bother buying anything but the absolute cheapest card available and then simply unlock everything pretty much like it happened with the 4 gb vs 8 gb 480 variants.

Because in most cases the lesser parts actually have faulty cores - i.e. the die is "salvaged" (e.g. if it wasn't sold as a lower part, it would be going in the bin and costing the manufacturer money).

As production processes improve, less parts are faulty, meaning that in order to keep production of lower cards, either a revised chip has to be made that meets performance (e.g. some Geforce cards with same name and different core counts), or fully working chips are used, but being sold as a loss (and so usually laser cut to stop them being unlocked)

The initial RX480's were different in that AMD/Suppliers wanted to meet a certain price point on the launch date, but there was a supply problem with the required memory chips for the 4GB version. Rather than not sell a 4GB version at the intended price - 8GB physical cards were limited via software.
Expect the next batch of 4GB cards to physically have 4GB of RAM as supply of parts is sorted.

Griffildur · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:26

cool, thanks for the details, one learns something new every day!

DPB · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:45

FoxEye said:
So now that the 1060 and 480 are launched (if unavailable ) and we know their (extortionate in some cases) pricing, who among us is turnign their attention to the 470?

I'm leaning towards that too. Unless they've massively underclocked it to reach the claimed perf/W figures, then it should be about as fast as a 290, which is still a big upgrade from my 660. Based on previous AMD cards, the gap between the 470 should be very close - the 380X was at most 10% faster than the 380.

I'd almost persuaded myself to part with £240 for a 1060, but it still feels like too much even with the currency going down the tube. 480 4GB is a possibility, but I'm not convinced this was anything other than a limited edition to meet the $199 price point. So far the only custom card announced with a 4GB model is from Gigabyte, all the others are 8GB, so I'm not sure that it's going to be widely available.

EDIT: I've just seen that 4GB Sapphire Nitro for £200, that will probably be my next card.

Armageus · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:47

DPB said:
I'm leaning towards that too. Unless they've massively underclocked it to reach the claimed perf/W figures, then it should be about as fast as a 290, which is still a big upgrade from my 660. Based on previous AMD cards, the gap between the 470 should be very close - the 380X was at most 10% faster than the 380.

I'd almost persuaded myself to part with £240 for a 1060, but it still feels like too much even with the currency going down the tube. 480 4GB is a possibility, but I'm not convinced this was anything other than a limited edition to meet the $199 price point. So far the only custom card announced with a 4GB model is from Gigabyte, all the others are 8GB, so I'm not sure that it's going to be widely available.

Sapphire also have one (although 5th August estimate):
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapp...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-37d-sp.html

DPB · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:52

Armageus said:
Sapphire also have one (although 5th August estimate):
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapp...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-37d-sp.html

Yeah, I edited my post at the same time. Looks like the 4GB isn't a myth after all.

karik666 · 19 Jul 2016 at 16:54

Have Amd given a release date for the rx470 ?

FoxEye · 19 Jul 2016 at 17:07

karik666 said:
Have Amd given a release date for the rx470 ?

Nope. Rumours of a September release.

humbug · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:11

FoxEye said:
So now that the 1060 and 480 are launched (if unavailable ) and we know their (extortionate in some cases) pricing, who among us is turnign their attention to the 470?

From various reputable (lol) source like Reddit, people are suggesting that the perf diff between the 470 and 480 is only 3%. And that AMD are holding back the 470 until September to get more 480 sales.

But as nice as it would be to further hone my patience, I can't help but think that's going to turn out to be BS.

Why would AMD not disable more cores, etc, to make a large difference between them? I can't see why they wouldn't be able to do this.

Rumours are 2048 Shaders 470 vs 2304 on the 480.

Its 12% in Shaders, which is not a lot, likely to result in an 8% performance difference.

A lot like previous AMD cut down cards.

FoxEye · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:19

humbug said:
Rumours are 2048 Shaders 470 vs 2304 on the 480.

Its 12% in Shaders, which is not a lot, likely to result in an 8% performance difference.

A lot like previous AMD cut down cards.

Well normally, yes. But they were saying (the rumourers) that the thermal throttling of the 480 was holding it back.

That with fewer cores/shaders/hamsters they were able to boost higher, and not get throttled back to meet thermal budgets.

So that the actual performance difference was much less than you'd expect.

Take it with a pinch of salt, but 3% is what people were claiming to have measured as the difference between them. Due to thermal/power throttling on the 480.

queamin · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:22

I am looking at a 470 as I don't game much now but will not pay much over 150.

humbug · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:25

FoxEye said:
Well normally, yes. But they were saying (the rumourers) that the thermal throttling of the 480 was holding it back.

That with fewer cores/shaders/hamsters they were able to boost higher, and not get throttled back to meet thermal budgets.

So that the actual performance difference was much less than you'd expect.

Take it with a pinch of salt, but 3% is what people were claiming to have measured as the difference between them. Due to thermal/power throttling on the 480.

Be that as it may it bodes well for the AIB 480's are they are not going to throttle with proper coolers.

Mei · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:25

ihatelag said:
Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, confirmed that RX 460 will have a TDP below 75W and new card will not require any additional power connectors. This model will likely be equipped with three display outputs: DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort.

Interesting that they are coining a card for e-sports.

they must see a market i guess
but from what ive seen e-sports players in the west dont buy cheap cards
and e-sports players in the east just go to bangs

i think they would care more about some 2ms response time

FoxEye · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:26

humbug said:
Be that as it may it bodes well for the AIB 480's are they are not going to throttle with proper coolers.

True. But some people who've bought reference design 480s might be a tad miffed

Compared to non-ref 470s, which should be cheaper, and perhaps just as fast. And quieter

This is what I'm desperately hoping for! To save this gen of cards from being useless to me.

DPB · 19 Jul 2016 at 18:27

humbug said:
Rumours are 2048 Shaders 470 vs 2304 on the 480.

Its 12% in Shaders, which is not a lot, likely to result in an 8% performance difference.

A lot like previous AMD cut down cards.

2048 shaders (or 32 CUs) was confirmed when the 480 came out.

Like you said, previous cut down cards were very close. Even the 7950, which ran at 125Mhz lower than the 7970 was still only about 12% slower.

I've seen some strange posts elsewhere where people think it's going to be 20% slower (or even 380X speeds!), which ignores the existence of every other cut down AMD card.