Well, saying that the 580 will look better than it actually is, due to these sites comparing against launch day 480 performance, is a double standard though, isn't it?
It is precisely because these sites never bother to update results, that people searching for "1060 vs 480" come away with the false impression that the 1060 is faster.
So, imagine you're AMD and realise that all it takes to force these guys to update their reviews is to add 100MHz and slap a sticker on that reads 580 instead of 480... totally worth it. You have the slightly better card want people to know it.
Don't the masses deserve to know that? Me and you already know where things stand, but why should your average Joe be kept in the dark?
I agree on all your points, and sadly the industry rarely retests things; or even updates their original work if something comes along that changes it all. There's enough backlash from some reviewers when people were clamouring for them to retest Ryzen CPUs when major BIOS updates and AGESA microcode came along.
Many of the largest sites still haven't; and it's mostly been YouTubers that retested. Some very reluctantly as well.
It sucks, and it's all their to give ole Joe the impression of something new and amazing!
Look at the GTX 1060 3GB though, it was launched when the 480 and 470 were still doing meh in DX11 pre ReLive drivers, and now you rarely really see that 3GB model ever included in mainstream review sites. ( bar little youtubers like TechEpiphany )
They just list GTX 1060, so ole Joe also thinks now that the 3GB and 6GB are the same card, just half the RAM; when in fact it's cut down on CUDA cores as well.
Just like NVIDIA's recent DX12 driver claiming up to ~16% improvement; and then it turns out it was in reference to the Pascal card's launch drivers. The actual improvement was 1-2% at best.
Both sides are playing on ole Joe, and the major reviewers are all making it worse, never updating, rarely retesting, never including the full picture with notes.
As I mentioned before in the thread several times; AMD could have avoided all of this if they even just pushed out the 580 as a 40CU card with 2560 cores. They have the tech, they can make a 40 and 44 CU card with more memory bandwidth than the GTX 1080.
Yet here they are, just refreshing the current Polaris 10 line with slightly better clocks, and one can hope; better power usage.
This being frustrating is an understatement for me; especially knowing they have the technology; and whole waiting for VEGA doesn't help.
Hopefully Small Vega is fast enough to relegate the 580 to the old position of where the 380 was situated.
As crappy as it all is though, it's a refresh and I personally expect at
least a 10% improvement over current RX 480's. That'll make it an okay refresh, otherwise meh. Just get a 400 card on the cheap as the price is going to drop a little with the 500 series out.
