Radeon RX 480 "Polaris" Launched at $199

tavtavtav · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:10

Steampunk said:
If 490 is Vega (which I think it is) then it's not ready, so talking about it is just going to cannibalise 480 sales and give Nvidia more info. You can't sell what you don't have.

That's was my point though, that if it is Polaris and the $300 card, I have trouble believing they'd be quiet about a card faster than a 1070.

Someone has given a plausible explanation, but I'm not entirely convinced.

harney · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:12

drunkenmaster said:
If the Polaris 11 roughly half the size of Polaris 10 is getting that performance it would lend some credibility to the other score, although, maybe it makes the Polaris 10 score look a little low for 1400Mhz, unless the RX 460 was heavily overclocked.

Either way within around 2 weeks of launch is absolutely within the window you start to expect more accurate leaks for sure.

In terms of people asking why AMD aren't talking if they have epic performance compared to Nvidia who already have their cards out, why would they?
Nvidia currently has horrific supply and tiny volume of these cards, AMD are barely losing any sales and if in a month 20-30k Nvidia customers feel exceptionally angry about being badly ripped off by Nvidia, $700 for a performance level maybe 20-30% above what AMD provides for $239 all that is happening is a lot of those guys will be extremely upset with Nvidia and there will be a huge backlash on forums/media in general against their pricing practices and complete willingness to rip off their own customers.

Now if Nvidia was actually shipping in the 10-50k cards a week range, which everything suggests they are no where near, it might make more sense for AMD to be more public about performance and price but ultimately again if they are more open Nvidia will pre-emptively drop prices with some excuse, then AMD will be seen as having to price their cards there to be competitive with AMD. this way, AMD announcing their prices before Nvidia makes any price drops, it's clear AMD want value and Nvidia are ripping people off. If Nvidia are forced to drop 1080 prices to within 40% of a RX480 considering performance difference + some premium, it will look terrible for Nvidia.

Again though, Nvidia is shipping tiny quantities, which still points towards a very low initial quantity and waiting for full production to start bringing weekly shipments, while AMD appear to have been in mass production for several months with a very large supply to launch with wide spread availability in retail stores and with OEMs having 100k's of Polaris 10/11 systems ready to ship.

drunkenmaster said:
a lot of those guys will be extremely upset with Nvidia and there will be a huge backlash on forums/media in general against their pricing practices and complete willingness to rip off their own customers.

All good points but i take this bit and this is why we have this kind of marketing coming from AMD
RIOT uprising most of them are Nvidia pascal buyers...

my next batch of Popcorn is all most ready

.Trooper. · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:13

Just out of curiosity why do people think these cards will change the 1070/80 price at all? People said the same about the 390 didn't they? And the 970 didn't budge at all in response.

Not trying to start an argument as I'd love for the new AMD cards to force Nvidia prices down, but I'm genuinely curious.

humbug · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:13

Mauller said:
could be that Engineering samples had gimped bios to help with early leaks or to even catch out people who were leaking.

If Tweaktown are leaking separate benches to ChipHell i'm thinking its more a leak with a nod from AMD.

i can't see TweakTown leaking and adding their name on the slides.

Mauller · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:15

humbug said:
If Tweaktown are leaking separate benches to ChipHell i'm thinking its more a leak with a nod from AMD.

i can't see TweakTown leaking and adding their name on the slides.

i meant in regards to the earlier 3dmark benches, since the newer benches show higher performance in comparisson. Yeah, tweaktown are generally good for things.

And people were saying the AMD 232mm^2 part couldn't compete with a nvidia 320mm^2 part.

Jono8 · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:17

.Trooper. said:
Just out of curiosity why do people think these cards will change the 1070/80 price at all? People said the same about the 390 didn't they? And the 970 didn't budge at all in response.

Not trying to start an argument as I'd love for the new AMD cards to force Nvidia prices down, but I'm genuinely curious.

Wasnt the 390 released around the same price as the 970? :confused:

People might be expecting a similar thing to what happened with the 260/280 series (rebates to early adopters after big price drops due to the 4850/4870 making the release price of the 200 series look silly).

Seanspeed · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:17

Mauller said:
And people were saying the AMD 232mm^2 part couldn't compete with a nvidia 320mm^2 part.

I wouldn't go around acting cocky because of rumors.

Initial talk was of it being between 390 and 390X. Then equal with 390X. Then better than 390X. Then as good as the Nano. Then just about Fury X. Now some people are acting like it's straight up rivaling a 1070.

As I said a while back, by dinner time, this card will be beating the 1080 no problem!

Jono8 · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:19

Mauller said:
And people were saying the AMD 232mm^2 part couldn't compete with a nvidia 320mm^2 part.

Well to be fair, it isn't looking like it will be able to compete with the 1080 at all so they were kind of correct in that regard.

.Trooper. · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:19

Jono8 said:
Wasnt the 390 released around the same price as the 970?

Ah that makes sense if so.. I never really followed the AMD launch of those cards. I just presumed they followed the same (apparent) model as the 400 series.

Orangey · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:44

Update: MSI has reached out to us, saying that this is "fake without any doubt". The full statement from MSI: "This stuff is way too retro for any new product...I can guarantee you this is fake without any doubt, There is no need to be too serious about it

".

HeX · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:45

But we already know the cooler isn't the new RX 480 one, the guy already said he replaced it with a lightning one for NDA reasons.

Mtom · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:47

Orangey said:
Update: MSI has reached out to us, saying that this is "fake without any doubt". The full statement from MSI: "This stuff is way too retro for any new product...I can guarantee you this is fake without any doubt, There is no need to be too serious about it ".

Well as it was said by me and others the cooler on the pic was used on the 780Ti and 290X lightning cards.

Mauller · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:51

And people have also been saying that the guy was just using the lightening cooler on the part instead of its actual cooler.

D.P. · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:54

Which makes absolutely no sense in the slightest.

h4rm0ny · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:55

drunkenmaster said:
Not really, if the RX480 is the top Polaris 10 and RX 490 is Vega... I'll buy both, why?

If RX480 was priced in the same way Nvidia did 1080, like price it at $400-500 because it's premium and new, then when Vega launches the price drops to $239, it's intended final market position. If I bought 1-2 RX480's then when Vega launches I can only sell them for maybe $150, having spent $400+ on each of them and it becomes incredibly expensive with a huge loss, i the same way 980ti second hand prices just tanked...HARD.

But with RX 480 at $239, I can buy 1-2, then when Vega comes out, RX480 prices won't tank because they are already where they are supposed to be, I can sell them for $150 a piece and then buy 1-2 Vega's, having spent $70-80 per card for maybe 6 months usage, maybe more or less. I'm happy to buy a RX480, then upgrade to a Vega... without feeling ripped off by doing so.

Wonderful analysis.

meldarthx · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:56

D.P. said:
Which makes absolutely no sense in the slightest.

yes and no; if he's trying to not get hit by the nda - then switching the cooler out would be best way to do it if you're going to show off pictures.

No - because pretty close still getting caught and getting blacklisted for breaking nda or worse...

h4rm0ny · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:58

I have very strong doubts that swapping a cooler would get you out of an NDA. I suppose the wording in the NDA could contain some overlooked loophole that could be exploited like this, but would you really want to chance it?

meldarthx · 13 Jun 2016 at 16:59

h4rm0ny said:
I have very strong doubts that swapping a cooler would get you out of an NDA. I suppose the wording in the NDA could contain some overlooked loophole that could be exploited like this, but would you really want to chance it?

Some people are dumb enough

or they get permission to throw out these things.....and its usually B.....when it comes to most leaks.....

humbug · 13 Jun 2016 at 17:03

Orangey said:
Update: MSI has reached out to us, saying that this is "fake without any doubt". The full statement from MSI: "This stuff is way too retro for any new product...I can guarantee you this is fake without any doubt, There is no need to be too serious about it ".

Derp MSI, we already know it has one of your old coolers on it

drunkenmaster · 13 Jun 2016 at 17:03

h4rm0ny said:
I have very strong doubts that swapping a cooler would get you out of an NDA. I suppose the wording in the NDA could contain some overlooked loophole that could be exploited like this, but would you really want to chance it?

More likely that the samples have numbers/specific design on them to identify them more easily and he doesn't want to show a picture of the card with said identifying cooler on it.

They guy may have got his hands on what was supposed to be a demo sample of the board and pcb, without a cooler at all.... and thus he nabbed it and ran some benchmarks with a cooler he had available. As someone who has been to AMD events, they are frequently shown off sans cooler so people can see the PCB and core.