Radeon RX 480 "Polaris" Launched at $199

[Blackjack Davy]

I don't understand why AMD haven't prioritised the enthusiast card first.

Because Nvidia have the market sewn up, marketing hype and clever use of NV only crap like Gameworks and Gsync have tied people into their products and like Xbox live have a captive audience they can suck dry of money.

The only way AMD could compete in that market is to release a faster product and even if they could people would still go "team green" because its seen as the "cooler" brand, you can see the the results of that with ToastyChip's school playground taunting in this thread, even the people who are pleased with this release because they believe it'll bring Nvidias prices down are only want it because they cheaper Nvidia silicon. They have no intention of buying AMD themselves.

Firstly, as others have pointed out, the mid-section market is many times larger than the enthusiast market. AMD want this market. Secondly, it's uncontested - the mid-range market is determined by price-performance and Nvidia have nothing that compete. AMD can, in short, clean up right now.

I'm not really sure who these cards are aimed at, pre-built systems presumably who will looking to compete at a price point. The average user looking to upgrade their existing silicon will almost certainly choose Nvidia because thats what everyone will be telling them to get. "Nvidia is better! Dont' go AMD!" Honestly the amount of ignorant nonsense I read on general forums but the point is its the general perception and you're struggling against the current all the time.

But most importantly of all, it's a chess game. AMD are doing this because Nvidia pursued a different strategy and left themselves vulnerable.

That I do agree with and their foray into the enthusiast market with the Fury's didn't go so well. Technically it was a triumph with the first and only HBM cards for the masses but the enthusiast market isn't interested in technical geekery only fps, performance and "coolness". I think they're doing what they should have done all along, sticking with the "value" market.

 

[SiDeards73]

Interesting. What games use this in VR please?

Ah hah! there lies the issue i expect this to be in the first few AAA VR Titles

By that i mean AAA games built from the inception to finish, ground up with VR, not tacked on like Elite etc.

It actually makes perfect sense really to power each eye individually, although i imagine it must be a nightmare to code correctly and is very reliant on hardware being almost identical?

 

[StriderX]

Why bother thinking about Xfire and SLI, they are both EOL processes as both companies have written them off in search of a better solution (Integrated pathways as such).

But for now i guess its mildly relevant, if all you do is run a benchmark for the lifetime of the card/s.

 

[Cooper]

Why bother thinking about Xfire and SLI

Because there are still no single cards capable of guaranteeing a minimum 60fps @ 4k resolution in all current games, never mind those coming over the next 12-18mths.

 

[flopper]

Because there are still no single cards capable of guaranteeing a minimum 60fps @ 4k resolution in all current games, never mind those coming over the next 12-18mths.

Not even with 1440p.
Its always a balance with settings and gpu and fps.
did run 5040x1050 eyefinity resolution 115fps set with a single 290 and BF4.

Looking forward 480 release now and E3 and Bf1.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Why bother thinking about Xfire and SLI, they are both EOL processes as both companies have written them off in search of a better solution (Integrated pathways as such).

But for now i guess its mildly relevant, if all you do is run a benchmark for the lifetime of the card/s.

For gaming on monitor, yes I agree that Xfire and SLI is a good concept that never fulfilled its potential due to issues never got ironed out after over a decade. But specifically for VR, I think there are some good potential here, as unlike for monitor, VR are actually rendering two images, so what it might mean is that for each card can be used fully for each image being rendered, and then chances it doesn't require anywhere close to the same level of driver support/profile for traditional Xfire does.

 

[Lokken86]

Not even with 1440p.
Its always a balance with settings and gpu and fps.
did run 5040x1050 eyefinity resolution 115fps set with a single 290 and BF4.

Looking forward 480 release now and E3 and Bf1.

I was never interested in Bf3 or 4. This looks great though. Would love a bit of world war 1 action.

 

[Gregster]

Is that a genuine 'interest' or more a 'that's bs' interest?

What a stupid question! And of course it is a genuine question. Why not answer it instead of asking these kind of silly things?

 

[beany_bot]

For gaming on monitor, yes I agree that Xfire and SLI is a good concept that never fulfilled its potential due to issues never got ironed out after over a decade. But specifically for VR, I think there are some good potential here, as unlike for monitor, VR are actually rendering two images, so what it might mean is that for each card can be used fully for each image being rendered, and then chances it doesn't require anywhere close to the same level of driver support/profile for traditional Xfire does.

But you would think it would be so simple for each card to render alternate frames. me then you then me then you. Yet it does seem to require all that game engine support. I dont think VR would be any different as the cards still have to talk to each other to make sure their timings are right. I don't see how some games "dont support Xfire/SLI" It should be irrespective of game engine, the cards should just do their thing.

 

[tbh]

Oh wow, this is a huge game changer!

If the rumoured price/performance is borne out in reviews then I'll be all over this, it's a no-brainer.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Because there are still no single cards capable of guaranteeing a minimum 60fps @ 4k resolution in all current games, never mind those coming over the next 12-18mths.

Theres no duals either.

 

[beany_bot]

Nvidia must be pretty mad. I can only imagine they hoped to release their 1060 at £275+

Fat chance of that now.

 

[andybird123]

But you would think it would be so simple for each card to render alternate frames. me then you then me then you. Yet it does seem to require all that game engine support. I dont think VR would be any different as the cards still have to talk to each other to make sure their timings are right. I don't see how some games "dont support Xfire/SLI" It should be irrespective of game engine, the cards should just do their thing.

The problem is you only have one CPU, so while the cpu is constructing the commands to render the first scene the second GPU is doing nothing, and so on. Without fundamentally allowing for multiGPU in the engine you end up with big chunks of time where the CPU is busy and not feeding the next frame to the next GPU.

 

[sniffy]

Nice. Should be a good upgrade from my ageing 7870!

Any idea when this can be purchased? I'm pretty keen to upgrade!

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Nice. Should be a good upgrade from my ageing 7870!

Any idea when this can be purchased? I'm pretty keen to upgrade!

No one knows yet, NDAs up on the 29th.

 

[Orangey]

Because there are still no single cards capable of guaranteeing a minimum 60fps @ 4k resolution in all current games

None of which support mGPU.

, never mind those coming over the next 12-18mths.

Yes never mind them because they won't either. Maybe some token SFR effort.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Not sarcastic or an idiot. 2 cards that are rebadged furys probably 390x's at £400 with all the hassle of xfire, heat, noise and lack of driver support or 1 card without all the hassle fir and extra £100-£150?

Ive been AMD for 15yrs+ my last 2 cards 2x280X's when the R9's came out were the worst cards ive ever had, factory overclocked stressed crap with no xfire support except bf4 ( because they knew **** would hit the fan if they didn't ) and the drivers over the last few yrs... pfff

I paid premium for what i wanted, had this gtx 1080 2 days now - its the best card/drivers ive ever had. Does what they say it does without any hassle, id buy it again.

So you're comparing mgpu support which is lacking for SLI and Xfire, and is down to lack developer support. and comparing it against a single gpu solution? All the single gpu drivers I've had for my x800xt, 4870x2, R9 290, R9 390, and Fury X which apart from the occasional beta I've had zero problems with.

More idiocy.

 

[tommybhoy]

What a stupid question! And of course it is a genuine question. Why not answer it instead of asking these kind of silly things?

Because you asked, naive I am not.

 

[AlamoX]

Nice. Should be a good upgrade from my ageing 7870!

Any idea when this can be purchased? I'm pretty keen to upgrade!

lisa su said it on stream they will be on shelves on the 29th june, 55min44s in the video, so we might see more leaks/benchs as the cards start showing at retailers a week or 2 before.

 

[SiDeards73]

No one knows yet, NDAs up on the 29th.

I thought i read that they would be available on the 29th, not just end of NDA, but actually on the shelves.