2
Jul, 2016

GTX 1060 being called AMD RX 480 Killer – Specs

The Graphics cards wars for the year have begun in swinging fashion but it seems like the RX 480 by AMD is far behind now with potential issues and of course the GTX 1060 in route.

At the end of June AMD released the much anticipated RX 480, the budget entry card for VR with promised potential of half of the GTX 1080’s power. I mean wasn’t that what they were advertising? Two RX 480’s equaling to One GTX 1080 and being cheaper while it’s at it?

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There’s a problem though, the performance does not seem to be what it was intended to be, and many reviewers are already stating that the draw power for the RX 480 is way higher then stated.

How so? Well it seems the RX 480 is drawing way too much power from the motherboards PCI slot which can be a problem for people who have budget motherboards, cause that could literally short or fry your motherboard.

We were really hyped about the RX 480 and it was looking like the go to card, but the usual AMD heating and power issues which of course AMD have acknowledged are looking into the matter and the performance is a little better if not similar to the AMD R9 390.

The best U turn for us from the RX 480 is the leak and announcement of the GTX 1060, as mentioned before with some specs here.

Here’s the full leaked or rumored specs.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)Pascal GP106
Fabrication Process16nm FinFET
Unified Cores1280
TMUs80
ROPs?
Base Clock?
Boost Clock~1700 MHz
Max. Compute Performance~4.4 TFLOPs
Memory Configuration6GB GDDR5
Bus Interface192-bit
Memory Speed2000 MHz
Memory Bandwidth192 GB/s
TDP120W
Launch DateJuly 2016
Launch Price?

If the GTX 1060 really does work and provide the same graphical output as the GTX 980, then it surely it should be called the RX 480 killer. The only issue or actual bafflement is why Nvidia is choosing to go with a 3/6GB version whereas the new standard norm of 4/8GB versions and not to forget that these are all rumors for now as this information is leaked and not considered official.

NOTE : Nvidia has not officially said that the GTX 1060 is equal to the GTX 980.

Well nonetheless it seems like I’m staying on the Nvidia bandwagon. At least until its reviewed and is less than $250, we have to wait till the mid of July though but if AMD addresses these issues the RX 480 may still be best budget gaming card out there even after the release of the GTX 1060.

2
Jun, 2016

AMD Announces VR Ready Radeon RX 480

On first June AMD hits with their curveball following the release of Nvidias GTX 1080 by announcing the Radeon RX 480 the VR ready graphics card promised to provide the best virtual experience by AMD and offering the most value for money being set at $199.

The Radeon RX 480 is set to be the first graphics card to be set on the Polaris architecture based graphics processor and is set to provide performance on low power consumption and claims it will be the setting stone for consumers to experience the full potential of Virtual Reality which will be light on their pockets.

The best part of the RX 480 is that it’s set at $199 for the 4GB edition which will be a big selling point from the company’s part and set to be released on June 29th.

Senior vice President and chief architect for AMD Raja Koduri said in AMDs reveal press conference in Taipei, Taiwan that the Radeon RX 480 will now be the setting stone for cheaper VR ready systems and laptops and will be the key factor to reduce the total cost of VR systems for the average consumer, increasing its usage substantially.

 

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The Radeon GX 480 will run at over 5TFLOPS, features 36 CUs, offers 256GB/sec memory bandwidth, will be available in the 4GB and 8GB version and will be at 150W TDP power consumption running on the new 14nm architecture.

 

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Many computer enthusiasts are already thinking about the possibilities of using crossfire to power up two GX 480’s at such a price arguing that it may as well come on par with the NVidias GTX 1080 in almost half the price. We can’t wait to see benchmarks and run benchmarks of our own.