AMD RX 400 series (Polaris) MegaThread! FAQ & Resources

[TehPenguin]

The ranking is as follows:

XFX GTR > MSI Gaming X = Asus ROG Strix >Sapphire NITRO+

What ranking? Price? Performance? Temperatures? Noise?

Doesn't make much sense IMO.

 

[RCFProd]

Performance ranking. Discussed pretty widely on various forums. This is the ranking most people agree with.

 

[TehPenguin]

Please show me any reliable performance charts for that. There are differences between the different manufacturers but they are hardly worth noting with the exception being generated noise and maybe a couple of C in peak temps.

Performance wise: Anything below 5% is really not worth mentioning. 10% would be unheard of but I am willing to admit being wrong if sufficient proof is present.

 

[renz496]

I got an MSI RX 480 Armor 4G OC (one of the cheapest 480s I found) a couple days ago. I can run at 1290/1850 MHz core/memory (stock is 1290/1750) at 1V (undervolt) in Wattman. Running Heaven benchmark my temps peak at ~69 C, with fans at a virtually inaudible 30%.

Alternatively I can OC to 1400 MHz core @ 1.145 V, temps around 77 C and fans at 50%. Very audible, but not to the point of being annoying in my opinion. Haven't had much luck OCing my memory further (although I haven't spent too much time on it yet); I tend to start getting memory errors (as measured using HWiNFO), and then sometimes crashes, pretty quickly beyond 1850 MHz.

Honestly, I question the value for money of getting a 'premium' card. I was just posting in another thread where someone was overclocking there XFX RX 480 GTR [strike]Black Edition[/strike], which I've heard to be the best/highest overclocking 480 out ther. And yet the results he was getting seemed worse than mine on my 'budget' card.

Edit: Was regular GTR, not Black Edition.

overclocking is never a guarantee thing. they saw jay able to OC XFX RX480 GTR up to 1475mhz and suddenly many believe that any of those card are would guarantee to at least get 1450mhz. i dare to bet what jay got directly from XFX is golden sample. i see some people with the same card cannot even past 1400mhz even with overvolt. i tried looking for official review for XFX RX480 GTR but i can't find one. last year [H] said they got the card for test but review never come out untill this day.

 

[Robert Cook]

the XFX GTR is a very solid card, I saw one get to 1580MHz on water cooling with a custom power bios. (this as live streamed to and as far as I know not a golden sample.) now of course not all will do so well, but it seems the newer cards are running faster almost as if the process has matured.

 

[RCFProd]

Performance wise: Anything below 5% is really not worth mentioning. 10% would be unheard of but I am willing to admit being wrong if sufficient proof is present.

I think purely based on clock speeds when comparing same chips even 2% is worth the mention personally. It is said that the GTR's heatsink and VRM cooled heatsink is the best out of all ones. I haven't seen any other GPU other than the XFX GTR reach 1400+ Mhz stable for so many people. Asus ROG Strix and MSI Gaming X seem to do well below 1370 Mhz.

I don't think there any ''official'' benchmarks available for this, sadly. I just got this impression by reading articles and checking how people OC their GPU's.

 

[TJ Hooker]

overclocking is never a guarantee thing. they saw jay able to OC XFX RX480 GTR up to 1475mhz and suddenly many believe that any of those card are would guarantee to at least get 1450mhz. i dare to bet what jay got directly from XFX is golden sample. i see some people with the same card cannot even past 1400mhz even with overvolt. i tried looking for official review for XFX RX480 GTR but i can't find one. last year [H] said they got the card for test but review never come out untill this day.

Absolutely, overclocking definitely involves some luck. Which is kind of my point; you can pay extra for a card that supposedly overclocks the best, yet it won't necessarily overclock any better than the next one. I do kinda suspect that jay got a golden chip, either through luck or because he was sent a cherry picked card to review. When I searched around for people's results with the GTR, it seemed like most people were only getting to around 1400, which I can easily do with my cheaper card. Of course this is annecdotal, but then again pretty much any evidence about how well soemthing overclocks is going to be annecdotal.

The GTR is a great card, and you do certainly get a great cooler for the extra money. But in terms of performance, I'm not convinced the improvement is proportional to the cost.

 

[TehPenguin]

I think purely based on clock speeds when comparing same chips even 2% is worth the mention personally. It is said that the GTR's heatsink and VRM cooled heatsink is the best out of all ones. I haven't seen any other GPU other than the XFX GTR reach 1400+ Mhz stable for so many people. Asus ROG Strix and MSI Gaming X seem to do well below 1370 Mhz.

2% can be a difference between cards of the same manufacturer. And, tbh, the extra performance even a 50MHz OC gets is minuscule.

I even downclocked my 1060 from 2070 to flat 2000MHz so it runs ~3C cooler at pretty much no perf drop. I now see ~135 instead of 140fps.

 

[TechyInAZ]

I think purely based on clock speeds when comparing same chips even 2% is worth the mention personally. It is said that the GTR's heatsink and VRM cooled heatsink is the best out of all ones. I haven't seen any other GPU other than the XFX GTR reach 1400+ Mhz stable for so many people. Asus ROG Strix and MSI Gaming X seem to do well below 1370 Mhz.

2% can be a difference between cards of the same manufacturer. And, tbh, the extra performance even a 50MHz OC gets is minuscule.

I even downclocked my 1060 from 2070 to flat 2000MHz so it runs ~3C cooler at pretty much no perf drop. I now see ~135 instead of 140fps.

That's the same reason why I personally don't overclock my 1060 (only rarely when I need every ounce of power), the performance gains from 2000mhz to 2150mhz are too small.

 

[lucas_7_94]

So today, i picked up a RX 480 from ASUS, all i gonna to say is : i ----- love it.

MOD EDIT: Langauge please

Sorry about the language!

 

[TehPenguin]

Which one exactly? Strix or Dual?

 

[lucas_7_94]

STRIX ROG!

 

[RCFProd]

The Asus ROG Strix is a beast, good choice.

 

[TehPenguin]

Yup, the three fans seem to do the work properly.

 

[lucas_7_94]

Lovely card, currently tested Battlefield 3 (Downloading BF4 and purchasing BF1 next week), Skyrim, Fallout 4, and is a beast. First, the card itself never reach the 60°, customizable fan RPM speed, great fps (75fps or higher).

The only thing i would say i didnt like, but not for the card itself, but i can feel the hot air pulling from outside the case, its hard to explain.

No regrets, just amazing. Also, packpage for ASUS is amazing, really lovely stuff for the price.

 

[RCFProd]

I wish I could get a Gaming X or Asus ROG Strix but the NITRO+ was just 20% cheaper that day, so had to get that one. It's a great GPU aswell, not loud after undervolting but it doesn't look as good as I want it to in my system.

 

[TehPenguin]

I wish I could get a Gaming X or Asus ROG Strix but the NITRO+ was just 20% cheaper that day, so had to get that one. It's a great GPU aswell, not loud after undervolting but it doesn't look as good as I want it to in my system.

The nitro has one of the prettiest backplates out there, imo. I wanted to get it but it was not available and I then went with the 1060 MSI Gaming.

 

[RCFProd]

It's actually a pretty AIB in general and very good build quality. Just not ideal for black/red themed build :/.

Meh, I'll just tape the window (not really).

 

[lucas_7_94]

I was going to pick the Nitro+ OC, but here the prices are really wrong, nitro cost MORE than an ASUS one. (Still cannnot understand but well..).

I left the PC on this night and the fans never turned on. idling @ 30°c (In Argentina, we're on summer reaching 28-32°c).

Previously, i picked up a GTX 1070 from the work and well, as expected, everything ultra @ 1080p. But this RX 480 is doing an awesome work for the money and almost cost 250 USD less (here in my coutry of course).

 

[RCFProd]

I'd honestly rather own the RX 480 with a nice FreeSync monitor than a GTX 1070 with no adaptive technology probably. If you don't have a FreeSync monitor yet, might be worth to look for one.

 

[lucas_7_94]

I'd honestly rather own the RX 480 with a nice FreeSync monitor than a GTX 1070 with no adaptive technology probably. If you don't have a FreeSync monitor yet, might be worth to look for one.

Nope, i own a simple 1080p 60hz monitor. Buying stuff like "Freesync" or "G-Sync" comes with the ""Gaming"" brand and it cost really expensive.

 

[RCFProd]

I sold my 60Hz generic one and bought an IPS FreeSync 75Hz monitor for 160 euro's. FreeSync isn't that expensive, but probably only worth it if you actually need a new monitor.

G-Sync is the one that comes with a massive increase in price whilst FreeSync is pretty much in-line with regular monitor pricing, depending on the model.

 

[Sakkura]

I'd honestly rather own the RX 480 with a nice FreeSync monitor than a GTX 1070 with no adaptive technology probably. If you don't have a FreeSync monitor yet, might be worth to look for one.

Nope, i own a simple 1080p 60hz monitor. Buying stuff like "Freesync" or "G-Sync" comes with the ""Gaming"" brand and it cost really expensive.

Freesync monitors don't have to be expensive. That's the difference between Freesync and G-Sync.

 

[lucas_7_94]

like you said "Don't have to be", but well.. Argentina :/.

 

[littleleo]

Has anyone had issues with the new cards not working on PCI-E 2.0 16x slots?