The Gigabyte RX 580, which is… Basically the Gigabyte RX 480.
This week, AMD releases two new graphics cards: the RX 580 and RX 570. Actually, calling them “new” is an overstatement. AMD has taken two cards from last year (the RX 480 and RX 470) and is now selling them with new names and a small overclock.
Some Samsung VRAM
All graphics cards need both a GPU and VRAM to function properly. While the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) does the actual processing of data to output images on your monitor, the data it is processing and providing is stored and accessed from the chips of VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) surrounding it.
Outputting high-resolution graphics at a quick rate requires both a beefy GPU and a large quantity of high-bandwidth VRAM working in tandem. For most of the past decade, VRAM design was fairly stagnant, and focused on using more power to achieve greater VRAM clock speeds.
A user recently asked the following:
I was looking at the general availability/prices of GTX 1060s in Australia, and I was a little confused. Could you please shed some light on why some GTX 1060s:
- Are more cheap/expensive? E.g. EVGA is $409, ASUS is $429, and MSI is $489! Your guides say these are all good, reputable brands, so why is there such a price difference? Is this a reflection of quality?
- This might be a silly question, but… Some GTX 1060s have one fan, whereas others have two fans. Does this make a real difference in terms of heat efficiency?
NVIDIA’s latest release is the $1,200 NVIDIA Titan X (no “GeForce,” no “GTX,” just “Titan X”).
Yes, that’s one thousand and two hundred American $$$ USD $$$ money-dollars! With a price tag like that, performance expectations should be very high, and the Titan X does not disappoint. I hear you asking, and the answer is: Yes, this card CAN play Witcher 3 at 4K resolution at 60 frames per second! This new card is about 30-40% more powerful than the GTX 1080.
The youngest of NVIDIA’s new 1000-series family, the GTX 1060, launches today. It is a hard launch, and cards are available for sale, if you can snag one fast enough.
In the few minutes that it took to write this blog post, I have watched several versions of the card go out of stock! And why? The card has excellent 1080p performance, and its low power draw means that it runs cool and quiet.
The GTX 1060 theoretically launches at $300 for the reference edition, and $250 for the non-reference. Realistically, the card will likely sell for $300-$350 for the next few months.
Here it is! After months of waiting (technically a year, if you have been waiting since the last AMD release), the RX 480 has finally been released. AMD’s new graphics card is made with their new 14nm manufacturing process, setting expectations sky-high. The price is also generously low, and the anticipation levels have been off the charts! So how does it do? Let us take a look. (Sources listed at the bottom.)
Prepare yourself for lots of AMD news this year.
We are finally getting some solid information about upcoming AMD releases this year, so let’s get straight to it:
AMD has launched its Radeon R9 Nano, a very tiny, yet very powerful graphics card. The Nano uses the same chip that is in the Fury X, but heavily binned and carefully power-controlled in order to bring down power consumption and thermals.
So, how is the card?
AMD has released its second graphics card to utilize it’s new high-bandwidth memory, the R9 Fury. This follows the release of the R9 Fury X just a few weeks ago.
After reading through reviews and benchmarks (linked below), we can confirm several expectations. The non-X Fury is definitely the “little brother” card to the $650 Fury X, being both slower and cheaper.
