New AMD RX Series: Big Performance, Smaller Cost!
In the year since the R9 300 series of graphics cards from Radeon (AMD) hit the market, tech gurus and rumor sites were publishing all sorts of speculative designs for the next line of graphics cards, then referred to as the R9 400 series. Yet, in late-May, the company officially announced the RX 480, the first Polaris-designed 14nm GPU that in benchmarks would go toe-to-toe with the 390X, the Fury, and even the top-tier NVidia cards of the previous generation (GTX 980, etc.), all with significantly reduced power consumption and a $200 USD price tag.
Yesterday, AMD President and CEO Lisa Su announced at the E3 PC Gaming Show that two new RX cards were on the horizon: the RX 470 and RX 460. Like the 480, these two cards are also built with Polaris architecture.
Based on information from AMD/Radeon, the RX 480 is geared to providing a reasonable entry price for a solid VR experience as well as a smooth gameplay experience at 2560×1440 (roughly twice the pixel density of 1080p), all for $200 (though an 8GB version is also planned). Meanwhile, the RX 470 is targeting gamers that want a solid experience at 1080p with ultra settings and the RX 460 is designed for low cost of entry competitive/MOBA gaming.
Absent so far though is the theoretical RX 490 card. However, AMD has stated that the RX 400 series will range in price between $100 and $300 USD, so most analysts are guessing that the 490 will be the “full” Polaris version (with GDDR5X memory) and will be announced later on.
AMD seems to have a new marketing strategy, according to this statement:
“Gamers and consumers today are being left behind. Today only the top 16 percent of PC users can afford GPUs that deliver premium VR and gaming experiences. Hundreds of millions of gamers have been relegated to using outdated technology. Notebook gamers are often forced to compromise. And tens of millions more can only read about incredible PC VR experiences that they can’t enjoy for themselves. That all changes with the Radeon RX Series, placing compelling and advanced high-end gaming and VR technologies within reach of everyone.”
With the series supposedly debuting on June 29, though, I think we will soon hear more about the elusive RX 490!
Stay tuned!
