Details of custom-cooled Radeon RX 480s are starting to trickle out. We've already seen a teaser of Asus' take on the card, and now Sapphire's Nitro+ RX 480 has surfaced at British retailer Overclockers UK. This handsome card sports a twin-fan cooler with a metal backplate, an RGB LED logo on its side, and an eight-pin power connector that might put some minds at ease following news of the power draw characteristics of the reference RX 480.
Image: Overclockers UK
The Nitro+'s clock speeds are still under wraps. OCUK has most of the card's other specs, though. The card will come with 8GB of 8 GT/s GDDR5 RAM, two HDMI outputs, two DisplayPort 1.3 outputs, and one DVI port, plus removable fans for easy cleaning and a three-year warranty. OCUK has the Nitro+ up for preorder with a £20 premium over the RX 480 reference design at £249.95. We'd expect a similar price tag in US dollars once this card hits Yankee shores.
I’ve always held onto the belief that it’s not very wise to be in such a hurry to buy when new stuff comes out. Prices could be inflated and manufacturers are bound to iron out a few more kinks.
That said, if those overeager RX 480 buyers just waited a few more days before jumping in, they would’ve been made aware of the RX 480’s PCIe issues. It may not be seen as a problem by SOME, but I reckon anyone who values stability and/or using their motherboards long-term (which would be most of us, right?) will no doubt feel some unease. Their machines may run fine now, but even with a high end board, it doesn’t automatically mean heaps of tolerance above spec were designed into the board. And if that’s not the case with a particular board, just how long will the board last with the RX 480 plugged in?
I reckon most folks who say it’s a non-issue will still or have had a few hours of sleepless.
And now that the problem has been resolved by AMD releasing a driver to take of the power issue they can get back to catching up on that lost sleep. That said I always think it’s best to wait at least a few weeks (preferably a month or more) to let any early issues get worked out. With a hot product there’s also the chance of a price reduction a few months down the road. Still, given how long we’ve been waiting for a die shrink in the GPU field I can see why people were eager to purchase the first product that fit within their budget and desired performance.
I wonder how much of an issue the 8Gbps GDDR5 memory is affecting power. GDDR5 uses a high amount of power (~30W on 290X or 980Ti for 4 and 6GB). I don’t know how much the memory on the 480 is using, but surely the 4GB version will be better on power because it only has half the high clocked memory. I wonder why they didn’t use GDDR5X for this reason.
So, I have been looking at buying a mobile laptop, since I’m rarely home these days (about 5 months this year) and my wife says I’m not allowed. She doesn’t, however, care if i build the children a school work computer, and has even permitted me to buy a discrete gpu. The problem is that i have 250$ CAD for a gpu (I think going to put an i3-6100, with 8GB ram and a 120ish SSD with it as well) and this puppy is well above that. I can, however find refurbed 290’s for that price, so i think ill pick up another 290. I run one in my computer, and the performance is adequate. I bought mine for 270$ brand new, but the CAD was higher and there were more 290’s on the market. 350$ CAD for basically the same performance of a card i bought years ago for 270$ isn’t a steal.
Anyone who thinks i should spend the extra clearly hasn’t met wives.
Indeed.
They like the money for themselves!!
Could always wait for a 470, or the $100 460
My wife encourages me to buy what I want. It gives her an excuse to buy new shoes and dresses.
And since she looks great in them, who am I to deny?
That’s good. Amazing how your wife doesn’t block you from getting something you want. Seems so rare around here for some reason.
Well she would be fine with me getting whatever, problem is at the end of the month we are bordering on the red, so I don’t bother buying anything.
Kids, mortgage, bills, etc. I think are more important, so I go without………….
My wife doesn’t buy either. We travel the world and have over 1000$ a month extra on a single working parents income. She isn’t telling me to do something she doesn’t do. She is very thrifty, and I’m incredibly pleased with her outstanding financial management. Going to take 18 months to fully pay off her student loans from her degree. That’s damn fast. Could have paid them off 9 months after grad, but came to Malawi and put in the well finally instead.
I think anyone not familiar with your situation would generally take your first post as “yet another selfish wife” post. Statements like “my wife says I’m not allowed.” are just… ugh. Without context on your very unique situation it reads as either a) subservient man in an unbalanced relationship or b) perpetuating a stereotype of men who can’t manage their own finances or c) perpetuating a stereotype of a narcissistic woman.
None of its good. I mean honestly, what’s the point of bring it up if the actual reason you’re not buying something isn’t because your wife told you but because your financial situation and goals don’t allow it?
Because this way allows me to honestly express my immaturity, and poor decisions making skills. I married a woman who i wanted to make those decisions for me. My posts not inaccurate, but your point is valid.
Nice. My wife was bordering bankruptcy, but I didn’t find out until after we had a child…………
That’s shady!
Why not the RX 480 with 4 GB for $199? The 4GB card does not have the power draw problems, as I understand it. The cases where 8GB is of any use at all are very few, and you have to have a beefy computer running a big monitor with game settings turned up.
Edit: and I’ve met wives and even have one. Sometimes they don’t know what’s best. My wife wanted me to spend less on a gas grill so I did – it lasted 3 seasons before needing to be replaced. I got to say “I told you so” and she let me decide how much to spend on the new grill.
Fun times. We are in Canada also, so tack on 30% exchange and 13% tax. Whaw whaw whaw……………..
Funny how they can spend on shoes, boots, clothes, knick knacks, and other things though…………….
But my sixth pair of heels are a business necessity!
60th
FTFY
I’m happy to pay taxes. Id even like them to be higher for people making our tax bracket and higher.
The taxes I’m ok with, if our exchange rate got back to being worth the beaver hair and maple syrup it’s printed on.
Ya I don’t have an issue with taxes if they are spent wisely, and fairly and with full transparency.
Just something that has to be taken into consideration for purchases though since it adds to the final cost/budget.
Now lets hope e-tailers don’t mark up the RX470 when it comes out.
Panama papers revealed 12 trillion in offshore accounts. Taxes on 1% are equal to annual global aid budget.
Wow, heard it was in the billions, but 12 Trillion!! Just wow.
The rich don’t get richer by being honest I guess 😉
Cause it’ll be 300$+ here
Yeah, the 480 will be out of range, but I wonder if you can get a 380 for under $250 CAN? I’m thinking the 290 will be overkill at 1080p (my assumed resolution for your “kids/work” system), and the power draw of a 290 might force you to buy a beefier PSU.
Another option, if you aren’t wed to AMD as well as your wife, might be to wait until nVidia releases their 1060. I bet you could score a 960 for about $240 CAD/ $160 US at that point. It also might drive down the price point of cards like the HD 380 or 370.
Personally, what I would do in your situation is buy a cheap refurb PC that matches your specs for everything but graphics (and possibly memory), then buy a PSU and graphics card as upgrades. That will also save you $$$ on the OS license, since the refurbs typically come with Win 7 or Win 10. The catch is that you probably have to wait for the PC to arrive to verify the form factor of the PSU.
FWIW, I’m still running an HD 7850 with a 1080p TV as a monitor. In my case the wife “lets” me buy whatever I want, but she gets half the free cash flow so she can buy whatever she wants. So far my priorities have been on other things besides graphics cards. I’ve been looking for a card with the performance of the 380x, but the power draw of a GTX 960 for under $200 US. I suspect the 1060 will hit that. Otherwise I’ll probably look at the RX 480 at 4 GB.
I find the performance of the 290 class merely adequate for 1080p. I’m not sure id be happy with a 960, and they’re basically the same price here.
If the point of your post was to scare guys away from marriage, well done!
And he has a good wife!!
I’m scared. Staying single…where I get to spend my money how I want!
I answer to no one!
.
.
.
.
.
…except the credit card company…
Im very happy to be married. Perks are worth it.
Time to start wearing the pants in your relationship.
Spoken like a true divorcee
no spoken like a man who still has his balls 🙂
I would never allow my woman to put me in that kinda of position.
“I’m not allowed”
“even permitted me”
I don’t allow that in my own relationship and my woman knows better than to come to me like that.
I don’t say anything when she is buying dresses and shoes and handbags when she already has 50 of each item already and she doesn’t tell me how to spend my own money.
This way its balanced she is my partner not my parent the only person I allow to talk to me like that is my mother!
[quote<] my woman [/quote<] what?
I’m not single so yes my woman but I’m also master of my own domain.
Yeah it’s 1916 again, apparently.
Sounds like an ideal divorce candidate…
Sounds like your grasping at straws.
What you do is fine in your relationship.
But don’t make the assumption that all of us follow suit.
My partner understands that I’m responsible with my own money there is no need for her to intervene on what I can buy or shouldn’t buy.
Separate finances are fine. It just needs to be understood that a relationship is statistically less likely to survive if both parties have separate finances.
Where you at, Vaughn? Some of the language you use is interesting. Wondering if it just regional.
I’m in Canada.
And I think its important to not lose your own identity within a relationship.
I think its smart to have a shared account where you can save for trips etc.
But you should still have you own personal account and your own money.
And the purpose of that is not to hide your income from your partner.
Not sure what you’re talking about, but I don’t allow anyone to control “my” money.
What the fuck does your post have to do with the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 480?
That due to this product essentially performing at the same level as a gpu launched like 3 years ago for more money I’m not buying one.
110 characters to say what you meant to say vs the 675 in the mess that was your original post.
The forty ridiculous responses to my post disagree with you. THINK OF THE PAGE HITS I’VE GENERATED.
Also, I did say that in my original post, grandpa. I just ALSO told a lovely story.
You forgot to mention your oh so humble story of the well.
U MAD BRO?
Not at all. Microsoft has no meaningful mobile platform. I’ve got a smile on my face a mile wide.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO THE PAIN IS REAL BECAUSE IT IS TRUE
DON’T BE SAD BRO!
Get an iPhone 7 Plus.
And enjoy buying adapters for your headphones if they stupidly remove the 3.5mm plug…
Id just get the surface phone next year.
When you quit typing in all caps I thought the aliens got the real SSK and replaced you with a clone because I knew no one could take away your caps lock. Phew, the above is classic SSK so I know now, without a doubt, that you’re still the real SSK.
Testing for the real SSK is simple. Put a keyboard in front of him. It’s like testing if a tiger or lion is a cat. Put a box in front of it.
I thought I was the only one who had to ask my wife’s permission when I buy anything over $50.
Do any third party cards do the same thing as the reference board in drawing 50/50 from 6 pin/PCI-E, or is anything non-AMD safe so far?
I don’t think anybody knows for certain yet, because nobody has aftermarket cards in hand.
Ah, that little detail 😛
If some of them do do the same thing, and depending on how the fix to be announced today goes, some sort of breakdown of what cards do what could be useful
Such a reasonable response must surely manifest your “havily” bias for Matrox.
Supposedly the Sapphire RX480 is using a custom designed PCB. I’m guessing Sapphire did change the VRM topology to go with the 8-pin PCIe connector.
Basically the 3rd party cards for the RX 480 currently in the channel use the reference design. So wait a few weeks for the custom/OC designs. As noted by others, the custom designs seem to be coming in with 8-pin connectors.
After Thursday, the reference cards won’t even do that according to AMD:
[url<]http://www.anandtech.com/show/10469/amds-tuesday-radeon-rx-480-update-new-driver-by-late-thursday[/url<]
So this will probably be 279/289€uro with taxes in Europe, very close to the cheapest GTX970…
I would guess that over time the RX 480 will make gains against the GTX 970 due to driver improvements. Also, I assume the cheapest GTX 970 comes with 4 GB instead of 8 GB.
Yes, that is true, but I have my doubts that 8GB can benefit a mid range GPU like the RX480.
The good news there is that if you stick with 4GB cards then the RX 480 gains a substantial price advantage over the GTX 970 as currently priced.
Nice as the GTX970 is (I have two!), the RX480 is most certainly the better buy, whether 4GB or 8GB variant is used.
I would agree whenever the 8pin/3rd party versions are available, since they will have better coolers and not have the potential to kill your mobo. If the rumors are to be believed the 1060 will be “released” this week too, so you might as well wait to see how it compares.
Between the FE 1070/1080, the bad reference design on the 480s, and the imminent launch of the 1060 you should probably wait if you are going to be buying any graphics card that is $200+, and even below $200 it’s probably worth waiting for the 470/460. Unless money is no object in which case get a 1080 FE and watercool it.
also, it’s a full dx12 card, and over the next 2 years or so there’ll be more games supporting DX12
Well, given that the RX 480 generally matches the 970 in Direct X 11 games, and greatly exceeds it in most DX12 games, and that DX 12 games are only going to get more common, you would have to be quite silly to get the 970 unless it was much cheaper.
Plus the 480 will apparently fry your PCI-e slot as an added bonus.