Computex 2022: AMD Targets Mid-range Gamers With Radeon RX 480 GPUs

Not too long agone, the Us$200 GPU cost point didn't even exist. Now, it's where some of the hardest battles are fought betwixt AMD and its closest rivals, marking the dividing line between basic and enthusiast graphic upgrades.

Yet, when it comes to releasing new GPU applied science families, the companies typically avoid targeting that mainstream segment correct at the bat and, instead, focus on the high- or medium-high stop segments, and let the developments trickle down later. This has been proven yet again with NVIDIA's recent release of its GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 cards, both graphic platforms that are every bit powerful as they can get, merely starting at US$599 and US$379, respectively.

AMD Radeon RX 480 Video Card

Polaris cards, like NVIDIA's new Pascal releases, uses a 3D FinFET transistor design to increment operation without commensurately raising power usage—although it does and then by way of a 14nm product process rather than 16nm.

According to AMD, the Radeon RX 480 will pack 2,304 stream processors and 36 Compute Units for peak compute power of v teraFLOPS, with a memory bandwidth of 256GBps over a 256-bit memory interface, while offering either 4GB or 8GB of GDDR5 memory (depending on the card configuration). The GPU, which is slated to take a 150W Thermal Design Power (TDP) and operate over a single 6-pin connector, will also support DisplayPort ane.3 and 1.4 HDR and AMD's VR Premium virtual reality and FreeSync monitor syncing technologies. AMD has not yet revealed the Radeon RX 480's clock speed.

In certain scenarios, according to Radeon Technologies Group Senior Vice President, Raja Koduri, i Radeon RX 480 card could hold its own against a single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and two could deliver equivalent or better performance every bit a unmarried GTX 1080 carte du jour—for nearly US$200 less. If these claims prove true, the adjacent-gen Radeon could brand high-quality virtual reality computing bachelor to a much broader swath of users and further accelerate that applied science's adoption and development.