HiGame

Last week, AMD launched its largest midrange hardware update in years, codenamed Polaris. Polaris isn’t a brand-new architecture — that’s Vega, which arrives late this year — but it’s arguably a larger update than anything we’ve seen from AMD since the original GCN debuted in late 2011. GCN 1.1 (Bonaire, Hawaii) and 1.2 (Tonga, Fiji) both improved on the original microarchitecture and integrated additional heterogeneous compute capabilities, but both were fairly modest improvements in the grand scheme of things. Polaris aims to deliver larger improvements across the entire GPU stack, while keeping some of the features first introduced with AMD’s Fury family of products.

The RX 480 is AMD’s first 14nm FinFET GPU and it brings a number of improvements to the table. HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.3 and 1.4 are both supported, as are emerging features like High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays, FreeSync (via both DisplayPort and HDMI), and a new H.265 / HEVC decoder block with support for up to 1080p240, 1440p120, or 4K60 (that’s the resolution followed by the maximum frame rate). DVI users will need an adapter if they want to use that form factor — unlike many of AMD’s older parts in this price range, the RX 480 packs one HDMI 2.0b port and 3x DisplayPorts.

Polaris positioning

Normally, we dive into the architectural details of a new GPU design first and tackle the market positioning later. In the RX 480’s case, however, AMD has chosen to lead with a midrange product that targets mainstream enthusiasts rather than launching high-end hardware first, with midrange parts launching later. AMD’s entry and midrange products are definitely due for a refresh, but it’s important to put the RX 480 in perspective — at $199 and $239 for the 4GB and 8GB versions of the RX 480, AMD isn’t trying to overtake the likes of the R9 Fury X or GTX 980 Ti. Instead, the company’s goal was to create a GPU that would offer improved performance and significantly better power consumption for the majority of users.

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