We know pretty much all there is to know about AMD's new Polaris architecture thanks to our Radeon RX 480 review, but AMD is taking the covers off of the lower priced, lower performance products based on the same architecture tonight. We previously covered AMD's launch event in Australia where the company officially introduced the Polaris 10 RX 470 and Polaris 11 RX 460 and talked about the broader specifications. Now, we have a bit more information to share on specifics and release dates. Specifically, AMD's RX 470 will launch on Thursday, August 4th and the RX 460 will launch on the following Monday, August 8th.
First up is the Radeon RX 470, based on the same Polaris 10 GPU as the RX 480, but with some CUs disabled to lower performance and increase yields.
This card is aimed at 1080p gaming at top quality settings with AA enabled at 60 FPS. Obviously that is a very vague statement, but it gives you an idea of what price point and target segment the RX 470 is going after.
The only comparison we have from AMD pits the upcoming RX 470 against the R9 270, where Polaris offers a range from 1.5x to 2.4x improvement in a handful of titles, which include DX12 and Vulkan enabled games, of course.
From a specifications stand point, the RX 470 will include 2048 stream processors running at a base clock of 926 MHz and a rated boost frequency of 1206 MHz. That gives us 4.9 TFLOPS of theoretical peak performance to pair with a 6.6 Gbps memory interface capable of 211 GB/s of peak bandwidth. With a 4GB frame buffer and a 120 watt TDP, the RX 470 should offer some compelling performance in the ~$150 price segment (this price is just a guess on my part… though yields should be better – they can salvage RX 480s – and partners being able to use memory chips that do not have to hit 8 Gbps should help to lower costs).
Going down another step to the Radeon RX 460, AMD is targeting this card at 1080p resolutions at "high" image quality settings. The obvious game categories here are eSports titles like MOBAs, CS: Go, Overwatch, etc.
Again, AMD provides a comparison to other AMD hardware: in this case the R7 260X. You'll find a 1.2x to 1.3x performance improvements in these types of titles. Clearly we want to know where the performance rests against the GeForce line but this comparison seems somewhat modest.
Based on the smaller Polaris 11 GPU, which is a new chip that we have not seen before, the RX 460 features up to 2.2 TFLOPS of computing capability with 896 stream processors (14 CUs enabled out of 16 total in full Polaris 11) running between 1090 MHz and 1200 MHz. The memory system is actually running faster on the RX 460 than the RX 470, though with half the memory bus width at 128-bits. The TDP of this card is sub-75 watts and thus we should find cards that don't require any kind of external power. The RX 460 GPU will be used in desktop cards as well as notebooks (though with lower TDPs and clocks).
The chart below outlines the comparison between the three known Polaris graphics processors.
| RX 480 | RX 470 | RX 460 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stream Processors | 2304 | 2048 | 896 |
| Compute Units | 36 | 32 | 14 |
| TMUs | 144 | 128 | 56 |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 16 |
| GPU Clock (Base) | 1120 MHz | 926 MHz | 1090 MHz |
| GPU Clock (Boost) | 1266 MHz | 1206 MHz | 1200 MHz |
| Memory | 4 or 8 GB GDDR5 | 4 or 8 GB GDDR5 | 2 or 4 GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 256-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 256 GB/s | 211 GB/s | 112 GB/s |
| TDP | 150W | 120W | <75W |
| GPU | Polaris 10 | Polaris 10 | Polaris 11 |
There is still much to learn about these new products, most importantly, prices. AMD is still shying away from telling us that important data point. The RX 470 will be on sale and will have reviews on August 4th, with the RX 460 following that on August 8th, so we'll have details and costs in our hands very soon.
It is not clear how many or what kinds of cards we can expect to see on the August 4th and August 8th release days though it would stand to reason that they will be mostly based upon reference designs especially for the RX 460 (though Gamer's Nexus did spot a dual fan Sapphire card).. With that said, we may see custom cooled RX 470 graphics cards because while AMD does technically have a reference design with blower style cooler the company expects most if not all of its partners to go their own direction with this board including their own single and dual fan coolers.
For gamers looking to buy into the truly budget card segment, stay tuned just a little longer!
Anybody else wish they would
Anybody else wish they would sell a mobile part based on Polaris 10 undervolted and running at 800MHz or so?
I believe AMD previously
I believe AMD previously indicated that
RX 470would be availble in high end gaming laptops in some form (much lower clocks at the very least)EDIT: Actually I think it was that Polaris 10 would be in laptops, not necessarily RX 470 w/ 32 CUs
https://pcper.com/news/Editorial/New-AMD-Polaris-10-and-Polaris-11-GPU-Details-Emerge
That’d be good. If I ever
That’d be good. If I ever move back up north, I’ll need something to supplement the space heater.
There is a slide that
There is a slide that compares RX 460 with a mobile Nvidia GTX 960M.
http://cdn.videocardz.com/1/2016/07/AMD-Radeon-RX-460-mobile.jpg
Polaris 11 was definitely made to also go in laptops. Polaris 10 will have a tough time against GTX 1060 in laptops considering the extra power consumption. It will have to be much cheaper for the manufacturer to prefer it.
I’ve yet to see a comparison
I’ve yet to see a comparison between the two at lower clocks and voltage. I think AMD pushed the voltage significantly past what is optimal for efficiency to get the performance of the RX480 up knowing that few buyers will buy a desktop card on power draw alone.
Well, at lower clocks and
Well, at lower clocks and voltage will be more efficient – probably we will see a repeat of the Nano compared to Fury X, but it will also be slower than 1060. I don’t know if Nvidia will have to lower the clocks of 1060 significantly on the mobile version of the chip, compared to the desktop.
Anyway, we will see pretty soon.
Would like to see benchmarks
Would like to see benchmarks between the 470 and the 1060 in DX12 & Vulkan.
Dual RX 470s and Dual 1060s
Dual RX 470s and Dual 1060s using and multi-GPU adaptor managed by Vulkan and DX12, let’s see Nvidia try and stop that for their GTX 1060 SKU. Around $300 for Dual RX 470s should be the price/performance champ even against the RX 480.
There is almost positively a
There is almost positively a rx 460 in my future.
Would love a 460 low profile
Would love a 460 low profile for my htpc. Bet it does 4k HDR video easy.
Would love RX 460 to have the
Would love RX 460 to have the full Polaris 11 GPU with the 1024 cores. But this will do just fine if it comes at the right price. And I am reading about $99 for the 2GB version.
I don’t think the 460 at $99
I don’t think the 460 at $99 represents a good value. Maybe at $75.CSince everything from a 470 is basically halved why shouldn’t the price be as well.
Rx 460 Rx 470 difference
14 compute units 32 56% less 896 stream processors 2048 56% less
2 gigs videoram 4 gigs 50% less 56 texture units 128 56% less 16 ROPs 32 50% less
The only good metric is wattage which should be around half as well. Detriment to performance is probably a lot more.
Bottom line is if you have to cut out that Starbucks for 10 days to get the extra $50 for the Rx 470. It will be worth the sacrifice and you’ll be much happier with the performance.
I wasted my time to make a
I wasted my time to make a nice chart and it just lumped everything together.
Rx 460 vs Rx 470
14 compute units vs 32 is 56% less.
896 stream processors vs 2048 is 56% less.
2 gigs videoram vs 4 gigs is 50% less.
56 texture units vs 128 is 56% less.
16 ROPs vs 32 is 50% less.
In the hi end market, after a
In the hi end market, after a specific price point, you get less performance compared to how much more you pay. Something like that happens at the low end. Moving to cheaper cards, you lose more performance compared to the money you save. That’s why usually the best VFM cards are sitting between $150 and $350.
Now, you have to compare RX 460 with what is available in the market, NOT with RX 470. And in the market and at $99, looking at NewEgg, you have the options of R7 360 and GTX 750Ti. None of those two cards is going to offer any kind of competition to RX 460. RX 460 will be closer to R7 370 or GTX 950 and those two cards cost $120. $20 in this category is a huge sum. People who go to buy a $100 card, usually will NOT go even a single dollar higher than that.
lol@Future Proof and Smooth
lol@Future Proof and Smooth Video Streaming as selling points!
149$ for 5 Tflops
99$ for
149$ for 5 Tflops
99$ for 2.2 Tflops
yea 460 is not so good -.-, +real prices will be like: ~200$ and ~120$…so 470 or nothing…and that if you won price/perf. only!
A 10% improvement in
A 10% improvement in performance for Rise of the Tomb Raider on the Radeon RX 480.
“AMD Releases Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.3”
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10531/amd-releases-radeon-software-crimson-edition-1673
“less than 75 watt” is a
“less than 75 watt” is a little too vague on the 460 … there are lot of basic systems out there running 200-250w proprietary power supplies from HP and Dell. hopefully we can get a real number soon … Aug 8th isn’t too far away