Your motherboard may get fried while using your RX480. The card violates the PCIE specification by drawing too much power through the PCIE slot.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comme..._specification/

Can be fixed by pushing new drivers out implementing software-based limiters (hard limit on frequency clock, voltage, etc). Otherwise, bye bye fried motherboard.

And if AMD chose to go the the limiter route, bye bye overclocking headroom.

If this isn't fixed quickly, it'll make that 3.5GB GTX970 fiasco look like child's play.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 30 2016, 12:46 PM

It may be solved if AIB partners use 8 pin connector. But there are no guarantees until AMD themselves fix this at the core level (software limits, VBIOS with hard limits). If they do that, then the RX480 is no longer competitive performance-wise.

If AIB partners uses 8 pin connectors (8 pin rated 150W, 6 pins 75Ws only), it might work, but then again, there goes AMD's chant and touted advantage of Polaris's "efficiency and low power consumption". Back to the days of 290/290X?

"Buy quality things you only buy once, or buy cheap things you end up buying twice. "

In this case, it may indeed be the death of the entire system, since the motherboard is at the heart where every components is tied in.

Look at it this way: this is a REFERENCE RX480. AIB cards will follow the REFERENCE design but add their own spin on it, maybe add 8 pin instead of 6 pins, add extra chokes and capacitors for better OC stability, etc. But if the REFERENCE board is used as reference for ALL RX480 cards, including the AIB cards, the fatal flaw of current overdraw over PCIE slot/motherboard will always be there, unless AMD fix this by neutering it: hard limit it by lowering clock frequency, reduced voltages, ANYTHING that will stop more than 75W from overflowing through the PCIE slot/motherboard. What does that mean? That means, even if AIB want to improve on the performance with their own customized version of the REFERENCE RX480 design, this inherent fatal flaw of current overflow will always hold them back: they have to scale back on core clock frequency, power delivery to the card, resulting in still reduced performance. It is no longer as competitive as it should be, no matter how cheap it is.

"Arctic Islands" is AMD's Polaris 10 and 11. They renamed it. http://wccftech.com/amd-1416nm-arctic-isla...ng-summer-2016/

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 1 2016, 08:26 AM

They could definitely be within the range of performance of 1070 and 1080. But looking historically at AMD's approach with their cards and the fact that even with a budget card with a smaller die chip like 480 also they cant tame the power consumption and temperature, what do you think Vega will do, since Vega will be a bigger chip than Polaris?.

The RX480 is already 150W at 14nm process, giving performance only up to 970OC with a hot temperature of 80-90C depending whether you wanna push it or not. The GTX1070 has the same 150W TDP, at a larger 16nm process with temps rarely hitting upper 70s, and efficiency has shot through the roof for Nvidia, and see where GTX1070's performance is compared to RX480? They both have the same TDP. Think about that. A hot power hungry card can only manage midrange performance, while a cool, power efficient card has surpassed Titan X? AMD at this stage is already behind one generation in terms or power efficiency and performance, DESPITE shrinking down their chip size.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 2 2016, 09:51 AM

I was trying to give it something to cheer about but you're more ruthless than I am.

This RX480, if it had arrived when the 970 or 980 was released, would be relevant. At this point, the only relevance it has is its cheapness. And that is not relevant here as well, because it is no longer cheap.

Actually they would cheer if the price is a direct conversion with a little premium added in. USD239 is RM940. RM979 would be perfect. Anything below the 4 digit figure makes it look like a bargain. When the price bloats up to what it is right now, expectations grew as well, subconsciously or otherwise, to justify performance to the pricetag. Hence the disappointment.

Deswai AmdMY sent silent when asked about price.

with or without performance drop?

Price drop effect like these are part and parcel of every new GPU launch, not exclusively because of RX480 alone. Every new generation launch, it happens. The reason why people are disappointed with the RX480 is that, it's only matching the 970OC at best, a 2 year old tech. Are we supposed to be appreciative and excited for a 2 year old tech with performance you can get 2 years ago? The price was the only reason it was championed as a good budget card, but even there that is not the case here.

The reality is, AMD is way behind the GPU tech curve when it comes to providing graphics cards with performance that can ignite the excitement of people following up on GPU news. Instead, it ignites controversy with its corners-cut quality control (overcurrent via PCIE) and only manage to fetch the performance/watt efficiency of what Maxwell did last generation release a year ago. It's evident on how they trying to mask the RX480 as "efficient" because they stubbornly want to release the card in 6-pin configuration to show the world, "hey look, we improved on our power consumption" when in fact, they didn't. The only cheering point was the price, and even that isn't a cheering point here, see how the card is priced here.

What's left to be appreciative and excited about again? Price correction happens every launch, in fact this time, it goes to the opposite effect that AMD intended, they wanted to undercut 970 and/or 980 with their RX480, then hit with this PCIE bus fiasco, and people who initially selling off970 secondhand now, smelling opportunity to be had with their card still the better card when it comes to performance and none of the mess like RX480, bumped back their secondhand price back up to RM1,200, when at one time it was RM950. Who doesnt want to sell of their secondhand card higher when they can?

the thing is, once the sellers of 970s caught wind of the 480's issues, what's stopping them from jacking up the price higher? Those who dont, kudos to them, but when the potential buyers dismisses the 480 due to its myriad of problems, what other options is there left? Save up another RM600 for 1070. Wait for 1060. Buy a 2 year old tech that is the same as what they expected from 480. Kinda harsh options if you ask me.

I was looking at the LYN garage sales, there were at one time selling at below RM1k, at RM950 obviously it was jumped upon and thread closed. Now? Even the cheapish Leadtek ones are asking for RM1050 used. Some even do a "PM me" too instead. Sellers knew they can push the card prices higher when can take advantage of the RX480 fiasco.

RX480 is the Maxwell of AMD. That excitement is one year back. It's like saying Proton Saga is good and efficient by Malaysian standards, when the rest of the world have moved on beyond wonky automatic windows and tin milo crumple bonanza.

That is true, but that price drop isnt SOLELY because RX480 came into the market, it happens on EVERY new graphics card launch. New cards gets priced in the price bracket where the card it is replacing/competing against is, and the old ones are pushed to EOL and drops in price further.

Every. Single. Time.

So because of that, it isn't something worth cheering about.

I'll give props to AMD if they actually stayed true to the USD199/239 price back here. Saying that AMD has no control over price here does not negate the fact that is no longer USD239 here, more closer to like USD300. And because of that, you get the 970 secondhand market pricing just meandering around where it is right now. Because at the current pricing of USD300/RM1249-1299, 970 secondhand sellers can still sell them at RM1000/1050 because of the RX480 problems now, and potential buyers looking to fill an empty PCIE slot, when the 970 price could have been lower, if the RX480 hadn't been riddled with problems, even at that RM1249/1299 pricetag.

I think this generation's launch (Pascal vs Polaris) is seen as such because the launch has gone askew from what was previously done before. Traditionally, AMD and Nvidia shows their higher end offerings first and then trickle down to their more mainstream and budget cards. This time, AMD went budget first, and Nvidia went higher end. That gap subconsciously made AMD look bad with the 480 being compared to the 970 because there are no Pascal equivalent yet. When 1060 launches, then the comparison to 970 will fade away.

And the 1070 is not exactly that far off out of reach, at RM1999. This Titan X equivalent was RM3000 and above before. If the RX480 was priced at RM850-950 where it should be, then it will look pretty massive to stretch your Ringgit to get the 1070. With the overbloated price of the current RX480 in the market, the 1070's RM1999 price looked reachable. And with the 1060 coming, and will probably slot nicely around RM1500, and where's the appeal of RX480 once that happens?

Not a speculation when it already happened.

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ts+GTX970+RM950

An RM950 970 was sold previous and now it has risen above RM1000 because of the RX480 mess. So spare me your conjectures as well. They dont need to haggle, AMD's RX480 mess has done that for them. Potential buyer says, I offer you RM950, seller says nope, I want RM1xxx. Buyer say he go for RX480. Seller says okay. Buyer saw RX480, and now stuck, wanna take the risk with all those mess, or go back to the current 970 sellers with their RM1xxx priced secondhand cards.

I dont give a fuck about you vulturing about market pricing, it is how you surmised that is solely because of RX480's doing. Because that is far from what historically it was: every new launch, old cards drops price. So what if 2 months ago it was 1300 and now it's 1000? Oh it's because of the 480 came out? It's bound to happen to all graphics cards secondhand market price the longer you wait, to the point the new cards come in and replaces the old ones. Wait even longer? Price drop even further, whooptie-fucking-doo. Not even the epiphany level revelation worth mentioning. If price is your sole currency and not performance (or its disappointment against what it should be priced as rather than what it is right priced right now), then by all means, wait even longer.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 5 2016, 05:04 AM

What is done, is done. AMD had all the cards in their hand before the launch, and they could turn this launch into the best launch for budget mainstream card ever everywhere,.........aaaaaaaaand they chose only to deal a good hand in the US. Unless they can issue refund back to owners now to get that "better value RM850-950" deal them Americans are getting now, the RX480 card will forever be marred and looked upon as "neither here, not there, just somewhere in between". Like I said many times in the other thread, people are more forgiving when it's cheaper. With this card that is "neither here nor there", and not exactly cheap to boot, there will be folks who felt like they didnt get the deal that they should have gotten.

Dude, my contention with your claim is that you are basing on these price drops SOLELY on RX480's presence, when this is not something that hadn't happened before. Trying to raise the status of the RX480 to that level means nothing when every freaking new releases does the same bloody thing!. You can analyse all you want about market price and all, but price drops when new cards come out isnt anything new. And the RX480's appearance dropping market prices does not warrant any special mention because every freaking card before this does the same song and dance as well.

I'm inclined to think you're pretty young and new for not noticing that trend, but that goes across as something insulting.

Long story short, RX480 is nothing special. Price drops are normal when new cards comes out. I can dial back time and state every AMD previous releases as "special" in that case since every price drop that happens when AMD card drops is sung and praised as a "seismic event".

Not surprised though, people these days celebrate mediocrity. When there's little to cheer about, cheer what's left there is to cheer and make a mountain of a molehill of that achievement.

And I quoting myself in another post:

that quote is in another post that I posted, hence "quoting myself", while the content of that quote is from another forum. Nice try.

Sure, let's celebrate the 40% market value drop of a GPU that is one to two years late. If this GPU was there when 980 and 970 came out, then it's significant. At the point in time when this came out, (now), it's not headline news anymore, it's in the classified section.

I've mentioned it earlier, it's only trump card is its price, but even that is "neither here nor there", price being inflated to what its current market price is. I also mentioned that I'll give it props it is due for, if it arrived at its intended price of RM850-950, but at what it is right now, it's riding too close to the next tier card, or even its upcoming competitor, the 1060.

You look at it from the price angle, I look at it arriving too little too late.

Nvidia took the fast route, got there efficiently and spent tons on getting there, they pass the cost to end user. AMD took the slow route, got there in a terribly inefficient way and spent less to get there, saving it for end user but arrive late. Depending on how you like your speed of tech is, you pick. To some, the entry fee to "get there" is the barrier itself, so they have no choice but to choose AMD. Those who want them, and want them now when it's available, can stray from the slow route AMD chose and spend a little bit more to "get there" faster.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 5 2016, 07:04 AM

Sure, it's worth celebrating, if you have not tasted what the RX480 can do 2 years back. Entry fee higher back then, have to wait 2 years now to taste what it is. Budget gamer category.

Look at it from the enthusiast point of view. Not super enthusiast that splurges on 980Ti or Titan X. Just enthusiast who had cash to spend on 970 2 years back. It is NOT a tall order to be able to afford the 970, 349USD. Price in RM locally fluctuates too wildly to rely as a steady reference between the devaluation of RM what it was previously and what it is now, so I'm gonna take the USD as the barometer.

Someone with a USD349 in his pocket 2 years ago have tasted what someone with a USD239 in his pocket now. The difference, USD110 is the price Nvidia users pay to be 2 years ahead of what AMD users are using now. That is where all my points are from, you pay USD110 to be ahead by 2 years. A performance that has been tasted 2 years ahead, isn't something worth celebrating now. It is only worth celebrating now if you have never tasted that performance 2 years ago, and can only taste it now because "the barrier", that performance entry fee, has dropped from USD349 to USD239. For that, I echo your sentiment. But for the lot of Nvidia users who make up the majority that had the 970 2 years back, it's nothing to shout about. Cool and awesome, the fraction of people that gets "left behind" now can finally get onto the performance "bus" and see what they missed, but the people who had been ahead, stays ahead, but at that price difference they paid for. In the case of 970 and 480, it's USD110.

Choice. At that point in time, users are faced with a choice. Pay that USD110 premium now, and hop onto that bandwagon now and experience it 2 years early, or choose not to pay that premium and get to experience it later. Some folks are okay with that USD110 premium to get ahead, some dont. Those who do (and there are lots of them, the 970 is a bestselling card) has 2 years head start ahead of those who decline to pay that premium 2 years early, and can only experience it now in the form of RX480.

Now you get why I said there's no big deal about it? It is a big deal if you declined to take up the premium of USD110 2 years ago. But the experience that used to cost USD349 2 years ago, becomes common and cheaper now, that at USD239, it's mostly "meh" to those who had taken the option to pay the premium and experience it early. Take it that USD110 is the price they pay to experience it earlier. Like movie tickets, release day movie tickets costs RM18 and no concession tickets for early bird special or half price on certain dates, UNTIL the movie grow stale and gone into the smaller theatre hall. Sure, you get to watch Star Wars Episode VII for RM7 when others get to watch it a month earlier at RM18-20. That's a big price difference. But only the ticket purchaser decides if it is worth watching it early, or if he wants to save and/or can only watch it when it's cheap. Guess where the bulk of money for movie box-office are made from?

So, me here, giving this RX480 a pat in the back, is like me congratulating someone who gets to watch Episode VII one month later. He gets to watch it cheap, but that's only because he can only get to see it while it's cheap. Others had watched it earlier, and the price to see it on release day is not CRAZY expensive either, unlike watching in GOLD CLASS cinema hall. See how anticlimactic that is?

If the release price figure for the 970 is not accurate, then replace them with whatever's accurate. The sentiment remains.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 5 2016, 07:50 AM