Today a revolution in PC gaming and VR began as AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) launched the Radeon™ RX 480 graphics card designed to deliver enthusiast-level gaming performance and features, the world’s most advanced graphics technology and an extraordinary value proposition to fans and gamers around the world. The Radeon™ RX 480 introduces premium technology engineered to deliver the best performance/$ in its class, democratize VR and deliver a wide range of future-proof technologies2 supporting current and forthcoming game and video standards. The cards will start at SEP $199 USD for the Radeon™ RX 480 4GB card, and SEP $239 for the Radeon™ RX 480 8GB card. Details regarding the new Radeon™ RX 480 graphics card and related technologies are available at AMD’s new gamer-focused website, Radeon.com.
“Our message to gamers everywhere is that the Radeon™ RX 480 is every bit as much your card as it is ours,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “We designed this technology by listening intently to you, the gamers who have bought and played on our graphics technology for years. We’ve worked tirelessly to produce something that satisfies the most discerning gamer, and delivers the ideal product at an impeccable price. We couldn’t be more grateful for the reception we’ve received from gamers, customers, and technology partners who see what our engineering team has accomplished, and agree that with the Radeon™ RX Series, gaming and VR is truly #BetterRed.”
Radeon™ RX 480 Reception
The global PC ecosystem has demonstrated enthusiastic support for the Radeon™ RX 480 graphics card. OEM and system integrator partners such as Alienware, HP, and Lenovo are praising the Radeon™ RX 480’s capabilities.
Game and VR application developers including Bethesda, EA, and Ubisoft and VR headset manufacturers Oculus and HTC are applauding AMD for delivering on the promise of bringing flagship performance and features to the mass market, enabling them to greatly expand the reach of experiences they’re developing.
Professional and casual gamers alike are also celebrating the launch, with AMD-sponsored eSports teams such as Fnatic and Evil Geniuses hailing the Radeon™ RX 480 as a triumph for PC gamers everywhere, and prominent video reviewers worldwide affirming the exceptional value of the graphics card across a wide range of games. To see some of the industry-wide acclaim the Radeon™ RX 480 card is receiving at launch visit Radeon.com here.
Radeon™ RX 480 Features
The Radeon™ RX 480 card packs an unprecedented amount of gaming and VR goodness into an incredible price point:
- Premium technology engineered for unprecedented performance in its class – The Radeon™ RX 480 8GB card features the most advanced graphics and gaming technologies ever seen in a GPU at $239, delivering the best performance/$ in its class. The revolutionary Polaris architecture, optimized for the 14nm FinFET process, drives spectacular improvements in performance and efficiency. It delivers more than 15 percent more performance per compute unit3, up to 2.8x the performance/Watt over AMD’s Radeon R9 200 series graphics architecture4, and fuels up to 5.8 trillion calculations a second. More information on the advances in the Polaris architecture are available here.
- The most affordable solution for premium VR experiences – Starting at SEP $199 USD, the Radeon™ RX 480 4GB card is the most affordable solution for premium VR experiences, being both Oculus™ Rift- and Steam®VR-Ready.5 Utilizing LiquidVR™ technologies designed to provide smoother, more comfortable VR experiences, the Radeon™ RX 480 4GB card lowers the cost barrier to entry for PC VR making it affordable for millions of consumers. Visit Radeon.com here to learn more about how the Radeon™ RX 480 4GB card is helping to truly democratize VR.
- Future-proof technologies2 – The Radeon™ RX 480 card continues the Radeon™ tradition of innovation being first to new process nodes, first in memory types and bandwidth, and first to support new gaming APIs. Gamers will enjoy the Radeon™ RX 480 card for a long time to come with a range of “future-proof” benefits including:
o Premium HD gaming in DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™ – The Radeon™ RX 480 card excels in DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™, APIs that are powering the future of gaming. Polaris architecture uniquely supports asynchronous compute for superior experiences in games and VR applications using these new APIs, and combined with AMD FreeSync™ Technology6, gamers can enjoy silky smooth framerates at 1440p resolution across the most demanding games. More information on gaming in DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™ with the Radeon™ RX 480 card is available here.
o Next-generation display and video technologies – The Radeon™ RX 480 card features HDMI® 2.0b, DisplayPort™ 1.3 HBR3, and DisplayPort™ 1.4 HDR supporting the new generation of high-resolution HDR and high-refresh displays enabling experiences such as FreeSync™ with high-refresh 4K, high refresh UltraWide, and single-cable 5K resolution computing at 60Hz. The Radeon™ RX 480 features AMD’s most versatile decode accelerator ever, enabling beautiful HDR movies using 10-bit HEVC7 from the likes of Netflix and Amazon, accelerated H.264 video of streamers on Twitch, accelerated VP9 videos on sites like YouTube, and razor-sharp video calling using HEVC and MJPEG in applications like Skype. More information on the next-generation display and video technologies are available here.8
o Unprecedented control with Radeon Software and the new Radeon WattMan – Radeon Software compliments the sophisticated hardware of the Radeon™ RX 480 graphics card, enabling the ultimate in performance, features and stability to ensure an exceptionally smooth and fast out-of-box experience, and one that gets better with age as updates roll out. Launching today with the Radeon™ RX 480 card are nine new features of Radeon Software Crimson Edition designed to give users more control over multi-GPU, display, and power efficiency settings. Radeon WattMan, based on AMD OverDrive™ technology, enables users to take complete control over the Radeon™ RX 480 card with a redefined overclocking experience9 and a wide range of features including dynamic GPU frequency and voltage curves that allow users to customize both elements across seven states. Radeon WattMan also delivers a new histogram interface that enables recording of per-application data to easily track peak and average activity, clocks, temperature and fan speed. More information on the new Radeon WattMan is available here.
For more news and reviews, keep checking back at Gaming Central.
