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Demands from gamers are always on the rise and since the launch of AMD's RX 400-series, the company hasn't had anything new to compete with Nvidia's high-end cards such as the newly launched GTX 1080 Ti or older models such as the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. AMD's next big GPU launch will be based on its Vega architecture and widely expected to be able to compete above where it does currently and offer some competition at the high end.
PowerColor RX 580 8GB Red Devil
Antony Leather
Today, though, AMD is looking to make the most of the improvements in the manufacturing process behind its Polaris architecture, which was used in the RX 480, and is launching the RX 580. I'll dispell any rumors now though: This isn't a groundbreaking GPU, but more of a refresh of the RX 480, with higher clock speeds. It has the same 8GB memory, the same 2,304 stream processors and is again based on the Polaris architecture and uses a 14nm manufacturing process.Just how much faster? Well, the original RX 480 had a boost clock of 1,266MHz while the new RX 580 sits at 1,340MHz under boost and higher than this on many samples launching today. The Power Color Red Devil AMD sent me, for example, has a boost clock of 1,380MHz, which is over 100MHz faster than the stock RX 480.
PowerColor RX 580 8GB Red Devil
Antony Leather
It has the same 8GB memory, the same 2,304 stream processors and is again based on the Polaris architecture and uses a 14nm manufacturing process.Just how much faster? Well, the original RX 480 had a boost clock of 1,266MHz while the new RX 580 sits at 1,340MHz under boost and higher than this on many samples launching today. The Power Color Red Devil AMD sent me, for example, has a boost clock of 1,380MHz, which is over 100MHz faster than the stock RX 480.
AMD RX 480 vs RX 580
Antony Leather
There is one issue, though, which is that many overclocked RX 480s were sitting close to the RX 580's boost clock already. The XFX RX 480 GTR Black Edition OC I used in the tests below, has a boost clock of 1,338MHz, so the results are a good indicator of just what improvement you'll see from an overclocked RX 480.
The good thing, though, is that while samples such as the
XFX RX 480 GTR Black Edition OC retail for around £250, the starting price for the RX 580 8GB is around £220 for a card that boosts up to 1,340MHz as standard - overclocked models will be faster still. This should mean it's more competitive against the GTX 1060 6GB too. Along with the RX 580 8GB is a 4GB model, plus RX 570, RX 560 and RX 550.
RX 500-series pricing
Antony Leather
Benchmarks
My test system includes an AMD Ryzen 5 1600X six core CPU, Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 motherboard, 16GB Corsair Vengeance 3,000MHz memory, a Samsung 960 Pro 512GB M.2 SSD and a Corsair RX 750W power supply using Windows 10. For the AMD systems I used the release 17.10.1030 Radeon driver and for Nvidia its Forceware 381.65 driver. I've tested three cards in a variety of popular current games.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB -
Palit GeForce GTX 1060 Dual 6GB, Core/memory 1506MHz/2000MHz
AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB-
PowerColor RX 580 Red Devil 8GB, Core/memory 1380MHz/2000MHz
AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB -
XFX RX 480 GTR Black Edition OC, Core/memory 1,338MHz / 2,000MHz.
Performance
Deus Ex in DX12 mode using the built-in benchmark definitely favors AMD with the GTX 1060 languishing in last place at both 2560 x 1440 and 1920 x 1080. There was a clear lead for the RX 580 over the RX 480 too - remember my RX 480 sample has a hefty factory overclock so the difference would be even larger with a stock speed card. At 2560 x 1440, the AMD cards have much better minimum frame rate, with the GTX 1060 dropping to a choppy 24fps.
Deus Ex performance
Antony Leather
Deus Ex Performance
Antony Leather
Ashes of the Singularity
The new Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation expansion sees very little difference between graphics cards using the built-in GPU benchmark, but the RX 580 is a tad slower than the Nvidia card at 1080p but faster at 1440p.
Ashes of the Singularity performance
Antony Leather
Ashes of the Singularity performance
Antony Leather
Fallout 4
Nvidia is usually faster in Fallout 4 and it's no exception here using a simple play-through section benchmark. The GTX 1060 6GB has a clear lead at both resolutions, but again the RX 480 is noticeably slower than the RX 580.
Fallout 4 performance
Antony Leather
Fallout 4 performance
Antony Leather
World of Tanks
In World of Tanks, Nvidia has a lead again using a replay I created. the minimum frame rates are low for all cards here as there's a large close-up explosion at the end of the replay, but it's interesting to see how each card deals with it. I suspect there's some CPU limitation going on at 1080p, with similar average frame rates during the two-minute test at 1080p, but at 1440p the GTX 1060 6GB has a clear lead.
World of Tanks performance
Antony Leather
World of Tanks performance
Antony Leather
Power consumption
The RX 580 has a higher TDP than the RX 480 and GTX 1060 6GB so it's no surprise to see the power consumption much higher for the RX 580. However, it's important to remember here that none of these are stock/reference cards. In fact, I'm not even sure there will be a reference design RX 580, but it's clear that Nvidia wins in the efficiency stakes here.
Power consumption
Antony Leather
With the RX 580 sporting a massive cooler courtesy of PowerColor's Red Devil sample, this is a fantastic result that was also very quiet during testing. the downside is that you not only need both a 6-pin and 8-pin power connector to power this monster, but the PCB is super-wide too at 131mm from connector to edge, while the cooler edges the total width from the connector to 141mm and about 157mm if you include the PCI bracket too.
Temperature comparison
Antony Leather
RX 580 - a fill-in for Vega?
A lot will depend on pricing with the RX 580. It's clear that super-clocked RX 480 samples are snapping at its heels, so stock RX 580s need to stick to the $229 / £220 price tag closely for the RX 480 to fall out of favor. Clearly, if you can pick up a cheap RX 480 sample for the less than $200 and then overclock it, that's going to be a tempting proposition.
In terms of overclocked cards such as the PowerColor RX 580 Red Devil, when I wrote this I didn't know how much it was, but that should be revealed shortly after launch, but I suspect some models may retail for over $300. The cooler is superb and definitely warrants spending a little extra, as does the fact it's pre-overclocked.A lot, as always, is game dependant, and card partners do have some room to increase prices here compared to the GTX 1060 6GB, which starts at around $250 and rising up to $300 for big cooler, overclocked cards such as the Asus Strix OC Edition. Apart from a few Nvidia-loving titles, the RX 580 definitely bolsters the argument against the GTX 1060 6GB and the two are now fairly even - one winning some fights, the other, some in different games.
PowerColor RX 580 8GB Red Devil
Antony Leather
I'd imagine that in a few weeks we could see pricing for the 8GB RX 580 drop closer to $200, but I'd also expect a small price drop from the green team too. Ultimately, this comes down to which titles you game in and whether any prefer Nvidia or AMD. Where the two meet on equal terms it's a much closer call, but AMD does have a small lead in the bang-per-buck table with the RX 580. It looks like we'll have to wait for Vega later this year before AMD takes the fight to Nvidia's high-end cards though.
