We recently received an RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition from Nvidia and we have been testing it for the past week by using 11 PC games plus hybrid benchmarks. The Founders Edition will be available at $399 starting tomorrow. Just like, Nvidia launch the RTX 4070 as the GPU to be a great upgrade to the seven-year-old 10 series cards the same is being done here for the RTX 2060 family of cards. While it is true the DLSS 3 and Ada lovelace architecture are incredible, some will find 8GB of VRAM is a really hard pill to swallow.

Thankfully, this is not really an issue for most gamer’s and in reality a fault of bad modern PC ports. According to recent Steam Hardware Surveys, around 77% of users still play on 1080p and older cards so this market will always be huge for both Nvidia and AMD. The thing is – they have to compete with themselves and often we found that if you just look at raw power the 4060Ti is nominally faster than its older siblings when we remove DLSS comparisons.

Our first knock on the new 4060 family is the pricing feels oddly high, especially for 8GB. The RTX 4060 Ti is a welcome upgrade to older cards as it arrives with multiple new features, including DLSS 3, which brings an incredible performance uplift. For this reason alone, this new entry in the 40 series is extremely exciting. This will surely move the needle for most to upgrade if they play the games that support these features. The raw performance uplift is likely much larger in the 16GB version of this same card which is yet to release.

The RTX 4060 Ti comes with Nvidia’s newest RT and Tensor Cores that are more powerful than previous generation GPUs and support new features including Shader Execution Reordering (SER) and Nvidia DLSS 3 technology, all while using less power than the RTX 3060 Ti. The new NVIDIA Ada Lovelace GPU Architecture also features a new SM design that runs at dramatically higher clock speeds and significantly increases the capacity of the L2 cache on the RTX 4060 Ti to a whopping 32MB versus the 4MB L2 cache that was available previously on the RTX 3060 Ti. Nvidia frequently mentioned this cache as a powerful tool to help the 8GB of VRAM run more efficiently and powerful.

The RTX 4060 Ti supports AV1 encoding which in and of itself is a good enough reason to upgrade from older generations of cards. 

The RTX 4060 Ti Feature set

The elephant in the room for most any will be being bound by the RTX 4060 Ti’s 8GB of VRAM capacity as modern games skyrocket in their usage. Nvidia cannot wave a wand to fix a bad PC port, but for $399 gamers on a budget may scoff at the lack of future proofing. We suggest waiting for the RTX 4060 Ti’s 16GB benchmarks to arrive if you are at all on the fence.

However, we can confidently say Nvidia has made a leap in games with DLSS 3 that is undeniably incredible and there is enough of an incremental upgrade for those on older generations to think twice. Now we have over 50 games announced with DLSS 3, including the upcoming Diablo IV.

Comparing generation-to-generation there is a giant leap thanks to TGP/power improvements. There is also no price category competition from AMD right at this moment but we know there are rumors of a card coming soon in this range. At the moment, FSR 2.0 is well behind DLSS 3 in performance so the value proposition in comparison to the rest of the rather expensive 40 series is obvious, but the RTX 4060 Ti may not offer the raw GPU power upgrade many want to see in benchmarks.

One key innovation that’s been added to the memory subsystem in Ada GPU’s is its larger L2 cache. This new memory subsystem is a dramatic improvement over the previous generation.

When compared to a 128-bit Ampere GPU, the Ada L2 cache architecture delivers a 16x increase in capacity. In addition, the L2 cache bandwidth in Ada GPUs has been significantly increased versus prior GPUs. This allows more data to be transferred between the cores and the L2 cache as quickly as possible.
Ada’s larger L2 cache results in significantly more L2 cache hits, while also reducing traffic across the memory bus.

This change, per Nvidia, resulted in the performance of the 32MB L2 cache reducing memory bus traffic from 40% to 60% over the performance of a 2MB L2 cache. This translates to massive increases in effective performance. An Ada GPU with 288 GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth is the equivalent of an Ampere GPU that needed 554 GB/Sec.

Couple this improvement with DLSS 3, which has the fastest adoption of any of Nvidia’s technologies to date and you will notice why we do encourage you to take a look at your options if you are on older hardware as this is fantastic upgrade, especially from a 20 series.

GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition Board

The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition graphics card incorporates many of the new design elements that are also found on NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4080, and RTX 4090 Founders Edition boards. The RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition board is crafted with premium materials and components including a die-cast aluminum body and dual axial fans. It looks compact and sleek in our PC case and is perfect for smaller cases.

Our Plan

Nvidia is in an interesting spot with the RTX 4060 Ti, it decided to release the 8GB model first so let’s see how well it performs.

For this review, we are planning to benchmark the RTX 4080, RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4070, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 within our test build at 1440p and 1080p.

We think comparing the RTX 4060 Ti’s performance against current family and iconic cards from Nvidia’s previous RTX generation of GPUs may be worth it for Turing or Ampere users considering an upgrade to Ada Lovelace.

The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is based on the AD106 GPU and equipped with 4,352 CUDA Cores providing 22 FP32 Shader-TFLOPS of power for rendering traditional rasterized graphics, 136 Fourth Generation Tensor Cores offering 353 FP8 Tensor-TFLOPS (with Sparsity) for AI processing and DLSS, 34 Third Generation Ada RT Cores capable of 51 RT-TFLOPS for powering next generation raytraced graphics, 8GB of GDDR6 memory, and 32MB of L2 cache. Like all GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs, the RTX 4060 Ti is packed with Ada innovations including Shader Execution Reordering (SER), the new RT core engines, and DLSS 3.

We want to test if it really can hold up with 8GB of VRAM to deliver a potential amazing value proposition compared to the RTX 3060.

Features & Specifications

The RTX 4060 Ti technological innovations include:

• New Streaming Multiprocessors (SM) – The new SM delivers up to 2x performance and power efficiency
• 4th Generation Tensor Cores and Optical Flow – Enable and accelerate transformative AI
  technologies, including the new frame rate multiplying Nvidia DLSS 3
• 3rd Generation RT Cores – Up to 2x ray tracing performance, delivering incredibly detailed
  virtual worlds like never before
• Shader Execution Reordering (SER) – SER improves ray tracing operations by 2x, boosting FPS up to 44% in Cyberpunk with RT: Overdrive Mode
• DLSS 3 – A revolutionary breakthrough in AI-powered graphics that massively boosts
  performance using AI to generate additional high-quality frames
• Nvidia Studio – Unmatched performance in 3D rendering, video editing, and live streaming
• AV1 Encoders – The 8th generation Nvidia Encoder (NVENC) with AV1 is 40% more efficient than H.264, enabling new possibilities for streamers, broadcasters, and video callers

Key Features from Nvidia

• Dedicated 3rd generation ray tracing cores (46)
• Dedicated 4th generation Tensor cores (184)
• Nvidia DLSS 3 support
• Game Ready and Nvidia Studio drivers
• Nvidia GeForce Experience
• Nvidia Broadcast
• Nvidia G-Sync
• Nvidia GPU Boost
• PCI Express Gen 4
• Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate support
• Support for Vulkan RT APIs, Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6
• HDCP 2.3 support
• DisplayPort 1.4 support: up to 4K at 240Hz or 8K at 60Hz with DSC, HDR
• HDMI 2.1 support: up to 4K 240Hz, Gaming VRR, HDR

Specifications

Nvidia’s MSRP price for RTX 4060 Ti GPU is $399, a GPU made for 1080p.

Here is the RTX 4060 Ti in GPU-Z:

According to GPU-Z, the RTX 4060 Ti has the default GPU clock of 2310 MHz with a boost of 2525MHz.

Below is the advanced general information on the RTX 4070 FE as reported by the GPU-Z tool.

As you can see from the GPU-Z screenshots, you can even increase both power and temperature limits to some degree, and while there is little room for overclocking, there is some additional potential performance for gamers looking to get more from their builds. RTX 4060 Ti partner boards should be interesting to see based on their cooling methods and pricing.

A Closer Look at the RTX 4060 Ti Founder’s Edition

Packaging

The box cover highlights a sleek approach to the packaging. I am a huge fan of the presentation Nvidia has been providing for its FE line. It offers a very premium unboxing experience. The graphics card image for the recent RTX cards is iconic and that shape is also shown on the box.

Accessories

As we open the box, it folds out beautifully displaying the brand new RTX 4060 Ti FE. Beneath the card are the new standard 16 PIN (12VHPWR) PCIe connector and an installation guide with a QR code to visit Nvidia’s website for more guides and information if needed.

The Card

The RTX 4060 Ti FE is a small dual-fan graphics card with classic RTX aesthetics that are still refined and look great. There is no RGB on the RTX 4060 Ti FE.

The IO panel connectors are 3 DisplayPorts and 1 HDMI connection.

Inside the case

The RTX 4060 Ti looks subtle and classic inside a case. I would personally love to build an SFF PC using this card. It is the perfect size offering a powerful small gaming rig at a reasonable price compared to the sky-high prices we have seen these last few years. We like that it is small and discrete but some may not like the unlit logo

Next is our testing configuration, methodology, and more.

Our Benchmarking PC

We benchmark using FrameView on a recent install of Windows 11 Pro Edition 22H2, at 3440×1440 using an AMD Ryzen 7800x3d with stock clocks and 32GB of DDR5 G.Skill Trident Z 6000MHz memory on an Asrock X670E Pro RS motherboard. All games and benchmarks are the latest versions, and we use the latest GeForce 531.93 press drivers for our testing. The games tested, display driver, settings, and hardware are identical except for the GPUs we compare.

Let’s unbox and take a closer look at this graphics card.

Test Configuration

Benching Methodology

Test Configuration – Hardware

• AMD Ryzen 7800x3d (stock settings)
• Asrock X670E PRO RS motherboard (AMD AM5 chipset, v 1.07 BIOS)
• G.Skill Trident Z 32GB DDR5 (2×16GB, dual-channel at 6000 MHz XMP)
• RTX 4060 Ti 6GB, stock clocks; supplied by Nvidia
• RTX 4070 FE 12GB, stock clocks; supplied by Nvidia
• ASUS TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition 12GB, stock clocks; supplied by Nvidia
• RTX 3080 FE 10GB, stock clocks
• RTX 3070 FE, stock clocks
• 1 x TeamGroup 1 TB NVMe M.2 SSD
• 2 x WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD
• Corsair RM850x, 850W 80PLUS Gold power supply unit
• ALIENWARE 34″ CURVED QD-OLED GAMING MONITOR – AW3423DWF

Test Configuration – Software

• NVIDIA GeForce 531.94 game-ready press drivers; ‘Prefer maximum performance’ (on a per-game profile basis); Shader Cache Size ‘Unlimited’ (globally); fixed refresh rate (globally).
• We enable Resizable BAR
• ‘V-Sync application controlled’ in the control panel; V-Sync off in-game.
• We note and specify the main in-game display, graphics, AA, and scaling settings in the performance summary charts.
• Windows 11 64-bit Pro edition, latest updates v22H2, High-performance power plan, HAGS & Game Mode are enabled, Game DVR & Game Bar features off, Control Flow Guard (CFG) off on a per-game basis, Hypervisor and Virtualization-based security are disabled.
• We do not install Asrock tools.
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions at the time of publication.
• 3DMark suite, the latest version
• RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS), the latest version
• FrameView, the latest version
• Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), the latest version; always uninstall drivers using DDU in safe mode, clean, and restart.
• ISLC (Purge Standby List) before each benchmark.

GeForce Driver Suite-related

• We use DCH Game Ready drivers.
• The display driver is installed.
• We install the latest version of PhysX.

Hybrid & Non-Synthetic Tests-related

• Single run per test.

Game Benchmarks-related

• We use the corresponding built-in or custom benchmark sequence.

Frametimes Capture

• We use FrameView for capturing frame times and analyzing the relevant performance numbers obtained from each recorded built-in or custom benchmark sequence.

Benchmark Suite:

PC Games

DX11 Games

• Total War: Warhammer III (DX11)

DX12 Games

• Chernoblyte (DX12)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (DX12)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12)
• F1 2022 (DX12)
• Far Cry 6 (DX12)
• Resident Evil 4 (DX12)
• Red Dead Redemption 2(DX12)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
• Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DX12)
• Dirt 5 (DX 12)

Vulkan Games

• DOOM Eternal (VK)

Hybrid Tests (3DMark)

• DLSS Feature Test
• Fire Strike Extreme
• Fire Strike Ultra
• Time Spy
• Time Spy Extreme

Nvidia Control Panel settings

Here are the global Nvidia Control Panel settings:

Noise, Temperatures, and Power Consumption

Unfortunately, we did not have time to check out the overclocking potential, but temperatures were controlled and the RTX 4060 Ti runs very cool.

The RTX 4060 Ti is quiet, and its fans never spin up at idle, even under a heavy or full load to be irritating or noticeable. When gaming it spins up to full often under very heavy loads – like Metro Exodus with all features turned on. It is as silent as the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti we tested previously.

Nvidia Performance Graphs and information

The biggest selling point for the RTX 4060 Ti FE at $399 has to be DLSS 3. There is a lot going for keeping older generations of card until we see a massive raw performance uplift but we have it as long as you like DLSS as a whole.
This is the gigantic upgrade – while some purists may not like frame generation – the performance increase and quality retention is simply stunning. On our QD-OLED display, we could barely see any image quality differences but performance increased dramatically and beat older generation cards easily.

In our testing, the RTX 4060 Ti FE with DLSS 3 is almost 2.6 times faster than the RTX 2060 Super and it nearly doubles the performance of the RTX 3060 Ti while using less power.

Let’s head to the performance charts to compare the graphics performance of the RTX 4070 FE.

Gaming Performance Charts

Main Performance Gaming Summary Charts

Here are BTR’s summary charts of games, six hybrid, and three non-synthetic tests. We note and specify the main in-game display, graphics, AA, and scaling settings on the performance summary charts below. The benches were run at 2560×1440 and 1920×1080.

FireStrike Graphics Score:
3060: 29501
3070: 17807
4060 Ti: 32678
4070: 42120
Timespy Graphics Score – DX12 1440p:
3060: 8102
3070: 13432
4060 Ti: 13285
4070: 17881
4070Ti: 22467
Timespy Extreme Graphics Score
3060: 3102
4060 Ti: 6345
4070: 8531
Averaged Framerates & Relative GPU Performance

The RTX 4060 Ti is a clear improvement but at a significantly higher buy-in price for not much raw horsepower gain compared to the previous generation. In comparison to the rest of the 40 series lineup, the RTX 4070’s performance is unmatched for budget/value gamers but the RTX 4060 Ti sits in limbo while we wait for the 16GB version and its non-Ti counterpart.

Average Frames
The RTX 4060 Ti is going to be a 1440p capable card but with some tweaks as mentioned, but it mostly shines at 1080p. It is not really outclassing its older generations and loses outright to the RTX 3070. It is around 10% faster than the RTX 3060 Ti and about that much slower than the RTX 3070 in most cases.

Final Thoughts & Verdict

This has been an enjoyable exploration evaluating the new RTX 4060 Ti. Overall, it is the best 40 series value for your money currently available but only if you are completely new to PC gaming and want to build a great 1080p machine right now. Otherwise, we suggest waiting.

Still, we have to remember the RTX 3060 Ti was great for 1440p gaming but the VRAM issues of modern games are likely not going away so it is a major concern that have just 8GB even with the improved L2 cache and DLSS 3 availability.

Nvidia’s technology is incredibly exciting but in 4-5 years this card may not hold up to more modern demands if you expect more than it what it was designed for in games that do not support its most impressive features. More VRAM is just around the corner with the 16GB model so you have to discuss whether that price increase is worth the wait.

Games like RE 4 and MW2 were always either too close for comfort or much beyond the VRAM limit at max graphics and we had to lower some settings to get it to run a simple benchmark. This may have been a driver issue but we are unsure at the moment.

Thankfully, RTX 4060 Ti is compact and amazingly efficient compared to the RTX 30 series and its 40 series brothers. The idle fan stop is huge for us, and support for AV1 encoding is stellar for a lot of streamers at this price.

Not everyone cares about DLSS and its effect on an image. For this, the RTX 4060 Ti performed above the RTX 3060 Ti in most cases but barely at around 10% faster at 1080p. It was also well above the RTX 2060 but loses in almost every game to the RTX 3070 at 1440p.

However, the RTX 4060 Ti user base will see enough significant performance gains on 20 and 10 series cards to be able to make this a worthwhile consideration.

The gap widened significantly with frame generation/DLSS 3 – So much so that this is a no-brainer if titles with that technology available are what you mostly play.

However, this is not a “wow” with the raster performance jump over the previous generation. Instead, the RTX 4060 Ti is more efficient, more compact, and has much better features especially if you are still on a 10-series card. This is a worthy point in time with a card that is finally available at a reasonable price as a poster child for the generational leaps Nvidia is making with its technology and DLSS 3.

For a hundred dollars more you could buy an RTX 4060 Ti 16GB when it releases or a current AMD offering – for now but the rumor mill is swirling with a pending release. This would have been a slam dunk if there was no 8gb version and instead we had a $300-400 RTX 4060 Ti at launch. The lineup of cards would have been perfect and much more appealing to nearly every gamer.

We do implore you to look at our upcoming DLSS 3 comparison of the current generation. This technology is finally allowing Nvidia to realize the dream that has been ray tracing. We can now maintain great performance while having the full suite of RTX features on an mid-level card. Safe to say, we like the RTX 4060 Ti for multi-generational upgrades but we suggest waiting for its own competition and what AMD may offer in this price range. The RTX 4060 Ti 16gb should be very nice and the normal RTX 4060 in July should be interesting to compare!

–Happy gaming!

This review follows up BTR’s Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB review where we noted that AMD claims it is “VR Ready Premium”. On AMD’s website they picture a Vive Pro as a HMD capable of providing a “VR Ready Premium experience”. So we present a VR performance showdown between the RX 5500 XT 8GB, the RX 590 8GB, and versus the GTX 1660 6GB. We measure frametimes and unconstrained performance using FCAT VR with the Vive Pro to see if any of these entry-level PCVR video cards can provide a premium VR experience.

The RX 5500 XT 8GB starts at $199 in the USA and the Red Dragon version we benchmark is $219. The GTX 1660 starts at $209 and our test EVGA GTX 1660 XC is $229. The RX 590 starts at $199 and the Red Devil version commands a premium price if one can be found. All of these test cards fit into the $199 to $229 range and we are interested to see how they compare using our 10-game VR benchmark suite.

Since we posted our original review three years ago, we have benchmarked many VR games for our follow-up reviews over the past thirty-six months using the Oculus Rift CV-1 but now we are using a more demanding HMD, the Vive Pro. We have also compared FCAT-VR with our own video benchmarks using a camera to capture images directly from our HMDs’ lenses. For BTR’s VR testing methodology, please refer to this evaluation.

We currently benchmark ten VR games using the Vive Pro. BTR’s testing platform is an Intel Core i7-8700K at 4.8GHz, an EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard and 16 GB of T-Force XTREEM DDR4 at 3866MHz on Windows 10 64-bit Home Edition. Here are the ten VR games that we benchmark:

• ARK: Park
• Elite Dangerous
• Fallout 4
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• No Man’s Sky
• Obduction
• Project CARS 2
• Skyrim
• Subnautica
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

It is important to be aware of VR performance since poorly delivered frames can make a VR experience very unpleasant. It is also important to understand how we accurately benchmark VR games as explained here. But before we benchmark our ten VR games, check out our Test Configuration.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-8700K (HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 4.8GHz for all cores; Coffee Lake DX11 CPU graphics).
• EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard (Intel Z370 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0/3.1 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x), supplied by EVGA
• T-Force XTREEM 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB, dual channel at 3866MHz), supplied by Team Group
• Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB, at Red Dragon Factory clocks, on loan from PowerColor
• Red Devil RX 590 8GB, at Red Devil factory clocks, on loan from PowerColor
• EVGA GTX 166 XC 6GB, at EVGA factory clocks, on loan from EVGA
• 480GB L5 LTE Team Group SSD
• 1.92TB San Disk enterprise class SSD
• 2TB Micron 1100 enterprise class SSD
• T-FORCE Vulcan 500GB SSD, supplied by Team Group
• EVGA 1000G 1000W Gold power supply unit
• Cooler Master 240mm CPU water cooler
• EVGA Nu Audio stereo PCIe sound card, supplied by EVGA
• Edifier R1280T active desktop speakers
• EVGA DG-77, mid-tower case supplied by EVGA
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K
• Vive Pro, on loan from HTC/Vive

Test Configuration – Software

• GeForce Game Ready 441.66 WHQL drivers
• Adrenalin Software Edition 19.12.3 drivers
• Unconstrained framerate results show average frame rates where higher is better; Frametime plots show frametimes where lower is better
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition v1909
• Latest DirectX
• All 10 VR games are patched to their latest versions at time of publication
• FCAT-VR Capture vCL27239443
• FCAT-VR Beta 18
• SteamVR
• Viveport

10 VR Game benchmark suite & 2 synthetic tests

Synthetic

• VRMark Cyan Room
• Unigine Superposition VR Benchmark

SteamVR/Viveport*/Epic** Platform Games

• ARK: Park
• Elite Dangerous
• Fallout 4
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• No Man’s Sky
• Obduction*
• Project CARS 2
• Skyrim
• Subnautica**
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Unreal 4 engine is a very popular engine for VR development, and four of our ten benchmarked games are created with it. The Creation engine is used for two games, while the COBRA, No Man’s Sky, Unity, and Madness engines are each represented by one game. All of the engines are identified under each game’s description.

It is important to remember that BTR’s charts use frametimes in ms where lower is better, but we also compare “unconstrained framerates” which shows what a video card could deliver (headroom) if it wasn’t locked to either 90 FPS or to 45 FPS by the HMD. In the case of unconstrained FPS which measures one important performance metric, faster is better.

Please note that these charts only feature frametimes without interval plots because of an issue with the way FCAT-VR still incorrectly reports synthetic frames as dropped frames using the Vive Pro. All of our games were benchmarked at 100% resolution.

Let’s individually look at our ten VR games’ performance using FCAT-VR. First up, ARK Park.

ARK Park

ARK Park is a single or multiplayer VR adventure game set in a dinosaur theme park, and it allows gamers to interact with a few of the dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved. The idea is to explore your own “Jurassic Park” with opportunities to study genetics, raise baby dinosaurs from eggs, ride and paint them, and even defend the park against attacking dinosaurs in a wave shooter segment.

ARK: Park has very few adjustable settings so we benchmark using its highest preset setting.

Here are the performance results of our three competing cards using FCAT-VR’s generated chart.

The unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 101.2 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 55.1 FPS and the RX 590 only achieved 55.2 unconstrained FPS. We suspect that the Radeon cards have driver issues with this game.

Elite Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is a popular space sim built using the COBRA engine. It is hard to find a repeatable benchmark outside of the training missions.

A player will probably spend a lot of time piloting his space cruiser while completing a multitude of tasks. Elite Dangerous is also co-op and multiplayer with a dedicated following of players.

We picked the Medium Preset. Here are the frametimes.

The unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 81.2 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 68.7 FPS, while the RX 590 got 70.1 FPS

Let’s check out Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 VR

Fallout 4 uses the Creation Engine. We benchmark at its highest settings and with TAA.

Here are the frametimes for Fallout 4.

In Fallout 4, the unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 46.7 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 42.9 FPS, making the game an unacceptable experience on highest settings even using reprojection. The RX 590 is in a similar class with 45.8 unconstrained FPS. It was unpleasant to play Fallout 4 with a RX 5500 XT at these settings as many frames were dropped even while using reprojection and we would recommend lowering them.

Next we benchmark Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a visually impressive game using the Unreal 4 engine. It is a dark and disturbing game that is far more intense in VR than playing the regular version. We benchmark at the Very Highest settings and with TAA even though all three of our entry level cards will use reprojected frames.

Here is the frametime plot for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice on its highest settings at 100%.

The unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 59.3 FPS but the RX 1550 XT did much better with 69.4 FPS. The RX 590 managed 67.9 unconstrained frames. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a beautiful game on its highest setting and it is generally playable with all three of our video cards at a locked 45Hz/FPS framerate using reprojection.

Next we will check out another very demanding VR game, No Man’s Sky.

No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky is an action-adventure survival single and multiplayer game that emphasizes survival, exploration, fighting, and trading. It is set in a procedurally generated deterministic open universe, which includes over 18 quintillion unique planets using its own custom game engine.

The player takes the role of a Traveller, in an uncharted universe by starting on a random planet with a damaged spacecraft equipped only with a jetpack-equipped exosuit and a versatile multi-tool that can also be used for defense. The player is encouraged to find resources to repair their spacecraft allowing for intra- and inter-planetary travel, and to interact with other players.

Here is the No Man’s Sky Frametime plot. We set the settings to “Enhanced” which is just above Low and we raised anisotropic filtering from 2x to 16x.

In No Man’s Sky, the unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 49.5 FPS but the RX 1550 XT only gave 42.8 FPS, making it an unacceptable experience on Enhanced settings even using reprojection. The RX 590 only managed 45.6 unconstrained FPS. which means some frames will be dropped. Again, it was unsettling to play No Man’s Sky at Enhanced settings using a RX 5500 XT and we would recommend dropping them to Low.

Next up is another demanding VR game, Obduction.

Obduction

Obduction is considered the spiritual successor to Myst and Riven. It is an adventure game developed by Cyan Worlds using the Unreal 4 engine. There is an emphasis on puzzle solving which get more and more difficult as a player progresses.

Here is Obduction’s frametime plot.

Obduction’s unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 68.7 FPS with 7 dropped frames and the RX 1550 XT gave 75.3 FPS. The RX 590 delivered 75.0 unconstrained FPS which means all three cards will work OK with reprojection.

Next we will check out another demanding VR game, Project CARS 2.

Project CARS 2

There is no way outside of the virtual reality experience to convey the incredible sense of immersion that comes from playing Project CARS 2 in VR using a wheel and pedals. It uses its in-house Madness engine and the physics implementation is outstanding.

Project CARS 2 offers many performance options and settings, and we prefer playing with our three cards using Medium settings (also using SMAA Medium) but with Motion Blur set to Low.

Here are the results of our FCAT-VR benching.

Project CARS 2’s unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 49.6 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 47.0 FPS. The RX 590 delivered 50.3 unconstrained FPS which means the game is marginally playable on all three cards at Medium settings using reprojection although it is certainly not ideal.

Let’s benchmark Skyrim VR.

Skyrim VR

Skyrim VR is an older game that is not as demanding as many of the newer VR ports so its performance is very good on maxed-out settings using its Creation engine. We played for over 40 hours to complete the main quest in VR with a much higher sense of immersion than playing the pancake game. Casting fireballs from ones fingertips and feeling the thunk of arrows into one’s shield is a great experience unique to Skyrim VR.

We benchmarked Skyrim VR using its highest settings.

Skyrim’s unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 86.1 FPS but the RX 1550 XT gave 65.9 FPS. The RX 590 delivered 72.8 unconstrained frames per second so all three cards can play Skyrim on highest settings with reprojection.

Subnautica

Subnautica uses a heavily modded version of the Unity engine. As the sole survivor of a crash landing, the player ventures into the depths of a visually impressive alien underwater world. Here you can explore, craft equipment and build bases, pilot underwater craft, and solve mysteries while attempting to survive a very hostile environment.

We benchmarked Subnautica using its Lowest settings. There is a lot less detail playing on low, and textures pop into view rather suddenly.

Subnautica’s unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 57.5 FPS and the RX 1550 XT gave 54.8 FPS, making the game a somewhat acceptable VR experience on Low settings using reprojection. The RX 590 managed 51.8 unconstrained FPS in third place.

Subnautica is a very demanding game even at the lowest settings. We would recommend adding Steam VR’s Motion Smoothing – or dropping the resolution multiplier – in addition to using reprojection for satisfactory play without tempting VR sickness using entry level cards with a demanding HMD such as the Vive Pro.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is built on the Unreal 4 engine and it boasts amazing visuals even on entry-level cards. Although it is considered by some to be a walking simulator, it is also an excellent detective game with great puzzles. Be aware that its style of locomotion tends to make some of its players VR sick.

There are just a few in-game graphics options available, so we picked 100% resolution with TAA.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter’s unconstrained framerate of the GTX 1660 was 147.7 FPS, the RX 1550 XT gave 122.2 FPS, and the RX 590 produced 131.5 FPS. No synthetic or dropped frames were reported by any of our cards and this is one game out of ten where our three cards can each deliver a “premium” VR experience.

When there is performance headroom as in this case, we recommend increasing the resolution multiplier as far as a player’s card can handle without needing to generate synthetic frames. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is the last of our ten tested games, so let’s look at the summary charts.

Unconstrained Framerates

The following chart summarizes the overall Unconstrained Framerates of our three test games. Included are two synthetic benchmarks, Superposition (given in average and minimum FPS) and VRMark’s Cyan Room (score). An ‘X’ means the game was not run.

The GTX 1660 is the fastest VR card of the three tested winning seven games while the RX 1550 XT only wins two and the RX 590 only manages to win one game.

The VR Big Picture

Besides the above three cards, we also compare the GTX 1660 SUPER, the GTX 1660 Ti, the RX 5700 XT, the RTX 2060 SUPER, the RTX 2070 SUPER, the RTX 2080 SUPER and the RTX 2080 Ti on recent drivers using the Vive Pro. Please note that settings have been lowered for the first five entry level cards as noted in the smaller chart above. An ‘X’ means the game was not run at that setting. Open the chart in a separate window or tab for best viewing.

Only the RTX 2080 Ti is able to deliver at least 90 FPS/90Hz in 9 of our 10 of our tested games, and the results have been ranked in order from the weakest card (RX 5500 XT) to the strongest (RTX 2080 Ti). Let’s check out our conclusion.

Conclusion

The GTX 1660, the RX 5500 XT and the RX 590 are in approximately the same class when it comes to VR performance although the GeForce card wins seven out of ten games.

Although these three cards are sufficient for playing with a less demanding HMD like the Oculus Rift CV-1 or the original Vive, they each struggle to give sufficient performance using the Vive Pro. At best, these cards can only manage to keep two out of our ten test games at 90 FPS while the others require using reprojection to even maintain a locked 45 FPS, and in some cases they fail to maintain that cadence and drop frames. We felt uneasy benching several games and would have to drop settings even further to avoid VR sickness for extended play.

We would like to make it clear that a drop to 45Hz down from 90Hz is noticeable and that any irregularities in framerate delivery are magnified by reprojection. This reviewer would not recommend an entry-level card like the RX 5500 XT for premium VR. If someone is going to spend hundreds of dollars on a premium HMD like the Vive Pro or the Valve Index they should not cheap out on their graphics card. We conclude that the RX 5500 XT and similar performing cards do not deliver a “VR Ready Premium” experience using a premium headset.

Next up, we are reviewing a Team Group Delta Max 500GB RGB-enabled SSD before we return to VR with something very special for our readers. Stay tuned!

Happy VR gaming!

BTR received a PowerColor Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB ($199 – Updated by PowerColor to $219.99) review sample on Friday, and we have benchmarked it using 46 games versus the ($169) Sapphire RX 5500 XT Pulse 4GB. Although the Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB is designed for High/Ultra 1080P, BTR’s 46 game benchmarks were run at Ultra 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440 to stress it beyond its limits.

We already posted our Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse 4GB OC review earlier this morning and we will not repeat all the same information here. We are benchmarking the same cards, but now with the addition of the Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB we are placing a special emphasis on comparing the performance of 4GB vs. 8GB of vRAM of similarly clocked RX 5500 XTs.

The PowerColor Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB

Although there is no AMD reference design, the Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB shares the same specifications including the 1845MHz maximum Boost clock, but its game clock is set 20MHz higher at 1437MHz which also matches its core clocks with the Sapphire RX 5500 XT 4GB Pulse.

The specifications look good, it is fully featured, and the card looks awesome, so let’s unbox it and look more closely at it before we benchmark it.

Unboxing the Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB

The Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB comes in an small box that advertise its features. The Red Dragon is an 8GB RX 5500 XT built on 7nm using AMD’s latest RDNA architecture and it features 4.0 PCIe support, Fidelity FX and FreeSync 2.

The features and the minimum system requirements including the need for a 450W power supply are detailed on the back of the box. Power efficiency, 8K video streaming, and other Radeon key features are detailed.

Mute fan technology means the dual axial fans will come to a dead stop below 60℃ under a light gaming load providing silent gaming while reducing power consumption. PowerColor stresses that lower temperatures mean better performance and we shall see that it runs almost 10C cooler than the Sapphire RX 5500 XT Pulse. The cooling fan is equipped with two-ball bearings which increases longevity.

Opening the box we see a quick start guide.

The Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB is a handsome card.

Turning it over, we see the Red Dragon logo on a solid metal 1.5mm backplate that protects the PCB against flexing and prevents damaging the traces.

Looking at the Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB from one edge we see the large heatsink with many dense fins that extend for much of the length of the PCB. Note that one 8-pin PCIe connector is required unlike the 6-pin+8-pin connectors required for the Red Devil RX 590.

We see the heatpipes connecting the heatsinks.

On the one end, the connectors consist of one DisplayPorts, one DVI connector, and a HDMI connector. We don’t like this setup as well as the cards that use three DisplayPort connectors which is better for VR setups.

The Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB looks great from any angle. But before we explore overclocking and then performance testing, let’s take a closer look at our test configuration.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-8700K (HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 4.8GHz for all cores; Coffee Lake DX11 CPU graphics).
• EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard (Intel Z370 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0/3.1 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x), supplied by EVGA
• T-FORCE 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB, dual channel at 3866 MHz), supplied by Team Group
• Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB at Red Dragon clocks, on loan from PowerColor
• Sapphire RX 5500 XT Pulse OC 4GB, on loan from Sapphire
• EVGA GTX 1660 XC 6GB at EVGA factory settings, on loan from EVGA
• Red Devil RX 570 4GB, at Red Devil factory overclocked settings, on loan from PowerColor
• EVGA GTX 1060 SC 6GB, factory SC clocks, on loan from EVGA
• 2 x 480GB Team Group SSDs – one for AMD, and one for NVIDIA
• 1.92TB San Disk enterprise class SSD
• 2TB Micron 1100 enterprise class SSD
• 500GB Vulkan SSD, supplied by Team Group
• Seasonic 850W Gold Focus power supply unit
• Cooler Master 240mm CPU water cooler
• EVGA Nu Audio PCIe soundcard, supplied by EVGA
• Edifier R1320T Active speakers
• EVGA DG-77, mid-tower case supplied by EVGA
• LG 43″ HDR 4K TV
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K

Test Configuration – Software

• GeForce 436.48 drivers used for the GTX 1060 SC. Game Ready 441.41 drivers are used for the GTX 1660. See NVIDIA Control Panel image below.
• AMD Adrenalin Software 19.12.2 (press drivers) is used for the Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB, the RX 5500 XT Pulse 4GB, the Red Devil RX 590 8GB and the RX 570 4GB. See the AMD Control Panel image below.
• VSync is forced off.
• AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied
• Gaming results show average frame rates in bold including minimum frame rates shown on the chart next to the averages in a smaller italics font where higher is better. Games benched with OCAT show average framerates but the minimums are expressed by the 99th percentile frametime in ms where lower numbers are better.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition. DX11 titles are run under DX11 render paths. DX12 titles are generally run under the DX12 render path unless performance is lower than with DX11; and Borderlands 3, Total War Warhammer II, and Hitman 2 are tested on DX11 and on DX12. Five games use the Vulkan API.
• Latest DirectX
• All 46 games are patched to their latest versions at time of posting.
• The Adrenalin 2020 control panel is used to set Radeon options
• The NVIDIA control panel is used for GeForce settings
• OCAT, latest version
• Fraps, latest version
• Afterburner, latest non-beta version
• Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark

46 PC Game benchmark suite & 3 synthetic tests

Synthetic

• Firestrike – Basic & Extreme
• Time Spy DX12
• Superposition

DX11 Games

• Grand Theft Auto V
• The Witcher 3
• Fallout 4
• Rainbow Six Siege
• Overwatch
• For Honor
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• ARK: Survival Evolved
• Project CARS 2
• Total Wars: Warhammer II
• Middle Earth: Shadow of War
• Star Wars: Battlefront II
• Monster Hunter: World
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance
• Final Fantasy XV
• Far Cry 5
• Conan Exiles
• Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
• Hitman 2
• Just Cause 4
• Resident Evil 2
• Anthem
• FarCry New Dawn
• Devil May Cry 5
• Borderlands 3
• Destiny 2 Shadowkeep
• Ghost Recon Breakpoint
• The Outer Worlds

DX12 Games

• Civilization VI
• Sniper Elite 4
• Forza 7
• Total War: Warhammer II
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Hitman 2
• Battlefield V
• Metro Exodus
• Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
• Anno 1800
• F1 2019
• Control
• Gears 5
• Borderlands 3
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Vulkan Games

• DOOM
• Strange Brigade
• World War Z
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood
• Red Dead Redemption 2

AMD Adrenalin Control Center Settings

All AMD settings are set so as to be apples-to-apples when compared to NVIDIA’s control panel settings – all optimizations are off, Vsync is forced off, Texture filtering is set to High, and Tessellation uses application settings.

We pick the above Custom Global Performance settings for our benchmarking which has to be precisely repeatable, so Surface Format and other optimizations are disabled. As above, Anisotropic Filtering is disabled by default but we always use 16X for all game benchmarks.

NVIDIA Control Panel settings

Here are the NVIDIA Control Panel settings that match AMD’s settings.

We did not adjust any card’s Power and Temperature limits since it does not benefit low-power cards.

Let’s check out overclocking, temperatures, and noise next.

Overclocking, temperatures & noise

The Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB is a low-power and quiet card even when overclocked. We could not hear it over the fans of our PC even when it ramps up, unlike with the Red Devil RX 590 or even the RX 570. Because of extreme time pressure, we will spend more time manually overclocking and testing performance in a follow-up overclocking showdown.

Here is Heaven 4.0 running at stock clocks which allowed the Boost to stay locked between 1828MHz and 1838MHz which is well above AMD’s typical game clock of 1717MHz and very slightly higher than the Sapphire Pulse XT GPU clocks. Under a heavy gaming load, we never saw it hit AMD’s maximum boost clock of 1845MHz after it warmed up.

The card stayed cool generally at or below 61℃ even under a heavy load so its dual fans never became intrusive. The Red Dragon RX 5500 XT 8GB runs about 8-10℃ cooler than the Sapphire RX 5500 XT Pulse temperatures although we couldn’t hear either card over our PC’s cooling fans.

We will check performance compared with five other competing cards using 46 games while focusing on 4GB vs. 8GB performance, and then head for our conclusion.

Kingston just announced it’s 32GB, 16GB, 8GB Server Premier 3200MT/s DDR4 Registed DIMMs are available now to for the new 2nd Gen AMD EPYC Rome Processor. Here is their press release:

Fountain Valley, CA – August 7, 2019 – Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced its 32GB, 16GB and 8GB Server Premier 3200MT/s DDR4 Registered DIMMs are available now to fully unleash the power of the new 2^nd Gen AMD EPYCProcessor (aka “Rome”).

Kingston’s Server Premier modules are specifically engineered to take full advantage of AMD’s latest eight-channel server microarchitecture. At 3200MT/s — the next-generation memory frequency supported in the latest AMD EPYC processor family — each DIMM provides peak bandwidth of 25.6GB/s. When grouped for multi-channel performance, this provides a significant boost in performance for today’s memory intensive server applications.

For over three decades, Kingston has been the memory brand that customers choose to power their data centers. Server Premier memory features a locked BOM (Bill of Materials) to ensure a consistent brand and revision of DRAM and undergoes rigorous, dynamic burn-in testing designed to root out early-life failures at the factory before being shipped out. A key component of the production test process is that Kingston simulates customer workloads on the very same motherboards that are found in their data centers.

Server Premier features include:

• Locked Bill of Materials (BOM)
• Part Change Notifications (PCN) of 45-90 days
• Server platform validation
• Leading server motherboard manufacturer qualification
• DDR4 speeds from 2400 – 3200MT/s
• Lifetime warranty
• Industry-leading service and support

“Our latest 3200MT/s memory modules have been thoroughly tested and are ready to be deployed in servers using ‘Rome,’ the new 2^nd Gen AMD EPYC processor,” said Mike Mohney, server memory business manager, Kingston. “OEMs and the world’s leading data centers trust and standardize on Kingston and our Server Premier memory solutions. We work closely together with our customers and partners giving unprecedented technical guidance and access so they can maximize the memory performance in their data centers.”

The following modules are available now:

For more information visit Kingston.com.

Kingston can be found on:

• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/kingston
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kingstontechnology
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KingstonTech
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kingstontechnology/
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/kingston

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Instead of requiring 2 PCIe connectors as in the 28nm R9 200 and 300 series, the RX 480 uses only 1, yet it is supposed to deliver near R9 390 performance. In the case of the Gigabyte RX 480 G1, it uses a single 8-pin PCIe cable versus the 6-pin power connector in the reference RX 480. We already saw the reference RX 480 get into trouble with its 6-pin connector as being insufficient for overclocking. Having an 8-pin power connector instead of the 6-pin connector found in the reference board, the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 is designed for superior performance, better overclocking, and more stable power.

Overclocking Utilities for Polaris

Make sure to check the RX 480 8GB launch article which gives the details about the RX 480’s new features. WattMan is AMD’s overclocking utility that controls GPU voltage, engine clocks, memory clocks, fan speed and temperature. WattMan even features data capture and a historical view of GPU activity, temperature, fan, and clock speeds.

Gigabyte also has an XTREME Engine utility for overclocking and for controlling the G1’s LED display. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have voltage adjustments yet for the RX 480 which are necessary to stabilize a really high overclock. Here are the G1’s stock clocks.In the weeks since the RX 480 was released, Sapphire’s utility, TriXX, has become more fully-featured than AMD’s WattMan and it can add more voltage for higher overclocks.

Let’s take a brief look at the specifications of the AMD Radeon RX 480 reference version versus the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 Gaming.

The reference RX 480 8GB vs. the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB Gaming

Here are the specifications for the reference RX 480 8GB:

The above specifications are for the 8GB version of RX 480 which uses 8GB of 8Gbps GDDR5 memory. Now here are the specifications for the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming Edition.

The Gigabyte RX 480 G1 Gaming has a factory-set maximum boost clock of 1290MHz, or 24MHz higher than the reference 1266MHz core boost clocks.

Our Testbed of Competing Cards

Here is our testbed of 5 competing cards in approximately the $250 to $300 range. The Red Devil RX 480 OC has had its price lowered at Newegg this week from $279 to $259 ($249 after $10 mail-in-rebate) and many of the RX 480s cards have a BF1 upgrade discount bundle worth perhaps $20.

• Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming at Gigabyte factory clocks and further overclocked – $269
• PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 OC 8GB – at PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 clocks – $259
• RX 480 8GB – reference version and clocks – $239 to $249
• EVGA GTX 1060 SC, 6GB, at EVGA SC clocks, $259.
• GTX 1060 6GB, reference clocks, $249-$299

We also present our “Big Picture” which includes all of the above cards overclocked in addition to the Red Devil RX 470, the EVGA GTX 1060 3GB, the GTX 1070, the GTX 970 OC, the GTX 960 OC and the R9 280X.

Testing Platform

Our testing platform is Windows 10 Home 64-bit, using an Intel Core i7-6700K at 4.00GHz which turbos to 4.4GHz for all cores as set in the ASRock Z7170 motherboard’s BIOS, and 16GB of G.SKILL DDR4 at 3000MHz. The settings and hardware are identical except for the two cards being tested.

We will compare the performance of 25 modern games at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440 resolutions with maximum settings featuring our newest 2016 games, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and Deux Ex Mankind Divided, and we also include Ashes of the Singularity, Hitman, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Total War Warhammer using DX12. We have also added Futuremark’s DX12 benchmark, Time Spy.

First, let’s take a closer look at the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming edition.

A Closer Look at the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming

The Gigabyte RX 480 G1 advertises itself as a card ready for HDR and gaming. DX12 support, 14nm, and FreeSync are also emphasized on the front of the box together with RGB Spectrum, WindForce and OC Edition.

Here is the other side of the box showing off the WindForce 2X cooling system along with other important features of the G1. The model name is on the side panel. The G1 comes well-packed and also in anti-static bag.The packing is good but there is no bundle, just a quick guide. The Gigabyte RX 480 G1 Gaming is a good looking and solidly built card using heatpipes coupled with a radiator and twin fan technology called WindForce 2X to cool the GPU. When the temperature of the GPU is below about 60C, the fans turn off completely.

Turning the G1 over, we see it is has a solid backplate. Interestingly, there are no ventilation holes although their lack did not seem to adversely impact temperatures.

The G1’s connectors include 3 DisplayPorts and 1 HDMI connection and a Dual-Link DVI connector. The reference version of the RX 480 lacks the DVI connector.

The reference version of the RX 480 uses only one 6-pin PCIe connector which got our two samples into trouble with power draw over the PCIe slot and also upset the stability of our PC when we tried to overclock it. On the other hand, Gigabyte wisely uses an 8-pin power connector for better stability and for better overclocking potential.

The Gigabyte RX 480 G1 Gaming edition is a handsome card that appears to be solidly built. Let’s check out its performance after we look over our test configuration on the next page.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-6700K (reference 4.0GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 4.4GHz; DX11 CPU graphics).
• ASRock Z7170M OC Formula motherboard (Intel Z7170 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0/3.1 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x)
• G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB, dual channel at 3000MHz)
• Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming, at Gigabyte factory clocks and further overclocked.
• EVGA GTX 1060 SC 6GB, at reference and EVGA factory clocks, supplied by EVGA
• PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 OC 8GB, at reference and at PowerColor clocks, supplied by PowerColor.
• PowerColor Red Devil RX 470, at PowerColor clocks, supplied by PowerColor
• EVGA GTX 1060 3GB, reference clocks, supplied by EVGA
• GALAX GTX 970 EXOC, 4GB, at GALAX factory clocks, supplied by GALAX
• GTX 1070 8GB Founders Edition, Supplied by Nvidia
• ASUS GTX 960 OC 2GB, at ASUS clocks, supplied by ASUS
• PowerColor R9 280X, 3GB, at reference clocks, supplied by PowerColor
• Two 2TB Toshiba 7200 rpm HDDs for each platform
• EVGA 1000G 1000W power supply unit (for both platforms)
• Thermaltake Water2.0, supplied by Thermaltake
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• ASUS 12X Blu-ray writer
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K

Test Configuration – Software

• GeForce WHQL 372.70 was used for the EVGA GTX 1060 SC. Check the Big Picture chart for other Nvidia driver versions. High Quality, prefer maximum performance, single display. See control panel images below.
• AMD Crimson Software 16.9.1 hotfix drivers were used for the benching the Gigabyte RX 480 and 16.8.X was used for the other RX 480s. Check the Big Picture chart for other AMD driver versions. See control panel image below.
• VSync is off in the control panel.
• AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied
• All results show average frame rates including minimum frame rates shown in italics on the chart next to the averages in smaller font. Percentage differences are calculated between the average frame rates of the RX 480 and of the GTX 1060 SC.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition, all DX11 titles were run under DX11 render paths. Our four DX12 titles are run under the DX12 render path. Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions at time of publication.
• Gigabyte Xtreme Engine overclocking utility
• Sapphire TriXX overclocking utility
• EVGA’s Precision XOC, reviewer’s version 6.

• The 25 PC Game benchmark suite & 2 synthetic tests

Synthetic

• Firestrike – Basic & Extreme
• Time Spy DX12

• Crysis 3
• Metro: Last Light Redux (2014)
• Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor
• Alien Isolation
• Dragon’s Age: Inquisition
• Dying Light
• Grand Theft Auto V
• ProjectCARS
• the Witcher 3
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Mad Max
• Fallout 4
• Star Wars Battlefront
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
• Just Cause 3
• Rainbow Six Siege
• DiRT Rally
• Far Cry Primal
• Tom Clancy’s The Division
• Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
• Deus Ex Mankind Divided

DX12 Games

• Ashes of the Singularity
• Hitman
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Total War: Warhammer

AMD Crimson Control Center Settings:

Nvidia Control Panel settings:

Let’s check out overclocking next.

Overclocking the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 vs. the EVGA GTX 1060 SC and vs. the Red Devil RX 480

We used Sapphire’s TriXX to set our overclock since the latest version allows voltage boosts higher than by using AMD’s WattMan or by Gigabyte’s utility. The PowerColor Red Devil version of the RX 480 8GB is factory clocked up to it’s maximum boost speeds of 1330MHz , up from 1266MHz at stock while the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 is factory clocked at 1290MHz.

We found that as long as the temperatures remain remain relatively cool (below 76 F) and the Power and Temperature limits are maximized, the G1 will not throttle even when overclocked to its maximum, and temperatures peak right around 80C. Even at 100% fan, the noise level is acceptable and the temperatures generally stay in the mid to upper 60s C with the GPU under full load. The dual-fan Gigabyte RX 480 G1 Gaming WindForce 2X video card is a noticeably quieter card than the tri-fan cooled PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 OC.

We settled on a 1415MHz core boost (from 1266MHz stock/1290MHz G1 clocks) with the memory clocks at 8600MHz (from 7000MHz stock). Our sample of the G1 is able to overclock about +15MHz higher on its core than our sample of the Red Devil RX 480 OC, and it does it more quietly. Matching higher memory clocks gained significant performance for both the G1 and for the Red Devil RX 480, whereas with our other RX 4x0s, higher memory clocks would generally negatively impact performance.

Overclocking the EVGA GTX 1060 SC

We devoted a separate overclocking evaluation to the EVGA GTX 1060 SC using PrecisionX OC which you can read here. We achieved a final stable overclock of +100 MHz to the core which settled in around 2088MHz with GPU Boost 3.0 for the majority of our benching as we kept our room cool (72 F) for all of our game benchmarks. Our memory overclock remained at +700MHz for its clock of 4705MHz which greatly contributed to the increased performance. The fan never became intrusive when pushed from 90% to 100% – it produces a louder “whoosh” of air without an annoying whine, but the GPU remained cool in the low to mid-60s C.

Let’s head to the performance chart to see how the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming compares with its competing cards of Summer, 2016.

Performance summary charts

Below is the summary chart of 25 games and 2 synthetic tests. The highest settings are always chosen and it is usually DX11; DX12 is picked above DX11 where available. Specific settings are listed on the performance charts. The benches were run at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440.

All results, except for FireStrike and Time Spy, show average frame rates and higher is always better. Minimum frame rates are shown when they are available and they make sense, next to the averages but they are in italics and in a slightly smaller font. The reference RX 480 results are in the first column, the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 is in the second column, the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 results are in the third column, the overclocked G1 in the fourth, the overclocked Red Devil is in the fifth, the reference GTX 1060 is in the sixth, the EVGA GTX 1060 SC results are in the seventh column, the overclocked EVGA GTX 1060 SC results are in the last column.

The Gigabyte RX 480 G1 gaming is faster than the reference RX 480 and only slightly slower than the Red Devil RX 480. When the G1 is overclocked, it generally beats the Red Devil. However, the GTX EVGA GTX 1060 SC is an excellent overclocker, and even though we got a very good overclock with our G1 and Red Devil RX 480s, the GeForce card wins most of the benches.

The Big Picture

Here is the bigger picture comparing the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming against several stock and overclocked GTX 1060s, with RX 470s, and with RX 480 results. The GTX 1070 results as well as the GTX 970, GTX 960 and RX 280 results are added also. Please open this chart in a separate window or tab for better viewing.

Let’s head to our conclusion.

Conclusion

We have no trouble giving a big recommendation to the Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming Edition with WindForce 2.0 cooling. At $269 it looks great, runs cool and it is very quiet, and its out of the box performance is similar to the competing Red Devil RX 480 for a similar price. Best of all, its cooling is quieter than the Red Devil’s, and our particular G1 was able to achieve a slightly higher overclock which is quite respectable for a RX 480.

Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming Pros

• The Gigabyte RX 480 8GB G1 beats the Red Devil RX 480 OC overall in overclocked performance. Its cooling system is also quieter.
• With one 8-pin PCIe connector, the G1 overclocks much better than with the reference version’s 6-pin connector.
• Overclockability is good out of the box – there is no throttling as long as the PowerLimit is at maximum and the GPU is kept cool.
• The G1 is well-built, looks great, and the backplate adds to its value. The LEDs and customizable RGB lighting add to the aesthetics.
• FreeSync helps to smooth gaming framerates by syncing the display to the GPU and it allows for smooth framerates without stuttering or tearing.
• Gigabyte has excellent support and a 3-year warranty.

Cons

• The EVGA GTX 1060 SC at the same price is generally faster for DX11 games and it has more overclocking headroom.

The Verdict:

If you are buying a fast video card right now and looking for good performance for a better than entry-level VR or for maxed out 1920×1080 gaming, the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 is an excellent choice. It beats the reference RX 480, it overclocks very well, and it runs cool and very quiet.

We would choose the Gigabyte RX 480 G1 for 1920×1080 gaming and perhaps for even higher resolutions, and we would like to award it BTR’s Editor’s Choice Award.

However, compared with similarly-priced Nvidia offerings, the GTX 1060 SC 6GB is a faster card at stock, and due to its superior overclocking headroom, it pulls even further away from the overclocked RX 480s winning most of the benchmarks. If you currently game on an older generation video card like the 280X or a GTX 960, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading to either card. The move to a RX 480 or a GTX 1060 will give you better visuals on the DX11 and DX12 pathways.

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at BTR. By using our entire benchmark suite, next week we are going to evaluate Kingston’s 3333MHz 16GB DDR4 memory kit to see if it is worthwhile to upgrade from 3000MHz memory for the Skylake platform. And we have received a PowerColor Devil Box – an external Thunderbolt 3 graphics adapter – which we are going to benchmark next week for you.

Happy Gaming!

This 256KB unlocked BIOS file can be acquired from the PowerColor Devil Club or from TechPowerUp. The new unlocked BIOS is intended for enthusiasts who want to improve the Red Devil’s performance by increasing the card’s power limits, and it removes a TDP restriction in the original BIOS. Using this new BIOS will increase the power consumption, temperatures, and noise but it will bring performance gains. Since the Red Devil cards ship with a dual-BIOS and a switch, flashing the BIOS is easy and reasonably safe for the experienced overclocker.

AMD released its Polaris architecture as the RX 480 on June 29, and we compared the reference 8GB version to the GTX 980, to a mildly overclocked 970, and to the reference 290X and to the XFX 390 OC. We saw that even though it launched on immature drivers and with power issues, it is definitely well-suited for bringing less expensive VR to the masses as AMD claims. We followed its progress with improved drivers that somewhat addressed the power issues, and we also saw that it was only a fair overclocker versus the GTX 1060.

Now we have the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 8GB with the new unlocked BIOS that we will benchmark at PowerColor clocks against the reference RX 480 with 25 games to see how it compares in performance. A follow up evaluation will manually overclock the Red Devil, and we will compare its performance with its competitor, the EVGA GTX 1060 SC, on Nvidia’s latest drivers.

The much smaller Red Devil RX 470 is pictured below next to the Red Devil RX 480 on the bottom. The aesthetics of red on black make for very good looking cards.

According to AMD, the RX 480 is differentiated from the RX 470 graphics card by the RX 480’s superior ability to deliver immersive VR experiences whereas the RX 470 is aimed primarily at desktop PC gaming. However, both the RX 480 and the RX 470 feature asynchronous shaders and new geometry capabilities that enable support for DirectX 12 and Vulkan with the latest version of Graphics Core Next (GCN) for PC gamers. And gamers will be able to stream and record their favorite games up to 4K at 60 FPS with virtually no performance impact.

Polaris architecture combines the latest FinFET 14nm process technology and advanced power, gating, and clocking technologies to deliver a less power-hungry gaming experience compared with AMD’s last generation. Polaris boasts a brand new display engine and HDR-ready capabilities while the new Radeon WattMan offers a new level of customization and control over clocks, voltages, and temperature. And as with previous generations, Radeon software tends to optimize the hardware as drivers mature, improving gaming performance over time.

Instead of requiring 2 PCIe connectors as in the 28nm R9 200 and 300 series, the RX 480 and the Red Devil RX 470 get by with only 1, yet they deliver near R9 390X performance. In the case of the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480, it uses a single 8-pin PCIe cable versus the 6-pin power connector in the reference RX 470 and RX 480.

We saw the reference RX 480 get into trouble with its 6-pin connector as being insufficient for overclocking. In fact, we have to increase the fan speeds of the reference version to annoying noise levels just to prevent it from throttling its clocks. Having an 8-pin power connector plus superior 6+1 multi-phases where each phase supplies 25W instead of 22.5W found in the reference board, the Red Devil RX 480 is designed for superior performance, overclocking, and more stable power delivery.

Make sure to check the RX 480 8GB launch article which gives more details about Polaris’ new features.

The reference RX 480 8GB vs. the Red Devil RX 480 8GB

First, here are the specifications for the reference RX 480. Its core clock will boost from 1120MHz up to 1270MHz.

The above specifications are for the 8GB $239 version of RX 480 that we reviewed at launch. Below are the specifications for the $279 PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 that boosts its core clock up to 1330MHz, or potentially 60MHz higher than the reference version.

The specifications of the Red Devil RX 480 are quite impressive compared to the reference RX 480. The Red Devil’s boost clocks have been increased from 1270MHz to 1330MHz and its cooling and power delivery are greatly improved. This is why we were originally disappointed to see the rather conservative performance BIOS that PowerColor originally shipped with tended to throttle the clocks down to 1279MHz to keep it just barely ahead of the reference version. The quiet BIOS was no faster than the reference version, although it is certainly whisper-quiet.

Our Testbed

We are going to focus on just two cards in this evaluation, the reference RX 480 versus the Red Devil RX 480 with the unlocked BIOS. We will also show results of the reference RX 470 4GB and the Founders Edition of the GTX 1060. A follow up evaluation will compare the Red Devil RX 480 overclocked to its maximum versus the overclocked EVGA GTX 1060 SC on the latest Nvidia drivers.

We shall test 25 games and 2 synthetic benchmarks at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440. Our testing platform is Windows 10 Home 64-bit, using an Intel Core i7-6700K at 4.00GHz which turbos to 4.4GHz for all cores as set in the ASRock Z7170 motherboard’s BIOS, and 16GB of G.SKILL DDR4 at 3000MHz.

• PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 8GB OC – $279 – at PowerColor clocks and with automatic fan speeds.
• RX 480 8GB – reference version – $239 to $259. The fan speed has been increased to keep the clocks from throttling.
• RX 470 4GB – reference version – $179
• GTX 1060 6GB – Founders Edition – $249

First, let’s take a closer look at the new PowerColor Red Devil RX 480.

A Closer Look at the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480

The Red Devil RX 480 8GB advertises itself as a premium card ready for both VR and gaming. Also, HDR ready, DX12 support, 14nm and FreeSync are emphasized on the front of the box.

Here is the other side of the box showing the features as well as the power and system requirements.As illustrated on the box, there are two BIOS switches which can also really be useful if you have a bad flash. The default left side, Ultra Overclock, is for performance and the right side, Silent Overclock, is for quiet gaming.

The PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 is a good looking and solidly built card with twin fan technology called Double Blade III which has more fan blades for increasing airflow and it prevents dust deposits. The Double Blade III is made with three 80mm 2-ball bearing fans to give what PowerColor claims is 4 times more longevity than regular fans. Looking through the fan blades, you can see a rather massive heatsink.

Turning it over, we see that it is has a solid backplate.

The PowerColor Red Devil card carries a hexagram inside a circle – a six-pointed star which is a symbol originating in Egypt and adopted as a symbol of the Jewish faith. Although PowerColor’s hexagram in a circle has nothing to do with the associated modern occult Pentagram symbol which is always a similarly drawn 5-pointed star inside a circle, it may well refer to the Seal of Solomon which implies that a Devil is bound within the card.

The Red Devil’s RX 470 connectors include 3 DisplayPorts and 1 HDMI connection and a Dual-Link DVI connector. The reference versions of both the RX 470 and RX 480 lack the DVI connector. Looking at the card the way it would set in your PC, the Red Devil logo is upside down.

The reference versions of the RX 470 and the RX 480 use only one 6-pin PCIe connector which got our reference RX 480 into trouble with power draw over the PCIe slot and also upset the stability of our PC when we tried to overclock it. On the other hand, PowerColor wisely uses an 8-pin power connector plus superior 6+1 multi-phases where each phase supplies 25W instead of 22.5W as in other cards for better stability and for better overclocking potential.

You can see the heatsink fins from the other side also.

Here is another view.The PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 is a good-looking card. Let’s check out its performance with its new unlocked BIOS versus the reference RX 480 after we look over our test configuration on the next page.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-6700K (reference 4.0GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 4.4GHz; DX11 CPU graphics).
• ASRock Z7170M OC Formula motherboard (Intel Z7170 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0/3.1 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x)
• G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB, dual channel at 3000MHz)
• PowerColor RX 480 8GB – $279 – at PowerColor RX 480 factory clocks with the “unlocked” BIOS, on loan from Tech of Tomorrow
• Diamond RX 480 8GB – $239(+) – reference version. The fan speed has been increased to prevent throttling.
• PowerColor Red Devil RX 470 4GB at RX 470 reference speeds, supplied by PowerColor
• GTX 1060 6GB Founders Edition at reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• 2TB Toshiba 7200 rpm HDD
• EVGA 1000G 1000W power supply unit
• Thermaltake Water2.0, supplied by Thermaltake
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• ASUS 12X Blu-ray writer
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K

Test Configuration – Software

• AMD Crimson Software 16.8.2 used for the Red Devil RX 480 and 16.8.1 Hotfix drivers for the other AMD cards (the two sets of drivers are interchangeable and give the same performance results for our 25-game benchmark suite)
• Nvidia’s GeForce 368.64 (GTX 1060 launch) drivers. High Quality, prefer maximum performance, single display.
• VSync is off in the control panel.
• AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied
• All results show average frame rates including minimum frame rates shown in italics on the chart next to the averages in smaller font.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition, all DX11 titles were run under DX11 render paths. Our four DX12 titles are run under the DX12 render path. Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions at time of publication.
• Crimson Software’s WattMan was used for the RX 480/470. The Power Limit/Temperature targets are set to maximum for all cards. Fan speeds have been increased manually for the reference RX 480 to prevent throttling.
• Heaven 4.0 (Unigine)

The 25 PC Game benchmark suite & 2 synthetic tests

Synthetic

• Firestrike – Basic & Extreme
• Time Spy DX12

• Crysis 3
• Metro: Last Light Redux (2014)
• Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor
• Alien Isolation
• Dragon’s Age: Inquisition
• Dying Light
• Grand Theft Auto V
• ProjectCARS
• the Witcher 3
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Mad Max
• Fallout 4
• Star Wars Battlefront
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
• Just Cause 3
• Rainbow Six Siege
• DiRT Rally
• Far Cry Primal
• Tom Clancy’s The Division
• DOOM (*OpenGL)
• Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

DX12 Games

• Ashes of the Singularity
• Hitman
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Total War: Warhammer

AMD Settings

Here are the settings that we always use in AMD’s Crimson Control Center for our default benching. The new Power Efficiency Toggle is left off in our benching.

Calculating Percentages

There are two methods of calculating percentages. One is the “Percentage Difference” that we used to compare the GTX 1080 versus the TITAN X, and the other is “Percentage Change” which we are using now to show the performance improvements of the factory-clocked PowerColor Red Devil RX 4870 over the reference RX 480 stock clocks.

For the percentage change, we mean the increase in frame rates between the reference RX 480 and the PowerColor factory clocks of the Red Devil RX 480, divided by the absolute value of the original stock frame rate in fps, multiplied by 100. We do this to show the PowerColor factory clocks with the unlocked BIOS over the stock RX 480 clocks.

The percentage change may be expressed by the algebraic formula where “V” is Value: ( ΔV / |V1| ) * 100 = ((V2 – V1) / |V1|) * 100

Let’s check out the shipping BIOS versus the “unlocked” BIOS next.

The Shipping BIOS vs. the “Unlocked” BIOS

PowerColor originally shipped the Red Devil RX 480 with a very conservative Performance BIOS that allowed it to boost to 1330MHz, but most of the time it throttled to 1279MHz which made it only slightly faster than the reference RX 480. Here is GPU-Z. The Pixel fill rate is 40.9 GPixels/s and the Texture Fillrate is 184.2 GTexels/s.

Here is the screenshot of the results of looping Heaven 4.0 continuously with the original BIOS at reference clocks.

As you can see, the clocks stay around 1279MHz, well below the PowerColor Red Devil maximum boost of 1330MHz and just a few MHz over the maximum boost of the reference RX 480. Although the core occasionally boosts to the maximum of 1330MHz, ,it often throttles, and the temperature is kept to 72C with a very quiet fan profile. The Power Limit is restricted to +5% and our original overclocking results were poor.

Here is GlobalWattman with the new “unlocked” BIOS.

We see a significant change with the new unlocked BIOS. The clocks have now settled in at their maximum boost of 1330MHz – up from 1279MHz in the shipping BIOS – even after looping Heaven 4.0 for over 1/2 hour. And the Power Limit is now set to +50%, up over the original +5% and the temperature has gone up a few degrees. Although the fan speed is much higher, it is still reasonably quiet. In contrast, we have to turn up the fan speed of the reference RX 480 to keep it from throttling which brings its noise into the annoying range.

Even GPU-Z now shows a higher Pixel and Texture fill rate over the shipping BIOS. The Pixel fill rate is 42.6 GPixel/s, up over the original BIOS’ 40.9 GPixels/s, and the new Texture Fillrate is 191.5 GTexel/s, up from the original 184.2 GTexels/s.

We did not attempt to overclock the Red Devil RX 480 yet. We are going to follow up next week to see how far we can overclock it with the new unlocked BIOS and we will also compare performance with the similarly-priced and overclocked EVGA GTX 1060 SC on the latest Nvidia drivers. Let’s head to the performance chart to see how the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 now compares with the reference RX 480.

Performance summary charts & graphs

Here are our performance results of 25 games and 2 synthetic tests comparing the Red Devil RX 480 8GB at PowerColor factory clocks with the “unlocked” BIOS over the Diamond reference RX 480 8GB clocks which has its fan set manually to a higher speed to prevent throttling.

All results except for Firestrike and Time Spy are expressed in average fps (in Bold) and also generally in minimum fps (where they make sense, in smaller italics next to the averages). Each card is compared against the other in the adjoining results column at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440 .

The first column represents the Red Devil RX 480 8GB at PowerColor factory clocks with the unlocked BIOS, the second column has the reference RX 480 8GB results, and the third column represents the percentage increase over the reference version.

Generally we see a minimum of 3% increase over the reference clocks with the new BIOS which is significantly higher than the with the old BIOS that throttled back the clocks to nearly reference speeds. The Red Devil performance difference would be even higher if we did not increase the fan speed of the reference RX 480 to annoying levels to prevent its clocks from throttling.

Here is a larger test bed including the GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition and the Reference RX 470.

We see the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 with its unlocked BIOS come closer to the performance of the Founders Edition of the GTX 1060, trading blows and winning a few more games than the reference version, and it also pulls away further from the RX 470 performance at stock clocks. We can’t wait to overclock it!

UPDATED 08/26/16. Check out Tech of Tomorrow‘s video using our benchmarks!

Let’s head for our conclusion.

The Conclusion

The Red Devil RX 480 improves in performance over the reference (non throttling) RX 480 with a simple BIOS flash by generally more than 3% to over 6%. The original PowerColor Red Devil shipping BIOS mostly throttled the clocks to slightly above reference non-throttling RX 480 clocks. It beats the RX 470 by a much wider margin now and becomes more competitive with the GTX 1060 than the reference RX 480. However, we will have to wait until next week to see just how close it comes to the stock and overclocked EVGA GTX 1060 SC when the Red Devil is overclocked further.

Let’s sum it up:

PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 Pros

• The PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 comes very close to GTX 1060 performance now compared with the reference RX 480 even though it was originally held back by its original shipping BIOS to near RX 480 maximum reference clocks, and it now beats the reference RX 470 rather handily.
• At $279 the Red Devil RX 480 is only $40 more than the reference RX 480, and it offers a DVI-D input and a nice backplate plus improved power delivery for better stability and overclocking potential with an 8-pin PCIe connector. It also offers a much cooler and quieter fan design that can be left on automatic, unlike the reference design which requires a higher fan speed to prevent throttling.
• The Red Devil is clocked higher than the reference RX 480 and its unlocked BIOS has narrowed the performance gap further versus the Founders Edition of the GTX 1060, trading blows and winning more games.
• The Red Devil RX 480 has a very nice 3-fan custom cooling design that is very quiet, becoming only a bit louder with the unlocked BIOS. The cooling is much more effective than the reference RX 480 which requires a higher fan speed and much more noise to prevent throttling.
• WattMan brings new features to Radeon overclocking that was not present in OverDrive.
• New features in Polaris architecture improves on Async compute with dedicated hardware and the Red Devil RX 470 may even be well-suited for VR.
• FreeSync eliminates tearing and stuttering.

PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 Cons

• The original shipping performance BIOS of the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 is too conservative for enthusiasts and they will appreciate using the new unlocked BIOS instead. The trade-off in higher fan speeds and higher energy usage is worth it in our opinion.

We cannot comment on PowerColor Red Devil overclocking with the unlocked BIOS as we did not test it yet. The Red Devil is a very good deal and an excellent alternative to the reference RX 480 with its weaker cooler and limiting 6-pin PCIe connector.

The Verdict:

• The PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 is new architecture on a new process that uses significantly less power and has more refinements than AMD’s last generation. It is solidly built and it has higher clocks out of the box than the reference RX 480 which has only a 6-pin PCIe connector and a weak reference cooler. The Red Devil represents a solid value at $279 in our opinion and it deserves BTR’s Editor’s Choice Award.

We do not know what the future will bring, but right now, the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 brings solid improvement over AMD’s last generation and it also trades blows with the competing GTX 1060 Founders Edition in a similar price range while coming in ahead of the reference RX 480 performance for $40 more.

We are looking forward to manually overclocking the PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 and comparing it with the overclocked EVGA GTX 1060 SC on the latest Nvidia drivers next week.

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at BTR. We are playing Deus Ex Mankind Divided today with a view to adding it as BTR’s newest benchmark. Next up, we will evaluate the brand new $199 3GB version of EVGA’s GTX 1060 and compare it with the $199 PowerColor RX 470 4GB card. Expect this evaluation to be published at the weekend.

Happy Gaming!

Mark Poppin

BTR Editor-in-Chief

According to AMD, the RX 480 graphics cards with Polaris Architecture and AMD LiquidVR technology deliver immersive VR experiences with leading VR headsets. But RX 480 is not just for VR as asynchronous shaders and new geometry capabilities enable support for DirectX 12 and Vulkan with the latest version of Graphics Core Next (GCN) for PC gamers. And gamers will be able to stream and record their favorite games up to 4K at 60 FPS with virtually no performance impact.

Polaris architecture combines the latest FinFET 14 process technology and advanced power, gating, and clocking technologies to deliver a cool-and-quiet gaming experience compared with their last generation. Polaris boasts a brand new display engine and HDR-ready capabilities while the new Radeon WattMan (formerly AMD Overdrive) offers a new level of customization and control over clocks, voltages, and temperature. And as with previous generations, Radeon software tends to optimize the hardware as drivers mature, improving gaming performance over time.

Power tends to become the limiting factor for performance. High-end graphics products such as the Radeon R9 300 Series are limited by power delivery to 300W, while notebook graphics must use as little power as possible to deliver excellent battery life and low heat.
The GCN architecture is AMD’s foundation for performance across their entire graphics ecosystem, from integrated notebook solutions to high-end discrete graphics cards for VR and PC gaming.

For the last five years, graphics processors have relied on the 28nm node. However, for Polaris, AMD has selected Samsung and Global Foundries’ 14nm FinFET-based process technology which can reduce power consumption and enable operating voltages that are significantly lower than the previous generation, thereby cutting active power by nearly one-third. Instead of requiring 2 PCIe connectors, the RX 480 that we tested gets by with only 1, yet still it is supposed to deliver R9 390 performance.

New Features for Polaris

To accompany the new Polaris architecture, Radeon WattMan is AMD’s new overclocking utility that controls GPU voltage, engine clocks, memory clocks, fan speed and temperature. WattMan is based on OverDrive features but offers new ways of more precise overclocking controls. With the new control over voltage and per state frequency curve for GPU clocks, more comprehensive tuning control is now available. GPU core and memory clocks can be adjusted per available DPM state for greater control. Along with voltage control per state. Voltages are not shared between GPU and memory clocks, but are set independently.

WattMan also features advanced fan and temperature control. Temperature maximum and target can now be set. Along with Power limit, the new control allows even further customization. Max temperature is the absolute high temperature before the system clocks are reduced to cool down the GPU. Target is the temperature before the fan speed is raised to cool down the GPU. Power limit boosts or reduces the power sent to the GPU. This can be increased or reduced by plus or minus 50% in Polaris 10 XT. WattMan even features data capture and a historical view of GPU activity, temperature, fan, and clock speeds.

With this new control, fan minimum speed, target speed, and minimum acoustic limit can now be set. Minimum, is the absolute minimum the fan can run at. Target, is target maximum fan speed, the fan will run at if temperature level is not above target. Minimum Acoustic Limit is the clock limit/threshold for acoustics.

Async Shaders is a feature that allows complex graphics tasks to use all available AMD Radeon graphics resources simultaneously. Breaking one big job into many small segments allows the work to be done more quickly, yielding greater performance. AMD’s Graphics Core Next architecture has dedicated hardware, called Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACE), which are specifically designed to do this job at high speed.

The Polaris architecture enhances the command processor with a new quality-of-service technique known as Quick Response Queue. It enables developers to designate a compute task queue as high-priority through APIs. Both high-priority and regular priority tasks co-exist and share the GPU’s execution resources, but the ACEs dispatch workgroups from the high-priority task ahead of normal tasks. This prioritization ensures that high-priority tasks will use more resources and complete first, without the command processor context switching out other lower-priority tasks. This technique is used extensively in AMD’s LiquidVR SDK to prioritize ‘time warping’, which is a latency and jitter sensitive task, and to ensure that the time warping occurs immediately before the vertical sync.

There are a lot of new features and exciting potential coming with Polaris and we want to see how some of these are practically implemented into RX 480 for gamers as we attempt to overclock it.

Let’s take a brief look at the specifications of the AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB.

The RX 480 4GB/8GB

With the RX 480, AMD wants to bring R9 390/GTX 970 performance into a much less expensive and less power-hungry card for gamers and for entry level VR. Much is made of Liquid VR for immersive Virtual Reality headsets which are already available this year. And FreeSync, DX12, Eyefinity, CrossFire and TrueAudio are featured for the Polaris RX 480 along with WattMan, AMD’s new overclocking utility.

Here are the specifications for the RX 480:

The above specifications are for the 8GB $239 version of RX 480 that we are reviewing here which uses 8GB of 8Gbps GDDR5 memory. The $199 version of RX 480 it uses 4GB of 7Gbps memory, and we have not tested it.

The specifications of the RX 480 are quite impressive for a $199 to $239 card, especially compared to the more expensive R9 290X/390 which use a lot more power to achieve similar performance.

Our Testbed of Competing Cards

Here is our testbed of 5 competing cards and we shall test 26 games and 1 synthetic benchmark using Core i7-4790K turbo locked to 4.4GHz by the BIOS, ASUS Z97+ motherboard and 16GB of Kingston “Beast” 2133MHz HyperX DDR3:

• RX 480 8GB – $239 (AMD’s new Polaris architecture card)
• GTX 980 4GB
• GTX 970 EXOC by GALAX, 4GB
• R9 390 OC by XFX 8GB
• R9 290X 4GB – reference non-throttling 1000MHz Uber mode

These are the 5 cards that we are testing to see where the RX 480 stands. We are using 26 modern games and 1 synthetic benchmark at 1920×1080, 2560×1440, and at 3480×2160 resolutions.

How does the RX 480 8GB compare with other VR-ready cards?

This is the big question: How does the RX 480 compare with other cards in a similar performance range?

First, let’s take a closer look at the new Radeon RX 480.

A Closer Look at the Radeon RX 480

It advertises itself as a card ready for VR and gaming. Also, 4K, Liquid VR and FreeSync are advertised.. Eyefinity is also touted as RX 480 is designed for multi-panel gaming even though it has a board power of only 150W.

The RX480 is a good looking card which compliments the Fury lineup although it lacks the aluminum exoskeleton and soft touch sides. Turning it over, we see it is has a raw PCB and it uses a Blower-type fan.The RX 480 connectors include 3 DisplayPorts and 1 HDMI connection.

The RX 480 looks nice in any case and the reference version needs only one 6-pin PCIe connector.

The specifications and the card look good. Let’s check out the RX 480’s performance after we look over our test configuration on the next page.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-4790K (reference 4.0GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 4.4GHz; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.
• ASUS Z97-E motherboard (Intel Z97 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x)
• Kingston 16 GB HyperX Beast DDR3 RAM (2×8 GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz, supplied by Kingston)
• AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB at stock settings (1266MHz/2000MHz).
• XFX R9 390 8GB, Double Dissipation XXX OC Video Card, at XFX clocks (1015/1500MHz).
• VisionTek R9 290X 4GB, reference clocks (1000MHz/1250MHz); fan set to 100% to prevent throttling.
• GeForce GTX 980, 4GB, (1126MHz base/1216MHz boost) reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• GALAX GTX 970 EXOC 4GB (1165MHz base/1317 Boost), GALAX factory overclock, supplied by GALAX
• Two 2TB Toshiba 7200 rpm HDDs
• EVGA 1000G 1000W power supply unit
• Cooler Master 2.0 Seidon, supplied by Cooler Master
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• ASUS 12X Blu-ray writer
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K

Test Configuration – Software

• The AMD Crimson Software 16.6.2 beta hotfix drivers were used for benching the RX 480, the XFX 390 and the 290X.
• Nvidia’s GeForce 368.22 WHQL drivers were used for the GTX 980/970. High Quality, prefer maximum performance, single display.
• VSync is off in the control panel.
• AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied
• All results show average frame rates including minimum frame rates shown in italics on the chart next to the averages in smaller font.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition, all DX11 titles were run under DX11 render paths. Our only DX12 title is run under the DX12 render path. Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions at time of publication.
• Global WattMan used for overclocking the RX 490.
• EVGA’s Precision XOC, reviewer’s version 4 used for Nvidia cards.

The 26 PC Game benchmark suite & 1 synthetic test

• Synthetic

• Firestrike – Basic & Extreme

• DX11* Games

• Crysis 3
• Metro: Last Light Redux (2014)
• GRID: Autosport
• Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor
• Alien Isolation
• Dragon’s Age: Inquisition
• Dying Light
• Total War: Attila
• Grand Theft Auto V
• ProjectCARS
• the Witcher 3
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Mad Max
• Fallout 4
• Star Wars Battlefront
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
• Just Cause 3
• Rainbow Six Siege
• DiRT Rally
• Far Cry Primal
• Tom Clancy’s The Division
• DOOM (*OpenGL)
• Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

• DX12 Games

• Ashes of the Singularity
• Hitman
• Rise of the Tomb Raider

AMD Settings

Here are the settings that we always use in AMD’s Crimson Control Center for our default benching. The new Power Efficiency Toggle which was recently made available for the Fury X and 300 series cards is left off in our benching. Please note that 100% fan speed is used for benching the 290X reference version, and it does not throttle at all.

Here are our settings for all the AMD cards other than the RX 480; fan speed is left on automatic except for the 290X.

Here are our settings for the RX 480 using Global WattMan. Notice that all settings are left at stock for benchmarking.

The above are our AMD settings. Let’s check out overclocking next.

Overclocking the RX 480

We did not adjust any of our cards’ fan profiles (except for the 290X whose fan was allowed to spin up to 100% to prevent throttling), nor voltage for our benchmark runs or for overclocking. We did however, push up the power target controls to maximum for the RX 480 when we attempted overclocking since we tested in Summer (warm, 77F-79F) conditions. We also made very sure to warm up all of our cards before benching. We used the latest version of WattMan which came with the Crimson 16.2.2 launch drivers for overclocking the RX 480.

Here is what we get while looping Heaven 3.0 at stock settings. The clock speed hovers around 1227MHz and notice that the temperature is 80C with a maximum of 83C, and the fan is barely noticeable.

Overclocking the RX 480 was problematic for us, and there appears to be almost no headroom with the reference cooler since temperatures begin to rise steeply with just a 2% overclock. Notice it jumps to 89C with a maximum of 92C. However, there is no throttling yet and the automatic fan speed does not ramp up.Now we try a 3% overclock and temperatures max out at 93C, yet it begins to throttle the clockspeedsWe were able to go all the way to 5% overclock with the voltage and fan profile on automatic, and the temperatures stayed at 93C, but performance suffered. Since overclocking is evidently so poor with the reference cooler of our sample at automatic fan speeds, we did not post any performance results. Yet we believe that a lot of performance from overclocking is left on the table.

We expect that AMD’s partners will have much more robust cooling available, and we will revisit RX 480 overclocking then. The reference version cooler is OK for stock speeds, but you probably don’t want to overclock without first cranking up the fan speed. For our sample, we found that the heat from the GPU increased significantly with even a mini-overclock – from 83C at stock speeds to 93C with a 2% increase in the core clocks using the automatic fan profile.

The RX 480 runs cool and quiet, but it requires stock speeds to do it. When we first began overclocking our RX 480, we foolishly first tried a 10% overclock, watched our temperatures spike, and then it crashed our system and we had to restore it from a disk image.

Let’s head to the performance chart to see how the RX 480 compares with its competing cards of Summer, 2016.

Performance summary charts & graphs

Here are our performance results of 26 games and 1 synthetic test comparing the RX 480 8GB versus 4 other competing cards.

All results except for Firestrike are expressed in average fps (in Bold) and also generally in minimum fps (where they make sense, in smaller italics next to the averages). Each card is compared against the other in the adjoining results column at 1920×1080, 2560×1440, and at 3840×2160 (if it is playable). The first column represents the RX 480 8GB, the second is the GALAX GTX 970 EXOC 4GB, the third is the reference non-throttling 290X 4GB, the fourth is the GTX 980 4GB reference version, and the fifth is the XFX R9 390 OC.

We see the $239 RX 480 trade blows with the more expensive GTX 970 while generally matching or beating the reference R9 290X, and falling slightly short of the mildly overclocked XFX 390 OC. The GTX 980 performance can probably be caught with an aftermarket overclocked RX 480, but unfortunately we were not able to overclock well with our sample because of the weak reference cooler that we left at automatic voltage and fan speeds as we do with all of our original video card reviews at BTR.

We note a few oddities where the RX 480 falls rather short of the 290X/390 OC performance, but they can possibly be attributed to new and immature drivers on a new architecture. AMD tends to bring more performance with each subsequent driver revision.

Let’s head for our conclusion.

The Conclusion

The RX 480 brings the 390 level of performance to a $239 video card with much less power draw than Hawaii/Grenada. AMD has met their goal to bring less expensive VR to their target audience. However, in the case of our sample, overclocking with the reference cooler leaves a lot left to be desired and we feel there is a lot of potential left untapped in this Polaris chip that we expect AMD’s partners will address with far more robust cooling.

WattMan brings some nice features that we would like to use for fine tuning the RX 480 overclock without cranking up the fan speed to 100% and we look forward to the aftermarket designs.

Let’s sum it up:

RX 480 Pros

• The reference RX 480 brings new features and GTX 970/R9 390 performance to a $239 card
• WattMan brings new features to Radeon overclocking that was not present in OverDrive.
• RX 480 is a fast midrange card and a good replacement for the power-hungry R9 390.
• New features in Polaris architecture improves on Async compute with dedicated hardware and it is evidently well-suited for VR.
• The RX 480 drops the cost of the video card for entry-level VR.
• FreeSync eliminates tearing and stuttering.

RX 480 Cons

• The reference cooler is fine for stock clocks but falls way short for overclocking unless the fan speed is cranked up.
• Drivers are somewhat immature and they are expected to improve as is typical of new architecture.

We cannot comment on the $199 4GB version of the RX 480 since we have not tested it. It may be a very good deal for those who game at 1080P.

The Verdict:

• If you want entry level VR, or R9 390 level of performance for gaming, the RX 480 is new architecture on a new process that uses significantly less power and has more refinements than AMD’s last generation. Polaris brings new features that are not available in AMD’s older cards. However, if you are an overclocker, you may want to wait for AMD’s partners to address the cooling issues of the reference cooler with more robust solutions next month.

We do not know what the future will bring, but the RX 480 brings improvement over AMD’s last generation, and there appears to be a lot of potential for more performance with the forthcoming AIB solutions. We look forward to reviewing the partner cards as they are released and become available next month.

It will be interesting to see if Nvidia responds with their own midrange card, or with price cuts on their current line up. We have already seen GTX 970s for around $240 after mail-in-rebate on Newegg this week.

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at BTR. Next up we will compare Skylake’s i7-6770K with our current Devil’s Canyon i7-4790K. This is the last evaluation that will be on Devil’s Canyon as we have upgraded our platform.

Happy Gaming!

Mark Poppin

BTR Editor-in-Chief