ASUS Radeon RX 480 STRIX Pictured

[btarunr]

Here are some of the first pictures of ASUS Radeon RX 480 STRIX, the company's premium custom-design RX 480 graphics card. Designed to overcome the power and noise shortcomings of the reference design, the RX 480 STRIX features a custom-design PCB by ASUS which draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors, conditioning it with a strong VRM.

The Radeon RX 480 STRIX from ASUS features the same variant of the DirectCU III cooling solution featured on the company's GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 STRIX graphics cards, featuring a large aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by three fans. This cooler features ASUS Aura compliant RGB LED lighting on not just the cooler shroud, but also the back-plate. Apparently AMD's AIB partners are having better luck at keeping the RX 480's engine clocks above the 1.50 GHz mark, with their custom VRM and cooling solutions.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[RejZoR]

Interesting, 3 fans on such low power card. I hope it comes with enough power connectors to make the cooler worthwhile for OC'ing

 

[rtwjunkie]

a custom-design PCB by ASUS which draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors, conditioning it with a strong VRM.

^^^^

Interesting, 3 fans on such low power card. I hope it comes with enough power connectors to make the cooler worthwhile for OC'ing

 

[DrPlate]

I hope it will not be priced over 270$. So that's like 40$ premium on top of 230$. Or a 4GB version at 240$ will be very sweet for 1080p.

 

[Adam Freeman]

I think that 8-pin power connector will be enough for "safe overcloking", because 225 watt total power is enough for overclocking using safe gpu voltages under 1.15v. This gpu is manufactured with 14nm process so 1.15v or more is too high and may damage the card overtime. Also I think the gpu could reach 1400 or more with less than 1.10v if it gets enough power. The lack of overcloking in the reference RX 480s is due to the need for more power not the need for more gpu voltage.

 

[$ReaPeR$]

this should oc nicely.. all we need is some reviews..

 

[RejZoR]

I think that 8-pin power connector will be enough for "safe overcloking", because 225 watt total power is enough for overclocking using safe gpu voltages under 1.15v. This gpu is manufactured with 14nm process so 1.15v or more is too high and may damage the card overtime. Also I think the gpu could reach 1400 or more with less than 1.10v if it gets enough power. The lack of overcloking in the reference RX 480s is due to the need for more power not the need for more gpu voltage.

Actually you get more power...

PCIe = 75W
6pin = 75W
8pin = 150W
Total = 300W

Even if you go conservative on the PCIe power input and only suck 60-70W from it, that's still over 280W for a 16nm chip with good efficiency. What I think will be the issue here is that chip just wasn't designed to be fastest and super efficient. It was designed to be "good enough" and sell at cheap price because of it. We'll truly know that once Vega gets released. That will actually show how good their architecture really is. That's where they can't just be satisfied with "that's good enough", but they need to spend a lot bigger money on making it a good GPU and pulling a lot more from it, speed and efficiency wise. Damn fall, seems to far away...

 

[HugsNotDrugs]

Interesting, 3 fans on such low power card

Won't be low powered at 1.5 Ghz, but should perform admirably.

 

[N3M3515]

"Above 1500Mhz", well that's at least 250Mhz more than reference, 20% increase. Interesting.

 

[GhostRyder]

Wow, well at least we know it really was that reference design holding it back. Seems foolish at the end of the day though if this really was all that was holding the card back on AMD's part.

 

[cdawall]

I really hope these can hit 2ghz for some benchmarks I could care less about efficiency at that point I just want to see them stretch their legs.

 

[ShurikN]

I really hope these can hit 2ghz for some benchmarks I could care less about efficiency at that point I just want to see them stretch their legs.

I think asking for 2GHz is a bit too much

 

[Grings]

The whole dropping down to 1 pci-e power connector thing is a dumb move by both sides

I just hope aftermarket boards pull way less from the pci-e slot, those peaks shown in reference card reviews are alarming, and i foresee lots of problems once people go sticking them in 5 year old (or more) motherboards

 

[Dethroy]

Actually you get more power...

PCIe = 75W
6pin = 75W
8pin = 150W
Total = 300W

@Adam Freeman suggested that a single 8-pin instead of 6-pin connector would suffice and that a 8-pin + 6-pin configuration is likely unnecessary.

 

[P4-630]

Well, knowing that the reference card runs well over 80 degrees, 3 fans might surely help to cool it down.
Personally, how much I even like Asus hardware I don't like the design of this one.
And I did not buy the Asus GTX1070 Strix because it had to be connected to a motherboard fan header.

 

[cdawall]

I think asking for 2GHz is a bit too much

Depends how much ln2 you use

 

[dj-electric]

Interesting, 3 fans on such low power card. I hope it comes with enough power connectors to make the cooler worthwhile for OC'ing

RX 480 is a "low powered card" just like the GTX 970 is a "low powered card".

 

[The elder smurf]

Well, knowing that the reference card runs well over 80 degrees, 3 fans might surely help to cool it down.
Personally, how much I even like Asus hardware I don't like the design of this one.
And I did not buy the Asus GTX1070 Strix because it had to be connected to a motherboard fan header.

Um no. The 1070 strix does not need mobo fan headers. The pwm headers on the card are for case fans that are controlled by the gpu

 

[$ReaPeR$]

yes.. but will it burn my house down?!

 

[AsRock]

yes.. but will it burn my house down?!

O please, pretty much any thing electrical can burn your house down.

 

[ixi]

I think asking for 2GHz is a bit too much

Yea I think for this model the same. But then again look 240 value card with 1.5Ghz, well. Some tinny bit chance that big boys from AMD will have maybe 2Ghz

 

[$ReaPeR$]

O please, pretty much any thing electrical can burn your house down.

well yes. it was meant to be a humorous post.