AMD today launched the Radeon RX 580 leading the new RX 500 series of graphics cards. It's been a while since AMD's last enthusiast-segment graphics card. The Radeon R9 Fury X launched way back in June 2015, and it looks like you have to wait a little longer for AMD to launch its true successor. With AMD spending its R&D resources on getting the SoCs that power new-generation game consoles and the new Ryzen CPU family right, its discrete graphics lineup does not seem to be their highest priority.
Back in 2015, AMD had the R9 Fury X to compete with NVIDIA's enthusiast-segment GTX 980 Ti, and the R9 390 series to compete with the performance-segment GTX 980/970, with the R9 Fury offering an interesting in-between value proposition. The R9 380 took on the upper-mainstream GTX 960 to good effect. By 2016, AMD's lineup above this segment was wiped out. The Radeon RX 480 and RX 470 based on the new "Polaris" architecture could at best match the GTX 1060 6 GB and GTX 1060 3 GB, respectively, but got nowhere in the league of the high-end GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. With NVIDIA launching the GTX 1080 Ti and the new TITAN Xp, there's just that much more catching up for AMD to do. The company does have the "Vega" silicon in the pipeline, but it's not known if the ASIC competes with the GTX 1080, or the GTX 1080 Ti, which is 35% faster. In the meantime, AMD has been nurturing a kind of "alt-left" marketing strategy with its "BetterRed" campaign, which called for "VR for all" during the RX 480 launch and now calls for "performance for all" with the RX 580.
The RX 580 continues to be based on the 4th generation Graphics CoreNext architecture, aka "Polaris," but is not exactly a rebrand of the RX 480. The underlying ASIC is the same Ellesmere GPU as on the RX 480 as it comes with the same transistors, but boasts manufacturing improvements. This means that the core configuration of the two is identical, but the RX 580 is able to run at higher clock speeds. This chip is clocked at 1257 MHz, with 1340 MHz Boost, while the memory is untouched at 8.00 GHz (GDDR5 effective). Although they're available in both 4 GB and 8 GB variants, 8 GB is being purported as the more common memory amount for the RX 580, and 4 GB for the RX 570. AMD is also formally launching a suite of software features with the RX 580, which should also be available to the RX 480 through driver updates, such as FreeSync 2. With the RX 580, AMD hopes to extend its performance lead over the GTX 1060 6 GB and inch a little closer to the GTX 1070. Its launch is particularly opportune for the Summer upgrade season, right when AMD's Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors are grabbing some serious attention.
It seems the Radeon RX 580 will be launched mostly as custom-design cards through AMD's add-in board (AIB) partners, so you may not see many or any reference-design cards in the market. Leading the charge is Sapphire with its Radeon RX 580 Nitro+ 8 GB graphics card, the company's flagship RX 580 offering. The card features a brand new custom-design PCB with a stronger VRM setup that draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and a more elaborate Dual-X cooling solution than the ones the RX 480 Nitro+ comes with. The cooler features a dense aluminum fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of user-replaceable fans. An additional pair of fans comes included in the box.
The card comes with a dual BIOS which lets you select between a quiet BIOS running at low fan noise and 1411 MHz GPU clock, and a boost BIOS which runs the card at 1450 MHz, with higher fan noise.
Radeon RX 580 Market Segment Analysis
Radeon RX 470
Radeon RX 570
Radeon R9 390
GeForce GTX 970
Radeon RX 480
Radeon RX 580
Sapphire RX 580 Nitro+ 8 GB
Radeon R9 390X
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
GeForce GTX 980
GeForce GTX 1060
GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Radeon R9 Fury X
GeForce GTX 1070
Shader Units
2048
2048
2560
1664
2304
2304
2304
2816
1152
2048
1280
2816
4096
1920
ROPs
32
32
64
56
32
32
32
64
48
64
48
96
64
64
Graphics Processor
Ellesmere
Ellesmere
Hawaii
GM204
Ellesmere
Ellesmere
Ellesmere
Hawaii
GP106
GM204
GP106
GM200
Fiji
GP104
Transistors
5700M
5700M
6200M
5200M
5700M
5700M
5700M
6200M
4400M
5200M
4400M
8000M
8900M
7200M
Memory Size
4 GB
4 GB
8 GB
4 GB
8 GB
8 GB
8 GB
8 GB
3 GB
4 GB
6 GB
6 GB
4 GB
8 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5
HBM
GDDR5
Memory Bus Width
256 bit
256 bit
512 bit
256 bit
256 bit
256 bit
256 bit
512 bit
192 bit
256 bit
192 bit
384 bit
4096 bit
256 bit
Core Clock
1206 MHz
1244 MHz
1000 MHz
1051 MHz+
1266 MHz
1340 MHz
1411 MHz / 1450 MHz
1050 MHz
1506 MHz+
1126 MHz+
1506 MHz+
1000 MHz+
1050 MHz
1506 MHz+
Memory Clock
1650 MHz
1750 MHz
1500 MHz
1750 MHz
2000 MHz
2000 MHz
2000 MHz
1500 MHz
2002 MHz
1750 MHz
2002 MHz
1750 MHz
500 MHz
2002 MHz
Price
$170
$170
$290
$235
$220
$230
$280
$410
$190
$360
$230
$390
$380
$350
Packaging
You will receive:
Graphics card
Documentation
2x Clear replacement fan
The Card
Visually, the card looks like previous Sapphire Nitro cards, featuring a stylish bulky design with a metal backplate. Dimensions of the card are 26.0 cm x 14.0 cm.
The Sapphire logo is RGB illuminated; you can control the color through Sapphire TRIXX or turn it off completely.
Installation requires two slots in your system.
Display connectivity options include a DVI port, two HDMI ports, and two DisplayPorts.
The HDMI port is version 2.0b, and DisplayPort has been updated to 1.3 HBR3/1.4 HDR ready, which enables support for 4K @ 120 Hz and 5K @ 60 Hz, or 8K @ 60 Hz with two cables. GPU-accelerated encoding is now supported for H.264 at up to 4K30, and HEVC is supported at up to 4K60. Accelerated decoding is supported for HEVC at up to 4K60 Main-10, VP9 is supported at up to 4K, and H.264 works at up to 4K120.
AMD CrossFire has been running over the PCI-Express bus for a few generations now. The Polaris Series is no different.
We shine the light from a self-leveling line laser onto the card, which shows no noteworthy sagging.
Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back).
A Closer Look
When disassembling Sapphire's Nitro, the first piece that will come off is the cooler's shroud, which houses the two fans.
The heatsink uses a copper base plate and four heatpipes. It also cools voltage regulation and memory chips.
The backplate is made from metal and will protect the card during handling and installation.
Near the top edge of the card, where the CrossFire connector used to be, you'll find a little switch which toggles between two BIOSes. You select between a quiet BIOS running at low fan noise and 1411 MHz GPU clock, and a boost BIOS which runs the card at 1450 MHz, with higher fan noise.
Sapphire is using a 6-pin and a 8-pin power connector. This input configuration is specified for up to 300 watts of power draw.
The NCP81022 is a very common voltage controller used on a large number of AMD designs.
The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Hynix and are marked with H5GQ8H24MJR-R4C. They are specified to run at 2000 MHz (8000 MHz GDDR5 effective).
The Radeon RX 580 uses the same Ellesmere GPU as the Radeon RX 480, each transistor is identical. The only difference is in the manufacturing process, which has been refined and now happens at Samsung and Globalfoundries. The transistor count is 5.7 billlion and die size is 232 mm².