We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

AMD RX 480 released, AMD will possibly open up Radeon Software

By - | Views: 25,550
The next generation of AMD GPU's have launched, and it begins with the AMD RX 480. Benchmarks are now out there along with plenty of info.

I don't have the card myself as I have no contacts at AMD, but luckily Phoronix managed to bag a card and he's done plenty of testing as you can imagine. I will be referencing the green site due to other sites obviously focusing on Windows.

See the Phoronix article here for the full benchmarks. The Vulkan benchmarks are especially impressive where it performed better than an Nvidia 980 in Dota 2!

image

According to Phoronix, the UI "Radeon Software" may be open-sourced:
QuoteWhile my hopes for WattMan quickly diminished, on the call when inquiring about this lack of Linux support it was brought up that they are looking to potentially open-source Radeon Software! There is nothing set in stone yet and they are still investigating, but the hope would be to open-source Radeon Software and provide potential basic Linux support so the community can drive it further.


Phoronix did an extra set of benchmarks, but that article is sadly locked behind a paywall. Apparently in there he benchmarked Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor and Company of Heroes 2 all of which aren't even supported on AMD drivers.

Looks like the AMD RX 480 might actually be a pretty good card. It looks close to the level of an Nvidia 970, but will cost less. That's pretty damn interesting and will firmly put AMD on the table for a lot of people now I imagine. Not only that, but the performance of the card on Mesa is quite impressive too.

Considering the drivers for it are brand new, I expect the performance to improve a bit over time.

While the Nvidia 970 does outperform it in a fair few tests, it's not by much looking at the scores so considering the price if you were thinking about getting one, I would seriously think again and look at the AMD RX 480. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: AMD, Hardware
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
31 comments
Page: «3/4»
  Go to:

ElectricPrism Jun 29, 2016
Quoting: niarbehtI know I'll be getting an RX 480. But not for Linux. It's gonna be my passthrough card.
Yep. I guess I'm a dirty heathen.

DMSL :P

If I pull the trigger on this my Steam Summer Sale gaming upgrade will soar to $500, temptation is a b***.

But seriously, I'm contemplating trading out my GTX 970 for the RX 480 - performance seems comperable, and I'm annoyed with how my HDMI monitor has corrupted graphics or crashes my Gnome Session after leaving the computer a couple hours.

I wouldn't mind spending $300-400 on a even more dope RX 490, but I'm not sure how long before that will be a thing, have cash - want awesome open source graphics card.

Only problem is I think if I go red I'll probably buy at least 3 Red Cards :\ WTH am I supposed to do with 2 970s and a 750 Ti SC :(
WienerWuerstel Jun 30, 2016
[quote=ElectricPrism]
Quoting: niarbehtI wouldn't mind spending $300-400 on a even more dope RX 490, but I'm not sure how long before that will be a thing, have cash - want awesome open source graphics card.

Looks like the RX 490 will arrive at the the end of this year or (early) 2017 according to the AMD roadmap.

So it's up to you if you want to wait at least 6 months for the RX 490 or get a RX 480 right now.
ElectricPrism Jun 30, 2016
[quote=WienerWuerstel]
Quoting: ElectricPrism
Quoting: niarbehtI wouldn't mind spending $300-400 on a even more dope RX 490, but I'm not sure how long before that will be a thing, have cash - want awesome open source graphics card.

Looks like the RX 490 will arrive at the the end of this year or (early) 2017 according to the AMD roadmap.

So it's up to you if you want to wait at least 6 months for the RX 490 or get a RX 480 right now.

Thank you for sharing your info. I think 6 months is too long to wait for the boost. I use my Linux PC professionally for work and need the best right away. I think I'll wait a few weeks and grab a xfx if their brand is good.
Creak Jun 30, 2016
I don't know if I'll have the will to wait that long, but apparently I'll have to wait until Fedora 25 to have it working OOTB...

That being said, which card manufacturer(s) do you advise? Are there manufacturers that are known to do very good cards without superfluous features? (like "look, we've put 32 Gigs of GDDR5 on this one!"))


Last edited by Creak on 30 June 2016 at 12:28 pm UTC
DePingus Jun 30, 2016
I had high hopes for these cards, but in light of this impending debacle, I'm going to wait...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/4qfwd4/rx480_fails_pcie_specification/

tldr;
These cards are drawing way more power from the PCIe slot than they are supposed to.
omer666 Jun 30, 2016
Quoting: DePingusI had high hopes for these cards, but in light of this impending debacle, I'm going to wait...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/4qfwd4/rx480_fails_pcie_specification/

tldr;
These cards are drawing way more power from the PCIe slot than they are supposed to.

This sure doesn't look good. Too bad it happens with the first really powerful open source friendly card...
SXX Jul 1, 2016
Quoting: omer666This sure doesn't look good. Too bad it happens with the first really powerful open source friendly card...
Nobody should ever buy reference cards no matter if it's Nvidia or AMD. They usually have some kind of issues.
omer666 Jul 1, 2016
Quoting: SXX
Quoting: omer666This sure doesn't look good. Too bad it happens with the first really powerful open source friendly card...
Nobody should ever buy reference cards no matter if it's Nvidia or AMD. They usually have some kind of issues.
Yeah sure, but it seems ASUS GTX 960 has had the same problem whereas the reference model didn't. Looks like we'll need to be careful about this anyway.
On another hand a Phoronix article is out about power consumption of the card and it reports an average of 144W, which is below the 150W TDP and way below the 165W reported in the different links around the web...
DePingus Jul 1, 2016
PC Perspective reported on the problem. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Power-Consumption-Concerns-Radeon-RX-480/Overclocking-Current-Testing

I'm with stan right about now...taking a long, hard look at the those GTX970's.
Creak Jul 1, 2016
I was expecting a lot from this GPU, but I admit I'm a bit disappointed. I didn't expect the moon, but merely a well built middle-class card, respectful of standards, open source drivers and more or less silent.

And the only part right is the open source drivers...

Edit:
A highly respectable french website, Hardware.fr, reported the problem as well: http://www.hardware.fr/articles/951-9/consommation-efficacite-energetique.html
Their conclusion is not to jump on these cards right now, be careful about the energy problem and hope that third party manufacturers will be able to fix that.

AMD recently communicated about the Vega 10 architecture milestone they've reached. Vega cards are planned for 2017. But I'm a bit tired of waiting for their next big thing and be disappointed yet again...


Last edited by Creak on 1 July 2016 at 2:44 pm UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.