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The brand new AMD RX 480 seems to have an issue of drawing too much power through the pci-e port, so you may want to hold off on buying one of the first lot for now.

To make it clear, I cannot verify it myself since I have no contacts at AMD to get hold of a card.

Wccftech has the full lowdown here. As do a number of other respected websites.

It's worth noting that the Asus GTX 960 Strix also exhibits similar problems.

The main thing to note is: Don't overclock the reference AMD RX 480 as it could cause issues, but the custom designs from partners like Sapphire, XFX, Asus & MSI shouldn't have the issues.

The reference design also seems to be at the power limit, so hopefully cards from their partners will have additional power connections to feed it.

Still, this is a bit sad to see for a brand new card launch and something that's important for AMD.

This is why I think it's always a bad idea to be an early adopter, it reminds me of how Nvidia stung me with the VRAM issue on the 970 which now sits in my Steam Machine (I now have a 980ti in my desktop). Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: AMD, Hardware
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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.
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23 comments
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gojul Jul 2, 2016
Well I own a gtx 1070 FE which works like a charm. But packaging the debian driver was tricky and now I have the shadow of mordor bug
tuubi Jul 2, 2016
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I have one of those Asus Strix cards, and so does my nephew. My understanding is that any decent mobo already covers for this possibility with components well above the spec, but it's indeed a concern for those interested in overclocking. I'm not, so I should be okay. I did send a technical support query to Asus though, asking if this has been addressed in later revisions of the card and also what this means in practice. It'll be interesting to see what they answer.
Fenix2412 Jul 2, 2016
It won't cause issues as even older cards draw more from PCIe slot after OC so it won't magically burn your MoBo.
hidekin Jul 2, 2016
There is an analysis regarding the power issue there
View video on youtube.com


Last edited by hidekin on 2 July 2016 at 11:45 am UTC
TheRiddick Jul 2, 2016
Quoting: GuestAnandtech published an article saying AMD will fix it in their drivers.

I doubt a software patch will fix a fault with a dpm hardware issue on a microprocessor die! Unless they down-clock all 480 card (lol)
TheRiddick Jul 2, 2016
You do realize they compared it to other graphics cards of similar TDP right? And also a few people have had blackouts and broken PCIe slots already right?

Yeah right...
Creak Jul 2, 2016
Quoting: swickSo, as usual, well thought out and well researched "journalism" (or rather copy and pasting from "tech" blogs) right there liam!

Oh, and the comments here: always fucking great.
I was pretty optimistic at first about the RX 480, then I saw one article about the PCIe problem. I thought it was just some anti-AMD journalist trying to find every single problems he could find, then I saw other articles relating the same stories and not because they were just copy/pasting from other websites, they were actually testing the cards and seeing the same problem. Then I've seen the Hardware.fr article. I know, it's in French, but this site does excellent, in-depth tests of PC hardware parts. I really deeply trust this site, they've always done very accurate tests and benchmark (maybe you can translate it with Google Translate?). And they also said this problem was concerning. PCIe has standards that aren't here just for fun, the manufacturers have to respeect them in order to have everything going on right. If all the PC components were doing what they want with the standards, it would be a hell of a job to build your own PC! Anyway, they said other NVIDIA cards also had the problem indeed, but it wasn't as important as for the RX 480. They ended up saying that, unless you know your mobo really well, they can't advise you to buy this card for now, because it is too risky for the mobo and the other parts connected to it.

So, what I'm trying to say is that the common sens here tells us that YOU are probably wrong mister, and every one else seems to be right in that case. And you have to deal with that. I also wanted to have a way better card from AMD, but it didn't happen. I'm disappointed, but you don't see me insulting everyone because of that!

I hope AMD will fix the problem, but until I see the fix (and the benchmarks afterwards), you can be sure I won't buy this card. I really don't want to buy an NVIDIA card, but my card is becoming very old by the day. If the problem isn't fixed, I might go green until the Vega GPU are out.


Last edited by Creak on 2 July 2016 at 1:47 pm UTC
loggfreak Jul 2, 2016
Quoting: GuestYou've obviously never worked in any sort of industry where fairly complex standards apply. That document may as well be called a guideline instead of a specification. Manufacturers will only stick to it as much as they have to, and there might well be sections entirely broken in the real world. Of course, I'm sure your own thorough investigations into the matter made all that apparent.

Liam never claimed to do any of the research himself, he simply pointed to an article where people did, or looked to have done a fairly decent look. So stop jumping to such conclusions and posting something that honestly makes you look rather silly.
Swick is right, mobo's should work with the card, if they don't it's a fault of the motherboard and not the card, overclocked cards have been able to go over the 75w specification for ages now. anyone with a motherboard over 50$ shouldn't have any issues with it.


Last edited by loggfreak on 2 July 2016 at 3:38 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jul 2, 2016
Wow, someone actually came in the comments to have a go at me for this even though it's being reported across a large number of sites? Okay then. I deleted his comment as he seemed to edit it out himself.

As has been said, i am pointing out something that is concerning people who do these tests regularly and AMD are confirmed to be looking into it as it is an issue. I did not do the tests myself and never claimed to.

I would do the same for Nvidia, this is not anti-AMD.

If people get annoyed I reference others work, either fund me on Patreon so I can buy the equipment to do it, or bug AMD to get me the card ;)


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 2 July 2016 at 4:47 pm UTC
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