Xfx Rx 580 Gts Core Test

2017 has been a promising twelvemonth, so far, for AMD. Indeed, what's looking like a turnaround one. After teasing its upcoming "Vega" graphics cards and showing off quite a few AM4 motherboards at CES 2017 in early January, the company launched its long-awaited "Zen"-based Ryzen CPU platform, starting in early March. While the fries, similar the high-terminate Ryzen 7 1800X and midrange Ryzen v 1600X, launched with some issues around 1080p gaming performance (compared to competing Intel CPUs), the Ryzen fries take been praised overall. In full general, they deliver multi-core computing functioning that oftentimes competes well with Intel chips that cost twice every bit much, or more.

After the launch of the company's Ryzen 5 processors in mid-April, the expected next steps for AMD were high-finish Vega-based graphics cards (these have been promised former in the second quarter), and a lineup of lower-stop Ryzen 3 processors, expected onetime in the second half of the year.

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Just manifestly that's not enough new product for AMD, because the company is launching 3 new midrange graphics chips today, and one two days subsequently, on April twenty. Cards based on these fries, collectively known as the Radeon RX 500 series, are based non around Vega, but on the same "Polaris" compages that was baked into the company's 2016 low-end and midrange video cards, notably the Radeon RX 480 and the Radeon RX 470.

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The Radeon RX 580, which we're looking at here in the class of an XFX menu (the $249.99-MSRP Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition), and the Radeon RX 570 (which y'all tin can await a review of hither shortly) are expected to compete with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 and GTX 1050 Ti, respectively. Cards based on the lower-cease Radeon RX 560 will also be available starting today, with Radeon RX 550 cards on the way afterwards in the week. RX 580 cards with 8GB of retentiveness should beginning at $229.

Now, those paying close attending to the graphics-menu game will notation that the RX 580 and RX 570 are positioned pretty much in line with the RX 400 series cards they're replacing. Given that, and the fact that these are also based on Polaris chips (plus AMD's history of, at times, rebadging existing silicon with a few minor tweaks and calling it a next-generation card), you might be thinking that that'due south what's going on here. Only AMD insists that the Radeon RX 580 is based on a new Polaris graphics scrap, dubbed "Polaris 20."

Then again, we were too told in person by AMD reps that the Radeon RX 580 would be offered but with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, rather than the 4GB and 8GB options offered upward with the previous-generation Radeon RX 480. Yet the night before launch, we were sent a listing of cards past the company that cited five 4GB models of the Radeon RX 580. So we're taking everything AMD says about these cards with a grain of salt.

Nosotros're sure there's something, under the silicon hood, substantially different about the Polaris 20 fleck that lets AMD claim it'due south new. Simply the company didn't provide any details about major changes with this chip that'south at the core of the RX 580 and RX 570. And we run into a good many similarities betwixt the specs of the RX 580 and the Radeon RX 480 it'south replacing. Both fries have a reported die size of 232mm squared, and both feature 36 compute units, 2,304 stream processors, and 144 texture units. And both cards feature the same 256-bit retention bandwidth.

The master deviation, looking purely at the spec sheet from AMD, is that the newer card has a higher base clock speed (1,257MHz), compared to 1,120MHz on the Radeon RX 480 (a jump of simply over 12 percent). Fifty-fifty the "Tiptop Compute Performance" that AMD lists for the Radeon RX 580 indicates a modest improvement. The new card claims to offering up 6.17 teraflops, while the Radeon RX 480'due south specs annunciate 5.8 teraflops. That's an increase of six.4 percent. Based on AMD's specs lonely, nosotros're not expecting major performance gains here compared to the Radeon RX 480. But we'll have to wait and run across once nosotros go to testing.

With all that out of the way, how does the Radeon RX 580 perform, specifically the 8GB XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Xxx Edition that AMD sent u.s.a. for testing? And what are the other new features AMD is rolling out around these "new" cards? For that, we have to dig deeper. Follow us below as become to the meat of the matter, including a ability-saving "Radeon Chill" characteristic that limits frame rates when there's not much going on in-game.

Design & Features

Rather than rattle off a full list of the Radeon RX 580 and RX 570 specs, hither's the summary, direct from AMD...

Lest you recollect we were exaggerating about the similarities between this new card and the Radeon RX 480, hither are the specs for the 2016 model.

Reps from AMD indeed told u.s. that the newer cards are based on a "refined" new graphics chip. Simply based on what'south on the folio here, we don't see much substantive difference, other than faster clocks with the Radeon RX 580, 8GB of GDDR5 memory being the only option with the new menu (which was not borne out, subsequently all, given the confirmed, last-infinitesimal emergence of 4GB cards), and a higher power rating (185 watts, versus 150 watts with the Radeon RX 480). The latter is about what nosotros would expect if AMD simply cranked up the clock speeds a bit beyond what was more often than not possible with the original run of RX 480 cards.

Here'due south a visual overview of the Radeon RX 580'south specs and features, once more direct from AMD. The company says cards based on the RX 580 GPU will exist a practiced fit for gaming at resolutions upwards to two,560x1,440.

Considering the GPUs inside these cards employ the same Polaris architecture that was constitute in terminal year's Radeon RX 480 card, we'll point you to that review at the link if y'all need to catch upward on the details of what makes these cards tick. The company didn't provide any architectural details almost what makes the new Polaris silicon different from last twelvemonth'south chips, so we suspect it's minimal at best. So, without annihilation new in that vein to talk about, we'll bound to the other major characteristic AMD is rolling out with these cards: Radeon Chill.

Radeon Chill

The obvious, inappropriate Netflix-and-chill jokes aside, Radeon Chill is a software feature aimed at reducing ability consumption by limiting frame rates when not much is going on in a scene being rendered. That might be when your character is standing around in an online RPG waiting for your friends to arrive. Or maybe you've walked away from your PC (to get a snack, and you forgot to hit Break) while your character is in a calm department of a level.

AMD says Radeon Chill is opt-in, meaning you'll have to enable information technology by switching it on in the WattMan software (which is, ironically, used mostly for overclocking). Once you do so, an algorithm monitors your game inputs (keyboard, mouse, and so on) to predict when fast motion is happening on the screen. When your graphic symbol is continuing withal or there'south little movement in the game, Arctic ramps downwardly the frame rate to save power, as well equally reduce rut and sound output. Once you start moving, or a agglomeration of baddies crawl into your onscreen space, the carte kicks support into its normal operation mode. In WattMan, y'all can besides prepare a target frame-rate range you want to limit the game to, as you can run into here...

AMD says enabling Radeon Chill can subtract the Radeon RX 580's boilerplate lath power consumption by 31 percent (from 168 watts to 115 watts), decrease average bill of fare temperature past 12 degrees C, and decrease average frame rates by 47 percent with no noticeable effect on the feel or operation of your game.

The catch? AMD says non all games are a expert candidate for Radeon Arctic. Nosotros suspect that games like racing titles, where items are almost always flying by onscreen at a frenetic footstep, are probably on that list. And at least for now, Arctic is only qualified to work on some games. AMD sent along a list of 19 titles that information technology says should provide a good experience with Radeon Arctic enabled at this time. You tin see that listing displayed graphically below. Some are very popular, similar DOTA 2, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Witcher 3. But the launch list is pretty small, and no DirectX 12 titles are on it.

Nosotros asked AMD about the lack of DirectX 12 titles in the electric current Radeon Chill list. Our contacts didn't offer much in the way of details, merely they seemed to indicate DX12 isn't a deal-breaker for Chill. An AMD rep told u.s. the company has "heady updates coming very soon in regards to Chill and DX12 support." Take from that what you will.

The other thing to keep in mind well-nigh Radeon Chill is that you lot may not need a new bill of fare to use information technology. It's primarily a software feature, and nosotros were told that it will work with "all GCN and Polaris-architecture GPUs." That ways all cards going dorsum to the Radeon Hard disk drive 7000 serial (even relics like the Radeon Hard disk drive 7770) should get support for AMD's power-saving feature via a Radeon Cherry-red software update.

Every bit appreciated as any power-saving feature is, we suspect that Radeon Arctic will take limited entreatment for the boilerplate gamer, who tends to be far more interested in maximizing frame rates, rather than lowering them. Merely for buyers looking to outfit several systems for, say, a gaming cafe, peculiarly in a land where electricity is expensive, we can see how Radeon Chill could have appeal. And should AMD get its graphics chips into more gaming laptops, Chill could air current up useful for times when you find yourself gaming away from a power plug.

XFX Card Design

Given that AMD isn't pushing a reference design for the Radeon RX 580, a broad variety of RX 580 models—in different shapes, sizes, and cooler designs—will define the card grade.

The model AMD sent for review was an XFX-branded model, the XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition, that measures x.five inches long and a little less than 4.5 inches wide.

Like almost all cards in this grade, it has a dual-slot libation, and this model has a pair of fans. A metal backplate with some modest XFX branding occupies the entire back of the card.

For a menu in this performance class, this XFX 580 adequately large. It'south about three-quarters of an inch wider than the stock Radeon RX 480, more than an inch longer, and slightly thicker than the stock previous-generation AMD card, every bit well.

One particular we were non fond of: The single viii-pin ability connector on the XFX card is oddly recessed behind both the plastic fan shroud and nether a metal heat pipe...

This concluding item is annoying from a reviewer'southward perspective, making the card slightly harder to install and remove. Just for the average gamer who volition install the card but once or twice in its working lifetime, this is a minor issue.

As for ports, the Radeon RX 580 GTS Xxx Edition has 3 DisplayPorts (1.4 HDR-gear up), a 2.0b-ready HDMI port, and the one handy port the stock version of the Radeon RX 480 lacked: a dual-link DVI-D port, for users with older high-resolution monitors.

While nosotros'd prefer a smaller pattern in a card in this performance form, the XFX model could be considered almost compact compared to the PowerColor Red Devil RX 570 (seen on the lesser of the stack in the image below) that we'll be reviewing shortly. Despite being a lower-end card in terms of silicon, operation, and presumably price, the PowerColor card is 11 inches long and sports 3 fans.

Peradventure we're just getting sometime, but nosotros miss the comparatively compact and understated design of the Radeon RX 480.

At the very to the lowest degree, the large cooler and fans on the XFX menu go on the Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition from becoming overly noisy. It'south not the quietest card, but we didn't take item notice of the fan dissonance under load, even when we were standing right side by side to the case with the door off.

Performance Testing

Information technology'south been about a year since we revamped our video-menu testing process to incorporate DirectX 12 titles and some virtual-reality (VR) testing. And then, for these cards (and the looming high-end Vega cards from AMD), we decided to adapt our testing one time once again, adding a championship (Tom Clancy's The Sectionalisation) and ditching Ashes of the Singularity (which, at high settings, is so CPU-bound that it'southward not a great measuring stick for graphics performance). We've also moved on to college-end 3DMark tests (Extreme and Ultra), which ameliorate reflect the realities of today's high-end gaming. Nosotros've too included 3DMark'south DirectX 12 test, Time Spy, and Futuremark's VRMark test.

With these new tests (and a full testing refresh on all the cards below), the time was correct to build a new video-card testbed, as well. Centered around an Intel Cadre i7-7700K "Kaby Lake" processor and an MSI Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard, our new graphics-testing rig is equipped with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM, and boots from a Corsair Force 60 SSD. That'south a very reasonable high-terminate gaming rig for 2017, with maximum CPU potential, without going into the aristocracy pricing stratosphere of X99-based Intel Broadwell Extreme chips.

Even with our testing updates, though, things remain in flux these days when it comes to testing GPUs, because two central technologies—despite existence available in some grade for over a year now—are proving hard to definitively test.

The first of these is DirectX 12 (DX12), which is merely at present starting to go common in AAA titles, though we have even so seen relatively few real-world benchmarks for it. DirectX 12 will likely be the standard graphics API in the future, and most card buyers probably expect their cards to last for a few years, if not longer. And then it's of import to know if a card can handle DX12 well earlier buying. We tested this bill of fare with the DX12-capable titles Hitman (the 2016 edition), Ascension of the Tomb Raider, and Tom Clancy's The Division. We tested a load of games using DirectX 11, also, because that API dominates, and it will still be in wide utilize for the foreseeable futurity.

The second technology that's tricky to test now is support for virtual reality, or VR for short. At this writing, at that place are two major competing VR headsets, the Oculus Riftn and HTC Vive, with more coming to market soon, and it's hard to establish a alone test that is applicable to all VR scenarios.

Steam has its ain VR benchmark, but it mainly indicates whether or not your PC is set to handle VR games on a three-color red/yellow/green calibration. Since the baseline recommendation for both the Vive and the Rift is a Core i5 processor and a GeForce GTX 970 graphics bill of fare, simply fairly powerful cards (and systems in general) are VR-capable.

At the moment, we're using Futuremark's new VRMark examination to mensurate VR capability. It consists of an "Orange Room" examination designed to measure a carte's ability to handle today's games, and a "Bluish Room" test designed to simulate extremely enervating future titles. The Blue Room test is so tough, no card we've tested to date (including the $699 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti) gets a passing grade. So for the moment, we'll only report Orange Room results.

So, on to the benchmarks. Since the Radeon RX 580 is a midrange GPU, with 8GB RX 580-based cards starting at a suggested price of $229 (and $249 for the XFX card nosotros're specifically looking at here), we'll be comparing it to Nvidia's GTX 1060 (this menu'due south chief competition), specifically the GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition; the footstep-downwardly Radeon RX 570, in the course of a PowerColor Ruddy Devil Radeon RX 570 carte du jour; and the previous-generation AMD Radeon RX 480 and Radeon RX 470 (the latter in Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming trim).

Also in our chart mix is the PowerColor Cerise Dragon RX 460 (a decidedly lower-end card), the higher-end GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition (mostly just for perspective, in instance your budget might include a pricier selection), and the two lower-end Nvidia options in this crude price range, the GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti.

3DMark (Burn down Strike)

We started off our testing with Futuremark's 2013 version of 3DMark, specifically the suite'southward Fire Strike subtest. Burn Strike is a synthetic test designed to measure overall gaming operation, and Futuremark has expanded Burn Strike nowadays into 3 subtests of increasing difficulty. Here, nosotros'll look at the Farthermost subtest that runs at ii,560×ane,440 resolution, as well as the Ultra subtest that measures performance at 4K (3,840x2,160).

Compared to the previous-generation Radeon RX 480, the XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Xxx Edition delivered a 7 to eight percentage advantage here. And information technology landed about even with (or slightly improve than) the competing GeForce GTX 1060.

Adjacent, we ran Futuremark's VRMark, a tough examination designed to measure out a card's ability to run games at the loftier frame rates (typically above 90fps) required for comfortable VR game play. The exam returns a numeric score, which nosotros report to show how competing cards stack upwardly in this emerging gaming area.

The difference between the Radeon RX 480 and its successor card here was even smaller, down below ii percent. And once again, the GTX 1060 was just a whisker behind the RX 580. So far, things look pretty evenly matched between Squad Carmine and Team Greenish. That said, as the Radeon RX 480 was VR-prepare, and the RX 580 is slightly more powerful than the card it's replacing, those picking a card for a VR rig should have no major performance issues if you lot choose to build around the Radeon RX 580.

DirectX xi Tests: Hitman, Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs & Bioshock Infinite Side by side is our quartet of older DirectX xi titles. None of these games is much of a challenge for modern midrange or high-end graphics cards these days, unless you lot're playing at or around 4K resolution. But these tests are still helpful in determining how a card handles older games that you might render to again and again.

On these older titles, the Radeon RX 580 tacks on as many as half-dozen frames per second (fps) at 1080p over the Radeon RX 480 it'due south replacing. But the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 was faster on all of these tests at 1080p by every bit few as 4fps, or every bit many equally 19fps. (The latter number, though, seen in Hitman: Absolution, is an outlier, as the MSAA setting in that test hits AMD'southward Polaris cards particularly hard. Information technology can be swapped out for a different type of anti-aliasing when y'all're actually gaming.)

Far Cry Central

Next, we moved to a more recent DirectX xi game, released in 2016. Ubisoft's latest open-earth offset-person hunting game is 1 of the almost enervating titles we use, thanks to its lush foliage, detailed shadows, and otherwise incredible environments.

Interestingly, on this much newer DirectX 11 title, things looked better for the new AMD card. At 1080p, it was about even with the GeForce GTX 1060 (a couple of frames ahead on the Normal preset, and one frame backside on the Ultra setting). At the college 2,560x1,440 resolution, the Radeon RX 480's edge was a bit bigger. And only the AMD bill of fare could hit 60fps at that resolution (though but on the Normal preset).

3DMark Time Spy (DirectX 12)

Futuremark says its Time Spy criterion was built "from the basis upwardly to fully realize the operation gains that [DX12] offers." It renders a scene that incorporates some of the "greatest hits" of Futuremark'south by benchmarks, while including some DX12-specific features, such as asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading.

One time again, the XFX Radeon RX 580 did near 7 percentage better than its predecessor on this test. And the newer AMD menu edged most 4 percentage ahead of the GeForce GTX 1060. It's a small lead, but a lead notwithstanding.

Tom Clancy's The Division

Our latest DirectX 12 game-benchmark addition is Ubisoft's popular third-person open-world RPG shooter fix in a near-future New York in the midst of a pandemic. We test nether DX12 using the Medium and Ultra presets.

XFX

Now that we're getting into DX12 games, things start to expect up for the new AMD card. The XFX RX 580 was significantly speedier than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 here, adding 7fps at 1080p at the highest setting, and 18fps on the Medium preset.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Lara Croft rises in one case over again in the early on-2016 iteration of Foursquare Enix's long-running action franchise. As our hero works to unfold an ancient mystery (and reveal the undercover to immortality), she traipses through a slew of complex atmospheric environments, from arid tombs to the frigid Siberian wilderness. A dynamic conditions system, and the complexities of Lara'south current of air-tousled hair, add to the game's visual complication.

The performance deltas betwixt the XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Xxx Edition and the GeForce GTX 1060 weren't quite as dramatic on this game, only the AMD card yet took the lead. The deviation was particularly noticeable above 1080p on the Medium preset.

Hitman (2016)

The newest game in the Hitman franchise finds Agent 47 turning over a new foliage, and embarking on a journeying of self-discovery as a instructor at a school for underprivileged children. Simply kidding, of class; he kills loads of people in this one, just similar the residue. Information technology does offering gorgeous graphics in both DX11 and DX12 varieties, though. We run and report just the DirectX 12 results here, using the High item preset.

On our concluding DirectX 12 test, the XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS 30 Edition tacked on virtually 7fps at 1080p compared to the previous-generation Radeon RX 480, and information technology was most 6fps faster than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060. Again, the new AMD card isn't significantly speedier than either the GeForce GTX 1060 or the Radeon RX 480 it'southward replacing. But it does appear to take an edge on DirectX 12 titles, or at least in the DirectX 12 titles in our testing regimen.

Conclusion

The AMD Radeon RX 580, in the XFX model nosotros tested, did provide between 4fps and 11fps improvement compared to the previous-generation Radeon RX 480 in our games testing at 1080p and high settings, which is by and large more than than you lot can expect from typical overclocking of a stock card. This bump, at least when looking at an 8GB version of the card, also helped the Radeon RX 580 stay more or less even in terms of performance with the competing Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060.

In our testing, the Nvidia card did better on older DirectX 11 titles, but AMD'south latest pulled even or ahead in newer DX11 and DX12 titles. That leaves things, at this price bespeak, more or less a wash, as the $229 starting price for the AMD Radeon RX 580 is about in line with Nvidia'southward pricing. To be fair, 6GB GeForce GTX 1060 cards typically start at most $10 more, or $239. Just we saw a few such cards on Newegg and Amazon for $230, $225, and even 1 Zotac GTX 1060 Mini on sale for $219. We suspect the Nvidia and AMD cards will settle in closely in cost, just as they are in performance. And the Radeon RX 580 cards will range in price, also; the 1 nosotros tested came in at $249.

All that said, the launch of these new cards from AMD at this point has us scratching our heads. Certain, they're solid upgrades over 2015-era cards similar the Radeon R9 380 and R9 370, which is actually how AMD is pitched these cards to us: skilful upgrades for midrange video cards that are two or three years old. Only the same could be said, more than or less, almost the existing Radeon RX 400-serial Polaris cards. In general, these 500-series cards (at least the 2 we've tested so far) tack on a few (at the very most, around 10) frames per second at high settings at 1080p over the Polaris cards that came out a little less than a year agone. And these new cards consume more power (putting aside AMD's new Radeon Chill feature) to get those extra handful of frames. More performance is e'er appreciated in the graphics-card world. Just information technology's hard not to meet these RX 580 cards, or at least the XFX card nosotros're looking at here, as a (generally unnecessary) rehash of 2016's nevertheless-very-proficient Radeon RX 480 cards.

Indeed, the Radeon RX 480 further dings the RX 580 by its very connected being. Several 8GB models of that card were notwithstanding available at this writing, some dipping below the RX 580's asking toll. When nosotros wrote this in mid-April 2017, we noted a Sapphire Nitro 8GB RX 480 for auction on Newegg for $220, with a $15 rebate that dropped the menu to $205. The RX 580 is a meliorate card, only nosotros're not sure information technology's worth paying $25 or $30 actress for information technology. So, in the short-term, if you lot're in the market for a carte du jour in this price range for 1080p or 1440p gaming, yous may desire to check pricing on existing Radeon RX 480 cards before clicking the buy push. While the Radeon RX 580 is as good an option equally whatever in the range, the older menu is almost equally adept a performer, and also rated to eat less power.

We're still eagerly awaiting AMD's next-gen "Vega" cards, because the Radeon RX 580 feels a picayune bit too much similar the AMD of 2015 or 2016. After the impressive launch of the company's Ryzen CPUs, nosotros await more from the AMD of 2017 than this. That said, 2017 isn't close to over yet.

XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition

The Bottom Line

AMD'south "refined" Polaris card trades blows with Nvidia's competing GTX 1060. It's a solid pick for 1080p gaming at high settings, or 1440p play if 60fps isn't your aim.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/xfx-radeon-rx-580-gts-xxx-edition

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