RX480/580, VRAM vs Clock Speeds, buying for a 5 year lifespan

[SiNevesh]

I'm looking to buy a new GPU, and I don't plan on upgrading for around 5 years or so, more or less. I have my sights set on a 480/580 right now, but I was looking for some opinions. My ideal price right now is C$300, so as I see it, my options are as follows.

 

• Sapphire Nitro/Nitro+ 480 8GB - Stood the test of being out for over a year or so, looks to be a nice card. Around 1200-1350MHz clocks.

• Sapphire Nitro/Nitro+ 580 4GB - Higher clocks, the only stat of which I can find being the boost of 1400MHz. The trade off of course being lower VRAM.

• Other brand (Gigabyte for example) 580 8GB - Approximately 1350MHz. I am not that confident in this solution. The only ~$300 RX580 8GB is Gigabyte right now, and going by their 480's this would likely be worse than a Sapphire card.

 

I am unsure if extra clock speeds, or extra VRAM would be a better "future-proofing" solution. I also understand a couple of other stats were minorly boosted on the 580, but they don't seem to be very important in the grand scheme of things. Feel free to correct me though. I'm feeling like going for a Sapphire 480 8GB is a decently smart decision, or possibly a 580 4gig. Seems to be of high build quality, and of course I can see the reviews from users saying they haven't had issue, which is impossible with the new cards. 

 

I've been using a Sapphire card for 5 years now, and it's not let me down, and all their products seem to be at least adequate from all the products I have viewed, which is another contributing factor to my decision. 

 

If you've got any thoughts or wanna tell me I'm looking at this the completely wrong way, I'd appreciate it. I'm kinda feeling like getting the 480 8GB while I still can within a few days unless y'all have some reasons for why that's a really bad idea.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Edit: Just in case anyone visits this thread.

I have ordered a Nitro+ RX 480 8GB before it runs out of stock. Hopefully, it will serve me well and be a good purchase! I thank everyone for the advice and poll votes! :3

Edited April 24, 2017 by SiNevesh
Update of status

[domandric034]

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-STRIX-RX580-O8G-GAMINGOC-GDDR5-Ready-Graphics/dp/B071D8YQJD/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1493014645&sr=8-9&keywords=RX+580

 

A bit over budget but they have this sort of thermal solution  When GPU isnt overloaded then fans do not spin. Definetly worth checking out

[WereCat]

5 years? VRAM... but don't expect it to last 5 years.

[domandric034]

1 minute ago, WereCat said:

5 years? VRAM... but don't expect it to last 5 years.

I had R7 260X since release until this year when I went with Skylake

[SiNevesh]

Just now, WereCat said:

5 years? VRAM... but don't expect it to last 5 years.

Yeah, I was thinking VRAM would be better, but I wasn't 100% sure.

 

I'm not expecting to get perfect performance for 5 years though, just fit my standards, which are probably lower than a lot of people's. If I can still get 1080p60 out of a game on lowest settings, that's good enough for me pretty much. I've hit that point with my current card where I am starting to dip below 60 on some games, which is why I am looking for a new one. I grew up with a lot worse graphics, even on low most of todays games look fine to me. Overwatch is a good example of this.

[WereCat]

Just now, domandric034 said:

I had R7 260X since release until this year when I went with Skylake

The thing is that R9 290/290X, R9 390/390X, RX 480/580 are almost the same cards performance wise, which means that they already went trough about 4 years of performance cycle. I really doubt it will last another 5 years.

[xAcid9]

Get the 8GB RX-480 but it won't last you 5 years if you keep playing latest gen AA games, maybe 2-3 years at best.

[SiNevesh]

4 minutes ago, domandric034 said:

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-STRIX-RX580-O8G-GAMINGOC-GDDR5-Ready-Graphics/dp/B071D8YQJD/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1493014645&sr=8-9&keywords=RX+580

 

A bit over budget but they have this sort of thermal solution  When GPU isnt overloaded then fans do not spin. Definetly worth checking out

2

Unfortunately, that's $300 US, so that's ~400 CAD. That specific model also seems to not be available on Amazon.ca. My gripe with Asus is that, going by the reviews on their other cards, they have some issues. And I am unsure if fans not spinning is a good thing or not... I'd rather have low temps than a quite PC.

 

Thanks for the recommendation though, I appreciate it either way!

[SiNevesh]

1 minute ago, xAcid9 said:

Get the 8GB RX-480 but it won't last you 5 years if you keep playing latest gen AA games, maybe 2-3 years at best.

I'm not a big AAA player. I often play them one, two, or even three years after release when they are heavily discounted. The only current AAA game I play is Overwatch really. It needs to really stand out to me if I am going to buy an AAA game on release year. And I'm not looking for beastly graphics years down the row, I understand that I will get worse and worse performance decently quickly on a mid-range card such as this.

 

Thanks for the comment though, definitely looking like I'll be getting the 480 so far. :3

[crzyces]

11 minutes ago, SiNevesh said:

I'm not a big AAA player. I often play them one, two, or even three years after release when they are heavily discounted. The only current AAA game I play is Overwatch really. It needs to really stand out to me if I am going to buy an AAA game on release year. And I'm not looking for beastly graphics years down the row, I understand that I will get worse and worse performance decently quickly on a mid-range card such as this.

 

Thanks for the comment though, definitely looking like I'll be getting the 480 so far. :3

The Gigabyte AORUS RX580 seems to be performing very well (Tech City and Tech Showdown are torn between it and the Sapphire as to which is the best 580 available at the moment, with neither having any cooling issues or crazy noise while overclocked). Both brands have been good to me, so I feel both are good choices. As for how long it will last, well the VRAM will most likely be more important. The 580's are cheaper than the 480's in the states, so I'd go 580 8 gig. If the 480 were cheaper, I would go 480 8 gig. You can always OC the 480 past 580 stock speeds anyway.

[xAcid9]

15 minutes ago, SiNevesh said:

Unfortunately, that's $300 US, so that's ~400 CAD. That specific model also seems to not be available on Amazon.ca. My gripe with Asus is that, going by the reviews on their other cards, they have some issues. And I am unsure if fans not spinning is a good thing or not... I'd rather have low temps than a quite PC.

 

Thanks for the recommendation though, I appreciate it either way!

0dB fan is a pretty standard feature nowadays and it's not a bad thing imo, even the Nitro have similar feature.

RX480 Strix is one of the best aftermarket RX480 out there, the cooler is better than 480 Nitro cooler.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Radeon-Polaris-Premium-Graphics-STRIX-RX480-8G-GAMING/dp/B01J3TZMQA/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1493016227&sr=8-7

 

Saw 8GB 480 Nitro for CAD291.. that is a steal imo.

[crzyces]

Just now, xAcid9 said:

0dB fan is a pretty standard feature nowadays and it's not a bad thing imo, even the Nitro have similar feature.

RX480 Strix is one of the best aftermarket RX480 out there, the cooler is better than 480 Nitro cooler.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Radeon-Polaris-Premium-Graphics-STRIX-RX480-8G-GAMING/dp/B01J3TZMQA/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1493016227&sr=8-7

 

Saw 8GB 480 Nitro for CAD291.. that is a steal imo.

If she is mainly playing games like OW and CSGO an 8GbB card may last them 5 years.

[SiNevesh]

2 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

0dB fan is a pretty standard feature nowadays and it's not a bad thing imo, even the Nitro have similar feature.

RX480 Strix is one of the best aftermarket RX480 out there, the cooler is better than 480 Nitro cooler.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Radeon-Polaris-Premium-Graphics-STRIX-RX480-8G-GAMING/dp/B01J3TZMQA/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1493016227&sr=8-7

 

Saw 8GB 480 Nitro for CAD291.. that is a steal imo.

 

That Nitro is the one I am looking at right now, yeah. I haven't seen that Asus before, it looks pretty good actually. Though I am unsure if it would fit in my case, hah. 11.73" according to NewEgg. I'll definitely look into that a bit more, I appreciate it.

[SiNevesh]

8 minutes ago, crzyces said:

The Gigabyte AORUS RX580 seems to be performing very well (Tech City and Tech Showdown are torn between it and the Sapphire as to which is the best 580 available at the moment, with neither having any cooling issues or crazy noise while overclocked). Both brands have been good to me, so I feel both are good choices. As for how long it will last, well the VRAM will most likely be more important. The 580's are cheaper than the 480's in the states, so I'd go 580 8 gig. If the 480 were cheaper, I would go 480 8 gig. You can always OC the 480 past 580 stock speeds anyway.

 

Yeah, the RX580 everywhere I have seen it is still generally at least C$20 more for any 'generic' 8gig version, or C$50+ for the same brand 8gig version. So, I'm looking at the 480 mostly, as my gut is telling me the 580 won't properly go down in price for at least a few months.

 

And I'll take into consideration the Gigabyte a bit more, cheers! 

[rjc2719]

would the rx580 be good enough to run games like squad, arma3 and H1Z1??

[xAcid9]

29 minutes ago, crzyces said:

The Gigabyte AORUS RX580 seems to be performing very well

AORUS XTR or AORUS? The AORUS cooler look similar to last year G1 RX-480 cooler which is sub-par. Got link for the video?

[crzyces]

29 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

AORUS XTR or AORUS? The AORUS cooler look similar to last year G1 RX-480 cooler which is sub-par. Got link for the video?

I believe it is this episode. If not then it is 21. I know this one talks a lot about the 570 AORUS as well. Lots of graphs, cool cats. Great guy to buy rebuilt PC's from if you are from Australia. Also, fantastic Xeon OC'er. Taught me a ton.

 

Skip to 23 minutes if you want to hear about coil whine and such.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by crzyces
Oops, adding the link helps.

[crzyces]

25 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

AORUS XTR or AORUS? The AORUS cooler look similar to last year G1 RX-480 cooler which is sub-par. Got link for the video?

Also, they talk about the fans at the left top of their product page.

http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-RX580AORUS-8GD#kf

[xAcid9]

16 minutes ago, crzyces said:

Also, they talk about the fans at the left top of their product page.

http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-RX580AORUS-8GD#kf

Saw the new cooler use 4 heat pipes instead of 3 on the old cooler, maybe that improved the heat dissipation among other improvements. 

 

 

[crzyces]

1 minute ago, xAcid9 said:

Saw the new cooler use 4 heat pipes instead of 3 on the old cooler, maybe that improved the heat dissipation among other improvements. 

 

 

The alternating fans with the razor jet turbine tech (whatever that means; I'd assume a cool way to say better air displacement), not just the extra pipe, but they say the composite cools 29% better; they did a good job. Gigabyte and Strix models seem to have the same issues, which is why they are so good, and flawed initially. Ego. They see the new architecture, say "Watch these speeds!" and release super fast cards compared to the competition. But it takes them a bit to get the cooling right. Then longer to get it quiet. It was the same with their GTX 1080's. Worked great, but noisy and hot. Now their AORUS 1080ti is by far the fastest, and quiet as heck, while drawing all that power (25% over the normal 125% of the other ti's out of the box). Luckily, they have the Polaris cards down now, so it's looking up.

[kecap]

Hey guys do you think I should get XFX GTR RX 480 8GB for my build right now or wait for RX 580s 8GB come out in my region?

 

Sorry if this is a spam. Thanks

[WereCat]

14 minutes ago, kecap said:

Hey guys do you think I should get XFX GTR RX 480 8GB for my build right now or wait for RX 580s 8GB come out in my region?

 

Sorry if this is a spam. Thanks

The XFX GTR is really good, you should have absolutely no problem overclocking it to the speeds of the RX580, while using less power and having better temperatures.

[crzyces]

11 minutes ago, kecap said:

Hey guys do you think I should get XFX GTR RX 480 8GB for my build right now or wait for RX 580s 8GB come out in my region?

 

Sorry if this is a spam. Thanks

Not spam friend, it depends on the price. It's a fine card. It seems like in other countries the 580's are more expensive, so since they are essentially the same card (you can literally flash the BIOS of the card and it WILL be a 580 in pretty much every respect, even in your system config where it shows the display adapter). So yeah, if the price is right, snatch it up.

[kecap]

4 minutes ago, crzyces said:

Not spam friend, it depends on the price. It's a fine card. It seems like in other countries the 580's are more expensive, so since they are essentially the same card (you can literally flash the BIOS of the card and it WILL be a 580 in pretty much every respect, even in your system config where it shows the display adapter). So yeah, if the price is right, snatch it up.

 

4 minutes ago, WereCat said:

The XFX GTR is really good, you should have absolutely no problem overclocking it to the speeds of the RX580, while using less power and having better temperatures.

Thank you