An Affordable VR: AMD’s new Radeon RX 480 GPU

If you failed to buy VR because it was expensive, do not be troubled anymore.  AMD  has finally come up with a new Radeon RX 480 GPU that is very affordable.

The RX 480 will be available in the market on 29^th June. It is a 14nm GPU made during GlobalFoundries.  The RX480 will have 2,304 GCN cores that operate to 36 discriminate units. Its time of boasting exceeds 1.08GHz and is supported by a 256-bit memory train. Depending on a SKU, it may have 4GB or 8GB of GDDR5.  Board energy is about 150W and it will cost $199…

For you to appreciate the reduction in price, Nvidia’s new flagship GTX 1080   is going for $599. The cheaper GTX 1070 will cost $379 when it launches later this month.

There is no doubt that the RX 480 won’t outperform the GTX 1080; however, AMD senior VP Raja Koduri said that  the two 480 GPUs can actually outdo the GTX 1080. To prove his point, he displayed the game Ashes of the Singularity operating with two 480 cards vs. one 1080. Indeed, the two AMD cards maintained a higher frame rate throughout.

Raja Koduri said that as AMD tries to fully immerse and connect humanity to VR, cost remains the greatest hindrance, and few individuals can afford it.  He added that: “The Radeon RX Series is a disruptive technology that adds rocket fuel to the VR inflection point, turning it into a technology with transformational relevance to consumers.”

Undoubtedly, Nvidia’s cards will dominate the high-end market. However, for everyone else who desires to become VR-ready on a reasonable price, the RX 480 might be the best way to go.

AMD believes that the Radeon RX 480 will drive up adoption rates of VR. Getting VR-ready needs a beefy rig. Fortunately, AMD has found a way to lower the barrier using the US$199Radeon RX 480 graphics card. The move is intended not only to multiply adoption rates for VR but also encourage developers to make more platform content and reduce the cost of VR-ready equipment and computers.

According to AMD, the Radeo RX 480 is built on what  content developers will look for in the next three to four years. It is the first time the company is using high-performance Polaris architecture based on the  14nm FinFET production process.

For full presentation of AMD , find it in Computex 2016