Looks like an amazing card, seems to be only 2 - 4 frames behind the Rx 480 8gb at 1080p according to digital foundry. I may get this over the Rx 480.
Top comments
LazybeatX to K0YS
4 Aug 166#2
Depends on the resolution mainly, this card is aimed at 1080p so there are very few games that use the whole 4gb of memory. As the resolution goes up obviously there is a need for more vram but I'm pretty sure 4gb is fine for the target audience of this card.
lukec123
4 Aug 164#11
Ridiculous pricing, I hope no one falls for this and buys it. 480 4GB Reference cards launched at £175
LazybeatX to blaser
4 Aug 164#9
There are lots of 470s below £190. But the point being that this is the cheapest option I could find for someone who may be on a tighter budget and doesn't want to spend the extra £25 on what is basically a different designed cooler and probably 1fps more performance.
ST3123
4 Aug 163#10
IMHO this is too close to the price of the RX480, which has been down to around £175 in the past (admittedly its a bit more now). I thought this would come in around £150 to give some separation otherwise I don't see why you wouldn't just go for the 480 and have a bit of performance surplus for future titles as there just isn't enough of a saving here.
Hopefully, prices will fall when it's been out for a while but the way the other new cards are actually raising in price it's dubious....
All comments (40)
K0YS
4 Aug 16#1
Wouldn't the extra ram be a lot more future proofed?
LazybeatX to K0YS
4 Aug 166#2
Depends on the resolution mainly, this card is aimed at 1080p so there are very few games that use the whole 4gb of memory. As the resolution goes up obviously there is a need for more vram but I'm pretty sure 4gb is fine for the target audience of this card.
slayermatt to K0YS
5 Aug 16#39
The thing is extra vram isn't a good thing if the card isn't fast enough to utilise is. At 1080p in most games 4gb isn't saturated and the games that are turning down anti-aliasing a bit usually fixes it.
I am curious with this though. My brother is looking to upgrade his r9 270 to something that copes a bit better at 1080p. It's just difficult judging whether his Athlon 860x is going to bottleneck it significantly or not.
notos
4 Aug 16#3
Agreed. Battlefield 1 alpha used about 3.8GB at 1080 ultra, and Rainbow 6 ultra textures run flawlessly on 4GB (though I didn't check how much VRAM was used) so I don't anticipate 4GB being an issue at 1080, at least not until the graphical demands are so much higher that you'd need a significantly stronger card anyway
Edit: I'm using an R9 290 4GB which is marginally weaker than this card
Deetea
4 Aug 16#4
I have a DVI only monitor, this card is HDMI, is it perfectly fine to use an adapter?
Was hoping the Nitro would be cheaper. As it stands it's only ~£20 less than the 480 version.
LazybeatX to Deetea
4 Aug 161#5
Yes an adapter will work fine
jai47
4 Aug 16#6
What makes the 4GB 470 better than the 480?
I thought the 480 was great at using a lot less power, is the 470 even better?
LazybeatX to jai47
4 Aug 161#7
its not better but it's cheaper and is very close in terms of performance, especially at 1080p which is what the card is designed for. This uses even less power still though.
blaser
4 Aug 161#8
bah! hate reference coolers. The Nitro version in £189 at ebuyer
LazybeatX to blaser
4 Aug 164#9
There are lots of 470s below £190. But the point being that this is the cheapest option I could find for someone who may be on a tighter budget and doesn't want to spend the extra £25 on what is basically a different designed cooler and probably 1fps more performance.
Scotsmania to blaser
4 Aug 161#14
I know it looks like it's a reference cooler but it's not, it's Sapphire's own built cooler and is apparently quite good.
ST3123
4 Aug 163#10
IMHO this is too close to the price of the RX480, which has been down to around £175 in the past (admittedly its a bit more now). I thought this would come in around £150 to give some separation otherwise I don't see why you wouldn't just go for the 480 and have a bit of performance surplus for future titles as there just isn't enough of a saving here.
Hopefully, prices will fall when it's been out for a while but the way the other new cards are actually raising in price it's dubious....
lukec123
4 Aug 164#11
Ridiculous pricing, I hope no one falls for this and buys it. 480 4GB Reference cards launched at £175
LazybeatX to lukec123
4 Aug 16#12
Yea I was hoping for £150 to be honest. I don't think this card will drop in price though at least until Nvidia release the gtx 1050 or whatever they decide to call it.
Mrman123
4 Aug 162#13
hi all, shall I grab the Sapphire R9 380 4Gb for £138 instead of this, looking for 1080p gaming. thanks
Deetea to Mrman123
4 Aug 161#15
R9 380 draws a lot more power. Don't know if they're comparable.
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Opening post
Top comments
Hopefully, prices will fall when it's been out for a while but the way the other new cards are actually raising in price it's dubious....
All comments (40)
I am curious with this though. My brother is looking to upgrade his r9 270 to something that copes a bit better at 1080p. It's just difficult judging whether his Athlon 860x is going to bottleneck it significantly or not.
Edit: I'm using an R9 290 4GB which is marginally weaker than this card
Was hoping the Nitro would be cheaper. As it stands it's only ~£20 less than the 480 version.
I thought the 480 was great at using a lot less power, is the 470 even better?
Hopefully, prices will fall when it's been out for a while but the way the other new cards are actually raising in price it's dubious....