AMD has just refreshed their Radeon gaming graphics card lineup for 2017. These new graphics card are still based on the same graphics architecture as the previous RX 400 series, and are expected to perform slightly better than its predecessors with higher clock speeds. You may be wondering, “is it worth upgrading from a RX400 series graphics card to a RX500 graphics card?”.
In this article, we take a look specifically at the Radeon RX 570 find out how much performance it brings to the table as compared to the Radeon RX 470.
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| 1 x Display Port 1 x HDMI Port 2 x DVI Ports |
The STRIX RADEON RX 570 is a premium ROG range of graphics card from ASUS that promises great cooling, aesthetics and performance. These graphics cards are overclocked out of the box, and will perform better than any reference cards from the market. Today, we will take a look at the performance difference betwen the STRIX RADEON RX 570 and its predecessor, the STRIX RADEON RX 470.
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Radeon RX 570
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Radeon RX 470
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GCN Architecture
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4th Generation
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4th Generation
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Manufacturing Process
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14nm FinFET
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14nm FinFET
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Die Size
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232mm2
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232mm2
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Compute Units
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32
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32
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Stream Processors
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2048
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2048
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Clock Speed
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STRIX OC
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Reference
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STRIX OC
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Reference
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1310MHz (Boost)
1168MHz (Base) |
1244MHz(Boost)
1168MHz(Base) |
1250MHz(Boost)
926MHz (Base) |
1206MHz(Boost)
926MHz (Base) |
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Texture Units
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128
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128
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ROPs
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32
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32
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Memory Size
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4GB
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4GB
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Memory Bandwidth
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224 GB/s
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211GB/s
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Memory Interface
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256 bit
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256 bit
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Memory Type
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GDDR5
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GDDR5
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| RX 570 looks almost identical to RX 470 |
If we take a deeper look into the core specifications of both graphics card, we can conclude that both cards are in fact almost identical. The only difference between the two SKUs are that they are configured differently to different core and memory frequencies. If you have a older RX 470 and have some skills in overclocking, you can bring it up to the level of a RX 570. Some reports have also claimed that users can even flash the BIOS on their older RX 470 or RX 480 into a RX 570 and RX 580 respectively. However, as the RX 570 has a 8 pin rather than a 6 pin power connector attached to it, it could potentially have better overclocking capabilities.
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| RX 570 8 Pin VS RX 470 6 Pin Power Connector |
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| Identical Graphics Output for RX 570 VS RX 470 |
3 Features that differentiates the ASUS STRIX RADEON RX 570
- Cooling Solution
The ASUS ROG STRIX series of graphics card are always attached with a specially designed GPU cooler. For the case of the RX 570, ASUS has attached a heatsink that is designed to dissipate heat away from the graphics card more effectively than standard heatsink.
The heat sink is specially designed to cool the GPU core. The main contact interface plate with the GPU core is connected to the larger heat sink via 2 dedicated heat pipes. This transfers the heat for effectively to the other parts of the larger heatsink for the best possible cooling performance.
Moreover, in order to provide gamers with the best possible gaming experience, the fans on this card will only start spinning when when it reaches 55 degree celsius. This allows gamers to not be affected by the noise coming from the fan.
ASUS has also specially designed the wing-blade of their graphics card’s fan for high airflow and silent operations. In fact, based on our experience, this is one of the quietest graphics card we have tested this far.
- AURA RGB Eco-System
The ASUS RX 570 is equipped with the Aura RGB Lighting on the ROG logo at the front of the GPU shroud. The placement of the RGB lighting is not too extravagant, and complements well to a computer chassis with a side window.
Moreover, as the STRIX RX 570 is also compatible with the Aura software, the graphics card RGB lighting can also be synchronized with other components of the system. For example, RGB LED strips, memory modules, keyboard, mouse and the motherboard can all be synchronized with the same LED colours. This brings about a whole new dimension of customization to system builders as well.
- Factory Overclocked and Easy Overclocking Tool
The STRIX series is the top of the line graphics card for this RX 500 series. All STRIX graphics card will be factory overclocked. This means that out of the box, they will perform better than reference graphics cards from AMD. Essentially, ASUS has properly looked into the capabilities of each individual graphics card, and then overclocked these cards to provide even better performance for gamers.
If gamers or overclockers are willing to push their graphics card to the limits, they can even use the built in GPU Tweak II software to further increase the performance of the RX 570.
GPU Tweak II is a easy to use GPU overclocking tool that measures and configures the different aspects of a graphics card. With this software, users can monitor voltage levels, temperatures and other key aspects of the graphics card. Of course, they can also apply different overclocking profiles to meet their gaming requirements.
Performance Review of the ASUS STRIX RADEON RX 570 OC and RX 470
System Specifications
- Intel Core i7 6770K @ 4GHz Stock
- Geil EVO X DDR4 3200MHz XMP
- ASRock Z270 TAICHI Motherboard
- FSP HEXA+ 550W
- Windows 10 Enterprise 64 Bit
- ASUS PB279Q Monitor
- ASUS ROG STRIX RX570 OC Gaming Mode – Core : 1310MHz | Memory : 1750MHz
- ASUS ROG STRIX RX470 OC Gaming Mode – Core : 1250MHz | Memory : 1650MHz
Since the main objective of the article is to find out about the difference between the RX 570 and RX 470, it is thus fundamental to test these two graphics card at their prescribed configurations. No additional overclocking are done on these two cards, and both cards will be used with their own default factory overclocked conditions. We expect that the 60MHz and 100MHz difference between the core and memory clocks should result in some differences between the benchmark results.
Conclusion
From the benchmark tests, we can safely conclude that the minor frequency bumps on both the core clock and memory clock speeds of he new Radeon RX 570 does make it slightly faster than the RX 470. However, this improvements are considered insignificant, as users can simply overclock their RX 470 to reach the performance level of the RX 570.
The RX 570 is a good choice for gamers who are upgrading from older graphics card such as the Radeon RX 300 or Nvidia GTX 900 series. It brings great performance to consumers for the price that they are paying. Moreover, the RX 570 could also be a good add-on to your previous RX 470 etup, as both graphics card can work together in a CrossFire X configuration. You simply have to overclock the RX 470 to the same speeds as the RX 570 to ensure that there are no bottlenecks to the setup.
However, if you are looking for a new graphics card that powers your 4K gaming machine, the Radeon RX 500 series would most likely be not the right choice. Luckily, it is said that the next generation AMD graphics cards, codenamed “VEGA”, will be launched very soon in this quarter. It would be wise to just wait for a few more months to see what these cards have to offer.
The ASUS ROG STRIX RX570 (O4G) Gaming retails at $369 SGD and is currently available at major computer component hardware retailers in Sim Lim Square.
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