Anybody checked already if AIB RX 480 4GB cards actually include 8GB?

[f2bnp]

What the title says, the first AIB RX 480 cards are coming out these days and a few people already have them on their hands.

It is common knowledge by now that there was a shortage on the appropriate ram chips for the 4GB cards on the reference cards and as such pretty much all of them shipped with 8GB.
Haven't found a solid whether or not AIBs "fixed" this issue and it seems like I'm not the only one wondering about it, judging from posts on the bigger threads. :biggrin:

I'm itching to buy an RX 480 card, however the 8GB cards are somewhat pricey here in Europe and I don't want to be left with 4GB since I'll be keeping the card for at least 2 years (3+ more likely). Please, don't turn this thread into a debate whether or not 8GB are actually needed or not, we've all read enough posts from both sides of the argument.

So, has anybody checked the 4GB AIB cards? Are there any PCB shots for, say, the Nitro cards available?

 

[Flapdrol1337]

There were only 8GB reference cards because there are no 8 "GHz" chips with the right capacity for 4GB available.

The 4GB aftermarket cards I've seen all use 7 "GHz" memory, so probably just 4GB on there.

I'd just be a little patient, 480's may be 300 euro now, but they'll go back to 269 soon enough when supply catches up with demand.

 

[sm625]

AIBs would never do such a thing. These guys are in it to make money, not meet deadlines.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Not to speak for him but IEC bought a few with plans to look at the memory. So hopefully we will know soon.

 

[Kenmitch]

It's possible if there is a AIB version with the AMD reference design board I'm guessing. Most likely they're wont' be any.

 

[Termie]

There were only 8GB reference cards because there are no 8 "GHz" chips with the right capacity for 4GB available.

The 4GB aftermarket cards I've seen all use 7 "GHz" memory, so probably just 4GB on there.

I'd just be a little patient, 480's may be 300 euro now, but they'll go back to 269 soon enough when supply catches up with demand.

Does look like the Nitro 4GB has lower specs than the Nitro 8GB, both in terms of core boost and memory clocks:

4GB: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=A471FEC5-AAA9-482B-81C3-4A7E059A3574&lang=eng

8GB: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=251A3BDE-2CC1-4C49-B661-165D72DEA40A&lang=eng

In other words, it's unlikely the 4GB cards have 8GB of VRAM on them.

 

[tential]

There were only 8GB reference cards because there are no 8 "GHz" chips with the right capacity for 4GB available.

The 4GB aftermarket cards I've seen all use 7 "GHz" memory, so probably just 4GB on there.

I'd just be a little patient, 480's may be 300 euro now, but they'll go back to 269 soon enough when supply catches up with demand.

Probably because amd originally was planning on releasing only an 8gb model and doubled back to make the 4gb model once they realized the 8gb model wouldn't be able to hit the low price point they wanted

 

[poofyhairguy]

Probably because amd originally was planning on releasing only an 8gb model and doubled back to make the 4gb model once they realized the 8gb model wouldn't be able to hit the low price point they wanted

I don't know about that. Every single review talks about the $199 4GB card. It is the 8GB model that changed price last minute.

I think they never wanted a 4GB reference card because OEMs (the main customer for such a card) would prefer customers see "8GB" in the configurator, but the 4GB chips weren't ready when AMD wanted to launch so there wouldn't be any AIB partners at launch at the $199 price point (like the 1060 had). So AMD bit the bullet and sold 8GB cards for the $199 price.

A great deal if you could get it, but I think the whole delay for AIBs was so they could source real 4GB chips. We will know soon enough.

 

[f2bnp]

There were only 8GB reference cards because there are no 8 "GHz" chips with the right capacity for 4GB available.

The 4GB aftermarket cards I've seen all use 7 "GHz" memory, so probably just 4GB on there.

Agreed, but didn't "4GB" Reference cards come clocked at 7GHz? If the 7GHz 4GB chips are still not in abundance, then AIBs may still have to employ similar tactics to AMD in order to create volume for 4GB parts, right?

They're probably legit 4GB cards, but I don't see the harm in looking into it a little bit more. I agree that the greatest hope lies in cards that use the reference PCB.

 

[IEC]

All RX 480 cards require 8 physical GDDR5 chips to fill the 256 bit memory bus (32bit x 8 chips). The question is whether the chips used are 8Gbit or 4Gbit in density.

The K4G41325FC chip that is used as 7GHz GDDR5 chips for 4GB cards is and has been EOL, so no telling who has these. It's possible they are the chips used in the 4GB Sapphire Nitro+ cards, though it would be curious that Sapphire wasn't able to/didn't use these in the reference 4GB cards if they actually had stock. None of my Sapphire RX 480 "4GB" reference cards used this chip.

The K4G41325FE chip that is supposed to be a replacement for the EOL chip is only being sampled to customers and is not in mass production. It's unlikely to be the chip used in the 4GB RX 480 custom cards.

The K4G80325FB chip was the 8GHz, 8Gbit part number used for all the reference cards that have been dissected to date including most (all?) of the "4GB" reference cards. It's almost certainly the chip used in the 8GB Nitro+.

I'm eagerly waiting for my preorder to ship so I can confirm what is actually used in these cards.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Can't wait. 8GB AIB for 4GB prices might convince me to ditch the 390x.

 

[littleg]

480 seems to benefit greatly from increased memory speeds so even if they're real 4GB cards it'd be worth checking to see if they're faster memory downclocked for product differentiation.

 

[IEC]

I'll just caution that I actually expect it to be 4GB physical, with 7GHz chips. It would explain the 1 month delay for custom cards.

Of course, if it isn't one or both of the above then I'll be sure to post letting people know.

 

[Shivansps]

All RX 480 cards require 8 physical GDDR5 chips to fill the 256 bit memory bus (32bit x 8 chips). The question is whether the chips used are 8Gbit or 4Gbit in density.

The K4G41325FC chip that is used as 7GHz GDDR5 chips for 4GB cards is and has been EOL, so no telling who has these. It's possible they are the chips used in the 4GB Sapphire Nitro+ cards, though it would be curious that Sapphire wasn't able to/didn't use these in the reference 4GB cards if they actually had stock. None of my Sapphire RX 480 "4GB" reference cards used this chip.

The K4G41325FE chip that is supposed to be a replacement for the EOL chip is only being sampled to customers and is not in mass production. It's unlikely to be the chip used in the 4GB RX 480 custom cards.

The K4G80325FB chip was the 8GHz, 8Gbit part number used for all the reference cards that have been dissected to date including most (all?) of the "4GB" reference cards. It's almost certainly the chip used in the 8GB Nitro+.

I'm eagerly waiting for my preorder to ship so I can confirm what is actually used in these cards.

K4G41325FC is listed as EOL (Oct, 2016). Im petty sure thats the one used.

 

[96Firebird]

If they aren't required to use Samsung GDDR5, Micron has 4Gb 7GHz modules... Not sure about Hynix.

 

[SK10H]

I'll just caution that I actually expect it to be 4GB physical, with 7GHz chips. It would explain the 1 month delay for custom cards.

Of course, if it isn't one or both of the above then I'll be sure to post letting people know.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-rx-480-nitro-oc-4gb-8gb-review/2/

Reviewer who doesn't know what people want to see... How hard is it to take a picture of the memory chip if the card is already naked instead of just mentioning hynix GDDR5. The memory can't even clock to 2000.

Sapphire should have just sent you the card for review instead.

 

[Silverforce11]

Custom cards use 7Gbps GDDR5, for Sapphire & Asus. I saw MSI 480 uses 8Gbps chips though.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Custom cards use 7Gbps GDDR5, for Sapphire & Asus. I saw MSI 480 uses 8Gbps chips though.

Aren't the 8GB models technically able to have 7Gbps GDDR5 too?

 

[96Firebird]

Aren't the 8GB models technically able to have 7Gbps GDDR5 too?

According to Ryan Smith, yes.

 

[IEC]

To date, there have been no 8GB cards with slower than 8Gbps GDDR5.

As for the 4GB Nitro+ model, it looks like it is confirmed to be using 4Gb, 7Gbps GDDR5 by various reports and reviews, where it failed to OC to even 8Ghz levels (usually 7.2-7.8). I've canceled my preorder as I don't even have an ETA on when it will ship.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah it looks like AIB 480s really have 4GB of RAM.