Is RX 470 really enough for 1080p gaming?

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techne

techne

Member
May 5, 2016
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Radeon RX 470 was described as "an ideal card for 1080p gaming".

I understand that this "ideal card" will not be able to max all the games out there, even using a 1080@60Hz monitor. And I'm OK with that.

But will the RX 470 be able to run most of the big games at very high settings at least? What do you think?
 
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guachi

Senior member
Nov 16, 2010
761
415
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No, I doubt very high settings will be possible. I think anyone who only has $150 to spend on a video card would love the performance the 470 will probably bring, which will probably still exceed that of a console. IIRC, consoles are something like low/medium settings so the 470 should beat that.

Hopefully the power draw is much lower at reduced performance levels and it'd be a fine upgrade for people with little money and little in the way of a computer to power it.

Pick up a cheap Freesync monitor, keep the settings modest, buy games that aren't new for 75% off and you can game for fairly cheap!
 
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3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
204
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We don't know where it's performance is going to fall. If it's ~10% slower (at the same clocks) than the 480 it'll be fine. That's where a lot of the cut dies end up with AMD.
 
crisium

crisium

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2001
2,643
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Well, sure. As you said there will be exceptions. But consider 960, 380, and 380X are the most popular 1080p cards until this new gen, and the 470 should be faster than them all. As time goes on more next gen cards are out there the games will get more demanding, but that's what High settings are for.
 
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Bacon1

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2016
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It will be a very good card for 1080p. Obviously you won't have all max settings, but running mostly high / very high settings should run fine with little if no noticeable IQ loss.
 
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MrTeal

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
3,916
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The 470 should be capable of running most games at very high settings. The problem comes when you might try to run a game at the very high setting preset. There's often settings enabled in VH that have a minimal effect on image quality, but tank performance. If you're willing to tweak a little bit, I think most people would be able to get perfectly good IQ and framerates out of a 470 at 1080p60.
 
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boozzer

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2012
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there is a very good chance it can oc to 480 preference levels if amd doesn't cut it too much.
 
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atticus14

Member
Apr 11, 2010
174
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If it follows AMDs history of having exceptional "one step down" cards it'll probably be one of the most bang for buck ever released. As long as you don't care to OC to at least match speeds of a 480 (assuming its under clocked) it it'll probably fall within 1-10% of the 480 depending on the game. I think it'll be a great 1080p card as long as you have reasonable expectations, but eventually they'll be more demanding games, and as PC gamers, sometimes we need huge amounts of brute force to get through non-optimized games. If PS4 Neo and Scorpio brings higher fidelity games, we'll probably need even more brute force.
 
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hsjj3

Member
May 22, 2016
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I would say, expect GTX 970 performance levels in general for the factory OC versions.

So it would be enough for Medium-High 1080p60fps depending on the demands of the game, which to me is good enough.

You can't pay $150 and expect to max out games, and really people put too much unnecessary emphasis on "maxing out" games.
 
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Thinker_145

Senior member
Apr 19, 2016
609
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hsjj3 said:
I would say, expect GTX 970 performance levels in general for the factory OC versions.

So it would be enough for Medium-High 1080p60fps depending on the demands of the game, which to me is good enough.

You can't pay $150 and expect to max out games, and really people put too much unnecessary emphasis on "maxing out" games.
Click to expand...
Wow you are really expecting too much. An RX 480 is barely better than a 970.
 
3

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
204
106
Thinker_145 said:
Wow you are really expecting too much. An RX 480 is barely better than a 970.
Click to expand...

Depends on the game and situation. Except for RotTR it easily outperforms it in DX12 games.

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And with the Vulkan patch it's going to be well ahead of it in Doom, considering the performance improvement of ~20%. That puts it at 980 levels.
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techne

techne

Member
May 5, 2016
144
16
41
Thank you all for the feedback.

Two months ago, I was about to buy a beautiful Sapphire R9 380 with backplate (4GB) for "only" $340. (It's being sold now for $320: what a bargain...)

Then, I did not pull the trigger and waited for Polaris.

The RX 480 (reference model, 8GB) arrived today to one of the best (and cheaper) online stores of my country. It's being sold for $400 (cash). A GTX 1080 is being sold for a grand or more.

Basically, that's why I'm thinking about a RX 470 for only $240 or something like that.
 
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Sonikku

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,882
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A 480x seems just enough to do 1080p gaming without concessions. The 470 in comparison will be adequate, with regular tuning and eye candy reduction.
 
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boozzer

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2012
1,549
18
81
techne said:
Thank you all for the feedback.

Two months ago, I was about to buy a beautiful Sapphire RX 380 with backplate (4GB) for "only" $340. (It's being sold now for $320: what a bargain...)

Then, I did not pull the trigger and waited for Polaris.

The RX 480 (reference model, 8GB) arrived today to one of the best (and cheaper) online stores of my country. It's being sold for $400 (cash). A GTX 1080 is being sold for a grand or more.

Basically, that's why I'm thinking about a RX 470 for only $240 or something like that.
Click to expand...
where do you live that gpus cost an arm and a leg? 470 with after market coolers + a healthy oc might be just what you need for 250-300 ish in your country judging by the prices you listed.
 
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Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
techne said:
Radeon RX 470 was described as "an ideal card for 1080p gaming".

I understand that this "ideal card" will not be able to max all the games out there, even using a 1080@60Hz monitor. And I'm OK with that.

But will the RX 470 be able to run most of the big games at very high settings at least? What do you think?
Click to expand...

It's the kind of card where you'll have to search for the few settings that have a trade off that changes visual quality only a little while giving good performance gains. All games have these, but when you get a "runs everything on ultra" card you don't have to worry about finding them.

As someone who has been playing at 1080p on a GTX 760, which is way slower than an RX470, honestly the tradeoffs are usually pretty minor in terms of actual noticeable quality difference while playing games. There are a small number of high profile games where it's pretty noticeable (generally FPS games), but in other cases it's really not a big deal. With the 470 looking to outpace the 380 and GTX960, you should be in pretty decent shape to play games at settings that look pretty good. No you won't be able to max out every game, but making the appropriate trade-offs, they'll still look good enough that the gameplay won't really be compromised by the visual quality loss.
 
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