Today AMD unveils its refined Polaris architecture with Radeon RX 500 series.
AMD Radeon RX 500: Polaris 20 XTR, XTX and XL
Has Polaris architecture been refined, has it evolved? Well, there is only one way to find out, by reading actual reviews and those are coming later today.
Okay, but what’s XTR, XTX and XL? Those are Polaris 20 graphics processor variants. It may an important factor for your purchase. If you are after best performing Radeon RX 580 graphics card, grab XTR-based model, if you just want RX 580 on a budget, get XTX version instead.
But how to distinguish one from the other? Well, unless the manufacturer specifically states it’s XTR, it may be hard to guess. Basically, any model going past 1400 MHz out of the box is likely XTR-based and there aren’t that many of those. In other words, Polaris 20 XTR is basically highest-binned chip designed for best performance. Some reviewers will be using XTR cards others will have XTX-based samples. Unfortunately, that’s all we know right now.
Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX 480 share similar specs, but there are few differences. The first thing is higher boost clock (1340 MHz vs 1266 MHz). The new dual-fan reference card has a new board equipped with a single 8-pin power connector, also TBP has been increased to 185W (I guess that explains where did higher clock come from).
AMD has not changed memory clock speed for RX 580 (which is still 8 Gbps), but RX 570 memory clock has been modified to 7 Gbps (vs 6.6 Gbps).
When it comes to cheaper cards, the RX 550 and RX 560 are using different Polaris chips. The RX 560 has full Polaris 11 (1024 cores vs 895 on RX 460), whereas the RX 550 has cut-down Polaris 12.
The following chart lists all Radeon RX 500 cards, we will add official prices and missing specs as soon as they are confirmed.
| AMD Radeon RX 500 Series Specifications | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 18th 2017 | Radeon RX 580 | Radeon RX 570 | Radeon RX 560 | Radeon RX 550 |
| GPU | Polaris 20 XTR/XTX | Polaris 20 XL | Polaris 11 | Polaris 12 |
| Cores | ||||
| TMUs | ||||
| ROPs | ||||
| Base Clock | – | |||
| Boost Clock | ||||
| Memory Clock | ||||
| Memory | ||||
| Memory Bus | ||||
| Bandwidth | ||||
| Typical Board Power | ||||
| MSRP | ||||
Fastest AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics cards
| SAPPHIRE RX 580 8GB NITRO+ Limited Edition | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Specs provided by VideoCardz.NET Database | |||
| GPU : | Polaris 20 XT(X/R) | Base Clock : | 1256 MHz |
| Cores : | 2304 | Boost Clock : | 1450 MHz (+8.2%) |
| TMUs : | 144 | Memory Clock : | 8 Gbps |
| ROPs : | 32 | Memory : | 8 GB GDDR5 256b |
| MSI RX 580 8GB GAMING X PLUS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Specs provided by VideoCardz.NET Database | |||
| GPU : | Polaris 20 XT(X/R) | Base Clock : | 1256 MHz |
| Cores : | 2304 | Boost Clock : | 1441 MHz (+7.5%) |
| TMUs : | 144 | Memory Clock : | 8.1 Gbps (+1.3%) |
| ROPs : | 32 | Memory : | 8 GB GDDR5 256b |
| GIGABYTE RX 580 8GB AORUS XTR | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Specs provided by VideoCardz.NET Database | |||
| GPU : | Polaris 20 XT(X/R) | Base Clock : | 1256 MHz |
| Cores : | 2304 | Boost Clock : | 1439 MHz (+7.4%) |
| TMUs : | 144 | Memory Clock : | 8 Gbps |
| ROPs : | 32 | Memory : | 8 GB GDDR5 256b |
| POWERCOLOR RX 580 8GB Red Devil Golden Sample | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Specs provided by VideoCardz.NET Database | |||
| GPU : | Polaris 20 XT(X/R) | Base Clock : | 1256 MHz |
| Cores : | 2304 | Boost Clock : | 1425 MHz (+6.3%) |
| TMUs : | 144 | Memory Clock : | 8 Gbps |
| ROPs : | 32 | Memory : | 8 GB GDDR5 256b |
| XFX RX 580 8GB GTS BLACK EDITION | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Specs provided by VideoCardz.NET Database | |||
| GPU : | Polaris 20 XT(X/R) | Base Clock : | 1256 MHz |
| Cores : | 2304 | Boost Clock : | 1425 MHz (+6.3%) |
| TMUs : | 144 | Memory Clock : | 8.1 Gbps (+1.3%) |
| ROPs : | 32 | Memory : | 8 GB GDDR5 256b |
