Is The RX 480 a GTX 1080 Killer?

After a great deal of speculation regarding AMD’s latest graphics architecture, the company has finally unveiled the RX 480. This particular graphics card was always designed to target affordability and offer an astonishing performance per watt. Clearly, the RX 480 was never going to match the GTX 1080 because it caters towards the mainstream market. During the presentation, AMD took the graphics world by storm with the graphics card’s shockingly low price which allows VR to come to the masses. Priced at a mere $199, this GPU offers ridiculous value-for-money and features up to 5.5 TFLOPS. On another note, the graphics card supports asynchronous compute, has a low TDP of 150-watts and includes DisplayPort 1.4.

According to AMD, two RX 480 graphics cards outperform the GTX 1080 during the Ashes of the Singularity DirectX 12 benchmark despite being significantly cheaper. In theory, this could apply to other benchmarks given the GTX 1080’s specification and TFLOPS from AMD’s competitor in Crossfire. Saying that, Ashes of the Singularity’s use of asynchronous compute runs much better on AMD hardware so we’ll have to wait for other benchmarks before a clear picture emerges. Even if the RX 480 doesn’t defeat the GTX 1080, it’s still a remarkable achievement given the cost and provides high-performance gaming for those on a budget. In single card setups, the RX 480 could lead the way in terms of price to performance and become the most popular option for consumers wanting to invest in a VR rig.

Whatever the case, this is excellent news for both enthusiasts wanting extreme performance and those with a lower budget. Of course, Crossfire greatly depends on developer support and scaling can vary dramatically in a similar vein to SLI. Therefore, it’s essential for AMD to encourage competent Crossfire development and ensure dual cards provide a consistent user-experience.