The RX 480’s launch last week was a pompous one with tumultuous arguments among the team green and team red followers. The pocket sized monster’s launch, however, was not without its fair share of controversies and critical acclaim with the card being criticized for its poor overclocking potency and PCIe power draw issues. The card’s reference cooler and a single 6 pin PCIe power connector played a vital role in the former as it came out just on top to provide ample cooling, preventing the card from thermal throttling. Any attempts to overclock the card were met with imminent doom as the temperatures shot to the proximity of 90° Celsius foiling any further ventures. The GPU in itself seems inherent to possess some commendable overclocking threshold because of its beefy VRM design, its 6+1 Power phase design puts the GTX 1080’s unmatched VRM design claims to shame.
According to a report by WCCFtech , the RX 480 managed to hit 1425 MHz with an add-on aftermarket air cooler scoring an astounding 14646 in FireStrike Ultra putting it an inch ahead of the R9 390X and R9 Nano. Caseking stepped further and employed watercooling on the card enabling it to reach 1.5 GHz. A universal type block was used to cool the GPU but not the VRMs and memory chips. Despite all the inhibitions, the card still managed to achieve a mind boggling 15363 in FireStrike Ultra beating the GTX 980, R9 390X and R9 Nano and menacing the R9 Fury average scores – a jaw dropping feat for a 200$ GPU.
RX 480 VRM Design (6+1)
The RX 480 for its price bracket features an exceptional power phase design of 6+1 that puts the GTX 1080’s VRM designs to shame. The RX 480’s circuitry is able to feed the card with 58% more current than the 1080 shaping it into a potent overclocking mine. As I mentioned earlier, the key factors behind the RX 480’s poor overclocking capabilities on the reference design were the cooler design and a single 6 pin PCIe power connector which failed to serve the card with profuse fuel. Anyhow, the issue should be eradicated with a capable cooler. RX 480’s aftermarket variants will hit the shelf during mid July and most vendors have planned to equip the weapon of the masses with an 8 pin PCIe power connector. The Sapphire Nitro is already available for pre-order on Overclockers albeit no news is strolling around on the availability of AIB variants in India.
The Sapphire Nitro features a beguiling cooler with a gorgeous backplate, not to mention the 8 pin power connector.
Source : WCCFtech
