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AMD launching RX 490 in 2016? Don’t put your upgrade plans on hold yet

Back in July, AMD accidentally listed the RX 490 on its website for a brief time, which swiftly prompted rumours surrounding AMD's higher-end GPU plans for 2016. It has been a few months since then with very little in the way of new information but this week, reports popped up claiming that we may actually get our first look at the RX 490 as soon as December.

Right now, reports are sitting on top of shaky ground with not much evidence really to back them up. According to some, the RX 490 may end up being a dual-GPU card with two Polaris 10 chips on one PCB. This would then be priced competitively against the likes of the GTX 1080, though in terms of performance you would have to live with the drawbacks of using a dual-GPU setup. Alternatively, if the RX 490 ends up coming next year instead, it may end up being a single-GPU card with Vega 10 on board.

rx-480

So why do some seem to think that the RX 490 may be a dual-GPU card? Well, wccftech's report seems to cite a Zauba shipment manifest and an RRA certification, which contains variants of GPUs we have already seen (RX 480, 470 and 460) alongside one card we have yet to see. This board is codenamed ‘C99' and it happened to pass RRA certification way back in April, long before AMD wrapped up development on Vega 10.

Since this card was certified prior to Vega 10 being finished, that leaves us with Polaris 10 as the potential GPU. The insurance value for the C99 board listed on Zauba is also roughly double that of the RX 480, making it more likely that this could be a dual-GPU card featuring two full Polaris 10 chips. Given that AMD has previously claimed that two RX 480s can beat out a single GTX 1080, that gives us a hint at what sort of performance they would be aiming for with the RX 490.

While the certifications and shipment manifests do serve as some evidence that AMD is currently putting together a new GPU, there isn't actually any compelling evidence to support the claim that it will arrive in December. There also isn't a ton of evidence pointing towards the RX 490 naming aside from the accidental listing on AMD's site earlier this year.

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KitGuru Says: As much as I love theorising about graphics card releases, if the RX 490 was being planned for launch so soon, I imagine we would have some more concrete evidence by now, alongside a few leaks from AIBs. It will be worth keeping an eye out over the next couple of weeks just in case anything more solid comes along but I wouldn't put my upgrade plans on hold just yet based on what we have so far. 

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33 comments

  1. vega will NOT be a 400 series card, anyone with even a pennies worth of common sense would know this to be true. polaris is 400, vega will either take over the fury moniker or be 500 series, period, no if’s and’s or butt’s about it. IF a 490 series card happens to appear, there are a few things to consider. as the article says, it could be a dual gpu card. IF amd figured a way to make a dual chip card run like a single chip card, it would bring in a new era of graphics in itself technology wise. if the computer saw 2 chips as 1 and pooled its resources, well, that would make for a pretty amazing gpu. or, the truth of the matter is polaris was actually a bigger chip, and all 3 of current polaris chips are “cut down” versions of the real chip. and amd kept that a secret.

    there is no way vega can ever be the 490, because there will be at least 3 gpu’s in the vega line up, 480/70/60 is taken, to use 490, leaves no other numbers, and splitting it 490/500 is just idiotic. they have a number scheme, why break it? sure the low end vega could be 490, but then what of the 500 series? make a 580 and 570 as the upper 2 cards, and then fuck it all up again when they make navi, where low end navi is 590 and then 600 for the upper 2 card? its just DUMB, amd isn’t that stupid….

  2. If it is a dual 480 ship this will be all kinds of fail for sure because it is not what high end gamer’s want from AMD they want the new Vega chip and nothing else will do.

  3. if its a dual gpu of 2×480 then its kind of DOA.. since a single 480 gets killed buy a 1060,, and a dual GPU only works if a app/game is writen for… most the time you;ll be stuck with useing a single GPU on a Dual board..

  4. I wouldn’t be supprised… Intel split there numbers…

    I7600k is a 1151, yes a i7 6800 is a Socket 2011.. so despite the same Generation number 6xxx it uses a completely diffrent socket and chipset….

    so ya I guess AMD could use the 490 for a Vega 10 card.. Since the 4=Generation 9=tier and the 0=version…

    its how amd naming scheme works.. so Vega could be consider a 4th gen of the GCN… If they decided Vega is a 5th Gen of the GCN then it will have to be AMD 5xx

  5. I quickly have to point out how AMD dose there naming scheme..

    AMD rx XXX (Example 480) works like this
    R2/R3/RX=means nothing (its just a name) It is not a Generation/stepping name
    4=Generation of the GCN
    8=Tier
    0=Version

    so if amd Consider Vega 10 to be still 4th gen GCN then Vega 10 will use 4, if they consider Vega 5th Gen GCN then it will have to be 5.

  6. the 6800 also is an enthusiast/workstation class chip which could never be used in a smaller package so it wouldn’t be using the same socket anyway even while they more or less share the same CPU arch, I understand what you are saying but the analogy isn’t really accurate

  7. The GTX 1060 only “kills” the RX 480 in terms of energy efficiency. In terms of performance, it tends to barely win in DX11, barely lose in DX12, and lose a bit more in Vulkan. You can’t go wrong with either of them.

  8. my real point here is a 480 is basically on par with a mid rang NV gaming card.. what would be the point of a dual mid-rang GPU when most title/software only care about 1 GPU…

  9. I said this on WCCF, I’ll say it here, we have no idea what the 490 is, there are valid theories in both cases if it is Vega 10 and a dual Polaris 10 card; dual P10 means a sooner launch, it could have both P10 dies (not saying two 480’s either) on the same imposer making it an MCM design potentially allowing the card to be addressed as having one GPU removing any crossfire issues to showcase upcoming tech, it also could mark the end of Polaris itself meaning Vega will completely replace it next year. If it is Vega 10, this could mean at least an earlier paper launch meaning that we could see it launch along with Zen at CES, also this potentially means that Vega 11 will more likely be making up the replacement Fury family, potentially confirming it’s 6144 shader bulk from early leaks and not as was erroneously reported, it being small Vega

  10. Suddenly AMD is capable of creating a single GPU from multiple dies? It must be that magic “interposer” that only AMD is able to make. Why stop at two, do 4 or 6 and make the most powerful GPU on the planet! Use the magic interposer and stack the memory on top of one another as well.

  11. R9 490 is more than a normal dual-GPU card that is almost certain.

  12. The magic interposer that only AMD is able to make. Where do these crazy rumors come from? AMD has decreased its R&D spending by 30% in the past two years yet it can do magic that companies that have 10X the R&D budgets cannot.

  13. When the card is released and the independent benchmarks are done, then it will be “special”. Like Kit says, don’t count on any magic until it is for sale.

  14. I am not saying it is special but I believe 490 unlikely to be another duel GPU card like the Pro Duo, 295 X2 etc.

  15. http://www.fudzilla.com/news/processors/38402-amd-s-coherent-data-fabric-enables-100-gb-s

  16. you missed the point I was making, nobody outside of AMD and maybe some AIB partners knows what the 490 really is so basically everything is speculation at this point

  17. Who said anything about rumors? Im simply saying only a fucking moron would think the vega series will share the 400 naming lineup.

    However, AMD is always creating new technology. Its funny how you are so fanboy ready to talk shit, but AMD was the first real dual core, the p4 dual core was simply 2 threads on a single core which failed miserably considering a cheap athlon x2 4400 out classes the much more expensive p4. Sure intel put two single core chips on one board long ago, but thats not dual core thats dual chip, two different animals. AMD had already released quad cores by the time Intel released the core2duo. Later amd had 6 cores and intel had the core2quad. We can all agree intel was late to the party but had better preformance by doing so. Intel has many times let AMD innovate before adopting. How long did it take intel to move the memory controller onto the cpu? Dont make me laugh. Raw money has nothing to do with passion and idealogies. Intel has all this money yet the difference between each “i” series is 1-10% at best. All that money you brag about and they dont give you shit. AMD is always broke but always brings something new and innovative to the table. Without AMD, we would STILL be using dx1q after microshit clearly said “no dx12” because “dx11 is more than enough and maxed out in terms of performance gains via an api”. AMD proved microshit wrong. So please, brag about microsoft or intels monetary uptake, because they sure as hell dont put it to good use. IBM and AMD seem to be the only ones inventing things instead if holding technology back.

    And lol, SPP85 posted a link that is once more new technology AMD is innovating…. they just keep thinking up more awesome stuff.

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  20. AMD RULE EARTH

  21. GrimmReaper WithaSpoon

    If they go for 2x P10, my guess is drugged up 480 chip.

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  23. They certainly did not invent MCM. The only condition to this is if they baked in the appropriate interconnect to support that. They have been hinting at it, but never clearly mentioned Polaris or any other GPU would sport this kind of logic.

  24. All that while having 33% more VRAM. The 480 is a more futureproof choice.

  25. I’d agree with that ^, Crossfire and SLI scaling issues have plagued both AMD and NVidia out of most benefits of going multiple GPU’s. Don’t get me wrong both scale fine when there is a profile setup for the game but if there isn’t it doesn’t always work. If AMD have worked out a way to make multiple GPU’s act like multiple CPU’s or at least multi core that would be amazing. I don’t see how but then again i am not an engineer. I think AMD would be crazy to release a 480×2 type card though i’d prolly still buy one if they did.

  26. They won’t understand it namco…
    But i agree 100% with you, and i wish more people would open their mind..

  27. I have always felt SLI and Crossfire were not for extreme gamers but rather the ones on a budget. Like for example I got a HD6870 for $260aud then 10 months later I got another one for $180aud (same make and model). I hated Crossfire but it was still more sot effective at the time than going for a HD6970 at the time and when scaling worked well it was as fast as my current R9 290 though my R9 290 doesn’t have all the xfire issues they had.

  28. @pimpco_namco:disqus This is not a given: Inconsistencies have been present before. Notably, AMD Radeon HD 6800 was TeraScale 2 (VLIW5) architecture, even though 6900 was TeraScale 3 (VLIW4).

  29. Reduced 30% and still managed to do a 8Core 16SMT cpu that beats a 8C16T from intel that costs $1000, rumors are puttin this new amd cpu on the 400-500 range.
    RX480 already proved to beat nvidia 1060 and get closer to 1070. After CIV VI dx12 new Patch my game just gained 18fps. Tons of nvidia users crying cause they only get 1-3 fps and some even less then DX11.
    Congrats to AMD for their efficiency, less money for better tech.

  30. Fair enough point, tho it’s not like it hasn’t been done before by both AMD and Nvidia.

  31. Nvidia and AMD people lets stop the fight right here right now… once and for all.. ready.. here goes… Nvidia is out selling AMD regardless of the speed or quality of their cards.. AMD is struggling. to make a profit.. How long will they be able to stay in business with low profits? How long would you stay in business? .. I”m going out to buy some lube right now.. you should too.

  32. If the 490 does compete with the 1080, what would AMD name their 1070 competitor? RX 485?

  33. take your pills dude.
    your bimbo brain spam isn’t doing AMD any favours.