AMD Screws Up As RX 480 Fails PCI-E Specifications, What Does This Mean For Gamers?

AMD Radeon RX 480 is currently the talk of the town for all the good reasons, until now. Reviewers have noticed the power consumption of the new card is very awkward as it tends to draw more power from the PCI Express slot than its 6 pin power connector. But how does this affect you? Badly.

[Software_Lover]

Wow. I'm waiting anyway (for the price gauging to stop on the 1080's or the release of the 490) so this doesn't affect me. I did think about a purchase though lol. I will wait longer.

[dirkdady]

Well tbh the update in the post does admit that the card did pass certification already and has been certified as such.

It could be that the few reviewers that are claiming that the card draws in excess from the pcie slots may have a unique setup that resulted in abnormal readings.

[NecoTehSergal]

My Gigabyte 7970HD is starting to get grindy with one of the fans, I fear it's gonna fail on me soon, I'm just dying for a 490/490x to be released so I can replace it....Praying it comes out before my card flops over and dies.

[Erik7357]

gtx1070 any day over this

[windblowsagain]

Clean up the Fan, Although it sounds like you don't care as your itching for a new card:)

[NecoTehSergal]

@Wind - I'm planning on, when I can get off my ass, to take it apart, reapply the cooling paste and see if the fan can be re-adjusted to not be noisy - cause if not, then I'd have to probably order some stupid fan from China. lmao.

With the 480 just releasing though, if I get a job soon I'd just replace it with it. it's 40%'ish stronger and less demanding, and is future-proof for more recent games as it standalone does great with games Nvidia hasn't broken with their proprietary bullshit software and sabotaging practices (I'm looking at you, Witcher and Tomb Raider)

[Erik7357]

Nvidia always for quality

[NecoTehSergal]

Ew no.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Ummm.... " In the worst case scenario the motherboard would switch off. However with our Asus Z170-Deluxe in the test system, the Radeon RX 480 ran smoothly, and also with our MSI Z97 Gaming 3 there were no abnormalities. Nevertheless, the overload can theoretically lead to reboots or even damage, especially with overclocking."

So basically they are freaking out about a possibility that hasn't taken place yet.

From AMD “We have extensive testing internally on our PCIE compliance and RX480 passed our testing. However we have received feedback from some of the reviewers on high current observed on PCIE in some cases. We are looking into these scenarios as we speak and reproduce these scenarios internally. Our engineering team is fully engaged.”

Seems a bit like Chicken Little is running around claiming the sky is falling once again.

[ONESHOTV2]

MSI Z97 i have the same MOBO very good for easy overclocking

[Stevonidas]

OC Genie is the shit!

[Gh05t]

VW epa testing passed internally too. Just Saying, it either is what it says or it isn't. Right now multiple place are saying it draws more power than it should, even if it doesn't cause damage it is not what is expected.

Also those are two places just because they were able to run it with no problem during the tests just wait for thousands of people on different types of hardware and people trying to overclock, this could be serious, and it's not nothing.

[kevnb]

I think people should just hold off until the models with better coolers come out anyway.

[jznrpg]

This is how short sellers cover their ass when the stock is set to go up with quarterly report and release near.

[Ark_]

Most gamers wait for custom designs anyway. And another connector is a simple fix.
But of course things like this shouldn't happen in the first place.

[extermin8or]

Any idea when that should be?

[Ark_]

ASUS, Saphire and MSI all teased their custom models allready - but no release dates yet.
Shouldn't take too long though. I guess in July.
I wouldn't wonder, if they "coincidently" release those around the GTX 1060 (paper?) launch.

[FasterThanFTL1]

For gamers it means absolutely nothing. A few extra watts will not burn a PC if that is what you are worried about.

[ProjectVulcan]

At stock, some cards are pulling 10+ watts more through the motherboard than expected. Ok, most good boards can deal with this. However, what about heavily overclocked? What about a pair together? A pair overclocked? You could easily find yourself seriously overloading the motherboard.

It's not great news whichever way you look at it.

[wraith4912]

You get what you pay for.

[ProjectVulcan]

Simple, don't buy a reference board or crossfire reference boards that all have 6 pin connectors. You probably shouldn't anyway, the coolers suck.

Just another reason to wait for the partner boards and better coolers in a few weeks, it's possible many of them have an 8 pin connector that basically eliminates these concerns

[ShadowKnight]

Nvidia wins lol

[WaitForIt]

Nvidia be like 'Bazinga' :3

[ShadowKnight]

😅

[Lon3wolf]

Mmmm my motherboard from 2 years ago came with an extra 4 pin molex connector by the PCI-e slots that can be connected to provide more power to the PCI-e lanes, not that I'll be buying a 480.

[DivoJones]

I've always preferred Nvidia to ATI, overall quality and driver support has always been better with Nvidia. So to read this is of little surprise.. ATI's business model seems to be to try and undercut Nvidia at the expense of build quality and reliability.

[yarbie1000]

You get what you pay for with AMD

[ShadowKnight]

Exactly 😂

[CoLD FiRE]

Yes. Awesome performance for $200.

[Hoffmann]

Never...buy a graphic card at launch. Never.

[Destiny1080]

this is the last thing that amd needs

the card costs 300 bucks in euro land, I think ill wait for the 1060

[Cueil]

if you don't like it get the two port versions... you should be buying from sapphire and other companies anyway... the reference design wont be available to most consumers

[dcbronco]

Uh oh.

[BossBattle]

This is why Nvidia will always be better. AMD is generic and better suited for consoles.

[Avery]

Charlie is crying hard...

[TABSF]

Its pretty dire really

Similar power consumption as a GTX 970
Similar performance as a GTX 970
Similar thermals as a GTX 970

1 has 8GB ram, 1 has 3584MB + 512MB ram
1 is 14nm FinFet, 1 is 28nm
1 came out 2yrs ago

[BattleAxe]

It's like the old saying, "you get what you pay for".

[ctmaudi]

The problem isn't just the possible damage to the board but that the card is being power throttled as well. You can run stock clocks, overclock, or even under clock and get the same performance. Increase the power without adjusting clock speed and performance increases. I would call that false advertising since it's not performing at its rated specs out of the box and requires adjusting the power limit higher when at stock it's already pulling more power then it's rated for. It's not an isolated incident, check around more and you'll see many reviewers are now finding the same results.

[1xcalibur1]

I'm sorry but anyone buying into this is an absolute ignorant.
No motherboard will explode from extra 10w.
Look at the 980TI. It also takes 83w from the mobo yet the world just sits there quietly.

Damn hypocrites!

[No_Pantaloons]

3rd party cards will likely swap the 6pin for 8pin so its only really gonna be an issue for these launch versions and even then a minor one for most users. Still sucks for them tho, bad press is hard to forget.