Gigabyte has today announced the launch of its Radeon RX 480 G1 Gaming graphics cards, and has confirmed that both 4GB and 8GB SKUs will be available.
While the reference RX 480 launched at the end of June, non-reference models from AMD's board partners have been hard to come by. They're slowly cropping up, however, and Gigabyte is one such board partner looking to entice users away from the reference design with extra features and cooling. For example, its RX 480 G1 Gaming cards will use GPUs cherry picked through its GPU Gauntlet Sorting process, which seeks out GPUs with specific power switching and thermal efficiency characteristics. The GPUs are fed by a 6+2 power phase design to further enhance overclocking potential, and Gigabyte says it has installed a smart power indicator to bring any power abnormalities to the user's attention.
Gigabyte has also fitted a custom cooling solution to the cards. The Windforce 2X cooler uses a pair of 90mm fans with unique fan blades designed to reduce turbulence. The heatsink is fed by three copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the GPU. The cooler is able to operate semi-passively too, with the fans switching off completely when the card is below a certain temperature threshold - a fan stop indicator is used to display the current status of the fans. The cooler is wrapped in an angular shroud with orange highlights, and for further aesthetic jazz Gigabyte has kitted the cards out with RGB LEDs, which users can tune to any RGB colour and program to one of 'numerous' effects. A metal backplate for added rigidity and protection completes the package.
Physically, both cards are identical - it's just the amount of memory that separates them. They are 232mm long, 116mm tall and 40mm deep. They each have a dual-link DVI-D connection in addition to the reference display outputs - a trio of DisplayPort 1.4 headers and one HDMI 2.0b port. Gigabyte has also upgraded the cards' power input from a 6-pin PCI-E header to an 8-pin one.
Complementing the cards is Gigabyte's redesigned Xtreme Engine software, offering monitoring and control of clock speeds, voltages, fan profiles, the RGB lighting and more. It also offers one-click overclocking with the OC Mode button.
The cards will both be overclocked, but core and memory speeds have yet to be confirmed by Gigabyte. The company also hasn't provided official MSRPs, but the both the 4GB and 8GB cards are already on pre-order at Overclockers UK for £215.99 and £259.99 (including VAT) respectively.
While the reference RX 480 launched at the end of June, non-reference models from AMD's board partners have been hard to come by. They're slowly cropping up, however, and Gigabyte is one such board partner looking to entice users away from the reference design with extra features and cooling. For example, its RX 480 G1 Gaming cards will use GPUs cherry picked through its GPU Gauntlet Sorting process, which seeks out GPUs with specific power switching and thermal efficiency characteristics. The GPUs are fed by a 6+2 power phase design to further enhance overclocking potential, and Gigabyte says it has installed a smart power indicator to bring any power abnormalities to the user's attention.
Gigabyte has also fitted a custom cooling solution to the cards. The Windforce 2X cooler uses a pair of 90mm fans with unique fan blades designed to reduce turbulence. The heatsink is fed by three copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the GPU. The cooler is able to operate semi-passively too, with the fans switching off completely when the card is below a certain temperature threshold - a fan stop indicator is used to display the current status of the fans. The cooler is wrapped in an angular shroud with orange highlights, and for further aesthetic jazz Gigabyte has kitted the cards out with RGB LEDs, which users can tune to any RGB colour and program to one of 'numerous' effects. A metal backplate for added rigidity and protection completes the package.
Physically, both cards are identical - it's just the amount of memory that separates them. They are 232mm long, 116mm tall and 40mm deep. They each have a dual-link DVI-D connection in addition to the reference display outputs - a trio of DisplayPort 1.4 headers and one HDMI 2.0b port. Gigabyte has also upgraded the cards' power input from a 6-pin PCI-E header to an 8-pin one.
Complementing the cards is Gigabyte's redesigned Xtreme Engine software, offering monitoring and control of clock speeds, voltages, fan profiles, the RGB lighting and more. It also offers one-click overclocking with the OC Mode button.
The cards will both be overclocked, but core and memory speeds have yet to be confirmed by Gigabyte. The company also hasn't provided official MSRPs, but the both the 4GB and 8GB cards are already on pre-order at Overclockers UK for £215.99 and £259.99 (including VAT) respectively.
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