Asus Radeon RX 480 Strix OC 8GB Review

Test Setup

Our GPU test rig uses Intel's Z170 platform. Specifically, we use the Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha paired with an Intel Core i7-6700K. With four cores and eight threads via HyperThreading, the CPU ensures even the most multi-threaded games won't be bottlenecked, and we've overclocked it to 4.5GHz as well with a base clock of 100MHz, a multiplier of 45 and a vcore of 1.28V, further alleviating CPU bottlenecks. The CPU is paired with 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 clocked at 3,000MHz and cooled by a Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX.

The rig is powered by the Corsair AX1500i, which has enough wattage and 8-pin PCI-E power connectors to deal with any multi-GPU set-up we care to throw at it. It's all housed inside a Corsair Graphite Series 760T, which is spacious enough for any card. The final component is an OCZ Vector 180 960GB SSD, giving us plenty of space for game installs.

Our results come from a mix of built-in benchmarks and custom, manually played sections, depending on the game. All benchmarks are repeated at least three times to ensure consistency. We test at 1,920 x 1,080 (1080p) and 2,560 x 1,440 (1440p), as well as at 3,840 x 2,160 (4K) with higher end cards. The operating system is an up-to-date copy of Windows 10 64-bit.

Test System

• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K at 4.5GHz (45 x 100MHz)
  
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha
  
• Memory: 4 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2,800MHz DDR4 (at 3,000MHz)
  
• PSU: Corsair AX1500i
  
• SSD: OCZ Vector 180 960GB
  
• Case: Corsair Graphite Series 760T
  
• CPU cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX
  
• Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit

AMD Graphics Cards

• Sapphire Radeon RX 480 Nitro OC 8GB - 1,342MHz GPU, 8Gbps GDDR5 (Radeon Software Crimson 16.11.3)
  
• Asus Radeon RX 480 Strix OC 8GB - 1,330MHz GPU, 8Gbps GDDR5 (Radeon Software Crimson 16.11.2)
  
• Sapphire Radeon RX 480 Nitro OC 4GB - 1,306MHz GPU, 7Gbps GDDR5 (Radeon Software Crimson 16.11.3)
  
• Sapphire Radeon RX 470 Nitro OC 4GB - 1,260MHz GPU, 7Gbps GDDR5 (Radeon Software Crimson 16.10.3)
  
• Gigabyte Radeon RX 460 WindForce 2X OC 2GB - 1,212MHz GPU, 7Gbps GDDR5 (Radeon Software Crimson 16.10.3)

Nvidia Graphics Cards

• Palit GeForce GTX 1070 GameRock Premium Edition 8GB - 1,670MHz GPU (1,873MHz boost), 8.5Gbps GDDR5 (GeForce 375.70)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6GB - 1,506MHz GPU (1,708MHz boost), 8Gbps GDDR5 (GeForce 375.70)
  
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 WindForce OC 3GB - 1,582MHz GPU (1,797MHz boost), 8Gbps GDDR5 (GeForce 375.70)
  
• MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Gaming X 4GB - 1,379MHz GPU (1,493MHz boost), 8.1Gbps GDDR5 (GeForce 375.63)
  
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 950 OC 2GB - 1,089MHz (1,266MHz boost), 6.6GHz GDDR5 (GeForce 375.70)