The 3DNews laboratory has already compared the Radeon RX 570 with the GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB. The test results clearly demonstrate the advantage of the AMD video card over its opponent. In some cases, the Radeon RX 570 is affected by the presence of four gigabytes of video memory - this amount of RAM is enough for most computer games in Full HD resolution. At the same time, the junior Polaris 20 XL graphics chip is not so different from the Polaris 20 XTX, which is used in the Radeon RX 580. Therefore, it is quite possible to eliminate the small difference in performance by overclocking the GPU and memory. We decided to test this using a custom GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G model.
GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G
⇡#Technical characteristics and appearance
The Radeon RX 570 is a new version of the Radeon RX 470, which launched last summer, and features a second-generation Polaris GPU. Video cards have similar characteristics, but by default the new product has higher GPU and RAM frequencies and, as a result, a higher TDP level. At the time of writing, there was only one version of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G. In game mode, the processor frequency of this accelerator is 1280 MHz, which is only 36 MHz more than the reference sample. The memory is not overclocked at all. It is worth noting that a software OC mode is provided, which increases the chip frequency by another 15 MHz. It is activated using the AORUS GRAPHICS ENGINE utility. In the same application, the operation of the backlight built into the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G is configured.
| GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G (GV-RX570AORUS-4GD) | AMD Radeon RX 570 | |
| GPU | ||
| Name | Polaris 20 XL | Polaris 20 XL |
| Microarchitecture | GCN 1.3 | GCN 1.3 |
| Technical process, nm | 14 FinFET | 14 FinFET |
| Number of transistors, million | 5700 | 5700 |
| Clock frequency, MHz: Base/Boost | 1295 (OC Mode); 1280 (Gaming Mode) | 1168/1244 |
| Number of shader ALUs | 2048 | 2048 |
| Number of texture mapping units | 128 | 128 |
| ROP number | 32 | 32 |
| RAM | ||
| Bus width, bits | 256 | 256 |
| Chip type | GDDR5 SDRAM | GDDR5 SDRAM |
| Clock frequency, MHz (bandwidth per contact, Mbit/s) | 1750 (7000) | 1750 (7000) |
| I/O bus | PCI Express 3.0 x16 | PCI Express 3.0 x16 |
| Volume, MB | 4096 | 4096/8192 |
| Performance | ||
| Peak performance FP32, GFLOPS (based on maximum specified frequency) | 5304 | 5059 |
| Performance FP32/FP64 | 1/16 | 1/16 |
| RAM bandwidth, GB/s | 224 | 224 |
| Image output | ||
| Image output interfaces | DL DVI, HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.3/1.4 | DL DVI, HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.3/1.4 |
| TDP, W | 150 | 150 |
| Suggested retail price (USA, excluding tax), $ | N/A | 169/N/A |
| Recommended retail price (Russia), rub. | N/A | 11 299/N/A |
The Polaris 20 XL processor used in the Radeon RX 570 is structurally no different from the Polaris 10 chip that was installed in the Radeon RX 470. The GPU received only 32 Compute Units. Compared to a full-featured processor - Polaris 20 XTX - disabling four CU modules led to a reduction in the number of stream processors from 2304 to 2048, and texture units from 144 to 128 pieces. It turns out that the main elements of the GPU have become 11% smaller. However, Polaris 20 in the Radeon RX 570 operates at a lower frequency (1244 versus 1340 MHz). The video card also has a slightly lower speed of video memory (1750 versus 2000 MHz). You can read more about the features of the GCN 1.3 architecture in the review of the Radeon RX 480 video card.
There are versions of the Radeon RX 570 with 8 GB of video memory on sale, but the AORUS Radeon RX 570 model exists in one version - with 4 GB of RAM. The current prices for the new product are unknown, since the device is not available at retail either here, in Europe, or in the USA. At the time of writing, the GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G (GV-RX570AORUS-4GD) could be pre-ordered in the German online store Computeruniverse.ru for 254 euros.
Along with the video card, the box contained a paper instruction manual, a disk with a driver and software, and a metal sticker with the AORUS logo.
GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G
One of the main elements of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G is the WINDFORCE 2X cooling system. Two 90 mm fans rotate in different directions, and this operating pattern, according to the manufacturer, reduces air turbulence and allows for effective heat dissipation. The impeller blades themselves are equipped with so-called three-dimensional stripes, which increase air flow, according to GIGABYTE, by 23%.
An integral part of the cooling system of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G is a metal backplate. The plate is in contact with the printed circuit board in the area of the power converter. The connecting link is a thermal pad.
And on the backplate itself there is a small copper plate - it additionally cools the graphics processor of the video card and is in contact with the printed circuit board using another thermal pad.
The AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G itself turned out to be compact. The length of the device is only 232 mm and the width is 36 mm, that is, the adapter will occupy exactly two slots in the PC case.
An 8-pin connector is used for additional power. Consequently, up to 225 W of electricity can be supplied to the device. The AORUS logo and lettering illuminate during operation, and the Fan Stop unit lights up when the WINDFORCE 2X fans stop rotating.
As you know, AMD is trying to abandon the DVI interface. At least, the company's reference devices do not have this video output. However, this connector is present on the I/O panel of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G. One HDMI and three DisplayPorts are also output there.
The radiator consists of a single block of aluminum fins and four 6 mm copper heat pipes of different lengths. Direct contact technology with the GPU is used. The photo above clearly shows that all four heat pipes are in contact with the GPU, but there are large gaps between them, which, however, are filled with thermal paste. Both memory chips and field-effect transistors of the power subsystem come into contact with the WINDFORCE 2X heatsink.
The AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G has four gigabytes of video memory using eight Hynix chips labeled H5GC4H24AJR-R0C. The chips operate at standard speed - 7 Gbit/s per contact. The voltage converter includes six phases for the GPU and one for memory chips. The power is controlled by an 8-channel PWM controller IOR 3567B.
Second generation Polaris. Getting to know the Radeon RX 570 using the example of the ASUS ROG Strix video card
At the moment, there is a situation with total dominance of NVIDIA in the segment of top graphics solutions. AMD will not present its progressive Vega accelerators in any way. But a series of mid-level video cards based on the Polaris GPU has been developed. Their second generation has been introduced, and we are starting to study new products.
The updated line of video cards includes four models: Radeon RX 580, Radeon RX 570, Radeon RX 560 and Radeon RX 550. They are direct successors to similar models of the RX400 series, in particular, Radeon RX 580/570 become a replacement for Radeon RX 480/470. We will talk about the changes in the new video cards in this review. Let's look at the Radeon RX 570 made by ASUS and compare its potential with the Radeon RX 480 and GeForce GTX 1060.
The Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX 570 are based on the Polaris 20 graphics processor, which does not have any major changes compared to Polaris 10. This is an evolution of the AMD GCN architecture and its fourth implementation. The GPU has 36 Compute Units (CU), which are organized into four Shader Engine arrays with their own geometry processing unit and rasterization units. Each CU operates with 64 stream processors and four texture units. The general capabilities of the GPU are as follows: 2304 stream processors, 144 texture units and 32 rasterization units.
Not the largest number of computational units, if you remember the GPU Grenada (Hawaii). However, Polaris has a number of advantages: the processing speed of some shaders has been increased, the speed of asynchronous calculations has been increased, geometry and tessellation processing units have been improved, and the processor cache size has been increased. Added color data compression, which increases the efficiency of data exchange with memory over the 256-bit bus. Thanks to the transition to a 14-nm process technology, power consumption has been reduced and operating frequencies have been significantly increased.
The second generation of Polaris took a step forward in terms of frequencies. At the same time, the 14-nm process technology was retained, but perhaps improvements within the technology itself and an increase in the percentage of yield of usable crystals provided such an acceleration. Also, power limits have been increased for new video cards. Roughly speaking, the Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX 570 were obtained through conventional overclocking.
Maximum performance for Polaris 20 is provided by the Radeon RX 580 with a full compute unit configuration. The base GPU frequency is set at 1257 MHz with a higher frequency of up to 1340 MHz. And this is a good acceleration compared to the 1120–1266 MHz of the Radeon RX 480. But the GDDR5 memory still operates at an effective data exchange rate of 8 GHz, the standard memory capacity is 8 GB.
The Radeon RX 570 operates on a GPU with 2048 active stream processors. Core frequencies are 1168–1244 MHz instead of 926–1206 MHz in the predecessor Radeon RX 470. Can be equipped with GDDR5 memory modules with a total capacity of 4 or 8 GB with an increased frequency of 7 GHz. The predecessor worked with memory at a frequency of 6.6 GHz.
| Video adapter | Radeon RX 580 | Radeon RX 570 | Radeon RX 480 | Radeon RX 470 |
| Core | Polaris 20 | Polaris 20 | Polaris 10 | Polaris 10 |
| Number of transistors, million pieces | 5700 | 5700 | 5700 | 5700 |
| Technical process, nm | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Core area, sq. mm | 232 | 232 | 232 | 232 |
| Number of stream processors | 2304 | 2048 | 2304 | 2048 |
| Number of texture blocks | 144 | 128 | 144 | 128 |
| Number of rendering units | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Core frequency, MHz | 1257–1340 | 1168–1244 | 1120–1266 | 926–1206 |
| Memory bus, bit | 256 | 256 | 256 | 256 |
| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory frequency, MHz | 8000 | 7000 | 8000 | 6600 |
| Memory capacity, MB | 8192 | 4096 | 8192/4096 | 4096 |
| Supported DirectX Version | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Interface | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 |
| TDP level, W | 185 | up to 185 | 150 | 120 |
An increase in frequencies led to an increase in heat generation. The Radeon RX 580 has a stated TDP of 185 W. For the Radeon RX 570, official sources do not indicate specific values, but most likely the TDP is close to the level of the older card. At the same time, power consumption is reduced in modes that do not require maximum output. This is due to the third state of memory, which previously worked only in the minimum or maximum value. When watching GPU-accelerated video or connecting a second monitor, the memory switched to performance mode, increasing overall power consumption. Now it will work in the third intermediate mode. For example, when watching streaming video from Youtube in 1080p quality, the new Radeon RX 580 will consume 14 W, and the old Radeon RX 480 will consume 38.8 W. When connecting two 4K monitors, graphics card consumption increases by only 1.5 W compared to one 4K monitor.
Such optimizations will help maintain extremely low operating temperatures and noise in simple operating conditions. It should also be noted that AMD partners this time received more engineering freedom. And instead of reference versions with a puny “turbine” on store shelves, we will immediately see a wide range of different video cards with powerful coolers. Therefore, the temperature and noise characteristics will depend on each specific model.
The video cards are equipped with DisplayPort 1.3 HBR and DisplayPort 1.4 connectors and support image output in HDR format. A dedicated encoding/decoding unit provides support for H.264 and HEVC video up to 4K resolution. Thanks to this block, you can record gameplay directly on the fly or stream it without loss of gaming performance. Video capture and recording capabilities are built into AMD ReLive software.
The AMD ReLive package includes the WattMan application, which provides all the capabilities for fine control of the operating parameters of the video card and its overclocking. So users have access to all the features without having to resort to additional utilities.
Among the new software features, it should be noted Radeon Chill - a special intelligent energy-saving technology for AMD Radeon video cards. Radeon Chill can control frequencies, lowering them slightly when player activity and GPU load are low, and increasing them to the limit at times of maximum activity. This will reduce overall power consumption and heat, allowing the graphics card to operate in a more comfortable environment. Radeon Chill also reduces frame output latency.
Radeon Chill technology is relevant for eSports games. For example, in Dota 2 you will not get 200 fps, but a lower value, but with reduced latency and increased response time.
If we talk about the quality of the output image, we should also mention AMD FreeSync 2. This new technology will ensure synchronization of output frames when working with HDR monitors. The improved HDR image pipeline reduces input lag and improves screen smoothness without frame tearing.
The Radeon RX 580 is positioned as an option for smooth HD gameplay with the ability to run at higher resolutions. Radeon RX 570 is positioned as a productive solution for the mass Full HD format.
Our acquaintance with the new series will begin with the Radeon RX 570. Let's see what these video cards are capable of by examining the capabilities of the ASUS ROG Strix model.
ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 570 O4G Gaming OC Edition
The ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX570-O4G-GAMING video card comes in a medium-sized box.
Externally, we have a complete copy of the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 470. The card is of similar dimensions and with the same cooling system. Total length 24 cm.
The cooler is larger than the board and uses two large fans. Everything is done in black.
The strict appearance is complemented by an illuminated logo at the end.
In the corner there is an eight-pin power connector, which is turned with the latch up. One of the screws on the cooler is protected by a warranty seal, which prevents disassembly.
There are four interface connectors on the rear panel: DisplayPort, HDMI and two DVI.
There are no changes in the design of the cooler compared to the ASUS Radeon RX 470. Two thick heat pipes with a diameter of 8 mm pass through the base and penetrate the radiator fins.
Direct contact of the tubes with the surface of the crystal is realized.
The radiator does not have any mounting frames or complex structures on the front side. The casing with fans clings to the edges of the plates with latches.
The power supply transistors have their own finned radiator.
The entire structure is blown by a pair of Everflow T129215SM fans of size 100 (the diameter of the blades is slightly smaller).
But the printed circuit board is noticeably different from the Radeon RX 470. In the new ASUS video card, the power supply is located to the right of the chip. The number of phases in the GPU power system has been increased to six.
The graphics crystal is surrounded by a large frame. The memory is composed of Elpida W4032BABG-70-F microcircuits.
If the regular version of Radeon RX 570 has an upper limit of core frequency of 1244 MHz, then ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX570-O4G-GAMING operates at 1300 MHz. Effective memory frequency 7000 MHz.
Like all Gaming series models, three frequency profiles are supported. The initial settings correspond to the Gaming Mode, there is also OC Mode with a core frequency of 1310 MHz. Silent Mode offers some frequency reduction to reduce noise.
With any gaming load, ASUS demonstrates a stable core frequency of 1300 MHz. This is an excellent result, because even the top versions of the old Radeon RX 470/480 sometimes showed floating frequencies. But the temperature and noise characteristics are strange. At one time, the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 470 video adapter showed a good combination of low operating temperatures and low fan speeds. In this case, everything is somewhat different. The first gaming tests showed that the maximum fan speed barely reaches 1700 rpm at core temperatures of up to 66 °C. But after a good warm-up, the fan speed begins to increase in the same applications. As a result, the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 570 video card demonstrated 1900 rpm, sometimes 2000 rpm at peak moments, which is more than 70% of the maximum speed. In this case, the noise can be assessed as moderate. A smooth change in speed and periodic reduction reduces the overall hum.
As for maximum temperatures, some applications easily warmed up the core to 70 °C at an indoor temperature of 21 °C. That is, compared to the Radeon RX 470 with the same cooling, we see a significantly increased heat dissipation and noise. And the operating mode of the cooling system seriously depends on each specific application: some games warm up the video card faster and stronger, some less, allowing it to work in a quieter mode. Temperatures of 66–70 °C are still low for such a GPU. So with manual settings you can achieve the optimal balance with a more comfortable noise level and without a serious increase in operating temperatures.
The second generation of Polaris gave hope for increased overclocking potential. And here ASUS lived up to expectations. The core was overclocked to 1445 MHz, which was unattainable for the GTX 470/480 series. In particular, the already mentioned ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 470 only exceeded 1350 MHz. Memory overclocking also exceeded the performance of its predecessors. The new ASUS model has surpassed the 7800 MHz mark. Higher core and memory frequencies resulted in artifacts or decreased stability.
It is noteworthy that such overclocking was achieved without significantly accelerating the fans. Almost all gaming tests were completed with the fan speed fixed at 69% of the maximum (just under 1900 rpm). Speed stabilization turned out to be very effective in improving cooling, as a result the core only heated up to 71 °C. But the overall background noise has increased. With variable rotation speeds with peak values up to 2000 rpm and above, the video card was quieter!
ASUS will replace the regular version of the Radeon RX 570 in our tests. Judging by other reviews, these video cards demonstrate a high level of frequencies. If there are any drawdowns relative to the stated upper limit of 1244 MHz, they are small. Therefore, the option with the core frequency fixed at 1230 MHz was chosen.
For a complete picture, we need a comparison with the Radeon RX 470. The old video card shows a more serious frequency spread, but we decided to settle on a value of 1175 MHz, based on the average frequency monitoring readings in our first tests of the Radeon RX 470. The memory frequency also decreased to the recommended level in 6600 MHz.
Characteristics of tested video cards
Let's compare the Radeon RX 570 with the Radeon RX 470 and older solutions represented by the Radeon RX 480 8GB and GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. All variants of Radeon RX 470/570 were obtained by changing the frequencies of ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX570-O4G-GAMING. Radeon RX 480 replaces ASUS ROG STRIX-RX480-O8G-GAMING while stabilizing the core frequency at 1250 MHz. The competitor from NVIDIA is the Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 1060.
| Video adapter | Radeon RX 480 | ASUS ROG Strix RX 570 O4G | Radeon RX 570 | Radeon RX 470 | GeForce GTX 1060 6GB |
| Core | Polaris 10 | Polaris 20 | Polaris 20 | Polaris 10 | GP106 |
| Number of transistors, million pieces | 5700 | 5700 | 5700 | 5700 | 4400 |
| Technical process, nm | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 |
| Core area, sq. mm | 232 | 232 | 232 | 232 | 200 |
| Number of stream processors | 2304 | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 | 1280 |
| Number of texture blocks | 144 | 128 | 128 | 128 | 80 |
| Number of rendering units | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 48 |
| Core frequency, MHz | 1120–1266 | 1300 | 1168–1244 | 926–1206 | 1506–1708 |
| Memory bus, bit | 256 | 256 | 256 | 256 | 192 |
| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory frequency, MHz | 8000 | 7000 | 7000 | 6600 | 8000 |
| Memory capacity, MB | 8192 | 4096 | 4096 | 4096 | 6144 |
| Supported DirectX Version | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Interface | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 |
| Power, W | 150 | n/a | up to 185 | 120 | 120 |
Test bench
The test bench configuration is as follows:
- processor: Intel Core i7-6950X (3, [email protected] ,1 GHz);
- cooler: Noctua NH-D15 (two NF-A15 PWM fans, 140 mm, 1300 rpm);
- motherboard: MSI X99S MPower (Intel X99);
- memory: G.Skill F4-3200C14Q-32GTZ (4x8 GB, DDR4-3200, CL14-14-14-35);
- system disk: Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB (240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s);
- additional drive: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 (1 TB, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm);
- power supply: Seasonic SS-750KM (750 W);
- monitor: ASUS PB278Q (2560x1440, 27″);
- operating system: Windows 10 Pro x64;
- Radeon driver: AMD Crimson Edition 17.5.1;
- GeForce driver: NVIDIA GeForce 382.05.
Testing methodology
Tests were carried out in a resolution of 1920x1080 at maximum or close to this level graphics settings.
Battlefield 1
Testing was carried out by replaying a small game episode at the beginning of the Cape Helles mission, where the storming of Gallipoli was played out. Soldiers land on the beach under heavy artillery fire, and with heavy explosions, performance sags more than in most other moments of the game. Seven repetitions were performed.
Ultra quality is selected, video memory limitation is disabled. Testing was carried out in DirectX 11 using Fraps.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
For testing, a built-in benchmark was used, which was run at least seven times.
The Very High quality profile was selected with an additional increase to Ultra-quality textures and anisotropic filtering. All tests were carried out in DirectX 12 mode.
Fallout 4
Testing was carried out using Fraps immediately after leaving the shelter at the beginning of the game. There was a short walk around the surrounding area with an abundance of vegetation and rich rays of light. Scenes with such environments result in the most noticeable performance degradation. The procedure is shown below.
The maximum graphics quality profile is selected, and HBAO+ shading is additionally enabled.
Gears of War 4
We used the built-in gaming benchmark, which was run seven times.
The maximum graphics quality is Ultra, and additional DirectX 12 functions are activated (Async Compute, etc.).
Grand Theft Auto 5
The built-in benchmark was used for testing. Five reps. For a comprehensive assessment, the average fps was calculated based on the results of all test scenes. The minimum fps was measured using Fraps based on the results of a full run of the benchmark.
All basic graphics settings are at maximum, additional parameters are active - Extended Distance Scaling and Extended Shadows Distance +100% to the base level. MSAA 2x anti-aliasing enabled.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
There was a short jog during the very first landing on the planet. Frame rate was measured by Fraps.
Ultra quality presets are selected, grain and chromatic aberration effects are active.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Testing was carried out using Fraps. FPS was measured during a trip along the road to the village of White Garden. At least six repetitions and an additional test session for the simplest graphics mode.
Maximum graphics settings are enabled, all post-processing effects and HBAO+ shading are active. Only HairWorks is disabled.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
For testing, a built-in gaming benchmark was used, which was run seven times.
Very High quality presets are selected.
Tom Clancy's The Division
The built-in performance test was run at least seven times for each mode.
The maximum quality profile is selected. Additionally, those parameters that were not initially set to this level have been increased to the maximum (reflection quality, HBAO+ background shading, detail).
Watch Dogs 2
Testing in this game is slightly different from previous reviews. In this case, a walk was carried out in the Palo Alto area, running through the streets and a nearby grove of trees and thick grass.
The maximum graphics quality profile is Ultra at a resolution of 2560×1440. For higher resolution, similar graphics settings were combined with the activation of the “Temporal Filtering” parameter.
3DMark Fire Strike
Fire Strike test from the latest 3DMark benchmark suite. Testing was carried out at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440.
3DMark Time Spy
The new benchmark for DirectX 12 was launched with default settings.
Energy consumption
The results of measurements in five annexes are presented:
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided;
- Gears of War 4;
- Grand Theft Auto 5;
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands;
- Tom Clancy's The Division.
The peak values during each run were taken into account, based on which the average value was calculated based on the results of testing in both resolutions, and then the overall average value was calculated. The data was collected using a Cost Control 3000 device.
Test results
Battlefield 1
There is no more than a 5% difference between the Radeon RX 470 and the Radeon RX 570 in Battlefield 1. Factory overclocking gives ASUS an additional 4% advantage. Overclocking allows you to confidently outperform the Radeon RX 480 and GeForce GTX 1060 at standard frequencies.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
A simple Radeon RX 570 is 5-7% better than its predecessor in Mankind Divided, the lag behind the Radeon RX 480 is 9%. Overclocking allows you to catch up and overtake the older video adapter. Also, increasing the frequencies to the maximum allows you to slightly outperform the GeForce GTX 1060.
Fallout 4
The usual difference between the Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 570 in Fallout 4. ASUS at factory frequencies already shows a slight lag behind the Radeon RX 480, and after overclocking it goes ahead. The gap with the GeForce GTX 1060 is more significant, and it is no longer possible to catch up with the competitor from NVIDIA.
Gears of War 4
The Radeon RX 570 wins up to 8% over its predecessor in Gears of War 4. ASUS ROG Strix has an additional advantage of about 3%, an increase from overclocking of 10-12%. Increasing the frequencies allows you to beat the Radeon RX 480 by several percent and become comparable to the GeForce GTX 1060.
Grand Theft Auto 5
The GeForce GTX 1060 demonstrates an unattainable level of performance in GTA 5. The difference between AMD representatives is small, so initially the Radeon RX 570 loses to the Radeon RX 480 by about 7%, which is easily compensated by increasing frequencies to 1445/7800 MHz.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Radeon RX 570 is 5% faster than its predecessor. ASUS beats its brother by 4%, and overclocking provides acceleration of 10%. The initial lag of 9% from the Radeon RX 480 is easily covered by overclocking. It is not possible to beat the GeForce GTX 1060; increasing the frequencies allows you to achieve parity with this competitor, which operates at standard frequencies.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3 has an advantage over its predecessor of more than 5%. ASUS ROG Strix at initial frequencies loses to the Radeon RX 480 by only 3%, which is easily compensated by overclocking, bringing the hero of the review to a higher level. The maximum frequencies allow you to overtake the GeForce GTX 1060.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
A familiar situation in this game. The predecessor has a gain of up to 6%, ASUS has an additional advantage of 4% and an increase from overclocking of 8–12%. At maximum frequencies, ASUS is 5% faster than the Radeon RX 480 with the closest performance to the GeForce GTX 1060.
Tom Clancy's The Division
In The Division, when moving to DirectX 12, the Radeon RX 480 showed an advantage over the GeForce GTX 1060, and this is the only such example in our list of tests. The Radeon RX 570 is up to 10% inferior to the Radeon RX 480 and ahead of the Radeon RX 470 by 15%. Already at factory frequencies, ASUS is as close as possible to the Radeon RX 480 and GeForce GTX 1060, easily overtaking them after increasing the frequencies to the maximum.
Watch Dogs 2
The Radeon RX 570 wins about 6% over the Radeon RX 470 in Watch Dogs 2, the lag behind the Radeon RX 480 is less than 9%. At initial frequencies, ASUS comes very close to the performance of the older AMD card, easily surpassing it after overclocking. The GeForce GTX 1060 is in the lead with a good lead over the other participants
3DMark Fire Strike
In this test, there is a usual 5% difference between the Radeon RX 570 and the Radeon RX 470. ASUS is 3–4% faster than its series comrade, the increase from overclocking is 10–11%. Increasing frequencies allows you to bypass the Radeon RX 480 and GeForce GTX 1060 in a simpler mode. The latter competitor demonstrates the greatest advantage over AMD's high-definition solutions.
3DMark Time Spy
The Time Spy benchmark for DirectX 12 has a similar balance of power. Radeon RX 570 outperforms its predecessor by 5%. ASUS is 9.3% faster than the old man, while lagging behind the Radeon RX 480 by less than 5%. Overclocking allows you to reach the level of GeForce GTX 1060.
Energy consumption
Our copy of the Radeon RX 570, even when the frequencies were lowered to the standard level, showed higher consumption compared to a system based on the Radeon RX 480. Overclocking also has a noticeable effect on the final indicators, increasing them. As for the slight difference between our analogue Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 480, the reason may be that the younger old man was also replaced by the Radeon RX 570. Our first comparisons of Radeon RX 470/480 series video cards showed that the younger solution is noticeably better in terms of efficiency senior card.
conclusions
New video cards based on Polaris 20 are obtained by simply increasing frequencies. At the same time, the overall frequency potential has also increased, which will allow for higher overclocking and increased levels of performance. So buyers of the new Radeon RX 570/580 will receive a certain advantage over older Radeon RX 470/480 video cards, although not very large. In the case of Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 570, we can talk about a gain of 5% or more for the new version. Such new products will compete more successfully with the GeForce GTX 1060 in 3 and 6 GB versions. Now the confrontation in the middle price segment will become more fierce. Our testing shows that even the junior Radeon RX 570 card looks quite decent compared to the more powerful GeForce GTX 1060 and Radeon RX 480, reaching their level after overclocking. But along with the increase in frequencies, heat generation and power consumption have increased. Therefore, new AMD solutions may turn out to be worse than previous models in terms of temperature and noise characteristics. However, it still depends on the capabilities of each specific video card. Based on reviews and user feedback, you can choose a quiet and cool version of the Radeon RX 570/580.
The reviewed ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 570 O4G Gaming OC Edition (ROG-STRIX-RX570-O4G-GAMING) video card initially operates at increased frequencies, which provides several additional percentages of performance compared to simple versions of the Radeon RX 570 and a more significant lead over the Radeon RX 470. Further overclocking allows you to reach the performance level of the Radeon RX 480 and the older version of the GeForce GTX 1060. ASUS's cooling looks serious, but in reality the card is not the quietest. High fan speeds are associated with some noise, although without obvious discomfort. The cooling that worked well on the Radeon RX 470 turns out to be less effective when combined with the hotter Polaris 20 GPU on the Radeon RX 570. It's worth noting that heat and fan speeds are highly dependent on each specific application: some games warm up the card quickly, and others allow you to maintain a low noise level for quite a long time. In such a situation, implementing overclocking will require a subtle approach in selecting the optimal fan speed or you will have to put up with a certain noise level. As a result, ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX570-O4G-GAMING can be called a worthy candidate for purchase, but overclocking enthusiasts may want to look for more interesting options.
We will talk about the capabilities of the Radeon RX 580 at nominal and overclocked in the following reviews. Stay with us!
⇡#Testing methodology
| Test bench configuration | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-7700K @ 4.5 GHz |
| Motherboard | ASUS MAXIMUS IX Hero |
| RAM | DDR4-2400 (15-15-15-36), 4 × 8 GB |
| ROM | Samsung 850 Pro |
| power unit | Corsair AX1500i, 1500 W |
| CPU cooling system | Noctua NH-D9DX |
| Frame | Lian Li PC-T60A |
| Monitor | NEC EA244UHD |
| operating system | Windows 10 Pro x64 |
| Software for video cards | |
| AMD | Crimson ReLive Edition 17.5.2 |
| NVIDIA | GeForce Game Ready Driver 382.33 |
| Additional software | |
| Removing drivers | Display Driver Uninstaller 17.0.6.1 |
| FPS measurement | Fraps 3.5.99 |
| Action! 2.3.0 | |
| Overclocking and monitoring | GPU-Z 1.18.0 |
| MSI Afterburner 4.3.0 | |
| Optional equipment | |
| Thermal imager | Fluke Ti400 |
| Sound level meter | Mastech MS6708 |
| Wattmeter | watts up? PRO |
The potential of the Polaris 20 GPU is well known. Basically, the Radeon RX 570 with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory is used for games in Full HD and WQHD resolutions. The computing capabilities of this video card are studied in this article.
| Games | |||
| API | Graphics quality | Full screen anti-aliasing | |
| 1920 × 1080 / 2560 × 1440 | |||
| Crysis 3, mission Safeties off | DirectX 11 | Max. quality | 4xMSAA |
| Metro: Last Light Redux, built-in benchmark | Max. quality | 4×SSAA | |
| The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, Novigrad | Max. quality, NVIDIA HairWorks incl. | A.A. | |
| GTA V, built-in benchmark | Max. quality | 4 × MSAA + FXAA | |
| Fallout 4, Commonwealth area | Max. quality, high resolution textures, bullet fragments off. | TAA | |
| Tom Clancy's the Division, built-in benchmark | DirectX 12 | Max. quality | SMAA |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider, Soviet base | Max. quality, HBAO+ | SMAA | |
| Total War: WARHAMMER, built-in benchmark | Max. quality | 4xMSAA | |
| Battlefield 1, mission "Breakthrough" | Ultra | TAA | |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Utulek complex | Max. quality | 2 × MSAA | |
| Sid Meier's Civilization VI, built-in benchmark | Ultra | 4xMSAA | |
| DOOM, OIC mission | Vulkan | Ultra | TSSAA 8TX |
Gaming performance was determined using the well-known FRAPS program. It allows you to get the rendering time of each frame. Then, using the FRAFS Bench Viewer utility, not only the average FPS, but also the 99th percentile was calculated. The use of the 99th percentile instead of the minimum number of frames per second indicators is due to the desire to clear the results from random bursts of performance that were provoked by reasons not directly related to the operation of the main components of the platform.
In addition to the GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G, the following video cards took part in testing:
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (1506/8000 MHz, 6 GB);
- AMD Radeon RX 480 (1266/8000 MHz, 8 GB);
- AMD Radeon RX 580 (1360/8000 MHz, 8 GB).
All adapters were additionally overclocked to stable core and memory frequencies. Since the GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G has a graphics processor and memory overclocked insignificantly in Gaming mode, the video card was not tested at reference frequencies.
Comparison with analog video card line
Video cards of the RX570 4 GB series differ greatly from each other in such factors as the cooling system, build quality, and price.
Let's start with the first point - temperatures. Asus RX 570 Strix does not have a very good cooling system. The card gets quite hot and without additional cooling it simply overheats and drops frequencies.
For example, the same Powercolor has a much better cooling system. In part, the card can be compared with the stump of the Sapphire RX 570 Pulse ITX, but of course Asus will cool the video card better, but not much.
As for the build quality, it is rather average. The plastic on the casing is very weak. Coolers break easily and have a high percentage of defects.
In fact, the build quality is slightly ahead of MSI Armor. But it is much inferior to the same Powercolor.
The price for this card is average: not the most expensive, but not the cheapest either. For the same money you can buy a card with a better cooling system and build.
Comparison of RX570 with RX580
The difference between these video cards is not very big. For example, in mining on Ethereum, one 580 produces:
- Total coins – 0.0023 ETH.
- Amount in dollars equivalent to mined coins – $0.49
One RX570 video card produces:
- Total coins – 0.0021 ETH.
- Amount in dollars equivalent to mined coins – $0.49
In fact, these video cards are not very different, 580 brings a little more, and then on some algorithms the increase in mining is 0%. And the price difference between these video cards is several thousand rubles.
However, if you can buy a video card with a minimal overpayment, then it is better to take the 580, since it will be a little easier to resell later.
What drivers should I use?
It is best to use the latest AMD “Adrenalin Edition” driver, which you can download from the official AMD website.
https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-Edition-18.5.1-Release-Notes.aspx
⇡#Cooling system efficiency and noise level
The AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G fans only start spinning once the GPU temperature reaches 60 degrees Celsius. The impellers spin smoothly, without jumps or drops, and eventually reach ~1400 rpm - this is 42% of the maximum possible rotation speed. Therefore, if the load on the graphics chip changes frequently enough, the adapter will not suddenly start making noise. At the same time, in games the GPU heats up to 74 degrees Celsius. Under load, the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G is very quiet: at a distance of 30 cm from the test bench, the noise level recorded by the measuring device was 36.3 dB. In principle, without much damage to sound comfort, you can independently increase the fan speed if you are suddenly bothered by the GPU temperature.
Monitoring the main indicators of GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G
At maximum speed (3600 rpm), the GPU temperature drops to 51 degrees Celsius, but the noise level increases to 52.2 dB. It is important that in all operating modes the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G maintains the 1280 MHz chip speed stated in the technical specifications.
Heating GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G
The thermal image clearly shows that under the metal backplate the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G printed circuit board gets quite hot. Especially in the area of the power converter. However, do not forget that this plate is also part of the video card cooling system, since it is in contact with the back side of the PCB using thermal pads.
⇡#Overclocking, power consumption and performance in 3DMark
As I already said, with proper overclocking, the Radeon RX 570 can easily compete with the GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB and Radeon RX 480/580. In addition, we have the right to expect certain overclocking achievements from the optimized 14-nanometer production.
Monitoring the main indicators of GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G (overclocking)
As a result, in all games and benchmarks, the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G operated at a frequency of 1400 MHz for the core and 2200 (8800) MHz for the memory. This required increasing the power limit by 50% and adding 48 mV to the GPU voltage. When overclocked in automatic mode, the fan speed of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G increased from 1400 to almost 1760 rpm. The noise level (up to 39.3 dB) and GPU temperature (up to 75 degrees Celsius) also increased.
And in the case of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G, overclocking significantly increased the power consumption of the test bench - by 49 W in Crysis 3. As a result, the overclocked GIGABYTE card is ahead of both the Radeon RX 480 and Radeon RX 580, operating at standard frequencies, in terms of electricity consumption. Polaris adapters traditionally cannot compete with NVIDIA Pascal accelerators in this aspect.
| 3DMark, Graphics score, points | |||
| 1360/8000 MHz | 1422/8864 MHz | Growth, % | |
| Fire Strike | 12389 | 14011 | 13 |
| Fire Strike Extreme | 5569 | 6194 | 11 |
| Fire Strike Ultra | 2742 | 3097 | 13 |
| Time Spy | 3792 | 4216 | 11 |
But an increase of 9% in the chip frequency and 26% in the memory frequency significantly affected the performance of the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G: in various 3DMark subtests, the card became 11-13% faster.
Memory and overclocking
The video card is equipped with 4 gigabytes of GDDR5 graphics memory. Most often, cards come with memory from Hynix, and a little less often Elpida.
Below is a screenshot of the ASUS RX 570 STRIX Gaming OC video card from the GPU-z program.
Overclocking for the Ethash algorithm (for example, Ether coins).
By core:
Core clock ~ 1100 (-300) – for ideal operation without crash.
By memory:
Memory clock ~ 2000 is an ideal overclocking indicator, at which the card works stably (does not produce rejects) and the system does not reboot (does not crash)
Note that you can overclock the video card even more. The settings we have given are presented as an example of stable operation without crashes and frequency resets.
With this overclock the card produces:
Ethash ~ 29.6 Mh/s
For the CryptoNightV7 algorithm.
By core:
Core clock ~ 1300 – for ideal operation without crash.
By memory:
Memory clock ~ 2200 is an ideal overclocking indicator, at which the card works stably (does not produce rejects) and the system does not reboot (does not crash)
CryptoNightV7 ~ 820 h/s
In case you overclock the card even more, we advise you to monitor the farm during the day (and add +10 on the overclocking scale) - since the frequencies may drop due to overclocking.
Timings
Below are the timings for the ASUS RX 570 STRIX Gaming OC 4GB video card.
Select the memory of your video card.
Hynix
999000000000000022559D0010DE5B4480551312B74C450A00400600750414206A8900A00200312010112D34A42A3816
⇡#Gaming performance
Well, AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G is good for Full HD gaming. Of the 12 applications, comfortable FPS (with drops of at least 30 frames per second) is observed in 10 games, but only in four projects does the accelerator produce more than 60 average FPS at base GPU and memory frequencies. Overclocking the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G gave a different increase in frames per second: in Battlefield 1 - 8%, in Crysis 3 - 14%, in DOOM - 13%, in The Witcher 3 - 15%, the average value is 10%.
| 1920 × 1080 | 2560 × 1440 | |||||||||
| 1280/7000 MHz | 1400/8800 MHz | 1280/7000 MHz | 1400/8800 MHz | |||||||
| min | avg | min | avg | min/avg gain | min | avg | min | avg | min/avg gain | |
| Crysis 3 | 32 | 42 | 37 | 48 | 16/14% | 20 | 26 | 23 | 30 | 15/15% |
| Metro: Last Light Redux | 31 | 45 | 35 | 51 | 13/13% | 17 | 25 | 21 | 28 | 24/12% |
| The Witcher III: Wild Hunt | 44 | 52 | 51 | 60 | 16/15% | 33 | 37 | 37 | 42 | 12/14% |
| GTA V | 30 | 44 | 36 | 48 | 20/9% | 22 | 32 | 25 | 36 | 14/13% |
| Fallout 4 | 58 | 75 | 66 | 82 | 14/9% | 37 | 49 | 41 | 54 | 11/10% |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider | 17 | 35 | 24 | 40 | 41/14% | 14 | 27 | 15 | 30 | 7/11% |
| Total War: WARHAMMER | 34 | 38 | 38 | 44 | 12/16% | 22 | 25 | 26 | 29 | 18/16% |
| Battlefield 1 | 69 | 83 | 74 | 90 | 7/8% | 52 | 62 | 57 | 70 | 10/13% |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | 21 | 36 | 28 | 43 | 33/19% | 12 | 20 | 16 | 26 | 33/30% |
| Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 41 | 64 | 48 | 67 | 17/5% | 38 | 54 | 42 | 62 | 11/15% |
| Tom Clancy's The Division | 33 | 55 | 45 | 61 | 36/11% | 24 | 39 | 28 | 42 | 17/8% |
| DOOM | 70 | 85 | 77 | 96 | 10/13% | 48 | 55 | 50 | 62 | 4/13% |
| Max. | 41/19% | 33/30% | ||||||||
| Avg. | 20/12% | 15/14% | ||||||||
| Min. | 7/5% | 4/8% | ||||||||
Please note that there are games for which 4 GB of video memory is not enough at the given graphics quality settings. When using the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G in the stand, noticeable frame rate drops (lags) are observed in Rise of the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Memory overclocking can partially correct this problem: in Rise of the Tomb Raider, the minimum FPS increased by 41%, in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - by 33%. This is due to the fact that overclocking increased the data transfer speed between RAM and video memory. To completely get rid of lags, you need to either lower the graphics quality in the settings or disable anti-aliasing, which, as you know, is very critical to the amount of video memory.
| 1920×1080, avg FPS | ||||
| GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G (1280/7000 MHz) | AMD Radeon RX 580 8 GB (1360/8000 MHz) | AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB (1266/8000 MHz) | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB (1506/8000 MHz) | |
| Crysis 3 | 42 | 46 | 44 | 52 |
| Metro: Last Light Redux | 45 | 49 | 45 | 53 |
| "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" | 52 | 59 | 56 | 59 |
| GTA V | 44 | 47 | 46 | 61 |
| Fallout 4 | 75 | 83 | 77 | 79 |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider | 35 | 43 | 39 | 48 |
| Total War: WARHAMMER | 38 | 42 | 41 | 49 |
| Battlefield 1 | 83 | 92 | 87 | 76 |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | 36 | 45 | 43 | 42 |
| Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 64 | 66 | 65 | 65 |
| Tom Clancy's The Division | 55 | 58 | 57 | 51 |
| DOOM | 85 | 97 | 91 | 78 |
| Max. | 25% | 19% | 39% | |
| Avg. | 12% | 6% | 13% | |
| Min. | 3% | 0% | -8% | |
| 2560×1440, avg FPS | ||||
| Crysis 3 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 32 |
| Metro: Last Light Redux | 25 | 27 | 25 | 30 |
| "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" | 37 | 42 | 40 | 42 |
| GTA V | 32 | 34 | 33 | 42 |
| Fallout 4 | 49 | 54 | 50 | 50 |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider | 27 | 31 | 29 | 31 |
| Total War: WARHAMMER | 25 | 27 | 26 | 30 |
| Battlefield 1 | 62 | 69 | 65 | 53 |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | 20 | 29 | 28 | 27 |
| Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 54 | 59 | 57 | 56 |
| Tom Clancy's The Division | 39 | 42 | 37 | 37 |
| DOOM | 55 | 64 | 60 | 50 |
| Max. | 45% | 40% | 35% | |
| Avg. | 13% | 7% | 11% | |
| Min. | 6% | -5% | -15% | |
For games at maximum graphics quality settings in WQHD resolution, a video card of the Radeon RX 570 level, in my opinion, is not entirely suitable. Thus, out of 12 projects, the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G provides a comfortable frame rate in only five applications. On the other hand, in modern games the difference between the maximum quality settings and the “Very High” and “High” modes is sometimes not always noticeable to the eye.
The Radeon RX 570 is not so strikingly different from the Radeon RX 580 in GPU configuration, so even without overclocking, the younger Polaris adapter is not much inferior to the model with a fully unlocked chip. For example, in Battlefield 1 in FHD resolution the lag is 11%, in The Witcher 3 - 13%, in Fallout 4 - 11%, in DOOM - 14%.
Overclocked to 1400 MHz for the chip and 2200 (8800) MHz for the memory, the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G in most cases catches up with the Radeon RX 580. That is why the purchase of the Radeon RX 570 can be seriously considered as a rational option for saving money, although I cannot help but note the fact that 4 GB of RAM is the minimum suitable amount for modern games. The presence of 6 or 8 GB of video memory in mid-price graphics adapters does not look like something superfluous and useless.
⇡#Conclusions
Since the Radeon RX 570 is a rebranded product of the Radeon RX 470 (albeit with an improved graphics processor), the results obtained did not come as any surprise. Versions of the Radeon RX 470, which are capable of overclocking to 1350-1400 MHz on the chip, also catch up and sometimes even surpass the Radeon RX 480. In any case, a video card such as the GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G is enough to comfortably play modern games games at maximum or close to maximum graphics quality settings in Full HD resolution. And the Radeon RX 570 looks preferable to the GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB. The only point is that today’s testing shows that four gigabytes of video memory is no longer enough for all applications, so more “pumped up” versions of the Radeon RX 570/580 with 8 GB of RAM look more promising.
There are no serious complaints about the AORUS Radeon RX 570 4G specifically. GIGABYTE has produced a quiet video card, which at the same time, as they say, did not let us down during overclocking. This model can be safely recommended for inexpensive gaming PCs. All that remains is to wait until the unhealthy hype around video cards subsides and their shortage disappears.
