XFX RX480 Black Edition 8GB

XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit

XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB – Rushkit

 

These days when a new GPU launched the only GPU that you can find is typically using the AMD or Nvidia reference board design, this design may not be the beefiest “overclocking friendly” of GPU design out there, but they certainly offer the best user experience when it comes to case airflow and waterblock compatibility. 

Typically, a “reference design” GPU comes with reference clock speeds and offer no difference between any other reference cards apart from a few branded stickers and a slightly different warranty, but this time, XFX has decided to do things very differently.  

With the RX 480 Black Edition XFX has decided to offer more than a simple “reference design”, giving buyers a full cover back plate and a factory overclock to deliver gamers better gaming performance and a better aesthetic than AMD’s standard RX 480 GPU design. 

 

  XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit  XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit  XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit  XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit

 

XFX’s RX 480 GPUs are “tuned by XFX” in order to provide better performance than their standard reference counterparts and are the only brand to release an RX 480 GPU with a full cover backplate at launch. 

Below you can see a table that details the different specifications of these GPUs, showcasing that the two XFX RX 480 GPUs that are currently available have a lot to offer over their reference counterparts. 

 

  AMD RX 480 4GB AMD RX 480 8GB XFX RX 480 8GB XXX XFX RX 480 8GB Black Edition
GPU Atchitecture Polaris Polaris Polaris Polaris
GPU core clock speed 1120MHz 1120MHz 1120MHz 1120MHz
GPU Boost Clock Speed 1266MHz 1266MHz 1288MHz 1328MHz
GPU Stream Processors 2304 2304 2304 2304
Memory Cappacity 4GB 8GB 8GB 8GB
Memory Speed 7000MHz 8000MHz 8000MHz 8000MHz
Backplate No No Yes Yes
Power connections 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin
Price £180-190 £230-250 £239.99 £249.99

 

One thing to note when looking at AMD’s RX 480 GPUs is that their 4GB models run with lower speed memory than their 8GB counterparts, meaning that while they offer the same GPU core performance they will deliver less memory performance while in-game, making the 8GB version more than just a VRAM capacity upgrade. 

 

  XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit  XFX RX 480 Black Edition 8GB - Rushkit

 

 

Conclusion

When it comes to reference design GPUs there is not very much that manufacturers can do to differentiate themselves from the crowd, so much so that it almost doesn’t matter which manufacturer makes your GPU if you are buying a reference model. This generation XFX has managed to not only differentiate themselves but has seemingly made the best launch RX 480GPU around, at least on paper. 

Aesthetically XFX has done a great job making this GPU look like AMD’s reference model, with their exclusive backplate blending in seamlessly with AMD’s reference RX 480 design. This makes this RX 480 GPU the best looking of the bunch, at least until non-reference models come from XFX and the other AMD AIB partners.  

This GPU does not only differ from the crowd in terms of aesthetic, but also in terms of clock speeds with this model’s increased boost clock of 1328MHz, which is over 60MHz over reference. We will have to see how this boost in clock speeds will effect this GPUs gaming performance as the base clock speed of this GPU does stay at AMD’s stock 1120MHz.  

We will be testing this new GPU soon and should have a review up on it within the next week, but until then everyone is welcome to join our RX 480 competition, where we have teamed up with XFX and OCUK to give one of these new GPUs away.  

 

You can join the discussion on the XFX RX 480 Black Edition GPU on the OC3D Forums.Â