Test Setup and Overclocking
Test setup is based on the latest Intel Skylake platform which contains i7 6700K processor and ASRock Z170 OC Formula motherboard. For all tests we are using fully updated Windows 10 operating system and the latest drivers which are available.
Overclocking
Our review sample could run at stable core frequency of 1405MHz while memory frequency has reached 2250MHz so effective 9000MHz. I’ve noticed that maximum GPU clock is limited by RX480 design and voltage which can’t be raised much above standard. I assume that HIS will release software which let to raise voltage without issues as voltage controller is prepared for that.
Memory frequency is limited by AMD software which won’t let to set anything above 2250MHz. I’m sure that memory used on HIS RX480 Roaring Turbo can make much more. Aslo here I think we will see overclocking improvements in time as RX480 is still fresh product.
Below you can see 3DMark Fire Strike and Time Spy results at mentioned 1405MHz core and 2250MHz memory.
Considering already high frequency of HIS RX480 Roaring, additional 60MHz is a great result. Reference RX480 cards are designed to work at 1160MHz core so it’s a big difference which also affect performance.
Now it’s time for some test results. Let’s begin with the popular benchmarks.
Performance – Synthetic Tests
Here we focus mainly on 3DMark as it’s the leading benchmark software on our market.
Futuremark 3DMark
Time Spy is the latest benchmark which is also quite demanding. HIS RX480 is performing quite well achieving results slightly above GTX980. At the same time it’s slightly slower than the GTX1060.
Other 3DMark benchmarks are showing similar results. Interesting is that with higher details and display resolution, RX480 performance is better comparing to the competition.
HIS RX480 Roaring Turbo is the graphics card designed for the gamers. Since no one is playing 3DMarks then let’s move to the games which are more interesting.
3 comments
I don’t get it, you oVerclocked thw card prettu good but, you show no overclocking result for benchmarks, time spy for oc 1405mhz is 4605 and bellow you show less than 4300 so you probably did all the runs with a stock cards not the 1405mhz oc…. Why? You should have ahowed two results for each, one on stock and one with oc
I understand your point of view. However it’s a review of a graphics card based on results out of the box, so what users are expecting to receive. Overclocking is never guaranteed so I didn’t want to focus on that. On the other hand with already high frequency you won’t get much higher performance in games after overclocking. Count up to 5% performance gain.
Knowing AMD, new drivers should improve performance even more than the overclocking itself. So far we had about 3 official driver versions which were improving performance in single ( new ) titles.
The point is, most people only read individual manufacturer card reviews for the overclocking results. At the end of the day it’s just an RX 480 like all the others.It’s not going to have extra wizard piss in it especially when it’s just a cheap card like this, all people are likely after is the cooling capacity, noise and overclockability.
Also with AMD’s new drivers and Wattman being great with staged clock speed and voltage settings, able to be set per game, overclocking even at 5% is still a worthwhile exercise. I have a Sapphire RX 480 and have set up custom profiles including clock and memory speeds on all of my frequently played games.
Just food for thought, cheers.