AMD displays the Radeon RX 480 with Polaris 10 that is more powerful than the RX 470 and the RX 460 (Photo : YouTube / TechShowdown)
While AMD is reportedly preparing the RX 460 and 470 as follow up the Radeon RX 490, the company inadvertently confirmed the existence of the Polaris 10-based RX 490, which is touted as the capable challenger to NVIDIA's GTX 1080. It's highly likely that release of the card will happen this 2016, report said.
According to KitGuru.net, a Redditor spotted an AMD listing of the RX 490 as part of the company's redemption program that will run until December 2016. The promo seems to indicate that the graphic card is coming out anytime this year.
And it is an AMD GPU solution that is worth anticipating for. The leaked details so far on RX 490 strongly suggest of dual GPU set up for the card. "These things indicate to us that we are looking at a dual GPU solution, probably one based on a full version of Polaris 10," WCCF Tech said in a report.
The report based its guesswork on Zauba listings that labeled the RX 490 as a C99 board variant, which "indicates that the GPU is of the Polaris family." While it remains possible that the card is of Vega 10 architecture, the supporting facts heading to this route are weak at the moment, the blog report added.
It should be noted too that RX 490 ending up as a Vega 10 would mean its commercial availability will have to wait until 2017, which contradicts the rollout schedule gleaned from the leaked AMD promo listing. WCCF Tech reminded that prior to the RX 480 release a similar incident happened, which turned out true for the card in terms of specifications and rollout timing.
KitGuru.net, however, is not buying that the RX 490 will be a dual GPU, convinced that doing so is a step back on AMD's part. "It seemed like AMD was taking a step back from dual-GPUs with the Radeon Pro Duo, which was only made available through very select channels and geared for professional use, rather than consumer use," the report said.
But the site conceded that an RX 490 rollout is indeed possible to happen anytime soon.
Regardless, WCCF Tech seems excited by the things that the RX 490 is packed with. The site predicted that the upcoming card from AMD is the answer to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080, sort of. "AMD has previously stated that two RX 480s can beat a GTX 1080," the report noted.
And for NVIDIA to feel the heat immediately, the report said that the AMD Radeon RX 490 will be priced at around the same range of the GTX 1080, which currently retails starting at $599.
