AMD is expected to launch the Radeon RX 470 and the RX 460 in the early weeks of August as a custom XFX RX 470 card pops up in photos from China.
Earlier reports have claimed that the lower-spec Polaris cards will be launched in August and they seem to be just about right. AMD has announced that the Radeon RX 470 release date is August 4 while the Radeon RX 460 release date is August 8.
PC gamers who want to upgrade their five-year-old video cards can now do so as the reference RX 470 from AMD will only cost around $150 while the RX 460 is expected to be even cheaper at about $100, Engadget has learned. It would be the best bet for budget-conscious users along with the NVIDIA GTX 1060 or the rumored GTX 1050 which is claimed to be replacing the lower memory model of the former.
NVIDIA might have the GTX Titan X and the GTX 1080 for the high-end market but AMD could still take most of the spots in the mid to low-end range with their Polaris Pro cards. The AMD Radeon RX 480 was recently released to the dismay of many because of its power draw problems but the upcoming RX 470 and RX 460 cards are so cheap that people could forget about AMD's screw up earlier.
Chinese website Expreview has posted several XFX Radeon RX 470 Black Wolf Edition photos that show a custom-cooled Polaris card with a backplate and copper heat pipes, Hot Hardware reported. The photos also show a 6-pin PCIE power connector plus two fans that would cool off the card which is speculated to be even more capable of overclocking compared to its bigger brother the RX 480.
AMD custom partner cards are often more expensive than the reference counterparts because they have custom coolers and factory overclocked frequencies. The XFX RX 470 Black Wolf Edition does not have specs yet.
The AMD Radeon RX 460 is claimed to be a video card for eSports games such as League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Meanwhile, the RX 470 will be able to handle most games at 1080p resolution.