Sapphire added two RX 480 cards in the Nitro+ line, a 4GB- and an 8GB model. The cards come over-clocked and are equipped with a dualfan-cooling. Sapphire is following other manufacturers with custom ... Sapphire Launches Radeon RX 480 NITRO+
There are three specification difference between the 4 GB and 8 GB versions from what I see. The first is the amount of memory, the second is the mentioned boost clock, and the third difference that wasn't mentioned is the RAM speed. 4 GB version: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=A471FEC5-AAA9-482B-81C3-4A7E059A3574&lang=eng 1306 MHz Boost Engine Clock 7000 MHz Effective Memory Clock (the memory size is listed as 8192 MB currently, I assume that's a typo) 8 GB version: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=251A3BDE-2CC1-4C49-B661-165D72DEA40A&lang=eng 1342 MHz Boost Engine Clock 8000 MHz Effective Memory Clock I guess the 8 GB card could be clocked higher on both GPU and RAM for people to justify the extra 25 percent expense of going for the 8 GB model. Both the 4 GB and 8 GB are well priced.
at Overclockers there is also pre oder for 8GB version clocked 1306MHz. So it look like there are 3 versions of that card. 1. 4GB/1306MHz/7000MHz (Nitro+) 2. 8GB/1306MHz/8000MHz (Nitro+) 3. 8GB/1342MHz/8000MHz (Nitro+ OC)
6th August is listed on some stores here but it's not a confirmed date and there's not that many GPU's incoming either it looks like. (Besides for the 4 GB model.)
overclockers.co.uk will probably start sending cards ~5th August. Post from OcUK forum from few days ago. by Gibbo "Right Sapphire have given me some great news this morning, their initial batches that they tested they have agreed to ship exclusively to OcUK in the world. The first batch is a real small number as of course they are not from a full scale production run but a small production batch test run. So OcUK customers will be the first in the world to receive a Nitro+ OC card, the first batch is likely to be around only 30 units and could be with ourselves as early as next Monday!!! Then they shall hopefully ship 1000-2000 units next weekend to ourselves to clear the remaining backorders, 4GB cards should also be in that batch too"
I can't wait for an AIB card review from you Hilbert nVidia destroyed AMD in terms of availability of custom cards. But I still lean towards the 480 more, just need to see how it performs with custom PCB and cooler.
It will be interesting to see how the 8 GB card performs to the 4 GB card. Even if only 2 GB of video RAM used, the 8 GB card should perform a little better due to the higher GPU clock by 3 percent and higher RAM clock by 14 percent.
Sapphire RX 480 Nitro + OC 4GB & 8GB Review http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-rx-480-nitro-oc-4gb-8gb-review/
Hmm. So at 1080p in Hitman it's about 5 fps faster than a reference 1060 and in Ashes it's 2 fps faster than the reference 1060. It loses in every other game to the reference 1060. Eats more power than the 1080. I'm struggling to see the positives.
AMD would have to optimise future drivers, because the RX 480 is also not much of an overclocker. My hopes for this card went from extreme high to slight disappointment (for the exact same reasons that you mentioned and the wimpy overclocks). All Nvidia had to do to restore hierarchy, was "rush" out the 1060. I hope that AMD does better with the next GPU and Zen.