AMD’s RX 480 Stripped Bare For All to See

In the last few days, a number of pictures of the upcoming AMD RX 480 have emerged, giving us a clear view of what the card will look like. Now, pictures of a slightly more candid nature have come to light thanks to PCOnline.com.cn after a Sapphire branded RX 480 was dismantled and pictures were taken of just what is under the shroud. While the PCB is nothing we haven’t seen before, these shots also show the cooling solution reduced to its component parts.

The main card for the RX 480 sports one HDMI 2.0 and three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors as well as a single 6 pin PCIe power connector as far as ports go. The pictures also reveal a close up on the 14 nm “Ellesmere” chip, normally hidden away snugly under a large brick-like aluminium heatsink. Some interesting details appearing in these shots include the rather small die size, compared to AMD’s previous generation cards. Additionally, it reveals that the 8Gbps GDDR5 chips that the card carries are supplied by Samsung.

This cooling solution is a very simple design, including a copper core for heat conduction as well as a metal base plate that contacts the VRM and memory to draw heat away from them when in operation as well as a single fan to ventilate the whole thing. This means it includes no advanced cooling systems such as heat pipes or complex fin-stacking that modern graphics cards often employ to stay cool.

For those looking to pick up an RX 480, the card is expected to launch on the 29th of June, costing just $199 for the 4GB version and the 8GB version commanding an almost as modest $229. Expect to see a review of this exciting new card from us in the near future!