This past week has seen the release of the much hyped Nvidia GTX 1080 GPU. It’s a bloody amazing GPU, but it’s oh so expensive. Granted, you’ll be able to do a hell of a lot with it but it is expensive none the less. Considering the price of it in the UK for the founders edition (£619), you could build your very own modest gaming PC for the same price.
Of course, one of the biggest selling points for this is the fact that Nvidia have stated that the GTX 1080 is the ideal gaming card for VR which has went towards the price of it. Having said that, AMD have fired some shots into the arena with their own VR ready card…
The AMD RX 480 has been touted as the GPU that is going to bring VR to the masses. It is being introduced to the market at the price point of $199 which is a staggering price. AMD are known for bringing high quality and powerful components to the mainstream without breaking the bank and the Polaris based RX 480 is going to be no exception. With the fact that many people are regarding VR as the new 3D in terms of hype, the team (be it Red or Green) that can bring in as many customers as possible with cheap and yet powerful technology is going to be the one that will be making millions off of VR. Don’t get me wrong, the GTX 1080 is a wonderful card but not everyone can honestly afford it, whereas the RX 480 which can actually be had for cheaper than a GTX 970 seems like a no brainer.
Of course it won’t be solely a powerhouse when it comes to VR, but also gaming in normal environments as well. For a long time the go to GPU for those on a modest budget but wanted a gaming PC was the GTX 750 Ti. The RX 480 could seriously change that, especially when you consider the fact that this isn’t even a budget level card in terms of performance. Whilst nothing has been confirmed yet, it has been heavily speculated that the RX 480 is going to be in line with the GTX 980 and the 390X in terms of performance.
This is a great thing for anyone that games on their PC as Nvidia are really going to have to bring in cheaper cards for the masses that give exceptional performance. Should they choose not to do so then it could cost them a fortune in lost revenue. This wouldn’t be the first time Nvidia have had a major misfire (the notorious Nvidia defect in laptop GPU’s cost them millions years ago) and it’s clear that they won’t to repeat this feat again.
There will be a lot of people that will be quick to claim that the GTX 1080 can play games in 4K and that the RX 480 might not be able to do this. Whilst we don’t know for sure, it is a possibility. How many people are actually playing in 4K though and how many games are actually optimised to do this, along with them having an appropriate monitor to play in 4K?
The future is certainly looking sunny for AMD and gamers alike and it will be interesting to see how things progress over the next 6 months. If you’re looking for cheap games, be sure to check out Kinguin!
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