AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB Review

Tom's Hardware Verdict

While we don't like it when AMD re-names existing hardware to make it sound new, the Radeon RX 570 does serve up good performance at 1920x1080 in today's games. Its primary competition isn't as consistent. The Asus Strix RX 570 sample we tested incorporates AMD's slight improvements at a price point well under $200, too.

Pros

  • +

    Slightly faster than Radeon RX 470, excellent 1080p performance

  • +

    AMD maintains competitive pricing

  • +

    Ample memory (4GB GDDR5) proves valuable in comparisons to GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

Cons

  • -

    Less-capable thermal solutions than Radeon RX 580

  • -

    Little overclocking headroom

  • -

    Confusion caused by re-branding existing hardware

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AMD’s Radeon RX 570 is an updated version of last year's RX 470. It's based on the same 5.7 billion transistor Ellesmere GPU with an equal number of compute units, enabling an identical list of resources (2048 Stream processors and 128 texture units). The two cards feature interchangeable back-ends with 32 ROPs and a corresponding 4GB of GDDR5 memory. Not surprisingly, AMD again targets 1920x1080 with its Polaris Redux.

Because we've run out of synonyms to show just how similar Radeon RX 570 and its predecessor really are, enthusiasts who want to know more about this card's composition are invited to check out our AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB Review. The only specs you'll find different are the core and memory clocks AMD imposes to make the RX 570 a little faster. And of course, if you see how this same GPU fares with a few more compute units turned on and twice as much GDDR5 memory, take a look at our AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB Review.

Editor's Note: While still widely sold and a reasonable buy, the RX 570 is a little long in the tooth. Check out our up-to-date list of the best graphics cards for more recent picks.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GBAMD Radeon RX 470Asus RX 470 Strix OCAsus RX 570 Strix OC
Shader Units10241152204820482048
ROPs3248323232
GPUGM206GP106EllesmereEllesmereEllesmere
Transistors2.54 Billion4.4 Billion5.7 Billion5.7 Billion5.7 Billion
Memory Size2GB3GB4/8GB4GB4GB
Interface192-bit192-bit256-bit256-bit256-bit
GPU Clock Rate (MHz)1080+1502+120612701300
Memory Clock Rate (MHz)15022002165016501750

AMD doesn't have a reference-class Radeon RX 570, and it didn't make its own RX 470 either. That means we're definitely testing a partner board. Last time, we received Asus' Strix RX 470 OC for our review. As luck would have it, Asus' Strix RX 570 OC found its way to our U.S. and German labs, facilitating an excellent comparison from one generation to the next.


MORE: Best Graphics Cards


MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table


MORE: All Graphics Content

  • shrapnel_indie
    Again...
    Confusion caused by re-branding existing hardware

    Yet the exact same issue exists for the uninformed between the same gen GTX 1060 models (3GB and 6GB) which also differ in the available functioning parts of the GPU... There wasn't a big deal made about that, yet there seems to be with the Radeons.
    Reply
  • nzalog
    19583803 said:
    Again...
    Confusion caused by re-branding existing hardware

    Yet the exact same issue exists for the uninformed between the same gen GTX 1060 models (3GB and 6GB) which also differ in the available functioning parts of the GPU... There wasn't a big deal made about that, yet there seems to be with the Radeons.

    Uhh that's not quite the same. I get that you red hat might be on a little tight but RX570 and RX580 sound like a completely new gen card. Not a slightly overclocked RX470 and RX480. I was excited until I read into the actual specs.
    Reply
  • AndrewJacksonZA
    So basically it boils down to how much more it will cost for an RX570 over an RX470 for a 5%-10% improvement in performance.

    Thanks for your efforts Igor, we appreciate it. :-)
    Reply
  • josetesan
    if they only supported CUDA, i'll go definitively for it .. :(
    Reply
  • AndrewJacksonZA
    19583990 said:
    if they only supported CUDA, i'll go definitively for it .. :(
    Out of interest, what do you need CUDA support for?

    Reply
  • josetesan
    Machine Learning
    Reply
  • josetesan
    For the sake of comparison,
    see http://navoshta.com/cpu-vs-gpu/

    According to amazon specs, g2.2xlarge does offer a gtx680/gtx770GPU, so , as you can see, speed increase is amazing !
    Besides, i'd like a good gaming card .
    Reply
  • Roland Of Gilead
    18 pages for that Final Conclusion. These 'new' cards from AMD are a joke. Cynincal for AMD. For those that have zero or very little technical savvy, they will purchase these. For the more discerned among us, this is a non-story. C'mon AMD, give us something to cheer about!!! not being the 'also rans' who gave us good cards, and then re-released the same card the following year. Sick of this crap.
    Reply
  • AndrewJacksonZA
    19584028 said:
    Machine Learning
    Hooray for open standards like CUDA! /s

    (Sorry, closed systems like that are a pet peeve of mine.)
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    I keep wanting to do an AMD-based budget build, but... well, they just don't ever make anything that I feel is competitive. If eventually the price on this dropped to more like 1050 Ti prices, then absolutely, killer bang for the buck. But at the MSRP of $200, I'd rather spend just a little bit more and go for a 1060 6GB.

    And in terms of CPUs, I'd like to see what budget Ryzen chips AMD can come up with before I pull the trigger. i3s don't have the core count, so AMD's already ahead, but their budget lineup is getting a bit long in the tooth right now.

    Really, it's just not a compelling time to buy just about anything right now.
    Reply