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
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Little overclocking headroom
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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.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB | AMD Radeon RX 470 | Asus RX 470 Strix OC | Asus RX 570 Strix OC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shader Units | 1024 | 1152 | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 |
| ROPs | 32 | 48 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| GPU | GM206 | GP106 | Ellesmere | Ellesmere | Ellesmere |
| Transistors | 2.54 Billion | 4.4 Billion | 5.7 Billion | 5.7 Billion | 5.7 Billion |
| Memory Size | 2GB | 3GB | 4/8GB | 4GB | 4GB |
| Interface | 192-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| GPU Clock Rate (MHz) | 1080+ | 1502+ | 1206 | 1270 | 1300 |
| Memory Clock Rate (MHz) | 1502 | 2002 | 1650 | 1650 | 1750 |
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.
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