AMD Radeon RX 500 news: Graphics card specs updated, to be released in April

(Reuters/Pichi Chuang)Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is set to release its AMD Radeon RX 500.

The Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Radeon RX 500 series will feature faster graphics cards based on an older Polaris graphics chip architecture.

The specification of the graphics card means that it will use an enhanced chip that will provide better output for lower power consumption.

In comparison, its predecessor, the AMD Radeon RX 400, uses a 14-nanometer low-power early Fin Field Effect (FinFET)-transistored processing technology that employs a slightly less productive process node than that of the RX 500.

The graphics card will come in three variants. The first is the AMD Radeon RX 580, which will feature 2,304 steam processors, 144 texture mapping units (TMUs), 32 Render Output Units, and a boost speed of 1,340 MHz. This variant, which follows the older RX 480, will also include 8 gigabytes (GB) of random access memory (RAM).

The other option, the AMD Radeon RX 570, will include a Polaris 20 XL graphics processing unit (GPU). Following the RX 470 variant, it will use the same Polaris core but with 2,048 cores. It will have a boost of 1,244 MHz and a similar RAM size of 8 GB.

Completing the variants list are the AMD Radeon RX 560 and RX 550 that will both employ Polaris 12 graphics chip.

The release of the graphics chip line is in response to the demand of the market for lower priced variants that will support virtual reality (VR) and high-quality PC gaming.

The more advanced variant of the three, the RX 580 model, will be available for $200. The mid-range unit RX 570 will cost $150, while the low-end RX 550 will be sold at $100.

The launch of the cheaper product will be followed by the release of the Radeon RX Vega brand line that targets the high-end PC market. The RX 500 series is not to be confused as a replacement for the RX 400 series, since both have almost similar capacity and specs.

The graphics card is reportedly set for release in mid-April. Reports set the date of launch at April 18.

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