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MP 1,1-5,1 Pulse RX 580 8GB or Pulse RX 590 8GB?

JedNZ

JedNZ

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 6, 2015
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Deep South
The Pulse RX 580 is a supported GPU, and the Pulse RX 590 also probably works in cMP from other reports of success that the Nitro RX 590 works.

So is it safe to go ahead and get the Pulse RX 590 and that future macOS support will follow if Apple continues to support the RX 580, or are there other hardware differences that might not guarantee this? Are there significant architectural differences between the two?

And I know the 590 inches out over the 580 in pixel crunching, so is it worth paying the extra ponie$?

I do app dev, design and video work (1080 mostly, but moving to 4K – but not a heavy skilled user), and I like to game a bit if I can get away with it. I’m currently using an R9 380X which is being moved on to my second cMP Hex-core.

And one last Q: will the Pulse 590 8GB be Bootcamp Win10Pro compatible? Currently runs perfectly with the R9 380X and can boot backwards and forwards to macOS/Win10.
 
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ruslan120 said:
making breakfast in bed and ironing clothes is a “to be released“, but not yet
Click to expand...

Without snarkiness...

"Better" could have meant better thermals, better quality build, better power handling etc... Faster is always nice, but doesn't always mean better. But thanks...

+1 IL
 
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If you get a RX 580, you can get it flashed later to support boot screens or buy one with boot screens from mac vid cards.

Pretty compelling. I've been having to switch out my Radeon VII for my 280x to debug some stuff recently.
 
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The cost difference between the Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB (NZ$325) and the Sapphire Pulse RX590 8GB ($425) is NZ$100, so are all the extra benefits worth the extra over the RX 580? If I'm only getting 15% better performance, then I'd be paying quite a premium for it (30% extra).

And will it run okay in Win10Pro under Bootcamp (on a separate SSD)?

I'll use the two-6-pin to single 8-pin method, so will this be enough to power it?
 
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at the same price yes, at 1/3 extra no if you want to spend more the only real step up is a vega 56 or Radeon 7.

you mentioned you work with video but not the app, id bet the real world speed change between the two cards working with video will be close to non existent. (rx 580 v RX 590)

Only the vega 56 or Radeon 7 are worth looking at if you want a better option.

If you want to see comparisons/reviews look here (for pro apps)
https://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php

Resolve is what i use for video, works relay well with my RX 580
Some benchmarks
Radeon 7 just beats a GTX 2080 TI (well about the same as relay)
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/DaVinci-Resolve-15-AMD-Radeon-VII-16GB-Performance-1382/

AMD cards RX 580 & vega 56/64 compared to nvidia GTX 10xx cards
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...ve-14-NVIDIA-GeForce-vs-AMD-Radeon-Vega-1213/
RX 580 = about GTX 1070
Vega 56 = about GTX 1080

But that is just in Resolve (and no way in games) most apps will not show the same performance on AMD cards & thats just in tests they did.

PS the RX 590 may also end up not haveing as good suport in osx as it's a odd card, the RX 580 has good suport and is what is recomended by apple

edit i got a used RX 580 from ebay for £100, im not sure about prices where you are but thats a good option.
relay the RX 590 is overpriced the speed gain over the RX 580 is tiny compared to the jump you get from a VEGA 56 or Radeon 7 and the Radeon 7.

for light video projects in Resolve the RX 580 is relay a nice card, i play with 4K h264 video with no real problems. my last GPU was a GTX 770 4GB which was fine untill i started to work with 4K video which made Resolve crash non stop once the VRAM was full, i see my RX 580 using about 6GB+ vram in simple projects.
i know people doing complex projects have to cut them up in to small segments to fit in to the VRAM limits of there GPU and there you can relay start to see the joy of the Radeon 7 with it's 16GB of vram there is nothing close to it in cost/speed.

but that is just in Resolve in adobe apps you will not see the same gains, maybe in FCX but im relay out of the loop there.
 
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JedNZ said:
The cost difference between the Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB (NZ$325) and the Sapphire Pulse RX590 8GB ($425) is NZ$100, so are all the extra benefits worth the extra over the RX 580? If I'm only getting 15% better performance, then I'd be paying quite a premium for it (30% extra).

And will it run okay in Win10Pro under Bootcamp (on a separate SSD)?

I'll use the two-6-pin to single 8-pin method, so will this be enough to power it?
Click to expand...

IMO, the RX590 is not a good option. Unless you know how to fine tune the card.

The RX590 is a very strange card. Same "bug" as the RX480 reference.

It only has single 8pin, but power consumption can go above 225W.

According to Tom's hardware's review (this is for another RX590, but still the same single 8pin design, and a quick search shows the single 8pin PULSE RX590 also has TDP that higher than 225W)

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-phantom-gaming-x-radeon-rx-590,6021-4.html

This card will really draw more than 225W. And even worse, the power draw from the PCIe slot is nowhere near 75W. But 187W from the 8pin during gaming (consider real world high stress), and 206W in Furmark (artificial stress test).

For those who has Pixlas mod, this doesn't really matter.

In fact, dual mini 6pins can supply up to ~240W, so force shutdown isn't the concern.

However, I don't like the idea that factory setting will over stress a 150W officially rated 8pin to more than 200W. For those who consider than mini 6pin only rated up to 75W. This can be a concern (if you want to power this card by just the mini 6pins).

And if you think this is because factory OC this GPU too much, then it's not quite the case. The tested RX590 only 15MHz above the reference card. This extra power draw of 15MHz should be very negligible.

Also, don't expect 15% performance improvement. User benchmarks shows 12%.

It's roughly expect 10% more power draw (overall) for 10% extra performance (compare to RX580), and 30% more expensive.

The PULSE RX580 has very good power draw distribution. Slot vs 8pin almost always 1:2. That 225W max (really max, even in Furmark, I tested it) pretty much max 75W from slot, and max 150W from the 8pin. Very standard. But I can't see that in the single 8pin RX590 yet.

If all you want is just extra 10% performance, you can easily do that by fine tune the RX580's ROM. I can make my PULSE RX580 run 20% faster with the same power draw.
1340+2250.png

The actual power draw of a RX590 is roughly at the Vega56 level, but 40% slower. I just found a used Vega56 for less than $200 (local seller). And the price may go even lower because many users upgrade to RX5700 and selling their Vega56 in this period. I really can't see the reason why should go for the RX590 now.
 
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in the UK at the moment the RX 580 Pulse is not worth buying new as the VEGA 56 Pulse is only £50 more!
RX 580 Pulse £200
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-P...ywords=Vega56&qid=1563275145&s=gateway&sr=8-3
VEGA 56 Pulse £250
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-1...ywords=Vega56&qid=1563275145&s=gateway&sr=8-6

if it was me id relay look at used RX 580 Pulse prices where you are if you can grab one like i did for £100 ish it's a good option at £200

i dont know any shops in new zealand but this looks like a valid option if your ok with used
RX 580 Pulse
https://www.trademe.co.nz/computers...tm?rsqid=b8645af828c64d0faef92d0d1284dc06-004
 
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I would try to wait for the RX 5600. If I'm going to spend $200 now, I would step up to Vega 56.
 
yes also worth thinking about the new card's that are out but there may be a wait for drivers and they are double the cost of a RX 580 at the moment with only blower style coolers.

as a plus for video editing in windows the new video decoder/encoder is fast if you can use it (and with PCIE 4 i have seen early mentions of them being a real benefit with video editing with the extra PCIE 4 speed, but not fully confirmed yet)

so if you want to look at the RX 5700 class cards it's best to just wait, and it may be half a year or longer for osx support.

google says this is the same cost as in the uk so pricing in NZ is not to bad $367 = about £200
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/VGASAP9584/Sapphire-Pulse-RX580-8G-GDDR5-Graphics-Card-GPU-Up
 
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orph said:
yes also worth thinking about the new card's that are out but there may be a wait for drivers and they are double the cost of a RX 580 at the moment with only blower style coolers.

as a plus for video editing in windows the new video decoder/encoder is fast if you can use it (and with PCIE 4 i have seen early mentions of them being a real benefit with video editing with the extra PCIE 4 speed, but not fully confirmed yet)

so if you want to look at the RX 5700 class cards it's best to just wait, and it may be half a year or longer for osx support.

google says this is the same cost as in the uk so pricing in NZ is not to bad $367 = about £200
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/VGASAP9584/Sapphire-Pulse-RX580-8G-GDDR5-Graphics-Card-GPU-Up
Click to expand...

Just waiting for PB Tech to have them in stock in my town.

Hey thanks for all the advice here everyone. I’m going to go for the Pulse RX 580. I can’t afford to drop more on it anyway, and even though I’ve done all my other upgrades, I think I’ll stay clear of doing the pixlas mod and going for something bigger and better.
 
All,

When I said the RX 590 is better, I should have said I was referring to my experience with the Gigabyte RX 590. The Pulse / Nitro 590 likely perform similar to the Gigabyte, but it takes up more than two slots.

My RX 590 has no bugs as far as I know. It’s been great - quiet and idle most of the time. As Orph said it’s a small upgrade over the RX 580, it’s AMD’s latest iteration of the Polaris architecture, it’s clocked higher and has higher thermal threshold. It’s the sweet spot for me because it sits between the 580 - a three year old card that it out performs by 10-15% - and the Vega 56/64, cards I never liked due to all the early bugs and inherent TDP issues. The Vega cards wouldn’t be much of an issue for me if they weren’t overkill for my cMP 5,1 , which pretty much has ended its useful life and I hardly use it anymore. The 590 is perfect for my cMP. Gives it enough kick when I need to fire it up.
 
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depends on the market, in the UK the vega 56 pulse is to close in price at the mo for it not to be the best option for a new card. used the RX 580 is super cheep at about £100.

depends what the use case is for worth of card, cost to performance a used RX 580 8GB is the best option at the mo and new the vega 56 (in the uk) for a mix of productivity and games.

for light use an RX 560 used is an amazing option at about £45 on ebay UK
 
orph said:
depends on the market, in the UK the vega 56 pulse is to close in price at the mo for it not to be the best option for a new card. used the RX 580 is super cheep at about £100.

depends what the use case is for worth of card, cost to performance a used RX 580 8GB is the best option at the mo and new the vega 56 (in the uk) for a mix of productivity and games.

for light use an RX 560 used is an amazing option at about £45 on ebay UK
Click to expand...

Well check out Newegg @ US at the moment, Sapphire Pulse RX590 is now CHEAPER than the Sapphire Pulse RX580. There is an AMD gift for some xbox game access pass for 3 months, worth of $29.99.

It looks like the Sapphire Pulse RX590 has the same form factor as the RX580.
 
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