The GPU market is alive with rumors about the coming graphics cards. AMD and Nvidia are going in separate directions as they would release higher-end and lower-end graphics cards, respectively. For AMD the rumored graphics card would be the RX 490. People can't help but start comparisons of the coming graphics card with the GTX 1080 that has come out last May.
With AMD coming out with the RX 490, people are wondering how it would match up against the GTX 1080. For starters, people will invariably compare its specs.
RX 490 GPU Structure
One of the first things people would be looking at is how a graphics card will perform, and people would then be looking at its specs sheet. Much speculation, first of all, has been made about the AMD RX 490. According to WCCFTech the coming graphics card would be based on the Vega 10 structure.
The rumor, while not definite yet, at least gives people some idea as to what specs it would have. The Vega 10 GPU won't be out until 2017 though, as rumors have it. That would mean then the RX 490 might not be out until next year.
RX 490 vs GTX 1080 Specs
That being said, what people are interested in are the coming graphics card specs and how it would compare with Nvidia's GTX 1080. The RX 490 is said to have better performance than the current Polaris-line of AMD cards. It will have 10 teraflops as opposed to the Polaris' 5.8 teraflops.
The RX 490 would be a little bit better than the GTX 1080 as well, as the GTX 1080 only has 10 teraflops. The AMD RX 490 would then be faster then, at least in theory. Since the GPU is not out yet, it's not certain how it would actually perform.
The RX 490 will have a considerable amount of VRAM as well. It is said that it will have 16GB HBM2. This is compared to the GTX 1080 with 8GB DDR5X. There has been considerable debate about AMD's use of high bandwidth memory though. Some say that the Polaris graphics card with HBM1 VRAM didn't offer much benefits, as TweakTown observed. It would be interesting then how the RX 490 would match up with its use of HBM2.
Game Debate has the RX 490 coming out ahead in most of the categories against the GTX 1080. It is too early to tell if that would be the case in reality though, again given that the RX 490 has not come out yet. On paper at least the RX 490 might be able to match and even surpass Nvidia's high-end graphics card.
RX 490 vs GTX 1080 Price
No price has been announced yet for the RX 490, Science World Report states. The GTX 1080 retails at $699.99 for the founder's edition, so the RX 490 might not be far off on that. Considering the price-to-performance ratio, the RX 490 - in theory at least - would have the better advantage over the GTX 1080.
With all that being said, the AMD RX 490 seems poised to take on the GTX 1080. Its specs indicate a graphics card that would be for the high-end market. Whether it would perform well remains to be seen, but given that AMD has time and again matched what Nvidia has to offer, it can be said that the RX 490 would be able to handle itself well.
