We got a lot of game announcements at E3 this year and now that all that has been done with, this article is about the unsung hero, AMD, and what they are doing to lower the cost of entry into PC gaming, especially in Virtual Reality.
AMD took to the stage at the PC Gamer conference during E3 and blew everyone’s minds away by showcasing the entire Polaris lineup to the audience.
This included the much talked about RX 480 along with the new announcements of the RX 470 and the RX 460. While a lot has been revealed about the RX 480, the details on the RX 470 and the 460 remain shrouded in mystery. One thing is clear however: They want to capture the entry and middle price bracket of the PC gaming market.
Moreover, another striking feature of the RX 470 and 460 is their miniscule form factor. Literally, these things are tiny! AMD is hoping to get their new Polaris cards into today’s uber popular Ultrabooks so as to be able to deliver console level graphics to the laptop market. This would be a huge leap with regards to the cost and mobility of gaming laptops as the decent ones today are essentially mobile PCs and not laptops due to their bulk and cost.
Additionally, with the added power efficiency that comes with the 14 nm fabrication process that Polaris has adopted, the battery life on these machines will be improved too.
AMD is making all the right moves to make sure that they can regain the dominance they had back in the day, which they have seen gradually slip away in the past few years.
With regards to pricing, the fact that the 4GB variant of the RX 480 comes in at $200, means that we are looking at very competitive prices with regards to the RX 470 and the RX 460, which ought to be priced at around $160 and $130 respectively if previous trends are considered. Of course when they reach India, expect a 30 per cent increase after taxes and customs but that would still make them quite affordable. It’s going to be a great year for gaming from a hardware perspective!
