The Radeon RX 480
Contents
The card is 9.4 inches (240 mm) long and uses two slots. It has a centrifugal fan, which is a good choice because it blows the hot air outside the case, and allows the slot contiguous to the card do be used without spoiling the video card refrigeration.
Figure 2 shows the video connectors of the Radeon RX 480. It brings three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0 connectors.
Figure 2: video connectors
In Figure 3 you see the top of the card, where there is a six-pin PCI Express power connector.
Figure 3: top view
Figure 4 unveils the end of the card, which is closed.
Figure 4: end view
Figure 4 shows the solder side of the RX 480. There are no memory chips on this side. Besides that, it shows that the PCB is shorter than the cooler.
Figure 5: solder side
Figures 6 and 7 show the cooler of the Radeon RX 480. The cooler consists on three main parts: a plastic cover, that directs the air flow to the heatsinks and the outside the case, the GPU radiator, made of aluminum with a copper base, and a big metalic piece that cools the memory chips and the voltage regulator transistors.
Figure 6: the Radeon RX 480 with the plastic cover removed
Figure 7: the Radeon RX 480 with the cooler removed
In Figure 8 you see the RX 480 without the cooler. There are eight memory chips. As we mentioned before, the card itself is smaller than the cooler, being only 7.1” long. So, it is possible that some manufacturers offer even shorter cards.
Figure 8: Radeon RX 480 without the cooler
On Figure 9 you see the “Ellesmere” chip, manufactured under 14 nm technology.
Figure 9: the Ellesmere GPU chip
Figure 10 shows one of the memory chips used on the Radeon RX 480. It is a Samsung K4G80325FB-HC25 chip, with 8 Gib (1 GiB) capacity and 4.0 GHz (8.0 GHz effective) maximum clock.
Figure 10: memory chip
Figure 11 shows the Radeon RX 480 voltage regulator. It uses six phases for the GPU and one for the memory chips.
Figure 11: voltage regulator
