| JEMC said: There's a weird rumor/info regarding the 4GB variants of the RX 480 AMD RX 480 4GB Retail Cards Have 8GB Of Memory, Unlockable Via BIOS Update http://wccftech.com/amd-rx-480-4gb-cards-8gb-unlockable-bios-update/#ixzz4DXjHtJBD Soon after the RX 480 was released some rumors began to surface suggesting that early retails units of the 4GB RX 480 are actually 8GB versions flashed with the 4GB BIOS. We thought that this was quite bizarre as the whole idea behind offering the 4GB configuration of the RX 480 was to cut costs and deliver the RX 480 at the more affordable price point of $199, vs the $229 MSRP for the 8GB configuration. Naturally we were very much intrigued by the rumors and wanted to see for ourselves. So we took apart our own RX 480 sample to look at the memory chips. Lo & behold, they’re the exact same one gigabyte 8Ghz chips from Samsung found in the 8GB RX 480 and GTX 1070. The reference RX 480, which is what our sample is, does not come with a BIOS switch. So there’s a serious risk of rendering the card a paperweight if things go horribly wrong and flashing fails. So naturally we wouldn’t recommend that you try this on your 4GB RX 480. At least not yet. Until a working 8GB BIOS leaks out and its success is replicated on multiple retail 4GB RX 480 cards this will stay as a “do it at your own risk” sort of thing. |
Maybe, besides sending 8GB review samples that can be switched to use just 4GB, to save AMD money and reviewers time, AMD also recycled as 4GB cards 8GB ones with partially faulty memory, it wouldn't be the first time HW producers use similar tricks to suffer as little as possible from the higher failure rate of early production. Intel recycled 486DX with faulty FPUs as 486SX, for example.
