The AMD RX 470 is currently the 2nd strongest GPU in AMD’s offerings but it is quite possible the best AMD GPU around, and in my lab is the Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming 4G.
As always the G1 Gaming range of products from Gigabyte carry the same design on the heatsink shroud.
From the top, the usual RGB backlit text for the brand and the fan movement indicator, note also the awesome looking backplate that’s on this model which is really sweet. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming requires an 8-pin PCI-E power connector to operate.
Here’s the I/O port of the unit, as you can see it still has DVI which I think is great for people with older monitors. At the bottom, no unsightly heatpipes running around.
Here’s the GPU-Z of the Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming.
Test Setup
| Processor | Intel Core i7-5960X @ 4.5Ghz |
| RAM | Avexir DDR4 3000Mhz 2x 8GB. |
| Motherboard | ASRock X99 OC Formula |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master V850 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 64bit |
Overclocking
AMD’s RX series aren’t known for their overclocking prowess so I’ve decided to leave it as it is for this model too – no overclocking done.
Benchmarks
Unigine Heaven 4.0
*NOTE : Details are set to maximum.
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 47 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 46 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 34 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 62 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference | 54 |
Metro Last Light
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 74 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 70 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 52 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 85 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference | 80 |
Shadow of Mordor
Settings : Set to ULTRA, V-sync off.
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 82 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 77 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 53 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 89 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference | 71 |
Bioshock Infinite
Settings are at
2 – UltraDX11_DDOF | 2 – Custom | 1 – 16:9 | 4 – FullHD / 4K
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 103 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 92 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 73 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 114 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference | 112 |
Grand Theft Auto V
Settings : Every option to the MAX setting available.
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 30 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 31 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 28 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 45 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference | 37 |
The Division
Settings : Set to ULTRA, V-sync OFF.
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 54 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 51 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 32 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 58 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference | 61 |
Ashes of the Singularity (DX12)
Settings : Set to CRAZY
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 35 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 33 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 20 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 36 |
Hitman (DX12)
Settings : Maximum
| Card | 1080p (avg) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 73 |
| ASUS ROG Strix RX 470 | 67 |
| ASUS Expedition GTX 1050 Ti | 42 |
| Zotac GTX 1060 AMP | 69 |
The Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming is just amazing, not only does it look better than the competition, it performs better too.
Temperature
Furmark Burn-in Test was used to stress the card. Fan settings are at Auto. Room set to ~25c.
| Card | Idle(°C) | Load (°C) |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming | 44 | 74 |
| Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming (Full RPM) | 44 | 60 |
The fan runs at 77% when under load to keep it cooling at under 80c but you can adjust this over at AMD Wattman to your liking, I certainly didn’t like it at 100%.
Power Consumption
The stress was done with Furmark Burn-in Test. Power consumption reading was taken from the watt-meter, actual power draw by the entire system from the wall point. I’m using an Cooler Master V850 with around 90% efficiency and the estimated system power draw (CPU, not including GPU) during Furmark test is 90w.
| Card | Gigabyte RX 470 G1 Gaming |
| Furmark Burn-in | 244 |
| Estimated Actual System Draw | 220 |
| Estimated Card Power Draw | 130 |
The card seems to draw some 25% (around 25W) more than the competitor RX 470 – that’s why it has an 8-pin power connector, and the added boost allows it to perform better.
The Verdict
The Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming retails at RM 999, you might think it’s pricey but just look at it – it’s a beautiful looking card with a nice backplate and it competes with directly with the Nvidia GTX 1060 3GB of which often doesn’t look as attractive. The neat part of having an RX 470 based card is that should you decide to boost performance in the future, it’s as simple as buying a second card. Furthemore, many affordable boards in the market supports AMD’ Crossfire but not Nvidia’s SLI, and FreeSync monitors costs less than G-sync monitors.
