Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is about to release their highly awaited 4K-based graphics card — the Radeon RX 490 — and rumors suggest two plausible release dates that heavily rely on the graphics card's graphics processing unit (GPU).
The AMD Radeon RX 490's release is currently being anticipated by PC users looking to set up a powerful PC. The upcoming graphics card is rumored to come out with the next-gen Graphics Core Next (GCN) from AMD.
One thing that adds up to the AMD Radeon RX 490 hype is the rumor that the graphics card might be released just before 2016 ends. One report shows that AMD's Radeon RX 490 is listed as part of a promotion that ends on Dec. 31.
Another thing that adds to the suspicion that the Radeon RX 490 will be released this year is the secret behind the graphics card's name.
According to AMD's chief gaming scientist Richard Huddy, the RX pertains to the graphics card's processing power which is more than 1.5TFLOPs that can hit up to 60 frames per second at 1080p. While the number 4 suggests that the graphics card will possess the fourth generation GCN architecture, which means that the RX 490 might be Polaris-based after all, therefore supporting rumors of a 2016 release. Additionally, the "9" corresponds to the ninth tier of gaming.
However, other rumors counter ones that suggest a 2016 release since AMD announced that the Radeon RX 490 will be powered by AMD's Vega 10 GPU, a GPU that will be released in the early months of 2017.
Additionally, if rumors about the Radeon RX 490 being released in 2017 comes up true, the graphics card might come with the energy-efficient second-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM2).
As of now, there is still no definite news as to what the Radeon RX 490's graphics processing unit will be, and until AMD releases their graphics card, current known information might still change.
