China-exclusive Radeon RX 580 2048SP with 16GB VRAM
The Radeon RX 580 2048SP, a China-exclusive GPU that’s been around for five years, has finally been upgraded to 16GB VRAM. The refreshed graphics card, developed by Chinese manufacturer Kinology, breathes new life into the aging card, but comes at a cost.
Originally released by AMD China back in 2018, the Radeon RX 580 2048SP is essentially a rebranded Radeon RX 570 8GB that’s been given a boost clock increase. Despite its age, the AMD-made GPU still enjoys a considerable amount of popularity in the Chinese market.
Now, Kinology has released a modified version of the Radeon RX 580 2048SP, but with a twist. Instead of using the standard GDDR5 memory chips, the Chinese vendor has opted for faster GDDR5X memory chips, which feature higher bandwidth, but also come with a caveat.
In Kinology’s Radeon RX 580 2048SP, the GDDR5X chips only use half of their memory channels, resulting in a ~14% decrease in memory bandwidth. The GPU’s overall specs remain mostly the same, however, as it still uses the same 28nm process, 2304 stream processors, and a 136MHz boost clock.
Compared to the original version, the upgraded Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP boasts 16GB of GDDR5 memory, and maintains the same 170W power draw. Its memory capacity puts the GPU on par with the Radeon RX 580 8GB, but it uses a different GPU ASIC.
In terms of performance, the Radeon RX 580 2048SP lags behind the GeForce GTX 1060. However, the card still manages to beat out the older Radeon RX 580 8GB, which costs around $110 on Amazon (though there’s also a $130 Forza Horizon 4 edition).
The extra 16GB on the Kinology model requires a greater 170W power draw, which means it maintains a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. Despite the extra memory, it still uses the same DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 1.4, and DVI outputs.
Priced at $83 (799RMB), the Kinology Radeon RX 580 2048SP is available on JD.com, which some may consider a bit pricey compared to the $129 (1,299RMB) starting price of the faster Radeon RX 580 in the US market.
However, it’s worth noting that the extra 16GB of VRAM probably helps to justify the higher price. You can also find a cheaper Radeon RX 580 8GB for $80 (799RMB), but the card uses slower GDDR5 memory.
