AMD RX 490, the upcoming GPU meant for 4K gaming experience has been in the news for a while following a few leaks. AMD says that the RX 490 graphics card will be equipped with a larger memory interface than its predecessors to help keep up with the heavy bandwidth that 4K gaming demands. But what had people excited was the fact that AMD was apparently planning to release the RX 490 in 2016 itself.
According to a leak that had surfaced on AMD’s own website, the AMD RX 490 was one of the items listed in their key-code promotion that ends on December 31, 2016. Going by the listing, the RX 490 would be available for purchase before the end of the year; but the listing was soon taken down by the company, explaining the incident as a simple case of ‘communication error’. However, the ‘error’ was repeated once again when AMD posted a similar list with the GPU figuring on it under the name of AMD Radeon R9 490. The second list was also removed subsequently, but not before it was snapped and shared by tech heads around the world.
From these incidents, it is difficult to verify anything other than the mere existence of the AMD RX 490, and it is certainly not clear whether the graphics card will be released anytime within this year. All that people can hope for at the moment is for the company to unveil a little more information about the specifications of the AMD RX 490. From what is known so far, the RX 490 will specifically aim at a larger than 256 bit bus with a focus on gaming at 4K, as compared to the RX 470 or the RX 480, which were armed with a memory interface of 256 bit. It has also been widely speculated if the RX 490 will be a Vega-based or a Polaris-based card. However, there is a possibility that AMD will create a system based on something new entirely to be able to roll out something that will be able to live up to the expectations. These have also resulted in the speculation that the AMD RX 490 will not be released anytime before next year.
But it is possible that the many listings, however erroneous, may point at an official unveiling within 2016 itself. So the remaining few months are certainly the time to watch out for any official updates about the AMD RX 490.