Are two RX 480s faster than a single GTX 1080?

(credit: Mark Walton)

I love a good PR stunt or outlandish claim as much as the next guy. You know, where a company decides that the best way to tell people about a new product is to slaughter a few goats and serve fake entrails up to guests, or declare that a certain developer is going to make you his bitch. That sort of thing. Imagine my delight, then, when AMD's Raja Koduri took to the stage during the unveiling of the RX 480 to declare that, with two of them in Crossfire, they were faster than Nvidia's GTX 1080, and would cost far less. Everyone was intrigued.

Here's the thing about making bold claims involving competitor products, though: you'd better be damn sure those claims stand up under scrutiny, because sooner or later, someone is will actually test it.

So with the RX 480 in shops, and the initial batch of press reviews near universally declaring it an excellent graphics card for the budget-minded gamer (something I agreed with too), it's time to put AMD's bold claims to the test. Are two AMD RX 480s faster than a GTX 1080?

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