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AMD Radeon RX 590 Review: Benchmarks, Specs and Overclocking Context

The RX 590 is a higher-clocked 12 nm Polaris refresh with 8 GB GDDR5. Here’s what its 2018 benchmarks, power figures and board-specific tuning mean.
Length4 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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The AMD Radeon RX 590 is a 2018 refresh of the Polaris-based RX 580, not a new GPU architecture. It raised clock speeds while retaining the RX 580’s 2,304 stream processors and 8 GB of GDDR5; the trade-off was higher board power. Launch-era testing found it faster than the GTX 1060 6GB in one reviewer’s suite, but that result is not a current ranking or a guarantee for every RX 590 model.

RX 590 specifications

AMD lists the RX 590’s launch date as 15 November 2018. Its official specifications describe a 12 nm, 4th Gen GCN card with 36 compute units and 2,304 stream processors. The numbers below are AMD’s generic specifications; individual partner cards can use different factory clocks and power designs.

Specification AMD RX 590
Architecture and process 4th Gen GCN; 12 nm
Compute units 36
Stream processors 2,304
Texture units 144
Base frequency 1,469 MHz
Boost frequency Up to 1,545 MHz
Memory 8 GB GDDR5
Memory interface 256-bit
Memory speed Up to 8 Gbps
Memory bandwidth Up to 256 GB/s

These figures come from AMD’s RX 590 product specifications. The boost figure is an upper specification, not a promise that every board will sustain that clock in every game.

How the RX 590 differs from the RX 580

The RX 590’s central change was a move to a 12 nm process and higher clocks, rather than a larger core or new architecture. AnandTech’s 2018 comparison lists both cards with 2,304 stream processors, 8 GB GDDR5 and a 256-bit memory bus, while showing higher RX 590 clocks. In that same comparison, typical board power is listed as 225 W for the RX 590 and 185 W for the RX 580. Those are AnandTech’s board-power figures, not measurements of total PC power draw.

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AMD’s 15 November 2018 launch announcement described the RX 590 as delivering “up to 20% higher performance per dollar than the competition.” That is a manufacturer promotional claim, not an independent benchmark. AMD Community also claimed up to 27% more performance over the RX 480; its performance-lab comparison used an Intel i7-7700K at 4.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR4-3000, Radeon driver 18.11.1 and Windows 10 on 6 November 2018. Neither claim establishes how the card compares with current GPUs or prices.

What launch-era benchmarks showed

Tom’s Hardware’s review, published on 15 November 2018, tested an XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy 8GB OC+. The publication reported that this tested card beat the GTX 1060 6GB across its benchmark suite at 1920×1080 and 2560×1440. It also criticized the RX 590’s performance per watt, judged it too expensive relative to the RX 580 at the time, and favored discounted RX 580 8GB cards for high-quality 1080p gaming.

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That conclusion belongs to a specific 2018 test suite, card, and market context. Results can vary with games, resolution, drivers, system configuration and board model. The available launch-era comparison does not establish the RX 590’s standing against today’s GPUs or whether a present-day used listing is worthwhile.

Overclocking: what can and cannot be concluded

There is no single verified overclock, voltage, fan setting or stable clock that applies to every RX 590. Partner cards differ in cooling and factory tuning, and the cited sources do not establish a universal or reproducible overclock result. AMD’s generic boost specification is up to 1,545 MHz, while MSI lists up to 1,565 MHz for its Armor 8G OC variant; the MSI figure is a model-specific factory specification, not a result users can assume for other cards.

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If you are tuning a particular card, use the exact model’s documentation and change settings gradually, checking stability and temperatures under your own workload. Do not treat another board’s clock, voltage or fan behavior as a safe preset for yours.

Power requirements depend on the exact board

Power figures and connector requirements are not interchangeable between all RX 590 cards. AnandTech’s comparison lists 225 W typical board power for the RX 590. MSI specifies 220 W power consumption, two 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W recommended PSU for its Armor 8G OC model. Check the label and manufacturer specification for the exact card, then account for the rest of the system and the available PSU connectors before buying or changing power settings.

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What to check before buying an RX 590 today

The cited benchmark results are historical, and no current prices, stock, used-card condition or seller protections are established here. For a specific listing, compare the asking price and return terms alongside the details that determine whether one board suits your PC better than another.

  • Compare performance in the same games and at the same resolution, rather than relying on a general ranking.
  • Check the exact board’s factory clock, cooler, physical dimensions, power connectors and stated power requirements.
  • Review the card’s condition, seller return policy and warranty terms; these are listing-specific.
  • Confirm your PSU has the required connectors and capacity for the full system, not just a nominal wattage match.

At retrieval, AMD’s support page listed Adrenalin Edition 26.5.2 as the recommended Windows driver, dated 21 May 2026, and Radeon Software for Linux version 26.14 for Ubuntu 26.04, dated 26 August 2026. Driver listings can change, so check AMD’s driver support page for the current package. A driver’s availability for Windows 10 or 11 does not guarantee performance in every game.

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