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AMD Radeon RX 560 896SP

AMD Radeon RX 560 896SP: Budget Classic in 2025

Overview for Budget Gamers and PC Users

Introduction

In an era when graphics cards with ray tracing and AI upscaling dominate the market, the AMD Radeon RX 560 896SP remains a niche solution for those seeking an affordable option for basic tasks. Despite its age (the model was released in 2017), this card is still available for sale at a price of around $100–120. Let's explore who it is suitable for in 2025 and what compromises buyers will have to make.

Architecture and Key Features

Polaris Platform: Modest Heritage

The RX 560 896SP is built on the Polaris (Polaris 21) architecture, manufactured using GlobalFoundries' 14nm process. It is a "cut-down" version of the original RX 560 (1024 SP), evidenced by its lower number of stream processors—896 compared to 1024.

Key Features:

- Support for DirectX 12 and Vulkan API for modern games (at the time of release).

- AMD's FidelityFX technology (contrast-adaptive sharpening), but lacking FSR 2.x/3.x—only basic optimizations are available.

- No hardware ray tracing—the card is not equipped with features like Ray Accelerators or RT cores.

Memory: Speed and Volume

GDDR5: Modest but Reliable

- Memory type: GDDR5 (not GDDR6 or HBM).

- Capacity: 4 GB—this is the minimum standard for gaming even in 2025, though it will only suffice for low settings.

- Bus: 128-bit, bandwidth—112 GB/s (memory speed of 7 Gbps).

Impact on Performance:

For projects with highly detailed textures (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077), 4 GB will become a bottleneck. However, in older games (The Witcher 3, GTA V) or at resolutions of 720p–1080p, the memory will manage adequately.

Gaming Performance

1080p: Basic Level

In 2025, the RX 560 896SP is only suitable for less demanding projects:

- CS2 (Counter-Strike 2): ~60–80 FPS at medium settings.

- Fortnite: 40–50 FPS in “Performance” mode (without shadows and splash effects).

- Apex Legends: 35–45 FPS at low settings.

- Indie games (Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley): Stable 60+ FPS.

1440p and 4K: Not recommended—the card is intended for 720p–1080p.

Ray Tracing: Not supported either natively or through drivers.

Professional Tasks

Not for Heavy Work

- Video Editing: In DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro, the card can handle rendering in H.264/HEVC, but for 4K or effects, a more powerful GPU is needed.

- 3D Modeling: In Blender (via OpenCL), rendering is possible but slow. For high polygon count scenes, models with 8+ GB of memory are recommended.

- Scientific Calculations: OpenCL support allows the card to be used in machine learning at a basic level, but performance is significantly lower compared to NVIDIA with CUDA.

Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

Savings on Power Supply

- TDP: 75W—powered via PCIe, with no additional connectors required.

- Cooling: Passive or single-slot coolers. Even under load, temperatures rarely exceed 75°C.

- Case Recommendations: A compact case with 1–2 fans for heat dissipation should suffice.

Comparison with Competitors

Budget Segment in 2025

- NVIDIA GTX 1650 (4 GB): 30–40% faster in games, supports DLSS 1.0, but priced at $150–170.

- Intel Arc A380: Better at handling DX12 and Vulkan, has 6 GB GDDR6, but requires a quality power supply.

- AMD Radeon RX 6400: New RDNA2 architecture, 4 GB GDDR6, but limited to PCIe 4.0 x4, which reduces performance on older PCs.

Conclusion: The RX 560 896SP lags behind modern counterparts but wins in terms of price and energy efficiency.

Practical Tips

How to Avoid Problems

1. Power Supply: A 350–400W unit is sufficient (e.g., EVGA 400W).

2. Compatibility: PCIe 3.0 x8 will be fit even for older motherboards.

3. Drivers: Use the latest Adrenalin 2025 Edition, but don’t expect optimizations for new games.

4. Monitor: A 1080p 60Hz display is best— the card won’t utilize the potential of 144Hz.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Low price ($100–120).

- Energy efficiency (does not require additional power).

- Quiet operation in passive models.

Cons:

- Poor performance in modern games.

- Only 4 GB of memory.

- No ray tracing or FSR 3 support.

Final Conclusion: Who Is the RX 560 896SP For?

This graphics card is an option for:

1. Office PC owners who need an upgrade for viewing 4K video or handling multiple monitors.

2. Retro gaming enthusiasts or fans of indie projects.

3. Users on a limited budget who are willing to compromise on graphics quality.

Alternative: If your budget permits spending $150–200, consider the Intel Arc A380 or a used RX 580 8 GB—they will offer a better experience for a small additional cost.

In 2025, the AMD Radeon RX 560 896SP is an example of a “survivor” budget solution that reminds us of times when gaming didn't require teraflops of power. It is not suitable for hardcore gamers, but it will be a lifeline for those who prioritize savings and simplicity.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

July 2017

Model Name

Radeon RX 560 896SP

Generation

Polaris

Base Clock

1090MHz

Boost Clock

1175MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x8

Transistors

3,000 million

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

GlobalFoundries

Process Size

14 nm

Architecture

GCN 4.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

4GB

Memory Type

GDDR5

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

128bit

Memory Clock

1750MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

112.0 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

18.80 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

65.80 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

2.106 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

131.6 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

2.064 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

896

L1 Cache

16 KB (per CU)

L2 Cache

1024KB

TDP

45W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.2

OpenCL Version

2.1

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_0)

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.4

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

200W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

2.064 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon E9260 PCIe

2.193 +6.3%

Radeon RX 560D

2.148 +4.1%

Radeon RX 560 896SP

2.064

Radeon RX Vega 11 Mobile

2.01 -2.6%

FireStream 9350

1.976 -4.3%