GPU Wiki Architecture

GCN 4.0

GCN 4.0, commonly called Polaris, launched in 2016 on a 14nm FinFET process and powered the Radeon RX 400 and RX 500 series. The jump to 14nm delivered a substantial improvement in performance per watt over the 28nm GCN generations.

Read the architecture history below the GPU list

Back to GPU Wiki
Launch era
2016 to 2019
Process nodes
14nm FinFET (GloFo / Samsung)
Predecessor
GCN 3.0 (Fiji)
Successor
GCN 5.0 (Vega)

Related GPUs

77 entries
View
Cards Table
Reset filters

Architecture History

The RX 480 and its successor the RX 570 / RX 580 became some of AMD's best-selling discrete GPUs, dominating the mainstream segment and remaining in production for several years.

More architecture facts

Architecture name
GCN 4.0 (Polaris)
Important chips
Polaris 10 (RX 480 / 580), Polaris 11 (RX 470 / 570 / 560), Polaris 12 (RX 550), Polaris 20 (RX 590)
Memory technologies
GDDR5, GDDR5X (RX 590)
Architecture feature generation
GCN 4.0 Stream Processors; DirectX 12 (FL 12_0); Vulkan 1.0; OpenCL 2.0; Display Engine 1.2 (HDMI 2.0b, DP 1.3/1.4)
Consumer series
Radeon RX 480, RX 470, RX 460, RX 590, RX 580, RX 570, RX 560, RX 550
Workstation / professional series
Radeon PRO WX 5100, WX 4100, WX 3100
Data center series
(Minimal; compute focus remained on Vega/GCN 5.0)

What this architecture changed

14nm FinFET: first AMD discrete GPU on a sub-28nm process, enabling significantly lower power consumption at equivalent performance versus GCN 2.0/3.0.
Primary target was the mainstream market (RX 480 priced at $200 USD at launch).
DirectX 12 feature level 12_0 and Vulkan 1.0.
HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4 support.
Premier support for AMD FreeSync (Adaptive Sync) at mainstream price points.

Why it mattered

Polaris was AMD's most commercially successful GCN generation. The RX 570 and RX 580 remained competitive and actively sold for years after launch, appearing in budget builds and refurbished markets well into the RDNA era. The generation also became popular for GPU mining during the 2017 cryptocurrency boom, leading to widespread secondary market availability of well-used cards that are common in collector and budget-build contexts.