SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 5700XT – Top Tier Navi

Overclocking Results

Overclocking the SAPPHIRENitro+ RX 5700XT resulted in a bit better core frequency that I expected without resorting to modified drivers or power play tables to really tune things up.  The SAPPHIRE Nitro+ RX 5700XT has an 8+1+2 Phase Power Delivery allowed me to push the GPU core to a stable target of 2150MHz, which was the limit of what Wattman would allow and resulted in a constant 2050MHz sustained clock speed under load.  The Memory was able to push to 900MHz which was welcome since the PULSE model we recently looked at wouldn't take any overclock..  Unlike the PULSE 5700XT where the fans hitting up to 94% put the card in uncomfortably loud territory the Nitro+ maintained a relatively quiet operating level while overclocked which was really welcome.

The SAPPHIRE Nitro+ RX5700 features dual bios just like the PULSE model did but this time actually providing a third position that allows the user to select which BIOS they want the card to operate from within the new TRIXX software, eliminating the need to go into the system to manually flip the switch, a great addition. The SAPPHIRE Nitro+ RX 5700XT has three clock settings including a Boost clock of up to 2010MHz and a Game clock of 1905MHz. The Secondary, or Silent setting reduces clock targets and raises target temps to allow for potentially quieter operation. In this mode, the card performs at a Boost clock of up to 1925MHz and a Game clock of up to 1925
MHz.

Firestrike Extreme

Firestrike is running the DX11 API and is still a good measure of GPU scaling performance, in this test we ran the Extreme version of Firestrike which runs at 1440p and we recorded the Graphics Score only as the Physics and combined are not pertinent to this review.

Time Spy

Time Spy is running the DX12 API and we used it in the same manner as Firestrike Extreme where we only recorded the Graphics Score as the Physics score is recording the CPU performance and isn't important to the testing we are doing here.

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 carries on the open-world racing tradition of the Horizon series.  The latest DX12 powered entry is beautifully crafted and amazingly well executed and is a great showcase of DX12 games.  We use the benchmark run while having all of the settings set to non-dynamic with an uncapped framerate to gather these results.

Rainbow 6 Siege

Rainbow 6 Siege has maintained a massive following since its launch and it consistently in Steams Top Ten highest player count game.  In a title where the higher the framerate the better in a tactical yet fast-paced competitive landscape is essential, we include this title despite its ludicrously high framerates.  We use the Ultra preset with the High Defenition Texture Pack as well and gather our results from the built-in benchmarking tool.

The Division 2

The Division 2 returns with the Snowdrop Engine refined and tuned for DX12 and the performance of DX12 vs DX11 is proof positive of this.  We run the game at the Ultra Preset and use the built-in benchmarking tool for measuring.

Thermals

Thermals were measured from our open test bench after running the Time Spy graphics test 2 on loop for 30 minutes recording the highest temperatures reported. The room was climate controlled and kept at a constant 22c throughout the testing. The default fan curve for the SAPPHIRE PULSE RX 5700XT was much more favorable than in the past where the sound level was prioritized, this time the target is thermals and allows the card to ramp up the fan to maintain the stock 73C thermal target.  The catch there was once overclocked the fans would need to ramp to 94% to maintain a similar thermal margin for very little gains in performance.

Power Draw

Power draw numbers were taken from the total system power draw by measuring with a Kill-A-Watt. We ran Unigine Valley for 30 minutes and observed the highest sustained load. Something to keep in mind when observing total system power draw is that there are times where a GPU simply being faster and requiring more from the CPU can cause the total system power draw to increase with the like of the Core i9-9900K. That said, the total system power draw is still important as it is how much power it is taking to run the system.

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9.4

WCCFTECH RATING

SAPPHIRE has designed a truly top tier variant of the RX 5700XT and provided you have the ability to fit it in your case I would have it at the top of your consideration list.

Pros

• Actually overclocked core
• Excellent lighting
• Very quiet
• Fantastic cooling
• Fan check
• RGB can be controlled by the motherboard
• Performance is top tier for Navi
• only $20 more than the PULSE model
• vBIOS can be changed via software

Cons

• No dedicated hardware for Ray Tracing
• Not a lot of overclocking headroom left
• Power consumption slightly on the high side

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