Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT Pulse

[W1zzard]

The Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT Pulse is equipped with a factory overclock and features a much better thermal solution than the AMD reference design. The card not only runs a lot quieter as temperatures are better than on any other RX 5700 XT we've tested so far, and idle fan stop is included, too.

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[Wyverex]

Looks like a nice card.

Nice review, as always Thanks W1zzard!

 

[EzioAs]

Looks like a nice card.

I agree. Overall, it looks pretty good.

 

[Chomiq]

About time for price wars to begin.

 

[INSTG8R]

Apparently saw it’s being listed at £429. First pricing I’ve seen

 

[ManofGod]

About time for price wars to begin.

Doubtful. Also, why is not having RT hardware at this price point a negative? Pretty much anything at this price point will not be good for RT anyways.

 

[Aldain]

Why is not having RT a NEGATIVE?? I mean really???

 

[W1zzard]

Why is not having RT a NEGATIVE?? I mean really???

Just so that it's mentioned for completeness, some less experienced readers might not be aware. See the paragraph in the conclusion for my full thoughts.

 

[ShurikN]

After looking how this card performs, might as well not bother with the updated pricing for the Strix card. Unless it's under $430, you're wasting your money. Knowing it's Asus, it'll probably be closer to 500.

Kudos to Sapphire for this card. They've set the bar pretty high, lets see how others follow.

 

[Athlonite]

I wonder when the Nitro+ version will be out pulse versions always seemed a little crappier to me not that this isn't a nice card an all but I prefer the Nitro+ versions

 

[HwGeek]

Really liked the Strixx Boost option- looks nice feature to have.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Just so that it's mentioned for completeness, some less experienced readers might not be aware. See the paragraph in the conclusion for my full thoughts.

These days people only want the TLDR; version...

 

[trparky]

Looks like a good decent mid-range card, the price needs to come down a bit to maybe around $325 or $350. When that happens it might give nVidia a run for their money in their mid-range sector of the market which doesn't necessarily care about the highest frames per second (only that it's above 100 to 130).

 

[sutyi]

So Sapphire's Pulse has the same thermals and better acoustics compared to the supposed top-of-the-line STRIXX variant from ASUS.

Think I might go for a non-XT 5700 Pulse on Black Friday.

 

[RH92]

Not really convinced by temperature charts . Normal BIOS mod 75°C / 35dBA , Quiet BIOS mod 74°C / 32dBA ? Unless there is massive variance between runs there is no way a card is cooler when fans spin slower !

 

[sutyi]

Not really convinced by temperature charts . Normal BIOS mod 75°C / 35dBA , Quiet BIOS mod 74°C / 32dBA ? Unless there is massive variance between runs there is no way a card is cooler when fans spin slower !

Different vBIOS might mean lower vCore too, not just a different fan profile.

PS.: Although based on the testing done by Tech Jesus Steve, you might want to keep the default vBIOS on, as with the quiet one the VRAM got quite toasty.

 

[RH92]

So Sapphire's Pulse has the same thermals and better acoustics compared to the supposed top-of-the-line STRIXX variant from ASUS.

That's very surprising result , when you compare Strix heatsink to Pulse heatsink so either there is something wrong with Strix mounting on Navi ( doesn't make proper contact ) or with TPU reviews .

Different vBIOS might mean lower vCore too, not just a different fan profile.

If that was true you would see lower Idle temps aswell wich is not the case .

 

[rrrrex]

Where to get new Sapphire TriXX?

 

[nguyen]

That's very surprising result , when you compare Strix heatsink to Pulse heatsink so either there is something wrong with Strix mounting ( doesn't make proper contact ) or with TPU review .

If that was true you would see lower Idle temps aswell wich is not the case .

Other reviews report about the same temp for the Strix version, Guru3D 76C, Hexus 76C.
Quite bios on the both the Strix and Pulse have the idle fan stop function so the temp are supposed to be high.

 

[Zubasa]

That's very surprising result , when you compare Strix heatsink to Pulse heatsink so either there is something wrong with Strix mounting on Navi ( doesn't make proper contact ) or with TPU reviews .

Another point of interest, the better coolers on these AIB cards don't seem to make any real difference to performance even when overclocking.
The reference card still managed to clock slightly higher than this card due to chip variance.
It shows that the reference cards were not actually exploding / setting your house on fire / throttling the card as some expected.
For only $10 more sure, anyone in their right mind would buy this over the reference design simply because the noise is better.

 

[sutyi]

If that was true you would see lower Idle temps aswell wich is not the case .

Not really. "2D" or low power 3D has differet clock level & VID and might be the same as the default vBIOS. However full power 3D with the secondary vBIOS has a 30-50mV lower GPU voltage compared to the default ones, with a much more relaxed fan curve. Take a look:

• https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-5700-xt-pulse/35.html

 

[RH92]

Other reviews report about the same temp for the Strix version, Guru3D 76C, Hexus 76C.

Guru3D has it at 76°C vs TPU 82°C in quiet profile and 68°C vs 77°C for TPU under normal profile ..... that's FAR from being the same temps !

Quite bios on the both the Strix and Pulse have the idle fan stop function so the temp are supposed to be high.

You are wrong again both cards have idle fan stop function on both profiles !

Not really. "2D" or low power 3D has differet clock level & VID and might be the same as the default vBIOS. However full power 3D with the secondary vBIOS has a 30-50mV lower GPU voltage compared to the default ones, with a much more relaxed fan curve. Take a look:

• https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-5700-xt-pulse/35.html

30mV are not going to make 1°C difference ( i've tried to undervolt many GPUs myself and even with -100mV you barely see more than 2°C difference ) under load especially not when fans spin slower , if anything else Pulse on quiet profile should be hotter by couple of °C .

Maybe Pulse review is not that wrong , maybe that's normal variance but there is definitely something wrong with Strix review now that i saw Guru3D review .

 

[B-Real]

Thanks for the next review Wizzard.

After looking how this card performs, might as well not bother with the updated pricing for the Strix card. Unless it's under $430, you're wasting your money. Knowing it's Asus, it'll probably be closer to 500.

Kudos to Sapphire for this card. They've set the bar pretty high, lets see how others follow.

It is 500 pounds at OCUK, just like the Strix 2060S.

For $90 less, you get a ~2% slower, 2C cooler and a tiny bit quieter (in normal mode) card with the Pulse. No sane person will choose the ASUS Strix. The TUF may be a good choice for ASUS lovers.

 

[Zubasa]

For $90 less, you get a ~2% slower, 2C cooler and a tiny bit quieter (in normal mode) card with the Pulse. No sane person will choose the ASUS Strix. The TUF may be a good choice for ASUS lovers.

Especially when none of the cards result in better overclocks.
The Asus managed 30Mhz more clock speed over the worse card which is the Pulse and both of them are 15Mhz off from reference all overclocked.
Pretty much all within margin in clock speed. Silicon lottery is all there is.

 

[RH92]

2C cooler and a tiny bit quieter (in normal mode) card with the Pulse. No sane person will choose the ASUS Strix.

No not really if you look at other reviews of the Strix it's much cooler than the Pulse ! Not saying it's worth the money tho .