Sapphire to Launch RX 5500 XT Nitro + Special Edition with ARGB Fans - $259

[Raevenlord]

Sapphire's upcoming take on AMD's RX 5500 XT graphics card has been spotted up for preorder on Amazon (availability set for December 12th), and it's a special one. Besides the usual Nitro+ edition, Sapphire will also be launching a fully customized RX 5500 XT Nitro+ Special Edition. Besides addressable ARGB fans, the card features what can be called a very interesting, reduced PCB design, with the shroud and backplate artificially adding length to the graphics cards so as to increase space for the dual fan cooling solution.





There's something to say about the understated design of the graphics card, with a geometric pattern etched on the black shroud. This shroud is surrounded by gray metal on the edges which add structural integrity to both it and the dual fan system. The backplate also extends further than the PCB itself, featuring patterns and cut outs that give it a somewhat busy design language when compared to the understated front. It's definitely a looker, but it won't be so for everyone. A single 8-pin PCIe connector serves additional power to the 1408 stream processors on the Navi 14 GPU. No word on clock speeds, though it is an 8 GB version. Non-standard I/O will be taken care of by 2x DisplayPort and 2x HDMI. The card is now available for $259.



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[eidairaman1]

Perfect timing for it to be undervolted

 

[dj-electric]

You have to be a special kind of lunatic to purchase an RX 5500 XT for the price of a GTX 1660 SUPER

 

[cucker tarlson]

You have to be a special kind of lunatic to purchase an RX 5500 XT for the price of a GTX 1660 SUPER

this is 5500 XT not 5500,it's probably very close or on par with 1660 super.
I think you're confusing it with 5500 non-XT that TPU tested.

edit:well,1660 super is 40% faster than 5500 oem,this one may bring it close to 20% maybe,still pretty bad tho.Let's wait for the actual reviews.

 

[john_]

If this is the real price, is there any room for the 5600? With 5500 XT at $260 and 5700 at $350, I think not.

 

[Turmania]

You have to be a special kind of lunatic to purchase an RX 5500 XT for the price of a GTX 1660 SUPER

Oh there are many of those around. They would prefer this to nvdia.even though they pay more, they get way less performance and consume a lot more power.but hey it is AMD gamers best friend.they get away with murder.

 

[djisas]

Unless it beats 1660S, for this kind of money, it's to much, it will probably end up over 300€ on Europe too, and besides, ref design was better imo...

 

[Valantar]

Even if this is the single most expensive 5500 XT out there this is far too expensive. This is supposed to compete with the 1650 and 1650S. This is nearly $100 more than those GPUs. Cut it down to $200 and it would be okay (again, for a top-of-the-line version).

 

[dj-electric]

this is 5500 XT not 5500,it's probably very close or on par with 1660 super.

Gonna hold onto this one until 12/12 3PM CET. Its uhhh. you'll see.

 

[Vayra86]

Great so you pay a hefty premium for a backplate that doesn't even cover the whole heatsink

Why is the card even that long?!

 

[cucker tarlson]

Great so you pay a hefty premium for a backplate that doesn't even cover the whole heatsink

Why is the card even that long?!

lol,that's gonna shoot warm air directly onto your cpu tower.brilliant.
this is hilarious

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

The sapphire 5700xt nitro special edition debuted at $480, the regular nitro at $450 (I have one, woo-hoo) and the regular 5700XTs at $400.... Based on those ratios, the regular 5500XTs should be between $200-$215...so what's everyone getting their panties in a bunch over? I cannot believe that the intelligent readers of Techpowerup would think that the price of a top of the line 5500xt with "special edition" price increases would be indicative of the typical MSRP of regular 5500xt variants, right?

 

[Vayra86]

lol,that's gonna shoot warm air directly onto your cpu tower.brilliant.
this is hilarious

The airflow also blocks warmer air escaping from the rear end.

Worst design 2019

 

[cucker tarlson]

The airflow also blocks warmer air escaping from the rear end.

Worst design 2019

yup,it has to have a backplate to dissipate evenly.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

lol,that's gonna shoot warm air directly onto your cpu tower.brilliant.
this is hilarious

As if that would even have a consequential effect, are you serious with this right now?

 

[cucker tarlson]

As if that would even have a consequential effect, are you serious with this right now?

yes.this is a bad design at bad pricing.
of course it'll have an effect.take a longer 2-3 hr gaming session and the warm air will heat up the bottom of your tower pretty badly.

 

[Vayra86]

As if that would even have a consequential effect, are you serious with this right now?

I could draw you a schematic but is this so hard to grasp? In any typical case you have airflow going from front to back, this card places a new flow at a 90 degree angle to that, while any normal open cooler does that indirectly, barely impeding the case airflow, basically just leaking the hot air into it.

This is a GPU fan, with a strong directional airflow, too. Def gonna cost you a few C for no reason, well one: a higher price.

 

[cucker tarlson]

I could draw you a schematic but is this so hard to grasp? In any typical case you have airflow going from front to back, this card places a new flow at a 90 degree angle to that, while any normal open cooler does that indirectly, barely impeding the case airflow, basically just leaking the hot air into it.

This is a GPU fan, with a strong directional airflow, too. Def gonna cost you a few C for no reason, well one: a higher price.

yup.
high static pressure fan,goes through hot fins,just a few milimeters below the cpu tower.
genius.
with 0db technology the heatsink is gonna stay warm at all times,so as soon as the fans kick in the tower is gonna get stoved.
I think you can minimize it by leaving your fans on for idle and a very high fan curve for gaming that'll dissipate the heatsink faster than it heats up.

 

[xkm1948]

this is 5500 XT not 5500,it's probably very close or on par with 1660 super.
I think you're confusing it with 5500 non-XT that TPU tested.

edit:well,1660 super is 40% faster than 5500 oem,this one may bring it close to 20% maybe,still pretty bad tho.Let's wait for the actual reviews.

5500 and 5500XT seems to have same core config based on leaks.

 

[Sithaer]

Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse had a similar design and that was considered one of the better Vega 56 models from what I read/heard.

With the power this card will draw,I highly doubt thats gonna cause any temperature issues in a 'normal' case with airflow.

 

[medi01]

If this is the real price, is there any room for the 5600? With 5500 XT at $260 and 5700 at $350, I think not.

My thoughts.

And 5600 ain't that far either, ASRock models have already been leaked by a Russian retailer.

 

[HD64G]

If this is the real price, is there any room for the 5600? With 5500 XT at $260 and 5700 at $350, I think not.

Agreed! And I think the normal custom models (Sapphire pulse for example) will go for less than $200 in a month or so to allow 5600 and 5600XT to get in between those and 5700.

 

[Cheeseball]

$259 for this? That is a definite no when you can get a 1660 Ti at this price.

$229 would've been fine though.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

yes.this is a bad design at bad pricing.
of course it'll have an effect.take a longer 2-3 hr gaming session and the warm air will heat up the bottom of your tower pretty badly.

I have a the sapphire 5700xt nitro+, and it has the same exact design, the cooler extends beyond the PCB, so I took the initiative, removed my 360mm AIO, put on an old thermalright macho air cooler I have then used tape to cover the end of the air cooler to simulate as if the PCB extend all the way to the end of the cooler, and then stress tested my system for a half hour. I did this with the tape on the GPU and the tape off. The frequency of the GPU and the CPU were kept constant as well as the RPMs of all my case fans and the results were that my CPU Temps were within 3 tenths of a degree Celsius for both tests... Your turn

I could draw you a schematic but is this so hard to grasp? In any typical case you have airflow going from front to back, this card places a new flow at a 90 degree angle to that, while any normal open cooler does that indirectly, barely impeding the case airflow, basically just leaking the hot air into it.

This is a GPU fan, with a strong directional airflow, too. Def gonna cost you a few C for no reason, well one: a higher price.

Read my post above... I ACTUALLY tested your theory and there was no change in my CPU temperature

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

LMAO. So this card costs 8% more then the RX 480 did at launch, and likely wont be more then 8% faster, given where the 5500 lands.

but I'm sure many people will say what a GREAT card this is, despite not moving the price/perf at ALL from 3 years ago, while lambasting Nvidia for the same thing. This thing should have been $199 at the most, given where it falls in the product stack, and even that is a hard sell. The 1660 super can be had for as low as $229, when the cheapest models are in stock, and reliably at $240-250, and even if the 5500xt is 20% faster then the 5500 TPU reviewed, the 1660 super will still be faster and a bit cheaper.

Good card, abysmal price point.