PowerColor Radeon RX 5600 XT ITX

[W1zzard]

PowerColor's Radeon RX 5600 XT ITX is the most compact RX 5600 XT on the market, optimized for small-form-factor cases. Despite its small size it runs very quietly, almost inaudibly, during heavy gaming. Temperatures are fine, too, and it has idle-fan-stop.

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[TheinsanegamerN]

Neat card, but those temperatures are a shame, considering what Sapphire got out of the smaller R9 285 Mini ITX card despite the 285's higher power draw.

 

[SL2]

Neat card, but those temperatures are a shame, considering what Sapphire got out of the smaller R9 285 Mini ITX card despite the 285's higher power draw.

Well the fan is running slow, so temps can be improved. A simple fix, just change the fan profile.

(Yeah it should be fixed from factory)

At 4:35.

 

[W1zzard]

90°C hotspot is perfectly safe, no reason to mess with the fan speeds

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

90°C hotspot is perfectly safe, no reason to mess with the fan speeds

Why allow larger thermal expansion limits when your cooling system has more juice left in the tank? 90C isnt going to kill the card, no, but going from 30C to 70C causes less long term wear and tear on solder joints then going from 30C to 90C does every time you start a game. Especially when that fan is spinning so slowly, it has more headroom to lower temps without significantly impacting noise levels, after all if there was no reason to do it then why use a fan that has so much headroom left?

 

[SL2]

Either way, it's a good that it's a matter of adjusting the fan curve rather than swapping the heatsink.

 

[Daven]

It looks like almost no thought went into that cooler (blank label and all). Since the 5600 XT has the highest performance per watt of any other card, I would rip that sucker off, slap on some liquid cooling goodness and let the card go to town on your games.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

It looks like almost no thought went into that cooler (blank label and all). Since the 5600 XT has the highest performance per watt of any other card, I would rip that sucker off, slap on some liquid cooling goodness and let the card go to town on your games.

A liquid cooling setup on a mid range card is a terrible idea, the setup will likely cost as much as the card itself! If you have that money why would you do this instead of buying a 5700xt?

 

[W1zzard]

lower temps without significantly impacting noise levels

that is simply not true, especially not for an ITX product in a media PC where you'll curse any fan noise

no reason to do it then why use a fan that has so much headroom left?

it's the way fan motors are designed. Obviously nobody is going to engineer a new motor for a few thousand/100k units. The motor is specced for ~3500 RPM at 12 V, which is in line with industry standards.

not sure if it's even possible to make a 1k rpm @ 12V DC fan motor (without using gears), any EEs?

 

[ShurikN]

Neat card, but those temperatures are a shame, considering what Sapphire got out of the smaller R9 285 Mini ITX card despite the 285's higher power draw.

One thing to have in mind is that 285's die is fairly larger than Navi 10, which should make it easier to cool (larger contact area).
How much of an impact it makes I do not know, but it's there.

 

[$ReaPeR$]

Looks interesting! I have been thinking for a 5600xt to replace my 970 in the htpc.. we'll see..
Thank you for the good work @W1zzard.

 

[danbert2000]

So it's like a Vega 64 that you can actually put in a small ITX case without boiling it. Pretty cool. This would have been great if it came out closer to the 5600 XT launch, now we have Ampere and RDNA2 right around the corner, along with DXR shipping in the new consoles, I would wait or buy a 2060 Super ITX as that's likely the PS5 baseline now.

Still, this could be good for someone who doesn't want to wait for the new chips to come out in ITX flavors, which sometimes takes a few months. Or anyone who doesn't care about raytracing or future game performance.

 

[Jism]

Why allow larger thermal expansion limits when your cooling system has more juice left in the tank? 90C isnt going to kill the card, no, but going from 30C to 70C causes less long term wear and tear on solder joints then going from 30C to 90C does every time you start a game. Especially when that fan is spinning so slowly, it has more headroom to lower temps without significantly impacting noise levels, after all if there was no reason to do it then why use a fan that has so much headroom left?

Because cards will only last a few years before blowing out. The bad solder days is'nt really there anymore as the quality of GPU's made by AMD is pretty much strong lately. I mean Nvidia had a weak solder joints as well which caused the cards to die at some point. Reflowing or simply putting your graphics card into the oven solved that in most of the times.

If your so worried about expansion and cooling down then install a watercooling setup for your GPU. It offers way more headroom in relation of temperature swings.

 

[Chrispy_]

Damn that's impressive for only a $20 bump over a base model.

I like that the card is semi-exhausting with the fin stack running horizonally along the card to a (very) well-perforated slot cover.

 

[ProDigit]

Neat card, but those temperatures are a shame, considering what Sapphire got out of the smaller R9 285 Mini ITX card despite the 285's higher power draw.

A 120-180W GPU really needs 2 fans to remain cool!
I bet these measurements were taken in an open bench, not a closed PC case.

 

[Tom Yum]

A 120-180W GPU really needs 2 fans to remain cool!
I bet these measurements were taken in an open bench, not a closed PC case.

That is just not true. I have a dual fan 1070Ti and a single fan 2060 super (MSI aero itx), and the 2060S is consistently 10C cooler than my 1070Ti, yet both use the same amount of power despite the 2060S being faster. Fan noise is about the same, though because the 2060S fan is larger the noise is lower frequency and hence less annoying. And that is in a closed case. Fans are less important than heatsink design, and more often than not the number of fans is a marketing decision not a cooling one.

 

[Basard]

No issues with drivers? @W1zzard ?

A friend of mine just built a 3600 system with a 5600xt and has had a lot of black screen issues while gaming.

 

[ProDigit]

That is just not true. I have a dual fan 1070Ti and a single fan 2060 super (MSI aero itx), and the 2060S is consistently 10C cooler than my 1070Ti, yet both use the same amount of power despite the 2060S being faster. Fan noise is about the same, though because the 2060S fan is larger the noise is lower frequency and hence less annoying. And that is in a closed case. Fans are less important than heatsink design, and more often than not the number of fans is a marketing decision not a cooling one.

This design NEEDS 2 fans, to have a balanced heat dissipation on the cooling solution.
From the looks of it, it seems to have a similar cooling solution design as a GTX 1050. The GTX 1050 is 75W. This GPU is a lot more.
A 2060, running at 125W has insufficient cooling, with a single open fan (temps under load surpass 75C).
That includes the EVGA triple slot (1 fan) cooler).

I run data centers, they are open design (running in 75-80F ambient).
To keep them cool on stock heat sinks (which all RTX heat sinks are well built, from brands like Zotac, to Asus or Gigabyte), one fan is not enough!
120-170W, with a good heat sink, and back plate to distribute the heat further, needs 2 fans.
170-225W needs 3 fans.
over 225W it's not advised to run GPUs inside an enclosed PC case.
In a PC case, you can't even run 2 GPUs without thermal throttling them.

You can get by with occasional gaming on a single of such GPUs, but I run multiple of them with a sustained load, in an open bench.

The numbers for this are pretty similar to running 1 GPU in a case that has mediocre cooling (like what most store built PCs sold today have).

 

[yeeeeman]

Not a single mention about the shitty drivers?

 

[r9]

No competition in GPU market ... everything just overpriced. AMD and Nvidia just price fixing ... again.
Thank you but I'm sticking with my Xbox One X that I bought for $159.

 

[Icon Charlie]

I think the important take way is that last generation's video cards, from both companies were superior in price vs performance than current. How can I justify buying a castrated 5700 at last years 5700 pricing? Yes my video card is a reference card but it was at $280 (279.99) new from Dell. And I have been very please with it.

No competition in GPU market ... everything just overpriced. AMD and Nvidia just price fixing ... again.
Thank you but I'm sticking with my Xbox One X that I bought for $159.

I've been telling all of my clients to not to purchase anything right now unless you really have to because of the increase prices on many computer components across the board. I've been hearing all of the reasons why the prices are going up and it is very similar to the excuses given on why RAM prices went up a few years back. If my clients can wait until October to make their purchases the chances are they might get a decent buy on things.

 

[Tom Yum]

This design NEEDS 2 fans, to have a balanced heat dissipation on the cooling solution.
From the looks of it, it seems to have a similar cooling solution design as a GTX 1050. The GTX 1050 is 75W. This GPU is a lot more.
A 2060, running at 125W has insufficient cooling, with a single open fan (temps under load surpass 75C).
That includes the EVGA triple slot (1 fan) cooler).

I run data centers, they are open design (running in 75-80F ambient).
To keep them cool on stock heat sinks (which all RTX heat sinks are well built, from brands like Zotac, to Asus or Gigabyte), one fan is not enough!
120-170W, with a good heat sink, and back plate to distribute the heat further, needs 2 fans.
170-225W needs 3 fans.
over 225W it's not advised to run GPUs inside an enclosed PC case.
In a PC case, you can't even run 2 GPUs without thermal throttling them.

You can get by with occasional gaming on a single of such GPUs, but I run multiple of them with a sustained load, in an open bench.

The numbers for this are pretty similar to running 1 GPU in a case that has mediocre cooling (like what most store built PCs sold today have).

My MSI 2060 Super Aero ITX consistently runs at 68C running FAH 24/7 whilst consuming ~140 W. 1070Ti runs at ~75-78C using that same power running the same load. I'll trust my observations ahead of your appeal to authority.

 

[ProDigit]

My MSI 2060 Super Aero ITX consistently runs at 68C running FAH 24/7 whilst consuming ~140 W. 1070Ti runs at ~75-78C using that same power running the same load. I'll trust my observations ahead of your appeal to authority.

I don't know if you love being contrary or something, but you just confirmed what I said in that very post.
The 2060 you have runs with 2 fans. Not 1.
A single fan (like the EVGA 2060 single fan triple slot GPU), would run above 70C in an open bench, and certainly above 75C inside a case.
Try running that GPU in a regular PC case at it's rated 170W, and I can assure you, 2 fans won't keep it below 80C!
I've had about 25 RTX GPUs of all kinds. I think I know a bit more about it than the average person.

 

[Tom Yum]

I don't know if you love being contrary or something, but you just confirmed what I said in that very post.
The 2060 you have runs with 2 fans. Not 1.
A single fan (like the EVGA 2060 single fan triple slot GPU), would run above 70C in an open bench, and certainly above 75C inside a case.
Try running that GPU in a regular PC case at it's rated 170W, and I can assure you, 2 fans won't keep it below 80C!
I've had about 25 RTX GPUs of all kinds. I think I know a bit more about it than the average person.

Mate, I told you the MSI 2060 Super Aero I have is a single fan card, my 1070Ti is the dual fan card. I raise it because it contradicts your point about anything over 125W needing two fans. The reality is much more nuanced, good heatsink design can support high tdp without high airflow. Bad heatsink design needs high airflow to compensate. Many video cards have multiple fans either to compensate for bad heatsink design (common one, having the fins oriented vertically not horizontally, venting all heat into case rather than partially out of case, not having contact with vrms or memory, excessively thick thermal interface pads) or for marketing (GeForce 2080 tri-x-mega-turbo 3000++). Which is my point. A well designed ITX can be absolutely fine with a single fan

 

[Chrispy_]

Not a single mention about the shitty drivers?

Not any more, no.
For that discussion, please step into your Delorian and set the flux capactior for July 2019 where you will find plenty of valid discussion about launch day drivers of a new architecture.

Right now, Navi is pretty stable and the 'shitty drivers' have a whole bunch of things in them that Nvidia drivers could really use, like monitoring tools, fan control, voltage/clock tuning, custom profiles and decent display management.