Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT Pulse

[csendesmark]

7900X with a 7900XT
Nice

 

[Mahboi]

Ended up buying it.
It dropped a tiny smidge under 1000€ (998 lol) and that was enough to have my brain click somewhere. There really is a psychological effect from seeing that 4th number.

For compare, the 4080 was 1369€, Sapphire Pulse XTX was 1269€ and the 4090 would've demanded another PSU while my current one is only a year old, and together that would have driven it above 2000€.

 

[kapone32]

Ended up buying it.
It dropped a tiny smidge under 1000€ (998 lol) and that was enough to have my brain click somewhere. There really is a psychological effect from seeing that 4th number.

For compare, the 4080 was 1369€, Sapphire Pulse XTX was 1269€ and the 4090 would've demanded another PSU while my current one is only a year old, and together that would have driven it above 2000€.

Exactly. I originally had a 7900XTX and had to return it. When I saw the 7900XT Pulse for $400 less than the XTX it was a instant buy. As it is a pulse card you should see a nice OC if you are into that.

 

[Mahboi]

Exactly. I originally had a 7900XTX and had to return it. When I saw the 7900XT Pulse for $400 less than the XTX it was a instant buy. As it is a pulse card you should see a nice OC if you are into that.

Not really into it and also my 650W PSU may take exception to any OC.

I'm just hoping the card ends up mostly satisfactory. Cyberpunk with RT seems unplayable at 4K even with FSR 3 when it's out, so it'll be with no RT anyway. Apart from that, it seems mostly solid. I also really am pleased with the Pulse as a model (twas the only one that would fit in my Meshify C Mini), since it's a card that's actually designed for silence and all-around efficiency rather than boost.
It's also going to be good to move on from having a card that forces me to play at 1080p while having only 4K monitors. No more windows jumping around when I'm starting a game.

 

[Kovoet]

There prices are dropping now

 

[Mahboi]

There prices are dropping now

Yeah, I wonder why. As soon as I woke up today, my bought card got lowered by 30€, and the XTX did too.

I canceled the order(only to buy at the new lower price), let's see if Amazon will process the cancellation.

 

[Mahboi]

They did process the cancellation and I re-bought immediately for 30€ less.

One thing that I feel like saying now that I just got the card (will install on the weekend), it's that this thing has a seriously disappointing box.

The MBAs had this epic box that opened like a treasure chest, with a small lever system to raise the card out as you opened the box, and giant "WELCOME TO THE RED TEAM" letters.
The Sapphire Pulse 7900 XTX has red across the box, which isn't amazing but at least says clearly "you're buying AMD's full Red power".
The XT? It's a freaking blue and white box with some red for the AMD logo bit. It looks, and feels, like a freaking 5€ ice cream cone box. If I judged off the box in an electronics shop without knowing any better, I'd look at this and go "20GB, that's good right...?" then immediately skip to one that looked less basic in design.

Another more positive note is that I think the pictures don't do it justice. It feels sleek and nicely metallic in hand, like a true piece of good hardware should. And the fans look nicer than the pictures show.

 

[Mahboi]

So as a "customer review" bit of extra to the article:

• The card is EXTREMELY silent
• Mine has the added bonus of having almost no junction temp extra (less than 10°C even at full load, it's amazing)
• Temps at full loads (after several hours) are 85°C/95°C junction with an undervolt to 1050mV
• Fan curve looks like this:
  
• Despite being stuck into a tiny case (see pictures) the card still basically makes no sound
  
  
  
• (I do get a noise from the fan that's right next to it cause the airflow is kind of blocked tho lol)
• Installation was mostly easy, bracket being kind of a novelty for me
• I get 150W usage in OW2 Ultra (zero noise)
• I get the full 315W used in Deep Rock Galactic (card's making noise then but it's a realllly small amount considering it's a 300W+ card)
• I do use Radeon Chill (seamless transition from idle to moving) and I get 220W min in DRG
• The card generally eats all my 4K needs just fine and I game at everything in 4K (which BTW is far from revolutionary for a lot of 3D games, only the UI gets massively upgraded, text is more crisp and precise, everything feels better, Factorio is surprisingly better looking, but in 3D FPS you'll be far too busy shooting things to appreciate the details)
• Overall, I'm very happy with this card, BUT

The negatives:

• I got the multi monitor 85W idle curse
• Fixed it by fiddling around with my monitors' frequencies
• Now my LG Ultragear (4K, 144Hz, 160Hz with overclocking that I don't use) is at 144Hz
• And my Gigabyte M32U (4K, 144Hz) is stuck at 60 Hz
• This is an acceptable trade for me since I only game on my LG monitor and couldn't care less about my other mono running at 144Hz (I literally can't even see the difference in browsing/video playback)
• Despite the power draw being taken down to 35-45W on idle, it jitters/jumps far too easily IMO
• Any going up and down a webpage is an instant 50W, or writing on Discord
• If Discord shows the "x is writing...", it somehow goes to 60W
• Video playback is 70 freaking watts at any resolution
• Besides power draw, I am still waiting for AMD to better/fix their VR support, as are many people
• And ROCm support is STILL not available in full for the cards nearly 6 months after they came out, which is making CUDA/Nvidia look like the only real provider while AMD is just faking it at this point

I got no particular opinion on the whole performance thing, I didn't play anything using Raytracing yet and overall, I just wanted a good card that could play at 4K and give me some chops and lots of VRAM for AI/productivity stuff. I do feel like one interesting point is the VRAM usage though. I used an 8Go card before (rx 6600) and am certain that the card either unloaded or mitigated loads around 4.5Go. Now, with my browser on and a solid 30 tabs (same as before), the card loads easily up to 7Go. I suspect that the 20Go VRAM buffer will be more used than I thought pretty soon.

Although the drivers/software support feel extremely untidy/insufficient, I am quite happy with the purchase. Card's great and unless I suddenly have extreme gaming or CUDA needs, I intend to keep it easily through RDNA 4/Blackwell. Adrenalin is still a joy and makes me wanna never buy Nvidia again.

As long as the power draw steadily goes down in the next months and that ROCm support finally comes + Windows ROCm, I'm happy.

 

[Space Lynx]

So as a "customer review" bit of extra to the article:

• The card is EXTREMELY silent
• Mine has the added bonus of having almost no junction temp extra (less than 10°C even at full load, it's amazing)
• Temps at full loads (after several hours) are 85°C/95°C junction with an undervolt to 1050mV
• Fan curve looks like this: View attachment 293839
• Despite being stuck into a tiny case (see pictures) the card still basically makes no sound
  View attachment 293837View attachment 293838
• (I do get a noise from the fan that's right next to it cause the airflow is kind of blocked tho lol)
• Installation was mostly easy, bracket being kind of a novelty for me
• I get 150W usage in OW2 Ultra (zero noise)
• I get the full 315W used in Deep Rock Galactic (card's making noise then but it's a realllly small amount considering it's a 300W+ card)
• I do use Radeon Chill (seamless transition from idle to moving) and I get 220W min in DRG
• The card generally eats all my 4K needs just fine and I game at everything in 4K (which BTW is far from revolutionary for a lot of 3D games, only the UI gets massively upgraded, text is more crisp and precise, everything feels better, Factorio is surprisingly better looking, but in 3D FPS you'll be far too busy shooting things to appreciate the details)
• Overall, I'm very happy with this card, BUT

The negatives:

• I got the multi monitor 85W idle curse
• Fixed it by fiddling around with my monitors' frequencies
• Now my LG Ultragear (4K, 144Hz, 160Hz with overclocking that I don't use) is at 144Hz
• And my Gigabyte M32U (4K, 144Hz) is stuck at 60 Hz
• This is an acceptable trade for me since I only game on my LG monitor and couldn't care less about my other mono running at 144Hz (I literally can't even see the difference in browsing/video playback)
• Despite the power draw being taken down to 35-45W on idle, it jitters/jumps far too easily IMO
• Any going up and down a webpage is an instant 50W, or writing on Discord
• If Discord shows the "x is writing...", it somehow goes to 60W
• Video playback is 70 freaking watts at any resolution
• Besides power draw, I am still waiting for AMD to better/fix their VR support, as are many people
• And ROCm support is STILL not available in full for the cards nearly 6 months after they came out, which is making CUDA/Nvidia look like the only real provider while AMD is just faking it at this point

I got no particular opinion on the whole performance thing, I didn't play anything using Raytracing yet and overall, I just wanted a good card that could play at 4K and give me some chops and lots of VRAM for AI/productivity stuff. I do feel like one interesting point is the VRAM usage though. I used an 8Go card before (rx 6600) and am certain that the card either unloaded or mitigated loads around 4.5Go. Now, with my browser on and a solid 30 tabs (same as before), the card loads easily up to 7Go. I suspect that the 20Go VRAM buffer will be more used than I thought pretty soon.

Although the drivers/software support feel extremely untidy/insufficient, I am quite happy with the purchase. Card's great and unless I suddenly have extreme gaming or CUDA needs, I intend to keep it easily through RDNA 4/Blackwell. Adrenalin is still a joy and makes me wanna never buy Nvidia again.

As long as the power draw steadily goes down in the next months and that ROCm support finally comes + Windows ROCm, I'm happy.

you are hitting 95 celsius junction temp even with a strong fan curve turned on? in gaming or stress tests? my guess is because your tower doesn't have much air flow?

I ask because I am considering buying this card this week. I have a big tower H710, with lots of air flow, so I expect better temps than this if I get it. Also, what is ROCm?

@W1zzard your testing is all done at stock fan settings I assume, so do you think with a slightly aggressive fan curve (I don't care about noise) you could knock 10 celsius or so off your results? (just guestimating)

 

[W1zzard]

your testing is all done at stock fan settings I assume, so do you think with a slightly aggressive fan curve (I don't care about noise) you could knock 10 celsius or so off your results? (just guestimating)

Not sure about "10", but yes, you can trade heat for noise and the other way round. It just makes little sense, there's no difference between 95°C and 85°C, other than the number being different

 

[Mahboi]

you are hitting 95 celsius junction temp even with a strong fan curve turned on? in gaming or stress tests? my guess is because your tower doesn't have much air flow?

Curve isn't very strong but yes, my tower is a small (tiny, the card is cramped) micro ATX tower with just one intake and one extraction.

I ask because I am considering buying this card this week. I have a big tower H710, with lots of air flow, so I expect better temps than this if I get it. Also, what is ROCm?

AMD's CUDA. It's live now. Doesn't officially support windows yet but people are finding ways: https://github.com/RadeonOpenCompute/ROCm/issues/1880

@W1zzard your testing is all done at stock fan settings I assume, so do you think with a slightly aggressive fan curve (I don't care about noise) you could knock 10 celsius or so off your results? (just guestimating)

 

[kapone32]

Curve isn't very strong but yes, my tower is a small (tiny, the card is cramped) micro ATX tower with just one intake and one extraction.

AMD's CUDA. It's live now. Doesn't officially support windows yet but people are finding ways: https://github.com/RadeonOpenCompute/ROCm/issues/1880

I can see from ytour settings that you have Zero fan enabled. You could adjust it manually and you should see a reduction in overall temps. If the card has a lower starting temp when you load it up, it can have a larger temp envelope and not be super loud if you max the fans at 80-85%.

 

[R33mba]

I also bought ut,but it makes too much heat and noise for my taste. my only other option is to go with 4070ti.. but will it run cooler and more silent?

 

[JohH]

If I'm reading this chart correctly after about 225W the much smaller reference AMD cooler from the 7900 XTX is more capable?
Since there is no review of the Pulse 7900 XTX model I'm trying to estimate its noise level.

 

[W1zzard]

the much smaller reference AMD cooler from the 7900 XTX is more capable?

Correct. I would say "slightly more capable"

I'm trying to estimate its noise level.

This chart specifically excludes the vendor's fan settings (so that coolers can be compared directly).

Unfortunately, due to lack of a sample, my best suggestion is "hope for the best, based on the XT noise levels, and be ready to return if too loud"

 

[MDBumblebee]

Sapphire cards are being discounted $80-100 right now on AMZN. I picked up a Pulse for $720.

 

[phxrider]

Just looked at this review... I bought one of these some months ago for $689 because it was the only 7900xt that would fit in my application (not too fat and only needs 2 slots to screw into even though it's wider than 2 slots). It's really pretty decent, temps run hotter than my Hellhound XTXs but nothing to get worried about, and it's quiet (as long as you don't set the driver to "rage" - it's definitely a "balanced" mode card) and performs well and never does anything unexpected. I'd have no problem recommending it.

 

[McXanaxInAlcohol]

This review was very handy as I was looking for a more quiet running 7900XT to fit in my Media Center/portable gaming PC. Temp wise I get a touch lower than the review too. I suspect once I start playing with undervolting a bit I could drop the hotspot into the 70s under load... Hopefully drop the power too. I am running it with a 12700K(TDP limited to 60W) on a 450w power supply(SFX)

Even though RDNA4 is coming out in like 4-5 months, I doubt it's cost to performance will be as good as one of these at the current prices. They are going for $625 on newegg with a coupon code. The code seems to be auto applied.

 

[Chrispy_]

This review was very handy as I was looking for a more quiet running 7900XT to fit in my Media Center/portable gaming PC. Temp wise I get a touch lower than the review too. I suspect once I start playing with undervolting a bit I could drop the hotspot into the 70s under load... Hopefully drop the power too. I am running it with a 12700K(TDP limited to 60W) on a 450w power supply(SFX)

Even though RDNA4 is coming out in like 4-5 months, I doubt it's cost to performance will be as good as one of these at the current prices. They are going for $625 on newegg with a coupon code. The code seems to be auto applied.

First of all, even undervolted I don't think you're going to get a 7900XT running off a 450W PSU and have a quiet, stable system - there' a reason AMD say 800W PSU recommended. You could probably get away with a really good quality, modern ATX 3.0 650W unit but the reality is that higher-end GPUs used to trip out 850W and 1000W PSUs that had overly-sensitive OCP.

As for RDNA4, AMD said that they were hoping for a 7900XT-like performance from something costing the same as a 7800XT, so about $500-550. Being a newer, smaller process node it's also likely to be more power-efficient than RDNA3.

 

[phxrider]

First of all, even undervolted I don't think you're going to get a 7900XT running off a 450W PSU and have a quiet, stable system - there' a reason AMD say 800W PSU recommended. You could probably get away with a really good quality, modern ATX 3.0 650W unit but the reality is that higher-end GPUs used to trip out 850W and 1000W PSUs that had overly-sensitive OCP.

As for RDNA4, AMD said that they were hoping for a 7900XT-like performance from something costing the same as a 7800XT, so about $500-550. Being a newer, smaller process node it's also likely to be more power-efficient than RDNA3.

It doesn't need anywhere NEAR 800W. They specify high wattage because they need to cover the "what ifs", i.e. "what if the user is running a 14900K set to no power limit and has 8 fans and a ton of RGB". I have this card in a system with a 7800x3d (which pulls slightly more than his 60W limit), hooked up through a wall power outlet meter, and it pulls about 460W at the wall under gaming load. So while 450W is too low, 800W is ridiculous.

That said, good 750W PSUs are available for around $100, so I don't see a reason to skimp. This is more than enough to drive any AMD GPU + X3D CPU (or 60W power limited Intel like that guy has).

 

[kapone32]

It doesn't need anywhere NEAR 800W. They specify high wattage because they need to cover the "what ifs", i.e. "what if the user is running a 14900K set to no power limit". I have this card in a system with a 7800x3d, hooked up through a wall power outlet meter, and it pulls about 460W at the wall under gaming load. So while 450W is too low, 800W is ridiculous.

That said, good 750W PSUs are available for around $100, so I don't see a reason to skimp.

That is why I got a 1000W PSU for max efficiency. My 7900X3D does not pull over 150 Watts even at the most intense times. That lets the GPU (7900XT) run at 319 Watts with no issue at all. I even made sure I got a PSU with no Daisy chain on the PCIe cables. People like to bash me for how much I enjoy my all AMD PC but AMD software is that good. If you know what it can do. I played City Skylines 2 all morning today and now I am enjoying a journey to Saturn fuelled by Dabs and some Halfing leaf. If you are a PC Gamer, what a time to be alive. I even did some AMS2 GT3 racing today and will probably drop into the World of Dragon's Dogma 2, 40K Rogue Trader or Space Marine 2. For some reason though SpaceBourne2 is calling me, maybe it's because I am on vacation for this week. Then you know I am already drunk with the best beer (in my opinion). Even though the narrative makes some people think AMD is not worth it. I am glad that there are those of us that enjoy the space without succumbing to the narrative to think a 4070Ti could actuallyt be as good as a 7900XT when every TPU review has it in the top 10 if not more often top 5 position for all GPUs at Raster. I have been Gaming since my Dad bought me a TRS80 and Atari so raster means eveything to me. As a Total War addict raw FPS is most important. If you want a monitor that is going to be all of that and a slice of Apple Pie (for Gaming) Gigabyte are actually some of the best price/performance. The 32QC is great if you are into 1440P Gaming and the FV43U is perfect for a high end GPU. Freesync is that good as well. Yes I am drunk (I think I said that before) but there is some sweet reggea music coursing through my Creative Stage V2.

 

[McXanaxInAlcohol]

It doesn't need anywhere NEAR 800W. They specify high wattage because they need to cover the "what ifs", i.e. "what if the user is running a 14900K set to no power limit and has 8 fans and a ton of RGB". I have this card in a system with a 7800x3d (which pulls slightly more than his 60W limit), hooked up through a wall power outlet meter, and it pulls about 460W at the wall under gaming load. So while 450W is too low, 800W is ridiculous.

That said, good 750W PSUs are available for around $100, so I don't see a reason to skimp. This is more than enough to drive any AMD GPU + X3D CPU (or 60W power limited Intel like that guy has).

I do have extra stuff(4x DDR4 dimms, 2x SATA SSD, 2x M.2 SSD) But it draws, under Furmark + AIDA64 + Crystal Mark all at the same time, about 480W from the outlet. Under most games its at about 370-400w at the wall outlet. This is with the Sapphire 7900XT pulse running Stock with no adjustments.

I think a fair amount of people forget that that Power Supplies are rated for their output, not their input. Mine is a evga supernova 450GM I got for free which is a 450w 80+gold unit. 80+gold typically means 87% / 90% / 87% efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% loading respectively. So even if you assume 90% efficiency, it means at you'd be at 100% loading when its drawing atleast 500w(closer to 517w @ 87% efficiency) from the outlet. With that in mind I've got about 18 to 32 watts of head room under unrealistic synthetic loads. With a bit of undervolting I could probably drop 20 to 30 watts on the GPU I think.

EDIT: Also SFX formfactor powersuppies are a wee bit more than normal ATX ones.

 

[Chrispy_]

It doesn't need anywhere NEAR 800W. They specify high wattage because they need to cover the "what ifs", i.e. "what if the user is running a 14900K set to no power limit and has 8 fans and a ton of RGB". I have this card in a system with a 7800x3d (which pulls slightly more than his 60W limit), hooked up through a wall power outlet meter, and it pulls about 460W at the wall under gaming load. So while 450W is too low, 800W is ridiculous.

That said, good 750W PSUs are available for around $100, so I don't see a reason to skimp. This is more than enough to drive any AMD GPU + X3D CPU (or 60W power limited Intel like that guy has).

Yes, 800W is AMD considering worst case, which is exactly why I said a decent 650W would probably be fine.

Realistically, the 7900XT uses 285W unless you start modding the BIOS, since most vendors lock the power limit slider's minimum to -10% so the 320W average power draw of a stock 7900XT isnt' something you can easily reduce that far. Intel 12th Gen limited to a strict 65W PL1/PL2 (which isn't what he said, he said TDP - and intel's idea of a 125W TDP has been recorded pulling over 400W!)

IME that system might boot with a 450W PSU and then bluescreen or reboot during gaming. The transients of the 7900XT are well over 400W on their own, and a quick google says that there's going to be around 43W of additional power draw from a typical B660 active motherboard serving up audio/network/fans etc. It'll average under 450W maybe, but it sure as hell will peak over 450W constantly at full load.

For reference, I had a Seasonic 500W 80+ Titanium fanless PSU in my HTPC until I dropped a 6800XT into it. It was running a 5800X at the time on a B550 motherboard and I did the math thinking I'd get away with it. I dropped the 6800XT's voltage, max clocks and power limits and had it reporting 225W instead of the default 300W, the 5800X was running in eco mode, so a PPT of 88W. Once you add up fans, storage, motherboard - I reckon I was pulling under 400W from a 500W PSU, but the system crashed a fair bit, because the PSU couldn't deliver the transient bursts, I guess. I pulled an RM850 from inventory and that solved the instability under load. If I look at peak transients from CPU+GPU I'm pretty sure a 600W PSU would have been enough, but I don't pay for my hardware so I just plucked the nearest spare PSU that would do the job from stock.

 

[phxrider]

Yes, 800W is AMD considering worst case, which is exactly why I said a decent 650W would probably be fine.

I agree. But 800W is money wasted for most use cases (other than the fact that there are good 750W PSUs for not much more money than lesser ones).

Realistically, the 7900XT uses 285W unless you start modding the BIOS, since most vendors lock the power limit slider's minimum to -10% so the 320W average power draw of a stock 7900XT isnt' something you can easily reduce that far. Intel 12th Gen limited to a strict 65W PL1/PL2 (which isn't what he said, he said TDP - and intel's idea of a 125W TDP has been recorded pulling over 400W!)

Yikes... I've been in the AMD world for the last several years so I would not be expecting that big of a difference.

IME that system might boot with a 450W PSU and then bluescreen or reboot during gaming. The transients of the 7900XT are well over 400W on their own, and a quick google says that there's going to be around 43W of additional power draw from a typical B660 active motherboard serving up audio/network/fans etc. It'll average under 450W maybe, but it sure as hell will peak over 450W constantly at full load.

100%.

For reference, I had a Seasonic 500W 80+ Titanium fanless PSU in my HTPC until I dropped a 6800XT into it. It was running a 5800X at the time on a B550 motherboard and I did the math thinking I'd get away with it. I dropped the 6800XT's voltage, max clocks and power limits and had it reporting 225W instead of the default 300W, the 5800X was running in eco mode, so a PPT of 88W. Once you add up fans, storage, motherboard - I reckon I was pulling under 400W from a 500W PSU, but the system crashed a fair bit, because the PSU couldn't deliver the transient bursts, I guess. I pulled an RM850 from inventory and that solved the instability under load. If I look at peak transients from CPU+GPU I'm pretty sure a 600W PSU would have been enough, but I don't pay for my hardware so I just plucked the nearest spare PSU that would do the job from stock.

I've found the calculator at https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator to be very accurate, I real-life measure my systems with a wall outlet monitor like this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M8JKLG5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and it's pretty spot on.

 

[Chrispy_]

I agree. But 800W is money wasted for most use cases (other than the fact that there are good 750W PSUs for not much more money than lesser ones)

TBH I just look for a decent PSU range on offer somewhere. Often the price difference is only $/£/€10 for each jump - say from 650W to 750W to 850W. Given that a PSU will last for several CPU/GPU upgradese and GPUs are only getting hungrier each generation, I'd always be tempted to get the slightly more potent PSU that you strictly need just to avoid running into this underpowered PSU problem again in the near future.

I've found the calculator at https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator to be very accurate

Interesting, that calculator recommends a 647W PSU for a very minimum 12700K+7900XT build using two DIMMs and a single SSD.

There's no way to really apply undervolts in that calculator there but since a crash will reset your GPU clocks and voltages back to 320W defaults, you do need the system to be stable at stock speeds. Let's face it, if someone can afford a $625 graphics card, they can afford a $100 PSU with enough juice to power it