Sapphire is among the first AMD add-in-board (AIB) partners to launch a Radeon VII graphics card. The card sticks to AMD reference board design, which the company unveiled at its CES 2019 keynote. Interestingly, its GPU engine boost frequency is set at 1750 MHz, which is less than the 1800 MHz boost frequency figure that was mentioned by the company earlier. Could it be that AMD is reserving 1800 MHz for cards directly sold on AMD.com? The memory frequency is unchanged at 1000 MHz, which works out to an HBM2 memory bandwidth of 1 TB/s. Sapphire's box for this card lists out key specifications upfront, and also features the Vega II logo. It's likely that the card will be sold at the baseline price of $699, given that there are no other variants of this card, not even custom-design.

Sapphire has reportedly developed an odd-ball Radeon RX 570 graphics card, equipped with 16 GB of GDDR5 memory, double the memory amount the SKU is possibly capable of. The card is based on the company's NITRO+ board design common to RX 570 thru RX 590 SKUs, and uses sixteen 8 Gbit GDDR5 memory chips that are piggybacked (i.e. chips on both sides of the PCB). When Chinese tech publication MyDrivers reached out to Sapphire for an explanation behind such a bizarre contraption, the Hong Kong-based AIB partner's response was fascinating.

Sapphire in its response said that they wanted to bolster the card's crypto-currency mining power, and giving the "Polaris 20" GPU additional memory would improve its performance compared to ASIC miners using the Cuckoo Cycle algorithm. This can load up the video memory anywhere between 5.5 GB to 11 GB, and giving the RX 570 16 GB of it was Sapphire's logical next step. Of course Cuckoo Cycle is being defeated time and again by currency curators. This card will be a stopgap for miners until ASIC mining machines with expanded memory come out, or the proof-of-work systems are significantly changed.

Sapphire debuted its Radeon RX 590 series last month with the RX 590 Nitro+ Special Edition, which at the time was advertised as a limited-edition SKU. The company over Holiday weekend updated its product stack to introduce a new mass-production SKU, the RX 590 Nitro+ OC, minus "Special Edition" branding. There are only cosmetic changes between the two SKUs. Sapphire's favorite shade of blue on the Special Edition SKU makes way for matte-black on the cooler shroud, as do the black accents on the back-plate, instead of blue. The fan impellers are opaque matte black instead of frosty and translucent.

Thankfully, Sapphire hasn't changed the specs that matter - factory-overclock. The card still ships with 1560 MHz engine clocks (boost), and 8.40 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory, and a "quiet" second BIOS that dials down the clocks to 1545 MHz boost and 8.00 GHz memory. The underlying PCB is unchanged, too, drawing power from a combination of 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors, and conditioning it with a 6+1 phase VRM. Display outputs include two each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0, and a dual-link DVI-D. The company didn't reveal pricing, although we expect it to be marginally lower than the Special Edition SKU.

Sapphire is developing a premium variant of its upcoming Radeon RX 590 series, called the RX 590 NITRO+ Special Edition, much like the "limited edition" branding it gave its premium RX 580-based card. Komachi Ensaka accessed leaked brochures of this card, which will bear an internal SKU code 11289-01. The brochure also confirms that the RX 590 features an unchanged 2,304 stream processor count from the RX 580, and continues to feature 8 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface. All that's new is improved thermals from a transition to the new 12 nm FinFET silicon fabrication process.

The Sapphire RX 590 NITRO+ SE ships with two clock-speed profiles, that can be probably toggled on the hardware by switching between two BIOS ROMs. The first profile is called NITRO+ Boost, and it runs the GPU at 1560 MHz, and the memory at 8400 MHz (GDDR5-effective). The second profile, called Silent Mode, reduces the engine clock boost to 1545 MHz, and the memory to 8000 MHz. For both profiles, the fan settings are unchanged. The fans stay off until the GPU is warming up to 54 °C, and spins at its nominal speed at 75 °C. It cuts off at 45 °C. The nominal speed is 0 - 2,280 RPM and the maximum speed is 3200 RPM.

As the expected November 15th release date for AMD's Radeon RX 590 inches closer, more leaks of AIB cards have started trickling in. Sapphire's Radeon RX 590 NITRO+ is just the latest to appear. Much like the ASUS ROG STRIX version leaked earlier, Sapphire design is using a hefty cooler for what amounts to a mid-range graphics card. The design looks to be the exact same as their RX 580 NITRO+ with just a fresh coat of paint to spruce things up. They are using the same shroud, dual fans, large aluminum heatsink, and full cover backplate on both graphics cards. That said, the change to a bright blue shroud gives the RX 590 NITRO+ a unique appearance that should at the very least help it stand out against its more mundane black and white designs of the competition.

In regards to actual specifications, the RX 590 features the same 2304 Stream processors, 144 TMUs (texture mapping units), and 32 ROPS (render output units) as the RX 580. This is because the Polaris 30 design used in the RX 590 is just a die shrink of Polaris 20 used in the RX 580. Obviously with a die shrink typically comes improved performance, usually via higher clock speeds. Currently, the final clock speeds for Sapphire's Radeon RX 590 NITRO+ are not known. However, if the rumored reference boost clock of 1545 MHz is correct, an overclock pushing that a step further is likely. Meaning performance should be improved compared to what we have seen in variousleaks thus far.

French company Qarnot has unveiled their QC-1 crypto heater, which is an extension of their Q.rad computing heater that was released in 2013. The new QC-1 allows consumers to mine cryptocurrencies and utilize the generated heat for heating their homes. It features a high-end passive cooling solution and noiseless design as the unit doesn't require the use of fans or mechanical hard drives. A pair of Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 graphics cards are responsible for the cryptomining duties. Together, they can generate a hash rate around 60MH/s. In normal mode, the QC-1 produces 450W of heat. However, customers can activate the booster mode via the provided mobile app for another 200W which brings the total to 650W. The mobile app also serves as a tool for QC-1 owners to monitor the crypto markets.

According to the manufacturer, the QC-1 is capable of heating a 20 square-meter room. Qarnot is marketing their crypto heater as a plug-n-play device which customers can setup in 10 minutes. Installation consists of plugging the unit into the wall outlet and router and entering the crypto-wallet address into the mobile app. The QC-1 is designed to mine Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. The Qarnot QC-1 comes with a 1 year warranty. The unit currently costs 2900 euros which by today's exchange rate is $3575 plus another $300 shipping fee. If you order a QC-1 before March 20th, Qarnot will deliver the QC-1 to your doorstep before June 20th.

SAPPHIRE Technology is launching today a new series of Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C accessories for both Windows and Mac users. The New lineup features products that extend display connectivity with popular HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, Power Delivery adapters for simultaneous display output and battery charging, and a traveler's 4-in-1 travel dock.

Thunderbolt 3 is a modern connector with staggering bandwidth of up to 40 Gbps. This speed of a single compact port enables users to extend the capabilities of their ultrabook and use additional peripherals, extra displays, Ethernet cards, or storage devices; and deliver power to their device at the same time. Thunderbolt 3 is an interface of USB-C that does it all.

Sapphire over the weekend officially launched its cost-effective custom-design Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics card, the Pulse Radeon Vega 56 (model: 11276-02), which began appearing on European e-tailers late-January. The card combines a custom-design short-length PCB that's roughly the length of AMD's reference R9 Fury board; with a beefy custom-design cooling solution that features two large aluminium fin-stacks, ventilated by a pair of 100 mm double ball-bearing fans.

The card offers out of the box clock speeds of 1208 MHz core, 1512 MHz boost, and 800 MHz (1.60 GHz HBM2 effective) memory, against AMD reference clock speeds of 1138 MHz core and 1474 MHz boost. At its given clock, the memory bandwidth on offer is 409.6 GB/s. The "Vega 10" silicon is configured with 3,584 stream processors, 192 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0. Sapphire intended for this SKU to ideally occupy a close-to-reference price-point, a notch below its Nitro+ series, however in the wake of the crypto-currency wave, market-forces will decide its retail price.

Sapphire quietly introduced a slightly bolstered Radeon RX 550 graphics card that's based on the "Polaris 21" silicon, rather than the Polaris 20 "Lexa" silicon, called simply the Pulse Radeon RX 550 2GD5/4GD5 (model: 11268-16 for 2 GB and 11268-15 for 4 GB). Consumers should pay attention to the model number. "Polaris 21" is the same chip AMD bases the RX 560 on. This particular card has 10 out of 16 compute units physically present on the chip, which translates to 640 stream processors, higher than the 512 stream processors the RX 550 is originally endowed with. Other vital specs include 40 TMUs, and 2 GB or 4 GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6.00 GHz, over a 128-bit wide memory interface (96 GB/s memory bandwidth). The GPU is clocked at 1071 MHz. The card relies on the PCI-Express slot for power, its display outputs include one each of DVI, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.4. Sapphire could be going after the sweltering PUBG crowd.

Sapphire today rolled out its Pulse Radeon RX 560 LITE series graphics cards, which implement the 896 stream-processor variant of the "Polaris 21" silicon, as opposed to the better endowed 1,024 SP version the RX 560 SKU originally launched with. The card is available in 2 GB and 4 GB variants, and comes slightly factory-overclocked, with its GPU engine clock bumped to 1300 MHz, while the memory is clocked at 7.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective). The card itself features a slightly more beefed-up product design as opposed to the original Pulse RX 560.

While the original Pulse RX 560-series cards feature a simple copper core aluminium fan-heatsink cooler, in which a single chunk of aluminium with radially (well, spirally) projecting fins, ventilated by a single fan keeps the GPU cool; the new Pulse RX 560 LITE series features a slightly larger, rectangular aluminium heatsink, ventilated by two fans; with a separate heatsink over the VRM. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. Expect the card to be priced around the $100-mark (MSRP, not marked up to kingdom come by retailers).

Sapphire's Pulse line of graphics cards focuses on providing aspiring gamers with the best bang for their buck. There are currently eight different models ranging from the Radeon RX 550 all the way up to the Radeon RX 580. According to German retailer Alternate.de, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX Vega 56 is the latest newborn in the Pulse family even though it isn't officially listed on Sapphire's website at the moment. The card sports a plastic shroud painted in matte black with some red accents. The Pulse Radeon RX Vega 56 occupies three PCIe slots and measures 28.2 cm x 12.5 cm, but that's mainly because of the monstrous heatsink that extends far beyond the graphic card's short PCB. Judging by the design, this model probably utilizes a similar cooling solution, consisting of 4 heatpipes and two 95 mm Dual-X cooling fans, like its RX 580 Pulse sibling. The backplate boasts a simple, yet beautiful design with red lines simulating a human pulse.

Despite the branding difference, the Pulse RX Vega 56 shares the same memory specification as the higher-end Nitro+ RX Vega 56 model. Each has 8GB of onboard HBM2 memory running at 800 MHz across a 2048-bit wide memory interface. However, the Pulse RX Vega 56 comes with a 1512 MHz boost clock, 60 MHz slower than the Nitro+ RX Vega 56. They also differ in PCIe power connectors and display outputs. The Pulse model depends on two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, while the Nitro+ model requires three of them. And lastly, the Pulse model has three Display Port 1.4 ports and a single HDMI 2.0b, while the Nitro+ model has two of each. Alternate.de lists the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX Vega 56 with a €789 price tag.

Sapphire took to CES 2018 to showcase one of the most elusive products in recent times: a custom variant of AMD's RX Vega graphics cards. Sapphire went to great lengths to keep the entire affair under as many wraps as possible, even going so far as to book an entire room to showcase their RX Vega Nitro+, laying still, like a mirage, on top of its anti-static plastic wrap.

There's something eerily beautiful about this graphics card: not on its exquisite back and faceplate designs alone, nor on the custom Sapphire-cut exhaust port; it's really for the condition of a somewhat "unicorn" type of product. Some people believe they're out there, but sightings in their natural environment (read, correct MSRP) are so rare that they are brought up as mass deliriums. The most interesting tech product on CES 2018 based on this story alone, surely.

After aeons of waiting, one of AMD's foremost AIB partners, Sapphire, has come out with a fully custom edition of AMD's RX Vega flagship graphics cards. The new RX Vega 64 Nitro+ and RX Vega56 Nitro+ graphics cards bring Sapphire's engineering to the RX Vega table, offering much better thermal, acoustic, and performance characteristics than AMD's air-based reference models.

The Sapphire RX Vega Nitro+ series of graphics cards feature a triple-fan, 2.5 slot design and a whopping 3x 8-pin power delivery system - and yes, you read that right, this applies to both the Vega 64 and Vega 56 models. The increased thermal headroom provided by the substantial cooling solution, and the beefed-up power delivery system, mean Sapphire are shipping these graphics cards with a hefty 12-14% base-clock increase over AMD's reference models, making these the fastest (in frequency) factory-overclocked RX Vega graphics cards money can buy. The cards also ship with dual-BIOS, a fan header for either a side-panel or front-panel fan whose speed you want to be under the graphics' card control, and a VGA support plate - a smart move by Sapphire, considering the RX Vega 64 Nitro+ comes in at almost 1.6 kg.

It's likely that we'll (relatively) soon start to see custom models of AMD's latest high-end graphics cards based on the Vega micro-architecture. The launch and availability of AMD's latest poster child has been target of continued debate and rumors of problems, ranging from low GPU yields, to low packaging yields, and manufacturing discrepancies making AMD's AIB partners' job in creating and delivering fully custom models ever more difficult. However, the end for market absence of true custom models may be nigh, since the guys over at HWBattle have managed to snag themselves a sample of Sapphire's RX Vega 64 Nitro, and the card really is a sight to behold.

The Radeon RX Vega series launch has been particularly disappointing for gamers and PC enthusiasts because their otherwise interesting price-performance ratios at $499 for the RX Vega 64 and $399 for the RX Vega 56, were quickly stripped away by dwindling stock and sky-rocketing prices, with the RX Vega 64 even going above $1k in some places. We are not even sure if the miners are to blame or whether supplier-level pricing has been adjusted after the launch to a higher price point that makes AMD's promised pricing impossible to achieve.

It turns out that retailers might not be the ones making a quick buck at this madness. Leaked invoices show that distributors (entities that supply inventory to retailers) have inflated prices even at their level. A San Jose-based distributor, Ma Laboratories Inc., is quoting USD $675 per unit of a reference-design (not Limited Edition), Radeon RX Vega 64 SKU to a computer store. The $499 price AMD launched the RX Vega 64 at, is supposed to be the end-user price (minus government taxes). The retailer we're in touch with confirmed that they were offered no volume pricing discount due to low stock at the distributor itself. A distributor should ideally sell the product to a retailer at a much lesser price than $499, so the retailer can make their margin. The higher up the supply-chain, the more control AMD gets. The company is in a better position to rein in on distributors than retailers. If distributors are inflating prices with apparent impunity, it wouldn't surprise us if this goes even higher up.

SAPPHIRE Technology has announced the launch of the much-anticipated SAPPHIRE Radeon Vega 64 enthusiast graphics cards. The Vega architecture boasts significant improvements focused on maximizing the performance. Vega cards are designed for enthusiasts seeking top-of-the-chart framerates in games of today and tomorrow - in Ultra details and VR.

SAPPHIRE Technology is introducing three Vega-powered models:

• SAPPHIRE Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB HBM2 Liquid Cooled
• SAPPHIRE Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB HBM2
• SAPPHIRE Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB HBM2 Limited Edition

Ah mining. The revival of an old craze. Who doesn't want to make their room's temperature increase to insane levels over the summer in order to cash in on the mining wagon? Who doesn't want to pull their hardware by the ankles and wrists, stretching it in utilization so as to maintain the PoW (proof of Work) cryptographic security in cryptocurrencies? Apparently, a not insignificant number of users and would-be miners does want that. That has, in turn, placed a whole lot of pressure on the graphics card market from both AMD and NVIDIA, with prices climbing and skyrocketing for graphics cards in the $200-$400 price ranges, as you know. It remains to be seen whether the flow of new miners decreases somewhat now, considering the recent market correction (read: dip) in the cryptocurrency market value (down around 42% from the all-time high of 357€ [~$400] of June 12th.)

After ASUS, it would seem like it's Sapphire's time to try and sway miners from their consumer-oriented, gaming graphics cards, through the launch of five different graphics cards models especially geared for mining. These are currently available for pre-order on Overclockers UK, and there are five different products in total, one based of RX 560 silicon, and four different takes on the RX 470 silicon (no, that's not a typo; it really is the 400 series.)

At its Computex 2017 showcase, Sapphire showcased (ahem) an upcoming e-GFX enclosure. The unit delivers its display signal through a Thunderbolt 3 port, which is being hailed as "The USB-C that does it all", with up to 40 Gb/s connections, dual 4K @ 60Hz support, charging capabilities, and support for the USB and DisplayPort interfaces.

The unit makes use of what appears to be a SFF PSU (it isn't clear whether or not a PSU comes bundled with the chassis), and space for a dual-slot high performance graphics card. The side of the enclosure presents an airflow-enabling grill, so that your graphics card can pull in fresh air from the exterior. There's also what seems to be an Ethernet port and 2x USB 3.0 ports, which means this enclosure can be used as a hub, or as an extra charger for your other pieces of tech. Aesthetics-wise, this unit uses the tried and true black and white contrast, with a black design language on the front and back, and a smooth white contour on the top and sides of the enclosure. I enjoy the understated design here, with no extremely hard and "gaming" screaming angles, and the neutral color scheme and LED design doesn't look half bad. It remains to be seen whether that blue LED lighting is too strong so as to be distracting, but if it's not, it stands as a good complement to the overall design. Expect this unit to be released sooner rather than later, though no details on pricing or specifications were at hand.

Sapphire showed off a Radeon RX 550 graphics card with an off-spec DVI-I connector. This is significant, as it has analog (D-Sub) wiring, and an included DVI to D-Sub dongle lets you plug in ye olde analog displays. AMD stripped analog display support off its Radeon "Polaris" family, limiting them to modern digital standards such as DVI-D, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.4. Sapphire got around this by deploying a custom DAC chip on the card, so you can have DVI-D (D-Sub via dongle), without needing an active adapter that's half the price of the card itself.

SAPPHIRE Technology is unveiling brand new products at Computex 2017. The SAPPHIRE NITRO Gear Series will provide SAPPHIRE users with more customization options than ever, with LED fans as well as new backplate & shroud sets. After the enthusiastic reception of the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition, SAPPHIRE will offer a Special Edition version with blue shroud and backplate, and high factory overclock as part of its regular offer. For ultrabook owners, SAPPHIRE is bringing new Thunderbolt 3 dongles with 2x DisplayPort or 2x HDMI outputs.

Accessories for NITRO-charged gamers
Demand for personalization in PC gaming hardware is increasing. To meet it, SAPPHIRE is introducing a brand-new NITRO Gear Series of accessories. To begin with, the company will offer extra LED fans (with dual-ball bearing) in 3 backlight colors - white, red and blue. SAPPHIRE users can easily swap their stock fans with the SAPPHIRE Quick Connect system. Packs with one 95 mm fan in selected colors will be available to buy. The fans are compatible with all SAPPHIRE NITRO+ and Pulse RX 580 / 570 models as well as NITRO/NITRO+ RX 480 / 470 models.

SAPPHIRE Technology is launching its new GPRO E-Series graphics cards series for professional and industrial usage. A comprehensive lineup of models, ranging from the best-performing to most compact and power-efficient units, will suit the varying needs of businesses. Increased computational through put and further power optimizations allow for more immersive visuals and sophisticated applications - from digital gaming and casinos to industrial automation, medical, aerospace, and defence.

Available starting in Q3 2017, the SAPPHIRE GPRO E-Series includes 4 models with different power levels and outputs. The E-Series lineup starts with the SAPPHIRE GPRO E9260, the fastest of the debuting cards, with 2.5 TFLOPS of computing power in single precision operations. SAPPHIRE has included 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 4 DisplayPort 1.3 outputs. Thanks to the latest generation of Polaris GPU architecture, with updated display engine, the card can drive up to 2 screens in 5K resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate or up to 4 screens in 4K and 60 Hz. The applied thermal solution is active, with a single efficient, dual ball bearing fan. The GPRO E9260 model is dedicated to the most graphically-demanding and compute-heavy scenarios such us high-end digital gaming, advanced Real-time medical imaging as well as military.

Sapphire announced the Radeon RX 560 Pulse series graphics cards. Available in 2 GB and 4 GB variants; and in sub-variants of reference-clocked and factory-overclocked; the RX 560 Pulse combines a PCB that closely resembles AMD reference PCB for the RX 560; with a fan-heatsink cooler. The cooler features a simple aluminium monoblock heatsink with a copper core, and spirally-projecting, forked aluminium fins; ventilated by a 70 mm spinner. Both the reference and OC variants come with a baseline core clock of 1175 MHz, but while the reference-clocked variant boosts to 1275 MHz, the OC variant touches 1300 MHz. The memory ticks at 7.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) on all four cards, producing a memory bandwidth of 96 GB/s. Pricing starts at $99 for the 2 GB variant, and $119 for the 4 GB variant.

BYKSKI, Known as one of the leader brands of the water blocks in Asia, released the A-SP58PLAT-X water block for Sapphire RX580 NITRO+ edition. The A-SP58PLAT-X full cover water block is based on pure copper of the metal part. With the nickel-plating technics, it allows the water block longer lifespan and excellent corrosion resistance with the coolant soaking. By the precision cutting of the copper base, the space between the fins of Micro-Flow system is only 0.5mm, which makes the water blocks more efficiency. High quality acrylic is used to cover the water blocks and let use could see the coolant flow of the water block.

SAPPHIRE Technology has bolstered the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Gaming Series lineup with the new SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition graphics card. With a cherry-picked Polaris GPU made in an enhanced FinFET 14 nm process, extra LED fans for swap and unique shroud, it's the best performing and the best-looking SAPPHIRE NITRO+ card to date. Along with the limited-quantity, ultra-overclocked model, SAPPHIRE also introduces new SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 and RX 570 cards.

Thanks to continuous streamlining of FinFET 14 nm production process, the latest Polaris GPUs that power SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 and RX 570 cards are even more energy-efficient. This allowed SAPPHIRE to crank up the clocks and reach up to 10% better performance compared to previous series. To add even more headroom for overclocking, SAPPHIRE is cherry-picking Polaris chips for the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition.

The floodgates have opened on AMD's recently-launched RX 500 series, which features a more polished, revised, 3rd-gen 14 nm FinFet process. Graphics cards based on the new GPUs will, as such, feature higher clocks than their RX 400 series counterparts, even if the number of graphics processing resources remains relatively unchanged. PowerColor (with its Red Devil and Red Dragon RX 580 and RX 570 graphics cards), ASUS, Sapphire, Gigabyte, and MSI have all announced their take on the new GPUs, with distinct enterprise identity, cooling solutions and audio profiles - as well as VRM and power delivery subsystems - competing for your money.