With the exception of maybe the reference design that is pretty much end-of-life, the ASUS RX 5700 XT TUF EVO is the most affordable RX 5700 XT in the ASUS lineup. The original TUF without the "EVO" was released shortly after the RX 5700 XT launch in August 2019. Initial reviews were not favorable, with reviewers mostly complaining about high memory temperatures and other sub-optimal design choices in the cooler's engineering. Today's review covers the TUF "EVO," which is an improved version with new fans and better memory cooling.

Out of the box, the TUF comes with a factory overclock to 1905 MHz rated boost, which is quite an increase over the AMD reference boost of 1755 MHz. Unfortunately, AMD's boost algorithm doesn't scale like that. In actual real-life performance we measured a 1% performance increase, less than most other RX 5700 XT cards I've reviewed; those cards were 3%–5% faster, which isn't that much more, either. In the end, I wouldn't buy an RX 5700 XT just for the factory OC performance as other factors are more important. Compared to the NVIDIA RTX 2070, the ASUS TUF is 5% faster at 1440p, and the RTX 2060 Super is 9% behind. AMD's RX 5700 is 12% slower, but more affordable. AMD's fastest graphics card, the Radeon VII, is only 5% ahead, and the RTX 2070 Super beats it by 8%. With these performance characteristics, we can easily recommend the Radeon RX 5700 XT for 1440p gaming in all titles. Averaged over our test suite that is twenty-two games strong, the ASUS RX 5700 XT TUF achieved 87 FPS at 1440p.

As mentioned before, ASUS has improved the thermal solution on the TUF EVO, and it's quite decent now. With 69°C, GPU temperatures are the lowest we've seen in any RX 5700 XT review so far. After the initial TUF debacle, ASUS improved their memory cooling design, and GDDR6 temperatures are now 88°C. This is a huge improvement over the first generation, but still not as good as other RX 5700 XT cards we've tested. In our disassembly section of this review we took a closer look, and ASUS is now using a metal plate for memory cooling that is bolted to the main heatsink. When connecting two components, heat transfer is always lower than a single-piece solution. Microscopic imperfections and surface roughness trap air, which is a worse conductor than metal—that's why we use thermal paste. The ASUS design isn't bad, but could still be improved. Gaming noise levels, while "good" with 34 dBA, could be a bit quieter, especially considering the low GPU temperature—there is plenty of headroom. The limiting factor for fan speed seems to be the memory temperature. It looks as though ASUS sought to make sure these temperatures aren't too high, which had them increase fan speed a bit above what would be necessary for the most balanced cooling. Big kudos to ASUS for including fan stop on their TUF Gaming, though. Previous cards from ASUS had a dual BIOS, and only the "quiet" BIOS had fan stop, whereas the primary BIOS always kept the fans spinning.

Overclocking our sample worked well. We reached 2061 MHz actual measured frequency, which is a good result. Memory overclocking worked even better and could have gone even higher, but AMD unfortunately artificially limits the overclocking range of their graphics cards in Wattman. After manual overclocking, we gained 7.1% in real-life performance, which puts the RTX 2070 Super almost in reach.

On the topic of raytracing, I'm sure you've already made up your mind on whether it's something you're interested in or not, but I don't doubt for a second that NVIDIA is pushing the technology very hard with their excellent developer relations, and it looks like the adoption rate is improving. We're also hearing rumors that next-gen consoles will feature some sort of raytracing technology. I'd say it's not a big deal for the near future, but could become relevant in the years to come, so if you're future-proofing for many years to come, this could be a factor. My recommendation is not to worry about the future too much and look at what you need today to buy a new card when you need it, selling the old one to offset the cost.

The ASUS RX5700 XT TUF EVO currently retails for $420, which is a little bit on the high side. The cheapest RX 5700 XT cards you can find are currently going for $380, with various vendors and SKUs popping in and out of that spot all the time. We also have the $400 price point, which is occupied by cards like the Sapphire Pulse and PowerColor Red Dragon. Additional choices open up at $410, which makes it difficult for the TUF EVO at $420 to compete with these models. I've reviewed all the major RX 5700 XT cards so far, and there are several very good candidates that are very similar in the performance, temperatures, and noise levels they provide, which means pricing might end up being the decisive factor. What's also worth mentioning is the competition from the NVIDIA RTX 2070, which starts at $400 and offers raytracing.