Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT Review | 118 Data compared

The Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT is a highly effective custom iteration of AMD's Navi 10 architecture, featuring 2,560 stream processors and 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. Sapphire resolves the severe thermal and noise issues plaguing AMD's blower-style reference design by utilizing a robust Dual-X cooling solution equipped with a thick aluminum heatsink, horizontal fins, and twin 95mm axial fans. Out of the box, the graphics card employs a dual-BIOS system where the default primary firmware provides a factory overclock, boosting the base clock to 1,670 MHz and the game clock to 1,815 MHz. In terms of performance, the card delivers impressive results, averaging 15.5% higher frame rates than the older Radeon RX Vega 64 and running roughly 10% faster overall than the competing Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super. The card’s primary advantages lie in its significantly cooler operating temperatures and remarkably quiet acoustics relative to the reference model, alongside the inclusion of a functional dual BIOS and clean Trixx software. However, these structural upgrades introduce several downsides. The physical footprint of the card is massive,...

The Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT Pulse is a compact, mid-range graphics card that strikes a well-rounded compromise between size, weight, and operational performance. On the positive side, it features an unobtrusive design without over-the-top RGB lighting, a highly capable PCB component assembly, and reliable temperature control that keeps the unit within acceptable thermal ranges. Furthermore, its build quality is deemed appropriate for its entry-level market price, and it features physical dimensions that make it fit easily into smaller cases. However, the graphics card suffers from major flaws regarding its software integration and cooling noise. The dual-BIOS "silent mode" frequently fails to work because the AMD driver fails to re-read the registry configuration, requiring users to manually wipe drivers using DDU or use third-party tools like MorePowerTool (MPT) as a workaround. Most critically, the card misses out on a purchase recommendation due to highly unstable fan acoustics. The fans suffer from a jittery speed curve that produces an irritating, oscillating pitch and a "cacophonous propeller choir" that cannot be tamed even with customized software overrides.

The bit-tech.net review evaluates the Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT Pulse, a custom-cooled version of AMD’s Navi graphics card priced at £424.99 / $409. The review highlights that Sapphire successfully solves the severe thermal and noise issues found in AMD's original reference model by utilizing a massive custom dual-fan cooler. This setup achieves operating temperatures 10°C cooler than the reference card while remaining exceptionally quiet, even dropping to a completely silent Zero RPM mode when the system is idling. Additionally, the card features a modest factory overclock that elevates gaming clock speeds by 3.5 percent, alongside a highly beneficial dual-BIOS switch providing a tailored "Silent Mode" for an even quieter user experience. Despite these performance upgrades, the review points out several design and efficiency drawbacks. Physically, the card breaks through dual-slot dimensions and stands at a hefty 135mm height, which could pose compatibility issues for compact or small-form-factor cases. While the main cooler efficiently chills the GPU, the underlying thermal pads show no improvement in temperature reductions for the GDDR6 memory or VRM components when compared to the reference design....

The PC Perspective review evaluates the SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5700 XT, a factory-overclocked graphics card featuring custom Dual-X cooling, a 12-layer PCB, and an aluminum backplate. A major pro of the card is its exceptional acoustic performance; it registers a load noise level of just 38.3 dBA, which is a massive 10.3 dBA reduction compared to the loud AMD reference blower model. Furthermore, it runs cooler than the reference card at 74°C under load, offers a zero RPM idle fan mode, and costs only $10 over the standard MSRP. Additionally, the inclusion of the innovative TriXX Boost software serves as a strong value-add, boosting gaming framerates by up to 15% via smart resolution downscaling and Radeon Image Sharpening. However, the card does come with specific cons regarding power consumption and raw gaming performance out of the box. Due to its factory overclock, the PULSE draws higher power at both idle and load compared to the reference design. More notably, the initial benchmarks revealed a rare anomaly where the PULSE performed 1 to 2 FPS slower than PC Perspective's stock...

The Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse significantly improves upon AMD’s reference design by rectifying its major thermal and acoustic flaws, making it a highly recommended alternative for just $10 over MSRP. In noise-normalized testing locked at 40dBA, the Pulse's custom dual-fan cooler achieves a GPU edge temperature of 67°C, which is a massive 27.1°C cooler than the reference card at the same noise level. It keeps the governing GPU Junction temperature at a stable 83°C—well below the 110°C thermal throttling point of the reference model—while keeping GDDR6 memory modules safe at 82°C and lowering VRM MOSFET temperatures. Gaming benchmarks across titles like Sniper Elite 4, F1 2018, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider demonstrate that out-of-the-box raw frame rates remain functionally identical to the reference card, meaning the true upgrade lies entirely in massive quality-of-life, thermal, and acoustic improvements. The card features a dual VBIOS switch; the default setting targets a 71°C edge temperature at ~1570 RPM (40dBA), while the quiet VBIOS drops the fan speed to 1000 RPM (33-34dBA) at the expense of a lower 1830MHz clock frequency and...

The Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT Pulse is a high-value custom 7nm RDNA card featuring a mild factory overclock to 1,925 MHz and an efficient Dual-X cooling system that offers significantly lower noise and temperatures than the reference model. Key pros include an idle-fan-stop feature, a dual-BIOS "Silent" mode, and a high cost-performance ratio that serves as a strong, competitively priced alternative to NVIDIA's $400 segment offerings. Conversely, the card exhibits limited manual overclocking headroom and provides only minor performance gains over stock, with multi-monitor power consumption remaining high. The 7-phase VRM layout closely matches the reference board rather than high-end alternatives, and the Navi 10 architecture lacks hardware-accelerated ray tracing support.

The Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse is evaluated as a highly balanced, factory-overclocked mid-range graphics card that is ideal for 1440p gaming or high-refresh rate 1080p setups. Built on AMD's Navi architecture, the card features a rated out-of-the-box boost clock of 1925 MHz, though in practice it stabilizes closer to 1900 MHz. A core highlight of this model is its upgraded cooling solution, which implements a large single-chunk aluminum heatsink equipped with five heatpipes (up from three on the non-XT Pulse) and dual 95 mm fans. Under heavy gaming and synthetic benchmarks, the cooling system keeps the GPU at a reasonable temperature just shy of 70°C, while the junction point reaches 90°C, the video memory hits 80°C, and the VRMs run slightly above 70°C. Power-wise, the card draws roughly 200W directly according to GPU-Z, translates to approximately 230W from the wall during intensive stress testing, and relies on a standard one 8-pin and one 6-pin PCI-express power connector configuration. The review highlights distinct advantages and drawbacks for prospective buyers, positioning the card as a sensibly priced aftermarket option. On the...