Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X evaluation: Large and exquisite

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Knowledgeable’s Ranking

Professionals

• Distinctive 4K and 1440p efficiency
• 24GB reminiscence
• Nitro+ customized cooler is frigid, silent, and beautiful
• Twin-BIOS change, fan, and ARGB headers

Cons

• Huge four-slot design
• Very excessive energy draw
• Lags GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs in ray tracing
• Steep $200 premium places Nitro+ close to RTX 4080 pricing

Our Verdict

The Sapphire Nitro+ appears to be like beautiful, runs frigid, can’t be heard, and it’s the quickest XTX we’ve examined (albeit by a hair), full with helpful further options for overclockers. In case you’re available in the market for a four-figure graphics card that chews by excessive refresh-rate 4K and 1440p gaming with out compromise, and your PC can deal with its huge measurement and energy draw, the Nitro+ may be very extremely really helpful.

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X

$2,899.00

Large, badass graphics playing cards don’t get a lot larger or extra badass than the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X—the primary Sapphire GPU to sport the premium Vapor-X model in almost a decade.

Whereas AMD’s reference model of the XTX sticks to an affordable 2.5-slot design, Sapphire threw restraint out the window with the extremely custom-made Nitro+. This monster swells to a bit quad-slot top, then provides an additional 8-pin energy connector to gas even loftier efficiency. It’s the quickest 7900 XTX we’ve examined and it runs cool and quiet whereas trying very good. This is likely one of the most spectacular customized graphics playing cards I’ve ever laid fingers on.

In case your PC can match this beast, and your pockets can settle for its $1,200 price ticket—a $200 premium over the reference mannequin—then you definately’ll love all the pieces in regards to the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X. Let’s dig in.

Additional studying: The very best graphics playing cards for PC gaming

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Specs, value, and options

There isn’t an excessive amount of to say in regards to the Nitro+’s technical points, because it’s operating on the identical spectacular Radeon RX 7900 XTX chip because the reference mannequin, paired with an ample 24GB of quick GDDR6 reminiscence. Sapphire tweaked and tuned it for much more energy, nevertheless.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Nitro+ 7900 Vapor-X screams together with a blistering 2,510MHz Sport Clock, a considerable uplift over the reference 2,300MHz speeds. That matches the equally premium XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX, however the Sapphire card’s extra environment friendly cooler lets it squeak out clear victories throughout our gaming take a look at suite, even when solely to the tune of some further (and virtually unnoticeable) frames per second. The baseline 7900 XTX is already the second-most highly effective GPU on the planet, trailing solely the $1,600 GeForce RTX 4090 in uncooked would possibly, and the Nitro+ cranks it to 11.

Doing so requires extra literal energy, nevertheless. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X calls for a trio of 8-pin energy connectors, up from the reference model’s pair, and it’s rated to attract 420 watts of energy. The reference XTX attracts 355W. In the actual world, which means the Nitro+ 7900 XTX consumes extra energy than even the RTX 4090 throughout gaming classes.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The cardboard features a three-way BIOS change that modifications the cardboard’s habits, nevertheless. The default place permits you to hop between the Nitro+’s twin BIOS choices utilizing Sapphire’s Trixx utility, somewhat than having to manually flip the BIOS change on the cardboard. In case you don’t need to set up that software program, nevertheless, the second place sticks to the default high-performance BIOS, whereas the third place is a lower-power mode that drops to reference speeds in change for shaving 50W off the ability draw. The default BIOS runs so cool and quiet that there’s no motive to suggest the low-power possibility except energy draw is a significant concern—and whether it is, you shouldn’t be shopping for a 7900 XTX to start with.

The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X’s actual draw is its customized design. There’s a lot {hardware} in right here, Sapphire tossed a GPU help bracket into the field to maintain your graphics card from probably sagging in its motherboard slot over time!

Sapphire

Let’s begin with aesthetics: The Nitro+ 7900 XTX appears to be like completely stunning, sporting a deliciously clear all-metal design, punctuated by raised, full-length RGB bars on either side of the heatsink. The bars someway shine with surprising vibrancy, with rounded edges that add to its visible cohesion. The default sweeping rainbow sample fills your case with shimmering mild since Sapphire slapped the bars on either side. It’s beautiful, albeit in a completely totally different means than the also-gorgeous XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX, which went in an RGB-less course as a substitute.

The Nitro+ 7900 XTX’s true secret sauce lies beneath the hood although. Sapphire completely stuffed this behemoth filled with cooling know-how. Sapphire’s webpage for the Nitro+ goes into far deeper element, however at a excessive degree, the die-cast aluminum body holds a trio of axial followers with twin ball-bearing designs. They help Sapphire’s rad Fast Join function, which helps you to rapidly and simply disconnect particular person followers in the event that they want restore. Higher but, they cease spinning utterly when the GPU isn’t below excessive load. Meaning the Nitro+ 7900 XTX is totally silent if you aren’t gaming or performing different GPU-stressing work.

Brad Chacos/IDG

One other key perk: Sapphire slapped a second HDMI 2.1 port on the Nitro+, doubling up on the reference design. VR customers, take be aware! It’s joined by a pair of DisplayPort 2.1 connections, although Sapphire eschewed the reference mannequin’s USB-C port to incorporate the additional HDMI. It additionally consists of useful ARGB and fan headers if you wish to hook it extra deeply into the remainder of your system.

In fact, the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X helps all of AMD’s superior Radeon software program options, like FSR, Radeon Anti-Lag, Good Entry Reminiscence, and extra. However sufficient chit-chat. Let’s get to the benchmarks!

Our take a look at system

We take a look at graphics playing cards on an AMD Ryzen 5900X PC used solely for benchmarking GPUs. We now take a look at with PCIe Resizable BAR (often known as Good Entry Reminiscence on Ryzen programs) energetic, as most trendy gaming PCs launched within the final 4 years help the performance-boosting function, both natively or through a motherboard firmware replace. Nvidia additionally recommends turning on the optionally available “{Hardware}-accelerated GPU scheduling” possibility in Home windows to let the RTX 40-series stretch its legs to the fullest, so we’ve made that tweak as nicely. A lot of the {hardware} was offered by the producers, however we bought the storage ourselves.

We’re evaluating the $1,200 Sapphire Nitro+ towards the $1,000 reference Radeon RX 7900 XTX in addition to XFX’s equally premium $1,100 Speedster Merc customized card, as what we’re actually on the lookout for right here is the Nitro+’s efficiency as a customized XTX mannequin. We’ve additionally included different GPUs which are value contemplating if you’re on the lookout for glorious 4K and 1440p gaming.

We take a look at quite a lot of video games spanning varied engines, genres, vendor sponsorships (Nvidia, AMD, and Intel), and graphics APIs (DirectX 9, 11, DX12, and Vulkan), to attempt to signify a full vary of efficiency potential. Every recreation is examined utilizing its in-game benchmark, then sanity checked by Nvidia’s FrameView software, on the highest potential graphics presets except in any other case famous, with VSync, body fee caps, real-time ray tracing or DLSS results, and FreeSync/G-Sync disabled, together with some other vendor-specific applied sciences like FidelityFX instruments or Nvidia Reflex. We’ve additionally enabled temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) to push these playing cards to their limits. We run every benchmark a minimum of 3 times and checklist the typical end result for every take a look at.

Moderately than rolling out our full testing suite for this evaluation, we caught to a less complicated lineup that’s consultant of quite a lot of APIs (DX9, DX11, DX12, Vulkan), to indicate the Nitro+’s efficiency throughout varied eventualities. Make sure to try our preliminary Radeon RX 7900 XTX evaluation for a broader, deeper take a look at the GPU’s normal efficiency. (Briefly, it beats the $1,200 RTX 4080 in conventional video games for a a lot lower cost, and matches the RTX 30-series’ ray-tracing efficiency, however lags far behind the RTX 40-series in ray tracing. It additionally lacks a DLSS 3 Body gen competitor.)

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Gaming efficiency benchmarks

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Energy and thermals

We take a look at energy draw by looping the F1 22 benchmark at 4K for about 20 minutes after we’ve benchmarked all the pieces else (to heat up the GPU) and noting the best studying on our Watts Up Professional meter, which measures the ability consumption of our complete take a look at system. The preliminary a part of the race, the place all competing vehicles are onscreen concurrently, tends to be probably the most demanding portion. 

This isn’t a worst-case take a look at; it is a GPU-bound recreation operating at a GPU-bound decision to gauge efficiency when the graphics card is sweating onerous. In case you’re enjoying a recreation that additionally hammers the CPU, you would see greater general system energy attracts. Think about your self warned.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Sapphire Nitro+ pushes AMD’s already-power hungry Radeon 7900 XTX to new heights, however doing so requires even greater peak energy draw than the monstrous RTX 4090. That’s a little bit of a bummer, however you in all probability aren’t shopping for a fire-breathing 7900 XTX for its effectivity.

We take a look at thermals by leaving GPU-Z open in the course of the F1 22 energy draw take a look at, noting the best most temperature on the finish.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX’s superior Vapor-X cooler does stellar work right here. Technically, it runs barely hotter than the XFX Speedster Merc, however each ship completely frigid outcomes that overclockers will admire, and the Nitro+’s gentler fan curve truly sounds even quieter than the already borderline-silent Merc. These are each excellent customized designs that far outshine the undersized 7900 XTX reference mannequin, although you pay for it in value, energy consumption, and sheer measurement.

Must you purchase the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X?

In case you principally stick with conventional video games and desire a barn-burner of a graphics card for a whole bunch of {dollars} lower than the RTX 4080, AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a superb selection, as our authentic evaluation detailed in depth. And if you wish to splurge for a high-end, impeccably designed customized model of the XTX, Sapphire’s Nitro+ is nicely value contemplating. It’s blisteringly quick, cool, quiet, and totally incredible.

It gained’t be for everybody. The Nitro+ is totally huge and attracts extra energy than even the RTX 4090—however large, badass, customized playing cards are what you anticipate from flagships like this. If that worries you, think about the reference XTX’s smaller 2.5-slot, 2x 8-pin design as a substitute. The worth may also offer you pause. Sapphire’s $200 premium feels justifiable for a customized design this magnificent, but it surely additionally bumps it proper up towards the GeForce RTX 4080’s (terribly excessive) beginning value. The Nitro+ is quicker, and also you gained’t get a RTX 4080 just like the Nitro+’s spectacular high quality with out spending nearer to $1,400 or $1,500, however in case you place a better premium on ray-tracing efficiency and DLSS 3 Body Gen over card design and general high quality of life, you would possibly—would possibly—go for a “low-cost” 4080 over the splendidly baller Nitro+. (I wouldn’t.)

Brad Chacos/IDG

Staying in AMD-land, in case you’re choosing a high-end 7900 XTX, the aesthetics and avenue pricing are the most important differentiators between the $1,200 Nitro+ and the $1,100 XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX. They’re each face-meltingly quick, enticing, and splendidly quiet and funky. I personally desire the Nitro+’s futuristic industrial look and shimmering dual-side RGB bars, however the Merc is a looker of a completely totally different selection. Go the place your eyes (and pockets) information you.

Backside line? The Sapphire Nitro+ appears to be like beautiful, runs frigid and damned-near lifeless silent, and it’s the quickest XTX we’ve examined (albeit by a hair). In case you’re available in the market for a four-figure graphics card that’s truly well worth the cash (cough in contrast to the RTX 4080 cough), we extremely really helpful this selection. It’s the most effective Radeon presents.