Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT Review

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT is not only a mouthful to say but it is an excellent card closer to the budget side of things. At launch, the Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 XT has an MSRP of $409. However, the Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 XT offers performance between the RTX 2070 and RTX 2080. Just at a far lower price. The MSRP of the Pulse RX 5700 XT puts the card just below the RTX 2060 Super, but with far better performance. In many of the games we tested, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT outperformed even the RX Vega 2. The Vega 2 is priced at a much higher price point at its launch when compared to the $409 MSRP of the Pulse RX 5700 XT. In fact, in all eight games we tested, the Pulse RX 5700 XT managed to stay above 30 FPS in 4k and even above 60 FPS in 4k on a few of the games. Features such as the Radeon Image Sharpening can boost your performance even higher. However, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT is more than capable of playing modern games at 1440p @ 60 FPS or even 4k @ 30 FPS with little to no issues.

I do like the simple, yet attractive design on the shroud on the Pulse RX 5700 XT. The backplate on the Pulse RX 5700 XT is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it also serves a purpose helping to dissipate heat. I wouldn’t say this card revolutionized how graphics cards are cooled. While running FurMark, The Pulse RX 5700 XT hit a max temp of 77°c. However, the in-game temperature hovered right around 69°c. This was with the fans at their stock settings of 40% fan speed. Running at 50% fan speed, the card rand at a whisper-quiet 40 decibels. When the fans speed was cranked up to 100%, the did get a bit loud, around 60 decibels. Keep in mind, this is on an open-air case. However, running the fans at 100% dropped the GPU temperature to around 60°c in-game.

Overall, I was not only pleased by the performance of the Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT, but also surprised as well. Not that I thought the card was going to be a bad card by any means. However, I wasn’t expecting it to perform as well as it did. In many cases, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT vastly outperformed its reference counterpart and even beat out the Radeon Vega II in a few games. The performance of the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT puts it right up there with the RTX 2070. Just at a lower price point. So putting aside the squabbling between team red and team green, which I’ll admit can be difficult for me personally, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT is an excellent card performance-wise, at an excellent price point. Especially if you can catch the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT on sale, below the MSRP of $409.99.  In conclusion, the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5700 XT is a great option for anyone looking to either set up a new build or upgrade an older card. The Pulse RX 5700 XT offers great performance without breaking the bank.

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