In early July, AMD launched their highly anticipated new range graphics cards, the Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT set to compete against the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 Super. Priced at $349 and $399 respectively, these mid-range graphics cards built on the new 7nm process have been shown to outperform their Nvidia counterparts on paper, which are built instead on a 12nm process and were also released in July 2019.
Right now, you can buy the RX 5700 XT in a reference design, featuring a blower-style cooler and stock clock factory speeds, or alterntively you can pick an aftermarket/AIB/custom RX 5700 XT partner card from manufacturers such as ASUS, Powercolor, XFX and MSI. These cards hit the shelves from mid-august.
At BuildPicker we are excited to see the performance of these aftermarket RX 5700 XT cards which build on the reference design and can offer a number of benefits over the reference/founders edition RX 5700 XT. The main benefits can include:
- Increase in factory base, boost and game clock speeds (vs reference)
- Custom PCB
- Custom fan/cooling design, such as dual fan, triple fan or even liquid cooled setups to drive down temperatures and increase performance
- Reduced noise
- Longer warranty
- Different form factor, with some AIB RX 5700 XT cards being smaller in length or slot-width, which is great for SFF RX 5700 XT builds
Several RX 5700 XT aftermarket cards are already available to PC builders, and with hardware benchmarks, tests & reviews of these AIB 5700 XT cards, we are able to compare them and advise on which is the best RX 5700 XT aftermarket card in 2019 for various scenarios.
RX 5700 XT Aftermarket Card List
| RX 5700 XT Model | Base Clock | Boost Clock | Game Clock | Fan Design | Length | Width |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (reference) | 1605 MHz | 1905 MHz | 1755 MHz | Blower Fan | 272 mm | 2 Slot |
| ASRock RX 5700 XT Phantom Gaming | TBC | TBC | TBC | Triple Fan | TBC | TBC |
| ASRock RX 5700 XT Taichi | TBC | TBC | TBC | Triple Fan | TBC | TBC |
| ASRock RX 5700 XT Challenger | 1650 MHz | 1905 MHz | 1795 MHz | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
| ASUS RX 5700 XT ROG Strix Gaming | TBC | TBC | TBC | Triple Fan | TBC | 2.7 Slot |
| ASUS RX 5700 XT TUF Gaming | TBC | TBC | TBC | Triple Fan | TBC | 2.7 Slot |
| Sapphire RX 5700 XT Toxic | TBC | TBC | TBC | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
| MSI RX 5700 XT Evoke OC | TBC | TBC | TBC | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
| MSI RX 5700 XT Mech OC | TBC | TBC | TBC | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
| MSI RX 5700 XT Air Boost | TBC | TBC | TBC | Blower Fan | TBC | TBC |
| PowerColor RX 5700 XT Red Devil | TBC | TBC | TBC | Triple Fan | TBC | TBC |
| PowerColor RX 5700 XT Red Dragon | TBC | TBC | TBC | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
| Sapphire RX 5700 XT Toxic | TBC | TBC | TBC | AIO | TBC | TBC |
| XFX RX 5700 XT RAW2 | TBC | TBC | TBC | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
| XFX RX 5700 XT THICC2 | TBC | TBC | TBC | Dual Fan | TBC | TBC |
Best RX 5700 XT Cards – Top Picks
| Best RX 5700 XT Cards | Design | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Best Overall RX 5700 XT Card |  | Gigabyte RX 5700 XT Gaming OC |
| Best Cooling Performance RX 5700 XT Card |  | Powercolor RX 5700 XT Red Devil |
| Best RX 5700 XT Card for ITX / SFF Builds |  | Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse |
| Cheapest RX 5700 XT Card |  | XFX RX 5700 XT Blower |
Best Overall RX 5700 XT Card – Gigabyte RX 5700 XT Gaming OC
For picking the best overall RX 5700 XT aftermarket card, we are looking for a card that offers great performance, cooling and doesn’t cost too much over the reference design MSRP. For the RX 5700 XT series, the Gigabyte RX 5700 XT Gaming OC narrowly wins our pick for the best RX 5700 XT (slightly edging the Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse), with a fantastic balance of performance for its price.
The Gaming OC hasn’t been designed to have all the bells and whistles of more expensive AIB cards, but instead, it is designed with functionality and versatility in mind – with a triple-fan cooler design, impressive thermal performance whilst retailing at just $420 MSRP.
Thanks to it’s BIOS and cooling performance – the Gaming OC had one of the most impressive thermals – stacking up and matching the performance of more expensive AIB 5700 XT cards, such as the Powercolor Red Devil (which offered the best cooling performance of any custom RX 5700 XT aftermarket card).
Another great thing about the Gigabyte RX 5700 XT lineup for this year is that it doesn’t have any void warranty stickers on the backplate screws, meaning that you would be able to attempt to maintain your own hardware without voiding the warranty. Our only gripe with this card is that lack of dual BIOS, something we would have hoped for Gigabyte to feature on this otherwise fantastic card.
Best Cooling Performance RX 5700 XT Card – Powercolor Red Devil
If you’re looking for the best performing RX 5700 XT card in terms of cooling performance and thermals, then you should look no further than the Powercolor RX 5700 XT Red Devil. To consider the best cooling, it is important to take into account the cooling performance relative to its noise and acoustic levels for given cooling performance.
The Red Devil sports a beefy triple cooler design, and this really helps drive the 5700 XT temperatures down, with the default OC BIOS of the Red Devil being +115MHz over reference whilst running 9 degrees cooler and 10dBA quieter! The Red Devil also features dual BIOS which the Gigabyte Gaming OC does not have. Retailing at $439, we think PowerColor have hit it out of the park with this AIB RX 5700 XT card, giving the slightly more expensive RTX 2070 Super a run for its money!
GamersNexus‘ cooling test of aftermarket RX 5700 XT cards found that at a normalised test at 40dBA, they found that the Power Color RX 5700 XT Red Devil offered the lowest temperature (GPU Edge and GPU Junction temps) over other cards by at least a few degrees celcius, including the Sapphire Nitro+ and ASRock Taichi X aftermarket cards.
If you’re looking for a performance-orientated RX 5700 XT card and money is no object, then the PowerColor Red Devil 5700 XT card is the one to get.
Best RX 5700 XT Card for ITX / SFF Builds
For those ITX builders who want to build with the RX 5700 XT card, the best option, low profile RX 5700 XT aftermarket card to go for is the Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse – a 2.5 slot card that only comes in at 254mm. This is approximately a 13mm shorter than the reference design RX 5700 XT, yet improves significant performance (noise and thermal) improvements over the reference design.
With features including dual BIOS, zero-fan sped mode and high factory overclock speeds out of the box, this aftermarket RX 5700 XT has a large number of features making it great value commanding just a $10 premium over the MSRP of the reference design RX 5700 XT.
Cheapest RX 5700 XT Card
If you are purely focused on getting a Radeon RX 5700 XT card for the cheapest possible price, whilst being in stock at MSRP, then the best cheap RX 5700 XT card to go for is the XFX RX 5700 XT Blower model. This reference design RX 5700 XT card is found for just under $400, and the likes of Amazon and Newegg have them in-stock, too, at this price.
You don’t get the features found in some aftermarket RX 5700 XT designs such as custom fan designs, factory overclocks, dual BIOS or RGB – but what you do get is a capable RX 5700 XT card for under $400!