Sapphire Nitro+ OC RX 470 8GB/Overclocking and Downclocking
Sapphire Nitro+ OC RX 470 8GB/Overclocking and Downclocking
Hi guys!
The new card is about to be released in our country and I still have enough time to look into it.
Question:
Do I have the option to skip the overclock and set it to reference settings? I need it at 120W and at lower temperatures. Our country is extremely hot and electricity costs are quite high.
Extra:
I’m not interested in choosing the GTX 1060 because I’ll be gaming at 1080P and with Vulkan it can run at the same speed as the GTX 1060.
Anyway, I don’t really need any advice about getting the GTX 1060.
Well there's actually a physical button the the GPU that you press to change the bios. Also with thoughs two large fans on the GPU I'm sure it will run pretty cool. As for the 1080p I looked some benches for the Rx 470 and it's not quite able to lock down 60fps with ultra settings across the board so you would need to adjust some settings to get it to 60fps. The Sapphire+ Rx480 4gb on the other hand performs above that and can easily lock at 60fps 1080p and you could even game at 1440p at respectable levels plus 2 hdmi outputs so Be ready Incase you ever want to dabble
I wouldn't recommend any of the rx470 cards at their current price. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 480 4gb is the one you should consider. I understand what people will say about power consumption, but it has two separate BIOS settings—one for full power and another that reduces draw when the GPU is activated, which obviously affects performance. It costs $220, whereas the 470-series cards are all $199 except one that I found at $189. However, the reviews for that one were not very positive, and it seemed like a cheap attempt. A custom shroud only adds cost without much benefit. If the Rx 470s ever drop to around $160, I might suggest them, but right now the Rx 480 is the best option available.
Kunra Zether would not recommend any of the rx470 cards at their present price. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 480 4gb is the one you should consider. I understand what people will say about power consumption, but it features two separate BIOS settings—one for full performance and another that reduces power usage when the GPU is idle, even though it slightly lowers speed. At $220, it’s more expensive than the 470-series cards, which are all priced around $199 except for a recent Asus model at $189. I didn’t like the reviews on that one and thought it might just be a cheap build. A custom shroud would add extra cost without much benefit. If the Rx 470s drop to about $160, I could recommend them again, but right now the Rx 480 seems the best choice for me.
I also didn’t realize there were two different modes available. I don’t really need the extra power, so the RX 470 will suffice and it uses less energy than the RX 480. The two main priorities for me are achieving around 120W and reducing heat output. I’m open to a slight performance trade-off if it means lower power usage, especially since I plan to play at 1080p for the next 2 to 3 years.
Getting back to your suggestion, I should look for an option or setting that allows me to adjust the card’s clock speed. That would lower power draw and heat, but at the cost of a bit less performance. I might consider your advice if the price is reasonable in my country and I can wait for a holiday promotion.
Well there's actually a physical button the the GPU that you press to change the bios. Also with thoughs two large fans on the GPU I'm sure it will run pretty cool. As for the 1080p I looked some benches for the Rx 470 and it's not quite able to lock down 60fps with ultra settings across the board so you would need to adjust some settings to get it to 60fps. The Sapphire+ Rx480 4gb on the other hand performs above that and can easily lock at 60fps 1080p and you could even game at 1440p at respectable levels plus 2 hdmi outputs so Be ready Incase you ever want to dabble
I'll check the reviews if that's the situation. The power consumption for the RX 480 seems quite high, though. I'll still look at some benchmarks.
Kunra Zether :
Well there's actually a physical button the the GPU that you press to change the bios. Also with thoughs two large fans on the GPU I'm sure it will run pretty cool. As for the 1080p I looked some benches for the Rx 470 and it's not quite able to lock down 60fps with ultra settings across the board so you would need to adjust some settings to get it to 60fps. The Sapphire+ Rx480 4gb on the other hand performs above that and can easily lock at 60fps 1080p and you could even game at 1440p at respectable levels plus 2 hdmi outputs so Be ready Incase you ever want to dabble
Update: So yeah I did some research and I'm now leaning towards the Nitro+ RX 480 8GB version since it'll be future proof. And I check the Bios switch that you mentioned earlier. I get it now. So follow up quesiton. Can I down clock it even further? because I'll just bump up the clocks when I can play a game properly. I really dont mind High settings over ultra on 1080p.
jjbtexas :
There's no need to down clock when you aren't gaming, the card does that automatically.
I was planning on downclocking so it'll run on stock. Like at 120W. While gaming. Not really at idle.
With the launch of the gtx 1060 3gb cards, I would suggest one of them for your requirements right now. The 480 Sapphire +nitro 4gb model has throttling issues according to what I've heard, and it's no longer listed on Newegg except for the 8gb version. Some say a 3gb card isn't sufficient today, but I want to share my findings. Through research, I discovered the RX470 isn't powerful enough to utilize its 4GB VRAM effectively and often underperforms the gtx 1060 3gb in most games. The 3gb version even surpasses the RX 480 in many titles as well. Based on what I've read and the benchmarks, RX 470 8gb cards seem misleading if they can't reach their full capacity of 4GB. They likely won't get much benefit from an extra 4GB and may only boost to around 1900+.