Review and testing of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse graphics card
The review of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse graphics card is a detailed review of a powerful graphics card with high performance and an efficient cooling system. In the review, we reviewed the technical characteristics of the card, its power consumption and temperature conditions in different games. We also analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of this video card, comparing it with top models from other manufacturers.
We express our gratitude to the Telemart store for providing the video card for testing.
| APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS |
This subsection of our review reveals the main aspects of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse, such as appearance and hardware configuration.
| APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS |
The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse is a high end graphics card and it comes with quality packaging to protect it from damage during shipping and storage.
The carton package is very compact and modest, making it easy to transport from one place to another. The cardboard used for packaging seems strong and durable. Pictures and inscriptions on the packaging display the name of the video card, the manufacturer and some of its characteristics, which gives an understanding of what is inside.
When you open the package, you will notice that the video card is on a soft pad, which provides additional protection.
In addition to the graphics card itself, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse also comes with additional accessories to help you install it in your system.
One of these accessories are stands, which are designed to install a video card in your computer case. This will provide additional support for the graphics card and prevent it from coming off during use.
The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse video card has overall dimensions that occupy 3 PCI-E slots. This means that it will take up three slots on the back of your computer when installed.
If you have a small case or a limited number of PCI-E slots, then before purchasing this graphics card, you should make sure that it fits your system and that you have enough space to install it. Otherwise, you may need to select another graphics card with more compact dimensions.
This video card has three 8-pin power connectors, which are located on the top side of the card, closer to the back of the computer. They are used to supply additional power to the graphics card, which is necessary for its stable operation and performance.
The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse graphics card has 4 video outputs: 1 HDMI port and 3 DisplayPort ports. All of them support 8K resolution, which allows you to enjoy high quality images when connected to the appropriate monitors or TVs.
In addition to supporting 8K resolution, the video outputs of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse also support HDR (High Dynamic Range), which improves image contrast and color reproduction. This makes the card ideal for use with modern HDR monitors or TVs.
In addition, Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse also supports AMD FreeSync technology, which allows you to synchronize the refresh rate of the monitor screen with the frame rate displayed by the graphics card. This prevents stuttering and reduces latency (lag) in games, resulting in smoother and more comfortable gameplay.
All in all, with 4 video outputs and 8K support, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse is a great choice for those looking for a powerful and versatile graphics card for gaming or professional graphics and video work.
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse has an efficient cooling system that includes 6 heat pipes. The use of 6 heat pipes in the video card cooling system improves cooling efficiency and reduces the temperature of the video card elements when operating at maximum load.
The design of heat pipes includes a closed tube that is filled with a liquid, often freon or water with antifreeze. When the element at the end of the tube is heated, the liquid evaporates, rising up to the colder end. The liquid vapor then collides with the cooler surface of the tube, where it condenses, releasing heat. As a result, heat from the element is transferred to the tube, and then further to the cooling pad of the cooling system.
The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse has a special cutout on the rear metal plate that helps improve airflow through the heatsink array and improve the cooling efficiency of the graphics card.
The back metal plate on a graphics card plays an important role in its cooling system, as it is part of the heatsink array that draws heat away from the hot elements of the graphics card. The cutout on the back plate creates an additional hole for airflow through the heatsink, which allows for more efficient cooling of the graphics card and lowering its temperature when operating at maximum load.
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse is built on RDNA 3 architecture and has 6144 cores, which makes it very powerful and suitable for the most demanding tasks.
The maximum GPU frequency of this instance is 2500 MHz, but thanks to AMD Smart Access Memory acceleration and other technologies such as Boost Clock, the graphics card can sometimes reach up to 3000 MHz when running games or other demanding applications.
The graphics card is also equipped with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, which has a very high frequency and bandwidth. With a memory bandwidth of 0.959 TB/s, you can achieve high performance when working with large amounts of data, such as 4K and 8K videos, high-quality textures in games, and more.
The combination of a powerful GPU, large memory and high bandwidth makes the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse one of the most powerful and advanced graphics cards on the market, suitable for the most demanding tasks and games.
| HEATING AND POWER CONSUMPTION |
The gluttony test of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse was carried out in conjunction with an Intel Core i9 13900K 3.2 GHz + Z690 AORUS MASTER in a closed Thermaltake Core V51 case. Now let's summarize these temperature and power consumption indicators in tables, with the results we obtained earlier:
As we can see, the power consumption of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse graphics card is about 360 watts in the FurMark benchmark and 359 watts in games, which is in line with the reference specification.
The Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse tops out at around 65 degrees in games and 66 degrees in the stress test, which is also within the reference spec.
| TEST PART |
| Test configuration | |
| test stands |
ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi 32 GB DDR5 6000@6400 CL30 KingstonFURY Renegade Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Case MPG CORELIQUID K240 |
| multimedia equipment |
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 |
| Software configuration |
|
| operating system | Windows 10 21H2/ Windows 11(Alder Lake) |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 531.29 WHQL AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 23.3.1 |
| Monitoring programs |
MSI Afterburner |
| GAMES |
| God of War |
Testing was carried out at maximum quality settings.
Comparing FPS in God of War, we can conclude that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse shows good performance, being on par with Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition graphics cards.
However, the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC is the most powerful graphics card on the list and performs best in God of War. However, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse is still a reasonably powerful graphics card and can deliver good gaming performance at high graphics settings.
| A Plague Tale: Requiem |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings (with ray tracing).
Comparing FPS in A Plague Tale: Requiem, we can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition.
However, the Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC has higher FPS in this game than the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse. Also, Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC provide even better performance in this game.
In general, we can conclude that the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse has a fairly good performance in the game A Plague Tale: Requiem, however, there are higher performance graphics cards in this game, such as Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC.
| Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings (with ray tracing).
Comparing FPS in Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, we can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition.
In addition, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse has higher in-game FPS than the Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC and Asus TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition.
However, Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC show even better performance in this game.
| The Callisto Protocol |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings (with ray tracing).
Comparing FPS in The Callisto Protocol, we can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs well compared to ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition and Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC.
However, the Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC also have high FPS in this game, on par with the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse.
However, it is worth noting that the performance difference between the graphics cards in this game is not critical, and all of them are able to provide a fairly high level of performance.
| Forspoken |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings (with ray tracing).
Comparing FPS in Forspoken, you can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition and Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC.
| dead space |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings (with ray tracing).
Comparing FPS in Dead Space, you can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC and ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition.
In addition, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse has high FPS in this game, on par with the Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC.
However, the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC shows even better performance in this game.
| Hogwarts Legacy |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings (with ray tracing).
Comparing FPS in Hogwarts Legacy, you can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition.
However, Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC, Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC also have higher FPS in this game than Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse.
| returnal |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings with RT.
Comparing FPS in Returnal, you can see that Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition and Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC.
However, the Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC offer even better performance in this game than the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse.
| Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Demo |
Testing took place at maximum quality settings with RT.
Comparing FPS in Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Demo, Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs better than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition, Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC.
| Diablo IV Beta |
Testing was carried out at maximum quality settings.
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse performs well based on Diablo IV Beta at 4K resolution and maximum settings, delivering higher FPS than ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition and Asus ROG GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC.
However, the Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC and Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC show even higher levels of performance in this game than the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse.
| CONCLUSION |
Based on the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse review, we can conclude that this is a powerful graphics card that has high technical specifications and excellent performance in most modern games.
In games and benchmarks, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse delivered consistent and strong performance, outperforming the Radeon RX 7900 XT OC Edition and GeForce RTX 4070 Ti in most games.
However, the graphics card is inferior in performance to more powerful graphics cards such as the GeForce RTX 4080 and GeForce RTX 4090.
All in all, the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse is an excellent choice for those who are looking for a powerful graphics card with good performance in most modern games, but do not want to spend big money on top models.
Advantages of Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse :
- High performance in most modern games
- 8K resolution support on 4 video outputs
- Affordable price compared to top models
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse Disadvantages :
- Similar in temperature, power consumption and performance to the reference model