AMD partner Sapphire has launched a new line of Radeon RX 500 graphics cards. The Sapphire PULSE range is said to focus "on what matters most for PC gamers," those things being "performance, durability and great value". The new range, a peg down from the Sapphire NITRO+ models, as featured in our first RX 580 review.
Despite being Sapphire's second tier offerings the PULSE series still offers the following premium features:
- Black Diamond Chokes 4 (RX 580 and 570)
- High-polymer aluminium capacitors
- Fuse protection
- Semi passive cooling via Sapphire Intelligent Fan Control III
- Aluminium backplate
- Twin HDMI ports for VR
Below I've made a summary bullet point list of all the new PULSE cards announced by Sapphire:
- RX 580: 1440p gaming @ 60 FPS, Dual-X cooling with Quick Connect feature for easy fan swap, 2304 stream processors, boost-clocked at 1366MHz, 8GB of VRAM (also available in a 4GB version).
- RX 570: 1080p gaming @ 60 FPS, Dual-X cooling with Quick Connect feature for easy fan swap, 2048 stream processors that run at a 1284MHz boost clock, 4GB of GDDR5.
- RX 570 ITX: Gaming on small-form-factor PCs, single fan, 2048 stream processors that run at a 1244MHz boost clock, 4GB of GDDR5.
- All-new RX 550: Entry level powered by modern Polaris GPU, single fan, with 512 stream processors, boosts up to 1206MHz, offered in both 2GB/4GB GDDR5 versions. This card is said to be "up to 5x faster than an Intel Integrated Graphics (HD 530) and up to 2x faster than the previous generation Radeon R7 250 card". AMD launched the RX 550 yesterday.
In other news, Sapphire announced a strategic partnership with ASRock. The pair will "work together to launch cutting edge motherboard, CPU, and VGA card configurations that respond to market demand, whilst at the same time delivering superb price/ performance value". Beyond this announcement, it will be interesting to see any material difference going forward.
Sapphire says its PULSE graphics card range is shipping now, worldwide.
