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Can't make my mind up!

rallyslag

rallyslag

rallyslag

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surrey
I'm looking at upgrading my Sapphire Nitro RX 6800.. I see the Sapphire pulse RX 9070XT is £575.99 on this site. But i can get the ASRock RX 9070XT Taichi OC on another site for £598.99. On the face of it, it seems a no brainer. Only £25 more for the premium model. But here is my issue. The Taichi seems to suffer from coil wine a fair amount. And it has the dreaded 12 pin connector. So please help me decide. !!
 
I've got the pulse and I think it's an excellent card. No coil wine and pretty quiet too. It performs great in my AM4 system with a 5800X3D. I'm looking for another card (see my thread) and the only other 9070XT I would get would be the Sapphire Nitro version. They just make quality cards. Was tempted to pick up the 5070TI but if this pulse is towards the lower end of the stack performance wise then the Nitro must be banging. You'd not regret the pulse.
 
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rallyslag said:
And it has the dreaded 12 pin connector.
Click to expand...
If you were going nvidia you'd be stuck with it, but since you're not, I'd just get the Pulse.

I think TPU reviewed both models and from what I can see there's not that much difference in cooling performance:

(cooler tables)
www.techpowerup.com

ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi OC Review - Excellent Cooling

The ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi features the most powerful cooler of all the models that we've tested so far, resulting in a whisper-quiet gaming experience. It also comes with the highest power limit and biggest factory overclock, which makes it the fastest RX 9070 XT.
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com

(conclusion)
Our apples-to-apples noise normalized cooler comparison tests shows that the Taichi's cooling solution is the strongest of all the cards that we've tested so far. However, the difference is small, with only a 3.5°C gap between all coolers—all RX 9070 XTs that we've tested so far have really strong cooling options.
Click to expand...
www.techpowerup.com

ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi OC Review - Excellent Cooling

The ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi features the most powerful cooler of all the models that we've tested so far, resulting in a whisper-quiet gaming experience. It also comes with the highest power limit and biggest factory overclock, which makes it the fastest RX 9070 XT.
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com

Edit:

You can see in HUB's roundup that the Pulse has a lower board power (also reflected in TPU's power numbers), so the Taichi's cooler is better than maybe the table suggests. The pulse has a good default profile though (for balance between noise and temps), which Sapphire are normally good at.
 
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Sapphire have been the top OEM for AMD GPU's for as long as I can remember, even their entry level cards are often better than supposedly higher tier competition.

That said, you should always take a purchase on a case by case basis, no matter how good a company is it'll still make the odd **** up or bad decision here and there.
 
deviation said:
Sapphire over ASRock any day!
I don't really see what's more 'premium' about a budget brand, over a better one at a lesser price, and if it's known to have coil wine, that's a hard nope! :P
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Asrock ceased to be a budget brand many moons ago, once upon a time they were considered such due to being the proverbial (lesser) sister company to Asus.

They were predominantly a motherboard manufacturer and have had some excellent releases over the years, some even being lauded as the best options by high end oc'ers. They've been branching out recently into the likes of power supplies and GPU's and have some excellent products in those categories, the 9000X3D series issues were unfortunate but also a little overblown and as I mentioned you'll never find a company that hasn't messed up in a major way over the years. Nvidia still has massive mindshare and its literally had periods where some of its driver releases were killing graphics cards.

Funnily enough the only PC hardware company on the market I wont touch anymore is Asus, some solid products but far too many instances of abysmal customer support, lies, and a refusal to honour cashback schemes.
 
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Gray2233 said:
Asrock ceased to be a budget brand many moons ago, once upon a time they were considered such due to being the proverbial (lesser) sister company to Asus.
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Liked their products and had an Asrock Dual Sata 939 board, a quite magnificent product that helped massively with the transition between AGP and PCI-E graphics cards because it had BOTH slots on a single motherboard. And both of them worked flawlessly.

Love Asrock, but I think Sapphire edges it in this instance.
 
Thank's for all the replies, It seems that you all think that the Sapphire is the better bet. I must admit that my last two cards have both been Sapphire nitro cards. So i am drawn towards them. But i have never tried their entry level card. As for the Asrock card, i am still split. I have the ASrock Taichi x570 mother board an it is great. Also the rx 9070 xt Taichi is there premium model so am assuming it is meant to rival the Sapphire Nitro? What would be easier is if that card was a bit cheaper, then i would not be having this problem .I would just buy that...
 
I've a Taichi since release, it's a great card, it's my 2nd Asrock card previous being a 6900XT still going strong in another machine. Having a owned lots of Sapphires over the years I don't see any difference in build quality (as highlighted by the Techpowerup tear downs). I also haven't experienced any more coil whine (ie. little to none) than I have in previous cards, be they Sapphire or whatever (most cards will squeal at very high refresh to some extent, my Sapphire Vega 56 being one).

Having said all that if the 12 pin connector gives you cause for doubt, I don't think you can go wrong with the Pulse (though it is a base model card). But I think it's a non-issue with the amount of current the 9070XT draws.

Edit - by "base" I mean, no dual BIOS, RGB and a lighter cooler and a lower wattage cap. It's still a great card. The Taichi for c.£25 more is a bargain though.
 
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Mercurial said:
I've a Taichi since release, it's a great card, it's my 2nd Asrock card previous being a 6900XT still going strong in another machine. Having a owned lots of Sapphires over the years I don't see any difference in build quality (as highlighted by the Techpowerup tear downs). I also haven't experienced any more coil whine (ie. little to none) than I have in previous cards, be they Sapphire or whatever (most cards will squeal at very high refresh to some extent, my Sapphire Vega 56 being one).

Having said all that if the 12 pin connector gives you cause for doubt, I don't think you can go wrong with the Pulse (though it is a base model card). But I think it's a non-issue with the amount of current the 9070XT draws.

Edit - by "base" I mean, no dual BIOS, RGB and a lighter cooler and a lower wattage cap. It's still a great card. The Taichi for c.£25 more is a bargain though.
Click to expand...
I actually think i am trying to talk myself out of the Taichi for some reason . As you say for £25 extra it is a bargain. Well relatively. If the Nitro plus was the same price i would go for that. But can not justify over £100 premium.
 
Card turned up today. Got it installed. It's a big bugger for what is essentially an upper mid range card.Had a bit of a play with the fan curve to get it cool and quiet. Tomorrow i'll get an undervolt and O/C done . Now I'm of down the pub for a couple to relax. I paid for Saturday delivery but did not get it till today,and during that time i read some worrying thing about the place i bought it from . but all turned out alright, if not a day late:D
 
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