Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X review: Big, badass, beautiful

Best Prices Today: Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X

$2,899.00

Big, badass graphics playing cards don’t get a lot larger or extra badass than the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X—the primary Sapphire GPU to sport the premium Vapor-X model in practically a decade.

While AMD’s reference version of the XTX sticks to an affordable 2.5-slot design, Sapphire threw restraint out the window with the extremely personalized Nitro+. This monster swells to a bit quad-slot peak, then provides an additional 8-pin energy connector to gasoline even loftier efficiency. It’s the quickest 7900 XTX we’ve examined and it runs cool and quiet whereas trying very good. This is without doubt one of the most spectacular customized graphics playing cards I’ve ever laid arms on.

If your PC can match this beast, and your pockets can settle for its $1,200 price ticket—a $200 premium over the reference mannequin—then you definately’ll love every part in regards to the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X. Let’s dig in.

Further studying: The best graphics cards for PC gaming

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Specs, value, and options

There isn’t an excessive amount of to say in regards to the Nitro+’s technical aspects, because it’s working on the identical spectacular Radeon RX 7900 XTX chip because the reference mannequin, paired with an ample 24GB of quick GDDR6 reminiscence. Sapphire tweaked and tuned it for much more energy, nonetheless.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Nitro+ 7900 Vapor-X screams together with a blistering 2,510MHz Game Clock, a considerable uplift over the reference 2,300MHz speeds. That matches the equally premium XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX, however the Sapphire card’s extra environment friendly cooler lets it squeak out clear victories throughout our gaming take a look at suite, even when solely to the tune of some additional (and virtually unnoticeable) frames per second. The baseline 7900 XTX is already the second-most highly effective GPU on the planet, trailing solely the $1,600 GeForce RTX 4090 in uncooked would possibly, and the Nitro+ cranks it to 11.

Doing so requires extra literal energy, nonetheless. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X calls for a trio of 8-pin energy connectors, up from the reference model’s pair, and it’s rated to attract 420 watts of energy. The reference XTX attracts 355W. In the actual world, which means the Nitro+ 7900 XTX consumes extra energy than even the RTX 4090 throughout gaming periods.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The card features a three-way BIOS change that modifications the cardboard’s conduct, nonetheless. The default place enables you to hop between the Nitro+’s twin BIOS choices utilizing Sapphire’s Trixx utility, fairly than having to manually flip the BIOS change on the cardboard. If you don’t need to set up that software program, nonetheless, the second place sticks to the default high-performance BIOS, whereas the third place is a lower-power mode that drops to reference speeds in alternate for shaving 50W off the facility draw. The default BIOS runs so cool and quiet that there’s no purpose to suggest the low-power choice except energy draw is a serious concern—and whether it is, you shouldn’t be shopping for a 7900 XTX to start with.

The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X’s actual draw is its customized design. There’s a lot {hardware} in right here, Sapphire tossed a GPU assist bracket into the field to maintain your graphics card from doubtlessly sagging in its motherboard slot over time!

Sapphire

Let’s begin with aesthetics: The Nitro+ 7900 XTX appears to be like completely lovely, sporting a deliciously clear all-metal design, punctuated by raised, full-length RGB bars on either side of the heatsink. The bars by some means shine with stunning vibrancy, with rounded edges that add to its visible cohesion. The default sweeping rainbow sample fills your case with shimmering mild since Sapphire slapped the bars on either side. It’s attractive, albeit in a completely completely different approach than the also-gorgeous XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX, which went in an RGB-less course as a substitute.

The Nitro+ 7900 XTX’s true secret sauce lies beneath the hood although. Sapphire completely stuffed this behemoth stuffed with cooling know-how. Sapphire’s webpage for the Nitro+ goes into far deeper element, however at a excessive degree, the die-cast aluminum body holds a trio of axial followers with twin ball-bearing designs. They assist Sapphire’s rad Quick Connect characteristic, which helps you to rapidly and simply disconnect particular person followers in the event that they want restore. Better but, they cease spinning utterly when the GPU isn’t below excessive load. That means the Nitro+ 7900 XTX is totally silent if you aren’t gaming or performing different GPU-stressing work.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Another key perk: Sapphire slapped a second HDMI 2.1 port on the Nitro+, doubling up on the reference design. VR customers, take word! It’s joined by a pair of DisplayPort 2.1 connections, although Sapphire eschewed the reference mannequin’s USB-C port to incorporate the additional HDMI. It additionally consists of useful ARGB and fan headers if you wish to hook it extra deeply into the remainder of your system.

Of course, the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X helps all of AMD’s superior Radeon software program options, like FSR, Radeon Anti-Lag, Smart Access Memory, and extra. But sufficient chit-chat. Let’s get to the benchmarks!

Our take a look at system

We take a look at graphics playing cards on an AMD Ryzen 5900X PC used completely for benchmarking GPUs. We now take a look at with PCIe Resizable BAR (often known as Smart Access Memory on Ryzen programs) energetic, as most fashionable gaming PCs launched within the final 4 years assist the performance-boosting characteristic, both natively or through a motherboard firmware replace. Nvidia additionally recommends turning on the optionally available “Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling” choice in Windows to let the RTX 40-series stretch its legs to the fullest, so we’ve made that tweak as properly. Most of the {hardware} was offered by the producers, however we bought the storage ourselves.

We’re evaluating the $1,200 Sapphire Nitro+ towards the $1,000 reference Radeon RX 7900 XTX in addition to XFX’s equally premium $1,100 Speedster Merc customized card, as what we’re actually searching for right here is the Nitro+’s efficiency as a customized XTX mannequin. We’ve additionally included different GPUs which might be price contemplating if you’re searching for wonderful 4K and 1440p gaming.

We take a look at a wide range of video games spanning varied engines, genres, vendor sponsorships (Nvidia, AMD, and Intel), and graphics APIs (DirectX 9, 11, DX12, and Vulkan), to attempt to signify a full vary of efficiency potential. Each recreation is examined utilizing its in-game benchmark, then sanity checked by Nvidia’s FrameView tool, on the highest potential graphics presets except in any other case famous, with VSync, body charge caps, real-time ray tracing or DLSS results, and FreeSync/G-Sync disabled, together with every other vendor-specific applied sciences like FidelityFX instruments or Nvidia Reflex. We’ve additionally enabled temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) to push these playing cards to their limits. We run every benchmark a minimum of 3 times and record the typical consequence for every take a look at.

Rather than rolling out our full testing suite for this evaluation, we caught to a less complicated lineup that’s consultant of a wide range of APIs (DX9, DX11, DX12, Vulkan), to indicate the Nitro+’s efficiency throughout varied eventualities. Be certain to take a look at our preliminary Radeon RX 7900 XTX evaluation for a broader, deeper take a look at the GPU’s basic efficiency. (In brief, it beats the $1,200 RTX 4080 in conventional video games for a a lot cheaper price, and matches the RTX 30-series’ ray-tracing efficiency, however lags far behind the RTX 40-series in ray tracing. It additionally lacks a DLSS 3 Frame gen competitor.)

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Gaming efficiency benchmarks

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Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Brad Chacos/IDG

Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Power and thermals

We take a look at energy draw by looping the F1 22 benchmark at 4K for about 20 minutes after we’ve benchmarked every part else (to heat up the GPU) and noting the very best studying on our Watts Up Pro meter, which measures the facility consumption of our complete take a look at system. The preliminary a part of the race, the place all competing vehicles are onscreen concurrently, tends to be essentially the most demanding portion. 

This isn’t a worst-case take a look at; this can be a GPU-bound recreation working at a GPU-bound decision to gauge efficiency when the graphics card is sweating arduous. If you’re taking part in a recreation that additionally hammers the CPU, you might see increased general system energy attracts. Consider your self warned.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Sapphire Nitro+ pushes AMD’s already-power hungry Radeon 7900 XTX to new heights, however doing so requires even increased peak energy draw than the monstrous RTX 4090. That’s a little bit of a bummer, however you in all probability aren’t shopping for a fire-breathing 7900 XTX for its effectivity.

We take a look at thermals by leaving GPU-Z open in the course of the F1 22 energy draw take a look at, noting the very best most temperature on the finish.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX’s superior Vapor-X cooler does stellar work right here. Technically, it runs barely hotter than the XFX Speedster Merc, however each ship completely frigid outcomes that overclockers will recognize, and the Nitro+’s gentler fan curve really sounds even quieter than the already borderline-silent Merc. These are each excellent customized designs that far outshine the undersized 7900 XTX reference mannequin, although you pay for it in value, energy consumption, and sheer measurement.

Should you purchase the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X?

If you largely follow conventional video games and desire a barn-burner of a graphics card for tons of of {dollars} lower than the RTX 4080, AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a superb alternative, as our unique evaluation detailed in depth. And if you wish to splurge for a high-end, impeccably designed customized model of the XTX, Sapphire’s Nitro+ is properly price contemplating. It’s blisteringly quick, cool, quiet, and completely implausible.

It gained’t be for everybody. The Nitro+ is totally huge and attracts extra energy than even the RTX 4090—however massive, badass, customized playing cards are what you anticipate from flagships like this. If that worries you, think about the reference XTX’s smaller 2.5-slot, 2x 8-pin design as a substitute. The value may additionally offer you pause. Sapphire’s $200 premium feels justifiable for a customized design this magnificent, but it surely additionally bumps it proper up towards the GeForce RTX 4080’s (terribly high) starting price. The Nitro+ is quicker, and also you gained’t get a RTX 4080 just like the Nitro+’s spectacular high quality with out spending nearer to $1,400 or $1,500, however in the event you place the next premium on ray-tracing efficiency and DLSS 3 Frame Gen over card design and general high quality of life, you would possibly—would possibly—go for a “cheap” 4080 over the splendidly baller Nitro+. (I wouldn’t.)

Brad Chacos/IDG

Staying in AMD-land, in the event you’re choosing a high-end 7900 XTX, the aesthetics and road pricing are the largest differentiators between the $1,200 Nitro+ and the $1,100 XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX. They’re each face-meltingly quick, enticing, and splendidly quiet and funky. I personally want the Nitro+’s futuristic industrial look and shimmering dual-side RGB bars, however the Merc is a looker of a completely completely different selection. Go the place your eyes (and pockets) information you.

Bottom line? The Sapphire Nitro+ appears to be like attractive, runs frigid and damned-near lifeless silent, and it’s the quickest XTX we’ve examined (albeit by a hair). If you’re available in the market for a four-figure graphics card that’s really well worth the cash (cough in contrast to the RTX 4080 cough), we extremely beneficial this feature. It’s one of the best Radeon provides.