Sapphire RX 470 Nitro + OC 4GB Review

The Sapphire RX 470 Nitro + OC 4GB is another well built card from AMD's leading GPU partner. We really didn't expect anything less.

Asus may have removed the backplate from their Strix version of the RX 470 but Sapphire decided it was important enough to keep. Our thermal imaging camera proved that Sapphires implementation eliminated PCB hot spots while the Asus card was running 28c hotter in positions close to the VRM's. It was a good decision by Sapphire to keep the backplate.

Sapphire also opted for a less aggressive fan profile and a higher thermal temperature profile, set at 75c. Due to this we noticed that the Sapphire RX 470 Nitro+ OC 4GB held a higher clock speed than the Asus RX 470 Strix under load, even though the Strix was actually clocked 10mhz higher. It is worth pointing out that Sapphire are the only partner at this point who have also overclocked the GDDR5 memory. This gives a minor boost to frame rates.

Unfortunately for Sapphire, they are the same victims of pricing concerns that I discussed in detail in KitGuru's Asus RX 470 Strix OC review also published today. This Sapphire RX 470 Nitro + OC will be priced at £188.99 inc vat on Overclockers UK making it £11 less expensive than Sapphire's own, faster RX 480 Nitro + OC. It's a fairly ludicrous market situation to be discussing and one that has caused much head scratching in the last week.

Is there is any reason to buy the Sapphire RX 470 Nitro + OC over the RX 480 Nitro + OC which we reviewed on July 27th (HERE)? Honestly, I can't find any. The RX 470 has 16 less texture units and 256 stream processors have been disabled. I think paying £11 to get those back is a worthwhile expenditure, especially when noise levels and cooling performance are basically identical between the solutions. Sapphire don't incorporate weak cooling solutions on any of these cards.

In the build up to launch today I have been talking with Sapphire, AMD and leading etail partners such as Overclockers UK trying to get my head around the price points. Unfortunately pricing is such a critical concern in this sector that it completely changes my recommendations.

We have been told that while these Nitro+ OC RX 470's are expensive there will be some cheaper ‘reference style' RX 470 options available. Sapphire for instance are releasing a reference design RX 470 for £164.99 inc vat. The clocks are set at 932mhz base, 1,216mhz boost with 7000mhz GDDR5. It is equipped with a single fan (dual ball bearing) reference style AMD blower cooling system (see image above). We can't comment on how good, or bad this version is, as we have only been sent the Nitro+ OC version of the RX 470. If you are further restricted in budget to £170, then this cheaper reference design is probably a decent option, but I need to raise a few concerns over potential noise levels and perhaps even some thermal throttling.

For me, this has been a rather disappointing, disorganised launch from AMD. Both Sapphire Nitro+ OC and Asus Strix RX 470 cards are fine implementations of a sub £200 gaming solution, but with the faster 4GB Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ OC available at £199 there really is only one card we can recommend to readers with a £200 budget.

Next up, I will be looking at some 8GB versions of the RX 470, which are actually more expensive than the Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ OC 4GB.

I was told two days before this launch directly by AMD that they couldn't comment on whether an 8GB RX 470 even existed, and within a few hours time, I had one on my lap, delivered straight from Asia by MSI. Yes, AMD wouldn't confirm the existence of a card that I had on my desk in front of me, supplied by one of their partners. AMD PR has been so utterly ill informed throughout this entire launch that I actually wonder if they communicate at all internally.

You will be able to buy the Sapphire RX 470 Nitro + OC 4GB from Overclockers UK for £188.99 inc vat. Our honest advice is to spend the extra £10 to get the Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ OC 4GB instead. It is a more powerful card well worth the marginal increase in price.

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Pros:

• great build quality.
• dual fan cooler works well.
• no coil whine.
• backplate.
• quiet.
• good overclocking headroom.

Cons:

• The superior Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ OC is only £11 more.

Kitguru says: The Sapphire RX 470 Nitro + OC 4GB is a card that performs well at 1080p. The price point would be more acceptable if Sapphire's own RX 480 Nitro+ OC 4GB wasn't just £10 more. You get more texture and shader power for half the price of a Domino's pizza.

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