I don't get all the negative comments on the reference RX 5700.

[Sat1600]

So I just finished a new build. I got an  Ryzen 7 2700x and the plan was to get a used GTX 1070 from ebay for around $200.

 

When I was in microcenter picking up the CPU I noticed an "open box" reference rx 5700 for $240. I have a microcenter charge card that took off 5% and I sold the game code for $25 so I'm at $200.

 

I was a little hesitant because I heard that the reference cards were hot and loud. Well I have been running it for a few hours including superposition and heaven benchmarks plus some games of fortnite. The card never went over 75c and the fans hit a max of 1900 rpm. Most of the time the card was closer to 70c and 1600rpm.

 

The rig is in a deepcool matrexx 50 with 5 cheapo uphere fans from Amazon.

 

So why all the hate for the reference cards?

[lmeneses]

I think its mainly because cards with fans rather than blowers can run cooler running at higher speeds without being so loud and hot. This is if you want to push the card as far as it can go, but, if not, like me, then its a great card imo, and I enjoy using it 

[TheBahrbarian]

Never owned one so can't say for sure but I would also assume even if the temps your getting aren't crazy high, the fan is making a lot of noise to keep it there

[Firewrath9]

The blower 5700 is fine, and is good. However, open air models are just better. It uses a 250W TDP cooler on a 180W card

 

However, on the 5700 XT blower is downright TERRIBLE, 90-100c, loud, etc.

[Jurrunio]

because reference 5700 doesnt have the overly aggressive voltage profile used to match the higher frequency on the 5700XT? Most custom 5700 use the same cooler as the 5700XT tho so those will be even more impressive.

[Enderman]

rpm is not a measure of loudness....

[Sat1600]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

rpm is not a measure of loudness....

I know. But the higher the fans ramp up the louder it gets. At 1100 rpm (idle) the card is silent. Even at 1600 I can't hear it over the cpu and case fans. I don't really hear it until 1800 rpm

[dizmo]

For $200 I wouldn't care how loud it was

Good find. I wonder if you can flash the XT bios to it...

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Sat1600 said:

I know. But the higher the fans ramp up the louder it gets. At 1100 rpm (idle) the card is silent. Even at 1600 I can't hear it over the cpu and case fans. I don't really hear it until 1800 rpm

Sounds like you have loud cpu and case fans.

btw anything that moves is not silent.

[TheBahrbarian]

1 minute ago, Sat1600 said:

I know. But the higher the fans ramp up the louder it gets. At 1100 rpm (idle) the card is silent. Even at 1600 I can't hear it over the cpu and case fans. I don't really hear it until 1800 rpm

I think that's generally how blower style fans are. They are really quite at idle/low rpms, but under load when you approach high rpms the noise they make ramps up way faster than standard fans.