gpu advice

[fudgecakes999]

Currently sorting out my first pc build and have sorted out most of it but need to decide on gpu, current pc possible pc build:

9700x/9800x3d
msi b850 edge ti
64 gb ram
850/1000w psu
2/4tb m.2 drives

i dont need advice on the build only on the gpu, i have choosen 9070 xt and sticking with that but need to choose between brands and models, will be playing at 1440p.

choices are :

XFX Mercury OC RGB Radeon £650

PowerColor Red Devil OC £690

Sapphire PURE Radeon £600

need to find out my best option based on performance, noise,overclocking if needed,cooling and reliability.

[Alexcalibur]

I can't speak to the 9070 XT specifically, but I have always had good results with noise/cooling/overclocking with XFX AMD cards

[Eigenvektor]

Maybe have a look at these videos:

Spoiler

I faced the same choice a while ago an ultimately went with the Pure. The Mercury is supposedly quite noisy.

 

In terms of noise, the Pure is really quiet and my model undervolts fairly well (that's silicon lottery though)

[fudgecakes999]

8 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

Maybe have a look at these videos:

  Reveal hidden contents

I faced the same choice a while ago an ultimately went with the Pure. The Mercury is supposedly quite noisy.

 

In terms of noise, the Pure is really quiet and my model undervolts fairly well (that's silicon lottery though)

thanks for the reply, checked out the videos still not sure.

[DNooby]

As long as you don't get the one that has a 2x6 power connector you should be good. Personally I feel the heavy OC variants aren't worth the markup, specially for the performance difference & power draw they have. The light OC's ones are fine ( 314 OOB ). They also only need 2 PCIe connectors as well.

 

Up to you and your preferences though, MAX performance, heat, and noise* is a draw to many, others prefer efficiency and power limit their card for stable clocks and temps.

 

As for brands, the general consensus is they're all pretty decent.

[Eigenvektor]

2 hours ago, fudgecakes999 said:

thanks for the reply, checked out the videos still not sure.

As I said, I own the Pure, so maybe I'm biased towards it, but it would get my recommendation. It's quiet, performance differences are moot and it's the most affordable card on offer.

 

Additional thoughts:

Spoiler

Like you, I've watched and read a ton of comparisons before making my decision, but none really helped. My key takeaway here would be: there simply is no standout model, hence no clear winner. That's why I ultimately went with a model that all reviews praised for being near silent, while also being around MSRP at the time.

 

Performance between all models is more or less identical. The "fastest" factory OC models draw significantly more power for, at best, around +3%. That's not worth a price premium nor the increase in heat and noise, imho.

 

AMD cards generally don't care too much about overclocking. You'll get better results from undervolting. Which also explains why factory OC models make such a poor showing.

 

In my case I combined power limit with undervolt to reduce power draw while minimizing performance loss. I reduced power draw from 317W (Pure's factory OC) to 213W, while only losing roughly 3% in performance. Undervolt with no power limit gained me roughly 3%. Power limit without undervolt loses roughly 9%