Best RX 570 Graphics Card – Buyer’s Guide

(Interactive RX 570 aftermarket card comparison chart – click on each row to find the latest price from Amazon.com)

AMD has nothing on NVIDIA’s high-end range of video cards (and we really hope the upcoming AMD Vega will make us swallow our words!), but that doesn’t mean they just stand there and accept that fate – until they manage to create a competitive card to give the GTX 1080 or the Titan a run for their money, AMD is actively working to secure the lower-end parts of the spectrum with the RX 500 series.

The main goal of the AMD RX 500 series was to give the Polaris architecture another go by polishing and optimizing it, and that’s exactly what AMD did. The chipmaker learned from its experience with the RX 400 series, and was able to improve upon the already successful design. Since everything else was in place production-wise, and no further investments were necessary to bring the cards to life, AMD was able to price the RX 500 cards within the same price range as its predecessors, whilst providing increased performance.

We have already reviewed the RX 580 a while back, and now it’s time for its little brother, the RX 570, to show us what it’s got. Designed with 1080p gaming in mind, the AMD RX 570 is set to provide an excellent gaming experience at Full HD resolutions and below, with most current titles being playable at their highest settings, or very close to it. Under the hood, the RX 570 very balanced, packing in the same configuration we saw in the RX 470: 32 compute units, 2048 stream processors and 128 texture units, along with 4GB of VRAM (although some rare 8GB models also exist). What’s changed, though, are the operating frequencies: the RX 570 comes with 1168MHz base / 1244MHz boost, as opposed to the 470’s 926MHz base / 1206MHz boost clocks. The difference may not seem so significant, but it is enough to make the RX 570 able to take its competitor, the NVIDIA’s GTX 1060, head on, and with an aggressive pricing strategy that places the RX 570 in the sub-$200 price range, it can cause NVIDIA some serious headaches. If you’re looking to get an RX 570, you’re in the right place: we’ve put together selection of the best RX 570 versions out there – check’em out!

Best Value RX 570 – PowerColor Red Dragon RX 570

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A lot of people are building gaming rigs on a tight budget, and don’t care much about fancy features as long as they can get the most performance out of their components. If you fit the description, the PowerColor Red Dragon RX 570 might be just what you’re looking for. PowerColor’s implementation is one of the rawest versions of the RX 570 out there, but also one of the cheapest. For a price tag of roughly $175, you get the most basic version of the RX 570 chip, with clocks very close to the reference specs (boost clock for the Red Dragon RX 570 is 1250MHz – only 6MHz over the official specs) and a TDP of roughly 120W (which is well below the official specs of 150W).

A pleasant surprise comes in the cooling department, where PowerColor opted for a dual-fan design featuring two 80mm fans. Considering the fact that the RX 570 is not a beast of a chip, the hefty cooler should keep it cool and quiet without much effort. As an added bonus, the PowerColor Red Dragon also comes with a backplate and the Mute Fan technology, which allows the fans to stop when GPU temperature is below 60°C, making the card dead silent. All these are features that are typically present in fancier implementations, but rarely seen on low-end ones, so kudos to PowerColor for making it happen.

Best RX 570 for overclocking – MSI Radeon RX 570 Gaming X 4G

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With the second revisions of Polaris, AMD already pushed its chips near their limits, but a good implementation can always provide some overclocking headroom. In this case, said good implementation comes from MSI, in the form of its famous Gaming X design.

The custom PCB design used by MSI, along with their acclaimed Military Class 4 components, provides the RX 570 chip with a very solid platform to unleash its potential. The MSI Radeon RX 570 Gaming X 4G already comes with some impressive frequencies out of the box: 1244MHz in Silent Mode, 1281MHz in Gaming Mode and 1293MHz in its automated OC Mode. However, with a bit of patience and some trial-and-error, the RX 570 Gaming X can go quite high, as pointed out by our friends at bit-tech.net, which managed to push the MSI Gaming X RX 570 to 1431MHz core clock and 7.6Gbps memory clock in their tests. Depending on your luck at the silicone lottery, you might be able to go even higher.

Performance aside, MSI’s exceptional implementation shines in all other departments as well: power consumption, temperature and noise. A typical high-end system featuring the MSI RX 570, without overclocking, a ton of fans or other power-hungry consumers draws approximately 70W of power when idle and a maximum of roughly 300W. Temperature-wise, MSI’s Twin Frozr cooler does an exceptional job, keeping the RX 570 in the 70°C ballpark under heavy loads, with the noise level being at a very reasonable 39dB with the fans in Auto mode. That’s a clear indicator that, even with some serious overclocking, the MSI RX 570 Gaming X won’t get hot or loud.

Quietest RX 570 – XFX RX 570 RS 4GB XXX Edition

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Some people like their systems roaring to express their power, others like stealthy companions. If you fall into the latter category, yet still want a card that can deliver the full power of the RX 570 chip while remaining quiet in the process, the XFX RX 570 RS 4GB XXX Edition is definitely worth your attention.

XFX opted for a low-key approach with the RX 570 XXX Edition, so the card doesn’t exactly stand out due to its clocks, with only 1264MHz base clock and a fairly modest 1284MHz OC core frequency, while the memory runs at a standard 7000MHz, with 7100MHz in OC mode respectively. What does make the XFX RX 570 RS XXX Edition stand out, though, is its cooling system. XFX went all in with it, going with their proven unibody heatsink design. Unlike other implementations from other brands, XFX’s approach provides superior cooling not only to the GPU chip, but only to the VRM area and the memory chips. A custom aluminum backplate provides the last touch in terms of cooling and design.

The hefty cooler keeps this RX 570 dead silent under low to medium loads, with the fans going in action over temperatures of 60°C only. Take the the Radeon CHILL Technology into account, which allows the card to dynamically adjust the frame rates in supported games to optimum values to keep the cards to minimum stress levels, and you have a card that’s inaudible in most conditions. When things get serious, and the fans do have to kick in, they do it in a silent yet efficient manner, keeping the card within a 75°C range without going over 36-37dB.

Best RX 570 for SFF PC builds – Sapphire Pulse ITX Radeon RX 570

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Small form factor PCs are no longer used just as multimedia centers – they are now miniaturized versions of regular PCs, with matching processing power, including the graphics department. If you’re building a SFF PC and you’re looking for a SFF version of the RX 570, Sapphire has you covered with the Sapphire Pulse ITX RX 570.

With a length of just 170mm, the Pulse ITX RX 570 should fit comfortably even in the smallest SFF cases, while still delivering the full power of a full-size RX 570. To fit in with SFF specs, the Pulse ITX also comes with a 6-pin power connector instead of the regular 8-pin present on other versions. As a result, the overall power consumption of the card falls below 150W even under the heaviest of loads. The card’s operating frequencies are not bragging material, at 1244MHz Boost and no automatic overclock. Manual overclock may be possible, but given the card’s power configuration and its one-fan cooling solution (which is enough to keep it cool in normal conditions, but may not cope well when stressed more), it may not be a good idea to push the card above its default specs.

Despite its modest cooling system, the Sapphire RX 570 ITX can maintain reasonable temperatures below 80°C, with its noise levels also staying within acceptable ranges of up to 42dB – it’s not the quietest video card out there, but certainly not the loudest either.

Best RX 570 aftermarket card of 2017 – Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 8GB

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If you’re set on the RX 570, and demand the absolute best, look no further than the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 8GB. This rare version features 8GB of video memory as its standout feature, which might seem overkill for a GPU that’s targeting the Full HD segment, but it does give you bragging rights on top of its superb performance, and you can never have too much memory anyway, so it’s a win-win.

Memory is not the only department where the Nitro+ RX 570 makes an impression, though – the card comes with a nice 1340MHz Boost clock, and thanks to its hefty cooling system and its robust power system (the Nitro+ comes with 8-pin + 6-pin configuration), this RX 570 can take a solid overclock without breaking a sweat. Speaking of cooling, the system in use here is Sapphire’s famous Dual-X, featuring Precise Fan Control, Fan Check technology, as well as Nitro Quick Connect and Nitro Cool Tech. This combination of features ensures that the card makes the most out of the Dual-X system, and the results speak for themselves: the card doesn’t go past 74°C in full load, at which point the sound level is at a more-than-decent 39dB. At lower temperatures (below 56°C), the fans stop and the card becomes completely silent.

Overall, the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 8GB is pretty much the crème de la crème in terms of RX 570 implementations, but exclusivity doesn’t come cheap, so expect it to be on the upper part of the price chart.

RX 470 vs. RX 570 vs. RX 580 – which one to go for? 

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In its target segment, which is Full HD 1080p gaming, the AMD RX 570 is a great option. It features the necessary horsepower to drive most modern games at their highest settings, and its price/performance ratio makes it very competitive. Its predecessor, the RX 470, may be able to deliver a similar performance level, but since it is priced roughly the same, it is not exactly an attractive option anymore.

However, in its rush to make its price range as aggressive as possible, AMD placed some of its models a little too close on the ladder. In this case, the higher-end models of the RX 570 can be found at roughly the same price as feature-stripped versions of the RX 580, so raw performance seekers may look past the fancy features and the bling that comes with premium versions of the RX 570 and opt for a bare RX 580 instead. Be that as it may, for those that just want impeccable 1080p performance, the RX 570 is definitely a worthy buy.

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