At a look
Skilled’s Score
Execs
- Distinctive 4K and 1440p efficiency
- 24GB reminiscence
- Nitro+ customized cooler is frigid, silent, and beautiful
- Twin-BIOS change, fan, and ARGB headers
Cons
- Huge four-slot design
- Very excessive energy draw
- Lags GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs in ray tracing
- Steep $200 premium places Nitro+ close to RTX 4080 pricing
Our Verdict
The Sapphire Nitro+ appears attractive, runs frigid, can’t be heard, and it’s the quickest XTX we’ve examined (albeit by a hair), full with useful further options for overclockers. In the event you’re out there for a four-figure graphics card that chews by means of excessive refresh-rate 4K and 1440p gaming with out compromise, and your PC can deal with its large dimension and energy draw, the Nitro+ may be very extremely really useful.
Worth When Reviewed
$1,199.99
Finest Costs At this time: Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X
$1199.99
$1,475.00
Large, badass graphics playing cards don’t get a lot greater 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 almost a decade.
Whereas AMD’s reference model of the XTX sticks to an inexpensive 2.5-slot design, Sapphire threw restraint out the window with the extremely personalized Nitro+. This monster swells to a piece 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 wanting very good. This is likely one of the most spectacular customized graphics playing cards I’ve ever laid arms on.
In case 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 definitely’ll love the whole lot in regards to the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X. Let’s dig in.
Additional studying: The most effective graphics playing cards for PC gaming
Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Specs, worth, and options
There isn’t an excessive amount of to say in regards to the Nitro+’s technical elements, 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, nevertheless.
Brad Chacos/IDG
The Nitro+ 7900 Vapor-X screams together with a blistering 2,510MHz Recreation 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 check suite, even when solely to the tune of some further (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 may, and the Nitro+ cranks it to 11.
Doing so requires extra literal energy, nevertheless. 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, meaning the Nitro+ 7900 XTX consumes extra energy than even the RTX 4090 throughout gaming classes.
Brad Chacos/IDG
The cardboard features a three-way BIOS change that adjustments the cardboard’s habits, nevertheless. The default place enables you to hop between the Nitro+’s twin BIOS choices utilizing Sapphire’s Trixx utility, relatively than having to manually flip the BIOS change on the cardboard. In the event you don’t wish to set up that software program, nevertheless, 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 trade for shaving 50W off the facility draw. The default BIOS runs so cool and quiet that there’s no purpose to advocate the low-power choice until energy draw is a significant 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 probably sagging in its motherboard slot over time!
Sapphire
Let’s begin with aesthetics: The Nitro+ 7900 XTX appears completely stunning, sporting a deliciously clear all-metal design, punctuated by raised, full-length RGB bars on each side of the heatsink. The bars in some way shine with surprising 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 each side. It’s attractive, albeit in a completely totally different method than the also-gorgeous XFX Speedster Merc 7900 XTX, which went in an RGB-less course as an alternative.
The Nitro+ 7900 XTX’s true secret sauce lies beneath the hood although. Sapphire completely stuffed this behemoth filled 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 Fast Join function, which helps you to shortly and simply disconnect particular person followers in the event that they want restore. Higher but, they cease spinning utterly when the GPU isn’t below excessive load. Which means the Nitro+ 7900 XTX is totally silent once you aren’t gaming or performing different GPU-stressing work.
Chonky and clear.
Brad Chacos/IDG
One other key perk: Sapphire slapped a second HDMI 2.1 port on the Nitro+, doubling up on the reference design. VR customers, take notice! 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.
After all, the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X helps all of AMD’s superior Radeon software program options, like FSR, Radeon Anti-Lag, Good Entry Reminiscence, and extra. However sufficient chit-chat. Let’s get to the benchmarks!
Our check system
We check graphics playing cards on an AMD Ryzen 5900X PC used completely for benchmarking GPUs. We now check with PCIe Resizable BAR (also referred to as Good Entry Reminiscence on Ryzen methods) lively, as most fashionable gaming PCs launched within the final 4 years assist the performance-boosting function, both natively or through a motherboard firmware replace. Nvidia additionally recommends turning on the non-compulsory “{Hardware}-accelerated GPU scheduling” choice in Home windows to let the RTX 40-series stretch its legs to the fullest, so we’ve made that tweak as nicely. Many of the {hardware} was supplied by the producers, however we bought the storage ourselves.
We’re evaluating the $1,200 Sapphire Nitro+ in opposition to 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 in search of right here is the Nitro+’s efficiency as a customized XTX mannequin. We’ve additionally included different GPUs which might be price contemplating once you’re in search of glorious 4K and 1440p gaming.
We check quite a lot of video games spanning numerous engines, genres, vendor sponsorships (Nvidia, AMD, and Intel), and graphics APIs (DirectX 9, 11, DX12, and Vulkan), to attempt to characterize a full vary of efficiency potential. Every recreation is examined utilizing its in-game benchmark, then sanity checked by Nvidia’s FrameView device, on the highest potential graphics presets until 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 listing the common end result for every check.
Moderately than rolling out our full testing suite for this evaluation, we caught to an easier lineup that’s consultant of quite a lot of APIs (DX9, DX11, DX12, Vulkan), to indicate the Nitro+’s efficiency throughout numerous situations. You should definitely try our preliminary Radeon RX 7900 XTX evaluation for a broader, deeper have a look at the GPU’s basic efficiency. (Briefly, it beats the $1,200 RTX 4080 in conventional video games for a a lot lower cost, 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 Body gen competitor.)
Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Gaming efficiency benchmarks
Brad Chacos/IDG
Brad Chacos/IDG
Brad Chacos/IDG
Brad Chacos/IDG
Brad Chacos/IDG
Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X: Energy and thermals
We check energy draw by looping the F1 22 benchmark at 4K for about 20 minutes after we’ve benchmarked the whole lot else (to heat up the GPU) and noting the best studying on our Watts Up Professional meter, which measures the facility consumption of our whole check system. The preliminary a part of the race, the place all competing automobiles are onscreen concurrently, tends to be essentially the most demanding portion.
This isn’t a worst-case check; this can be a GPU-bound recreation working at a GPU-bound decision to gauge efficiency when the graphics card is sweating laborious. In the event you’re enjoying a recreation that additionally hammers the CPU, you could possibly see larger total system energy attracts. Contemplate 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 larger 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 check thermals by leaving GPU-Z open throughout the F1 22 energy draw check, noting the 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 respect, and the Nitro+’s gentler fan curve truly 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 worth, energy consumption, and sheer dimension.
Do you have to purchase the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X?
In the event you largely stick with conventional video games and desire a barn-burner of a graphics card for a whole lot of {dollars} lower than the RTX 4080, AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a wonderful 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 nicely price contemplating. It’s blisteringly quick, cool, quiet, and completely incredible.
It gained’t be for everybody. The Nitro+ is totally large and attracts extra energy than even the RTX 4090—however large, badass, customized playing cards are what you count on from flagships like this. If that worries you, take into account the reference XTX’s smaller 2.5-slot, 2x 8-pin design as an alternative. The worth may also provide you with pause. Sapphire’s $200 premium feels justifiable for a customized design this magnificent, however it additionally bumps it proper up in opposition to the GeForce RTX 4080’s (terribly excessive) beginning worth. 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 should you place the next premium on ray-tracing efficiency and DLSS 3 Body Gen over card design and total high quality of life, you may—may—go for a “low cost” 4080 over the splendidly baller Nitro+. (I wouldn’t.)
Brad Chacos/IDG
Staying in AMD-land, should you’re choosing a high-end 7900 XTX, the aesthetics and avenue 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, engaging, 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 totally different selection. Go the place your eyes (and pockets) information you.
Backside line? The Sapphire Nitro+ appears attractive, runs frigid and damned-near lifeless silent, and it’s the quickest XTX we’ve examined (albeit by a hair). In the event you’re out there for a four-figure graphics card that’s truly well worth the cash (cough not like the RTX 4080 cough), we extremely really useful this feature. It’s the perfect Radeon gives.
