TOP 5 AMD Radeon graphics cards under $400

Sapphire has accustomed gamers to the fact that you can always find something interesting in the Nitro+ line. This modification has not become an exception to the rules and stands out against the background of its fellows. For example, here is the most powerful factory overclocking of the core among all the modifications of the RX 580. It's no joke, 1411 MHz out of the box is even more than the older brother of the RX 590. At the same time, the card has a small potential for additional manual overclocking: the ceiling on the core will be a frequency of 1470 MHz, for memory 8060 MHz. The figures are not fantastic, but in comparison with the reference RX 580, the increase is impressive.

Like all Nitro cards, this one has some interesting features. Firstly, the dense matte casing that covers the cooling system is removed in just five seconds, you just need to unscrew one bolt and remove the latch. Sapphire calls this chip Quick Connect and it helps a lot when cleaning the cooler or replacing thermal paste. Also on the back panel you can find a BIOS switch that switches the card from "silent" mode to "boost". Well, plus, the card was equipped with an additional power outlet so that the overclocking handle depended only on the card itself, and not the power limit.

A significant plus of the RX 580 Nitro+ is the powerful cooling system, which the company's engineers have specially redesigned for the RX5xx line. It effectively dissipates excess heat, preventing the core from warming above 70 °C, makes almost no noise and can switch to silent mode in idle time. It is also worth noting the high-quality printed circuit board and a careful approach to VRM cooling, where even the backplate is used as an additional radiator. In general, this is an excellent graphics card with no weaknesses and a very tasty price tag, it is virtually impossible to find an RX 580 cheaper.

The near-top line of the RX 580 does not have the highest potential for overclocking, since the chip and memory are already working at frequencies close to the limit. To squeeze an additional 15-20% out of it physically will not work. In the case of the Armor version from MSI, we have a small factory overclocking of the core to 1366 MHz and a useful utility MSI Afterburner, in which you can select the desired mode of operation, and the card itself will deftly adjust the frequencies depending on the load and core temperature. Therefore, messing with manual voltage settings and increasing frequencies is not really necessary here.

The same applies to the cooling system, which reacts sensitively to the dynamics of temperature changes and strongly depends on the selected operating mode. For example, when the ZeroFrozr function is activated, the coolers will switch to silent mode if the temperature does not exceed 35 °C. At peak load, the coolers start to make decent noise, but keep a fairly hot chip within 75 °C.

In general, this is a strong graphics card without any weaknesses or pronounced advantages, which takes its toll primarily on the price. Among all models of the RX 580, only modifications fromSapphire. And its direct competitor in the face of the GTX 1060 will cost about the same money, but there will be 6 GB of video memory instead of 8. Therefore, when choosing, it is worth relying primarily on market availability and personal preferences.

After the announcement of the Radeon RX 5xx lineAsus traditionally rolled out several modifications for each chip. The model in question is named after the Greek god of war Ares and is in fact a modification of the already powerful game card Asus Radeon RX 580 ROG-STRIX-RX580-8G-GAMING . However, what is interesting here is not only the unusual name, but the fact that with higher power, the AREZ-STRIX turned out to be even slightly cheaper and gradually displaced the younger model from the market.

Considering that the card is top-end, the list of its advantages is quite impressive: a reliable 8-phase power subsystem based on Super Alloy Power II elements, an efficient and quiet enough cooling system with three fans, RGB backlight with ASUS Aura Sync synchronization and a pair of slots for connecting additional system fans. And this despite the fact that there are already three coolers here, instead of the standard two.

Naturally, Asus built such a garden for a reason, the card out of the box works at a frequency of 1380 MHz (we are talking about the core), but with the right approach it can accelerate to 480 MHz in the core and up to 8816 MHz in memory. This is an increase of almost 10%. The cooling system handles with such overclocking without any problems, keeping the bar at 64 °C and not turning on more than 75% of its power. The noise is moderate. A big plus is that all overclocking profiles can be saved in the proprietary GPU Tweak II utility and switched if necessary. If you don't want to mess with manual overclocking, then in the utility you can choose one of the ready-made profiles ("Silent", "Gaming" and "OC"), two of which activate factory overclocking.

However, there were some disadvantages. The map turned out to be like a Rolls-Royce — large and expensive. Its length is almost 30 cm, it occupies 2.5 slots, so before buying it is worth checking the size of the motherboard and the dimensions of the case. Well, its price is almost like that of the older model RX 590.

Radeon RX 590 is the older model in the RX 5xx line and is essentially an improved version of the previous cards from the 4xx series. It is made on the basis of a well-known Polaris chip, but the transition to a more subtle technical process and serious overclocking provided a good acceleration in performance relative to past solutions. All this made the RX 590 a serious competitor to the terribly popular GeForce GTX 1060.

With regard to this particular model from Gigabyte, there is a small GPU overclocking from the factory, which provides an additional couple of percent of performance. Manually, you can squeeze out about 10% more. Even with such manipulations, the card remains quiet and cold. If there is no desire to overclock manually, then using the utility from Gigabyte, you can enable one of two operating modes — Gaming Mode and OC Mode. In the first case, the core frequency reaches 1545 MHz, in the second — 1560 MHz. However, the memory in both cases operates at a frequency of 8000 MHz.

Plus, this modification from Gigabyte is devoid of many unnecessary buns like backlighting with synchronization, mode switching buttons or a redesigned printed circuit board. This made it possible to reduce the price as much as possible, making it one of the most affordable versions of the RX 590 on the market. It is not for nothing that this modification is in the top sales of many online stores.

Radeon RX 590 is the top graphics card in the RX 5xx line. It is based on a slightly updated processor of the last generation Polaris 30, which is produced according to a 12-nm process technology. Interestingly, being the most powerful model in the line, the basic version of the RX 590 is essentially a competitor to the NVIDIA GXT 1060.

But the version from Sapphire received a good factory overclocking of the core and memory, so on paper it is aiming at rivals of the older GXT 1070. Looking ahead, let's say that there was no full-fledged competition, GXT 1070 gives FPS 20% higher in most games. But it also costs 20-30% more. But the competition with the GXT 1060 for the Sapphire model was a success: in popular games like The Witcher 3 and Far Cry 5, it beats the opponent by 10-18%. And this is in normal mode. When automatic boost is activated, the gap in some games reaches 25%. And the price is almost the same. However, the power consumption is higher, so the power supply needs at least 500 watts.

With regard to everything else, the RX 590 NITRO+ differs little from other Sapphire cards in this series: a pseudo-perforated casing that can be easily removed, blue coloring unusual for gaming gadgets, a dual 6 + 8 pin power cut in the corner, a BIOS switch closer to the back panel to change the operating mode from standard quiet to more noisy accelerated. The graphics card is made on high-quality PCB and is equipped with powerful thoughtful cooling. A massive radiator with two large fans supports moderate GPU operating temperatures and cools the VRM well with low noise.