Radeon RX 7900 partner cards tested
AMD made some confusion decisions right before RDNA3 desktop launch that forced Chinese media to break the rules.
As you know, there were no reviews of AMD RX 7900 reference cards from China, not even one. Cards were manufactured in Taiwan and were clearly labeled as such. This obviously does not comply with One China policy and as a result, it was impossible to ship those cards into Mainland China.
This wouldn’t have been an issue if not for a fact that AMD imposed two separate review embargoes on their Radeon 7900 GPUs. Yesterday, only test results for AMD reference models were published, while today, just as those cards officially go on sale, AMD will lift the embargo on custom models as well. It is a controversial trend that applies to all GPU makers. Only this time it backfired.
Chinese media has no content to share on a very important day, so instead, they opted to publish custom card reviews instead. Here is your overview of which cards have already been tested.
Sapphire NITRO+
Portal 163 published early results of NITRO+ from Sapphire. This is as far as we know the only test of this card for now. What readers may find interesting is that NITRO+ is the only custom RX 7900 card with a vapor chamber (this is what Sapphire teased as a return of Vapor-X).
Reviewer claims that this card has 9*2+2 VRM design powered by three 8-pin power connectors. In their tests it has reached a frequency of 2499 MHz during normal tests and up to 3072 MHz with overclocking.
SAPPHIRE RX 7900XTX NITRO+, Source: 163
SAPPHIRE RX 7900XTX NITRO+, Source: 163
PowerColor Red Devil
HKEPC and Chiphell have a review of PowerColor Red Devil, featuring the more powerful RX 7900 XTX SKU. The card that shipped to reviewers is a Limited Edition (1500 units) which comes in a Red Devil branded coffer with a special bundle. This also includes a customized backplate that will later be sold separately.
The card has an 18+3 VRM PCB design powered by three 8-pin power connectors. According to the review, this card has dual BIOS functionality, which can boost the frequency by around 50 MHz in real-world tests. This translates into only 1% higher performance and 7W higher power use. But more importantly, it reduces noise level from 45.3 to 43.7 dBa under load.
PowerColor RX 7900XT Red Devil Limited Edition, Source: HKEPC/Chiphell
PowerColor RX 7900XT Red Devil Limited Edition, Source: HKEPC/Chiphell
PowerColor RX 7900XT Red Devil Limited Edition, Source: HKEPC/Chiphell
PowerColor HellHound
Chiphell and MyDrivers have previews of Radeon RX 7900 XT Hellhound. This is the cheaper custom variant from PowerColor featuring 2.5-slot triple-fan cooler, 14+3 VRM 14-player PCB. Unlike Red Devil, this card is powered by two 8-pin power connector.
PowerColor RX 7900XT Hellhound, Source: MyDrivers/Chiphell
PowerColor RX 7900XT Hellhound, Source: MyDrivers/Chiphell
XFX Speedster Merc 310
Expreview published their evaluation results of XFX RX 7900XTX and RX 7900XT Merc310. According to the review, RX 7900XTX MERC 310 equipped with three 8-pin power connectors has 2455/2655 MHz Game/Boost clocks. The XT variant ships with 2220/2560 MHz clocks and a pair of 8-pin connectors. It is worth noting that the XTX model is slightly thicker (2.9-slot) than XT Merc 310 (2.7-slot).
XFX RX 7900 XTX/XT Merc 310, Source: Expreview
XFX RX 7900 XTX/XT Merc 310, Source: Expreview
XFX RX 7900 XTX/XT Merc 310, Source: Expreview
ASUS RX 7900 XTX TUF Gaming OC
Chiphell have the world’s first and only TUF review from ASUS. This model adopts 17+3 VRM design and has three 8-pin power connectors.
ASUS RX 7900 XTX TUF Gaming OC, Source: Chiphell
ASUS RX 7900 XTX TUF Gaming OC, Source: Chiphell
It does not appear that there are any reviews of Gigabyte, MSI or Yeston cards yet. However, this might change later today when the official partner card embargo lifts. All the tests mentioned above were from Asian media who simply had no access to AMD MBA (Made by AMD) designs.
