At first we would like to thank AMD for offering a sample of the XFX Radeon RX 470 RS 4GB OC Black Edition Video Card for testing and reviewing purposes.

 

 

About AMD:

 

“Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While initially it manufactured its own processors, the company became fabless after GlobalFoundries was spun off in 2009. AMD's main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.

 

AMD is the second-largest supplier and only significant rival to Intel in the market for x86-based microprocessors. Since acquiring ATI in 2006, AMD and its competitor Nvidia have dominated the discrete graphics processor unit (GPU) market."

The First Hard Swap Detachable Fan Design

 

XFX patented fan design lets you change or upgrade fans in a snap.

 

Fans are an essential function of a graphics card and directly affect its performance, and even though we use the best fan's on the market the performance will decrease over time. In the past it was difficult if not impossible to replace GPU fans on your own but now with XFX's Hard Swap technology, you can upgrade your fan in an instant. We even offer different upgrade option for higher performance or color LED options for customization.

 

High Performance Unibody Heatsink

 

Enhances thermal efficiency by 40%

 

The XFX RX 470 RS series features our all new Unibody VRM Heatsink construction enable direct transfer to the primary heatsink and heatpipes. This unique combination of material and construction enhances thermal efficiency by a total of 40%.

 

Custom XFX Aluminum Backplate Design

 

Protects your GPU while providing additional cooling overall

 

GPUs are one of the most important, complex and delicate pieces of hardware in your computer and as a game, nothing is as important and the slightest bend can drastically affect the performance of your graphics card. But that's a thing of the past because XFX's solid backplate keeps the card strong and secure, eliminating card bend. Graphics cards also emit some heat from the back as well which rises up and affects other components but our cool aluminum backplate can absorb that heat and keep the overall case cooler.

 

Enhanced VRM and Memory Cooling

 

Cooling technologies don't stop at just the GPU.

 

After countless hours of research, development, and testing our engineers have developed all new VRM and Memory cooling technology, reducing temperatures VRM by up to 30' C and GDDR temperatures by 20' C, all while reducing dB noise by an additional 5%. Best in class for the GPU enthusiast.

 

All New Composite Heatpipe Technology

 

We combined technologies to create the first super heatpipe.

 

The new composite heatpipe design used in the XFX Radeon™ RX 470 RS combines the technologies of both Liquid and Capilary Action heatpipes into one. Doing so allows us to increase the total heatpipe surface area by 30% which tremendously increases the thermal efficiency.

 

XFX True Clock Technology

 

Always running at the best speeds

 

Software controlled clock speed optimizers can be hindered by overall computer performance, heavy loads can cause it to misread the maximum potential clock speed of the graphics card at any given moment. XFX's True Clock however is hardware controlled clock speed performance optimization so it's always running at peak performance all the time.

 

All New Zero Noise Auto Load Sensing Fans

 

Power when you need it and quiet when you don't.

 

XFX fans are equipped to run at the highest possible performance, while our Zero DB Fan System will also keep your fans running at efficient RPM in order to minimize annoying fan noise by lowering RPM all the way down to Zero RPM. When the heat is on during intense gaming, our fans will speed up as needed.

 

Designed for Vulkan Cross Platform Graphics

 

The next generation graphics API from Khronos.

 

Vulkan is the new generation, open standard API for high-efficiency access to graphics and compute on modern GPUs. This ground-up design, previously referred to as the Next Generation OpenGL Initiative, provides applications direct control over GPU acceleration for maximized performance and predictability.

 

AMD FreeSync Technology

 

No stuttering. No tearing. Just gaming. Gaming shouldn’t be a choice between choppy gameplay and high performance. With XFX Radeon™ RX 470 Series graphics and FreeSync technology, it doesn’t have to be. Transform the most demanding games into a liquid-smooth, artifact-free, 4K cinematic experience with the highest performance at virtually any frame rate. FreeSync works at the speed of your game for incredible responsiveness and uncompromising smoothness. Every gamer deserves perfectly smooth gameplay and peak performance. Unlike the competing technology, you don’t have to choose with FreeSync technology.

 

Microsoft Windows 10 and DirectX 12

 

Optimized for gaming performance

 

New features and functions bring new computing experiences to life with AMD Radeon™ graphics on the Windows® 10 platform. Take your gaming further with XBOX ONE on Windows. Play and connect with your games and friends. Everywhere.

 

Microsoft’s new technology enables great performance and dramatically improved GPU and CPU multiprocessing and multithreading performance thanks to Async Shaders and Multi-threaded Command Buffer Recording for more efficient rendering of richer and more complex scenes.

 

FinFet 14nm Technology

 

Unprecedented efficiency on NextGen GPUs.

 

Enjoy whisper quiet gaming with the revolutionary Polaris architecture. Combining the latest FinFET 14 process technology and AMD’s advanced power, gating and clocking technologies, you’ll enjoy dramatically cool and quiet gaming. The FinFet 14 process technology puts more transistors in less space, enabling dramatic increases in processing power and power efficiency helping to provide better processor performance while using less power and enabling better transistor efficiency than previous generation technology.

 

AMD Exclusive GCN & Crossfire Technology

 

The Ultimate Compute Architecture with Multiple GPU Scaling

 

Discover the direct-to-theGPU performance advantage of Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, enabling stunning detail and dynamic gaming, a richer and more immersive VR experience, with exceptional graphics performance and low power consumption. 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture features asynchronous shaders and an enhanced geometry engine, so you can enjoy exceptionally smooth gameplay on the latest DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™ titles.

 

AMD CrossFire technology lets you connect multiple graphics cards to amplify your system’s graphics processing capability including enhancements that set a new standard of consistent and smooth gameplay.

 

AMD Eyefinity Technology

 

Multidisplay technology for gaming, productivity and entertainment.

 

Expand your territory and customize your field of vision. Connect up to six displays on a single GPU for dynamic, panoramic multi-screen gaming. You’ll get an expansive experience that’s truly out of sight. (additional displays may require the use of MST hub).

 

Tuned By XFX For Peak Performance

 

Giving you the performance you have come to expect from XFX.

 

Overclocking your card to it's peak performance potential is not an easy task but a stock card is simply under-utilizing your graphics card's full potential. Luckily for you, we have factory overclocked the RX 470 RS at the BIOS level and have fine tuned it for optimal gaming performance. Our state-of-the art equipment and testing labs ensure that your card reaches it's maximum performance level safely and optimally.

 

XFX's 3 Year Warranty

 

Giving you the performance you have come to expect from XFX.

 

Even though we trust that our high quality products will continue working at peak performance well beyond your use of it, we want to put our word behind that promise. That is why we offer our 3 Year Warranty with this series of graphics cards. This means that your product is protected by a 3 year limited hardware warranty on manufacturing defects of anything on the card.

 

AMD LiquidVR

 

Exceptionally Comfortable VR .

 

Experience beautifully rich and immersive VR experiences with advanced comfort and effortless compatibility. Avoid nausea and motion sickness, made possible by the AMD LiquidVR™ initiative, featuring ground breaking Asynchronous Shaders.

 

The Radeon™ RX 400 graphics cards, combined with AMD LiquidVR™ technology already in use by leading head-mounted display (HMD) vendors, provides an exceptional platform for a fully immersive and comfortable VR experience.

 

Premium HDR

 

Expand the range of colors.

 

Premium HDR - High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a state-of-the-art technology for gamers and cinephiles that care deeply about the display quality of their TV or monitor. Modeled after the acuity of human vision, HDR vastly expands the range of colors and contrast ratios that can be shown by compatible displays. HDRready games and movies played on an HDR display appear strikingly sharp, colorful, and vivid, with enhanced contrast and sophisticated nuance compared to even the most stunning SDR content.

 

The Radeon™ RX 470 graphics card’s brand new display engine and HDR ready capabilities equip you for the new wave of HDR displays, content and the future of gaming.

 

Radeon™ Software

 

A premium set of driver utilities.

 

As sophisticated as the Polaris architecture based graphics cards are, the software that powers the cards is equally as sophisticated. Radeon™ Software delivers the ultimate in performance, features and stability to help ensure an exceptionally smooth and fast out of the box experience.

 

With Radeon™ WattMan (formerly AMD Overdrive™) – Push your hardware to the limits. Radeon™ Settings takes customization to a whole new level with per state control over clocks, voltages, and temperature.

 

Latest Display Connections

 

Ready for the latest displays

 

Radeon™ GPUs with the Polaris architecture support HDMI® 2.0b and DisplayPort™ 1.3 for compatibility with a new generation of monitors that would make any gamer excited.

 

Extreme 4K Gaming for serious gamers.

 

Experience resolutions up to four times higher than HD and see everything your opponent throws at you without sacrificing a single detail.

 

Teleport into life-like 4K gaming realism with AMD Radeon™ Rx 470 Series graphics. Reign over all the action in 4K with supercharged performance and 256-bit 4gb GDDR5 memory. Add more muscle with AMD CrossFire technology and amplify your gaming performance with the superior scalability with multiple Rx 470 Series GPUs.

 

AMD XConnect Technology

 

Great performance, even on the go.

 

Should a PC gamer on the go buy a gaming notebook that’s tough to carry, or a thin notebook that’s tough to game on?

 

AMD XConnect™ unlocks the best of both worlds on systems designed for Thunderbolt™ 3 eGFX enclosures. Finally you can use a desktop graphics card on a notebook.

 

 

Last time we have reviewed a video card from AMD’s new RX series we have taken a look at the HIS RX 480 IceQ X2 Roaring Turbo 8GB, which impressed us with its mainstream performance, especially in DirectX 12 applications. The card was based on the Polaris architecture and built on the 14nm FinFET technology process at GlobalFoundries. The RX480 incorporates 5700M transistors, 2304 Stream Processors which are found across 36 Compute Units, and the card can be found in both 8GB and 4GB configurations, in order to cover a more extensive price range. The memory communicates on a 256-bit interface, while the GPU was built on the 4th generation GCN architecture; technologies as FreeSync, XDMA (for CrossFire support) are included.

 

The RX 470 stays in the middle of the current AMD series, between the RX 460 which is more oriented for competitive and not so pretentious gaming titles and their flagship, the RX 480. This Polaris 10 GPU also incorporates 5700M transistors, the Stream Processors are down to 2048 which are found across 32 Compute Units, while the memory still communicates on a 256-bit bus. The RX470 cards come in both 4GB and 8GB variants, but so far XFX has based its models only on the 4GB version.

 

Talking about the XFX Radeon RX 470 RS 4GB OC Black Edition, we are seeing increased GPU clocks to 1256MHz (versus the stock 1206MHz), while the memory has been bumped from 1650MHz to 1750MHz.

 

The card is shipped inside an XFX-branded cardboard box, with a drawing of the card design on the frontal area and here we will also learn that the product is HDR Ready, features the AMD FreeSync technology, is DX12 optimized, was built on the FinFET 14nm process, and the manufacturer is also listing the available outputs:

 

 

 

On the box side, we will get to see the system requirements along with the supported OSes:

 

 

 

Moving on, we will find the box contents list:

 

 

 

The key features are explained in more detail on the back, along with some additional features:

 

 

 

After removing the top packaging layer, we will end up with a plain cardboard box, which does also feature an embossed XFX logo on the top cover:

 

 

 

By lifting the top cover, we will reveal the envelope which contains the card bundle:

 

 

 

Here we do have a 6-pin PCI-E power connector to dual-MOLEX, but also one driver installation DVD:

 

 

 

We do also have an Installation Guide handy, for people which haven’t performed computer upgrades before:

 

 

 

The card is also wrapped inside an anti-static bag, for additional protection:

 

 

Before the first use, we’ll have to remove the plastic film from both the top shroud, but also the backplate:

 

 

 

 

The XFX Radeon RX 470 RS 4GB OC Black Edition does come with a dual-fan, dual-slot cooling system, while the top plastic shroud was designed to focus the airflow to the inner aluminum heatsink:

 

 

 

Each fan comes with nine blades and feature Hard Swap technology for easy switching/cleaning:

 

 

 

Here are some views from the lateral sides of the card, which do show the complexity of the cooling system; an XFX white logo can be easily spotted, but it is not LED-lighted:

 

 

 

 

The RX 470 RS OC does also need power from a single 6-pin PCI-E connector, while the small switch allows BIOS switching (both BIOSES are identical):

 

 

 

The first novelty element represents the small PCB placed on the heatsink, which allows us to remove the fan power cable in a snap:

 

 

 

The backplate covers the entire PCB surface and does also feature the XFX branding; the GPU heatsink spring-loaded screws are also covered with warranty stickers:

 

 

 

Thanks to the XFX technology, the fans can be easily swapped for cleaning or complete replacement; XFX does also offer variants which are LED lighted in order to personalize your card even further!

 

 

 

The fans which have arrived pre-installed on the Black Edition are manufactured by FirstDo and have a power rating of 12V at 0.35A; the four golden small contacts take part of the system which allows easy swapping:

 

 

 

These can be also found under the plastic shroud:

 

 

 

After removing the cooling system, we can easily spot a 5+1 VRM setup, along with the central RX470 GPU and eight memory chips:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The memory chips are manufactured by SK Hynix, ID number H5GC4H24AJR:

 

 

 

The card does also sport a NCP81022 voltage regulator:

 

 

 

The heatsink system does feature an unibody construction with three heatpipes, which helps cooling the GPU along with its VRM; the large heatpipes combine the technologies of both Liquid and Capillary Action heatpipes intro one. The total heatpipe surface area is increased this way by 30%, which does also increase the thermal efficiency:

 

 

 

We could also spot a LED header on the board, which is unused on this model:

 

 

 

The card comes with plenty of VGA outputs: one DL-DVI-D, three DisplayPort 1.4 but also one HDMI 2.0b:

 

 

 

Test Setup

 

CPU: Intel I5 4690K Retail @ 4.6GHz

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX

Motherboard: BIOSTAR Z97X Gaming

RAM: GeIL Black Dragon 4x4GB DDR2133 (@1600)

Video: Currently reviewed card

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 240GB + OCZ Vertex 460

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

With the help of the GPU-Z utility, we could extract lots of information regarding the video card clocks,memory type, pixel and texture fill rate and so on:

 

 

To receive more in-depth information regarding the GPU, we have used the AIDA64 utility:

 

 

 

 

Temperature tests:

For finding out the temperatures in both IDLE and Full Load with the fan set on Auto, we left the computer IDLE for about 25 minutes and then started monitoring with HWINFO64 and logged the values obtained while running Heaven 4.0 at the 1920x1080 resolution for an additional 17 minutes, with details at Maximum and Tesselation set to Extreme. During this time, the ambient temperature was held steady at 21.3 degrees Celsius:

 

 

 

Noise measurements

Before measuring out the noise the video card was producing, we have first measured the noise inside the room the tests took place and we found out it was 29.2 dBA (with everything turned off).

At all times, the sound meter was placed 20cm near the video card.

The GPU fan was controlled by the latest version of the Sapphire TriXX utility:

 

 

 

3DMark 11

 

3DMark 11 is a DirectX 11 video card benchmark test for measuring your PC's gaming performance. 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of DirectX 11 features including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 consistently and reliably tests your PC's DirectX 11 performance under game-like loads.

 

 

3DMark 2013

 

3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware in one app. Whether you're gaming on a smart phone, tablet, notebook, laptop, desktop, or a high performance gaming PC, 3DMark includes a benchmark designed specifically for your type of device. And it's not just for Windows. You can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the best 3DMark we've ever created.

 

 

Unigine Heaven 4.0

 

Heaven Benchmark with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system's potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms, such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

 

 

Hitman Absolution

 

Hitman: Absolution is a stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth installment in the Hitman game series, and runs on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine.

 

 

DIRT: Rally

 

Dirt Rally is a racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows. An early access version of the game was released on 27 April 2015, via digital distribution service Steam.

 

 

Sleeping Dogs

 

Sleeping Dogs is a 2012 open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games and Square Enix London. It was published by Square Enix and Bandai Namco Games for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

 

 

Tomb Raider

 

Tomb Raider is a media franchise that began as a video game series and includes comic books, novels, theme park rides, and movies, centering around the adventures of the British archaeologist Lara Croft.

 

 

Sniper Elite III

 

Sniper Elite III is a tactical shooter video game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by 505 Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

 

 

Metro Last Light

 

Metro: Last Light is a single-player post-apocalyptic-themed first-person shooter video game with stealth and survival horror elements, developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver.

 

 

Bioshock Infinite

 

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games.

 

 

Crysis 2

 

Crysis 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek, published by Electronic Arts and released in North America, Australia and Europe in March 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

 

 

Batman Arhkam Origins

 

Batman: Arkham Origins is a 2013 action-adventure video game developed by Warner Bros. Games Montréal and released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360 video game consoles.

 

 

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

 

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an open world action-adventure video game set within Tolkien's legendarium, developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

 

 

Alien: Isolation

 

Alien: Isolation is a first-person survival horror stealth video game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega.

 

 

GRID Autosport

 

Grid Autosport is a racing video game released by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 24 June 2014 in North America and 27 June 2014 in Europe.

 

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider was officially announced in June 2014. The game's storyline follows Lara Croft as she ventures into Siberia in search of the legendary city of Kitezh, whilst battling a paramilitary organization that intends on beating her to the city's promise of immortality. Presented from a third-person perspective, the game primarily focuses on survival and combat, while the player may also explore its landscape and various optional tombs.

 

 

 

Hitman

 

Hitman is an episodic action-adventure stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the sixth entry in the Hitman series. While the game's prologue acts as a prequel to the series, the main game takes place 7 years after the events of Hitman: Absolution.

 

 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a cyberpunk-themed action role-playing stealth video game developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix. Set two years after Human Revolution, Mankind Divided features the return of Adam Jensen from the previous game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with new technology and body augmentations.

 

 

 

Gears of War 4

 

Gears of War 4 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. It is the fourth main installment in the Gears of War series, and the first entry not to be developed by Epic Games.

 

 

 

3DMark: Time Spy

 

Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark test, coming soon to all Windows editions of 3DMark. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, built from the ground up to support new features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is an ideal benchmark for testing the DirectX 12 performance of the latest graphics cards.

 

Developed with input from AMD, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and the other members of the Futuremark Benchmark Development Program, Time Spy shows the exciting potential of low-level, low-overhead APIs like DirectX 12.

 

 

 

 

The Radeon RX 470 RS 4GB OC Black Edition card from XFX comes with a decent overclock from the factory and thanks to this fact, it traded punches quite a lot of times with the R9 290/R9 390 cards from HIS (which did also feature a mild overclock). This practically means that we are dealing with a solid performer at Full HD resolutions, while for 1440P we would need to lower some of the game details in order to get over 60FPS; in AMD-optimized games though, we could have some surprises, meaning that the RX 470 would perform well even when we do have all game details cranked at max. It is a fact that the RX 470 is also available with 8GB of GDDR5, but most manufacturers are concentrating on the base 4GB version.

 

Unlike the cards we have tested in the past which did have a very small overclock for the memory or in some at cases none at all, XFX goes “all in” by pushing the RAM up by 100MHz versus the stock model, which is a positive feature in our book.

 

The Hard Swap Detachable Fan design from XFX is a very welcome design, because it permits the user to remove the fan in order to them up properly, but also remove the dust if it does accumulate on the heatsink. The two plastic clips make the removal and installation a breeze and if we need to add more eye candy to the card we can choose from one of the XFX replacement fans which do also include LED lights. An easy accessible fan header PCB is also placed in the back side of the card, which allows us to remove the 4-pin fan cable with ease if needed.

 

The “Unibody Heatsink” as marketed by XFX is meant to cool both VRM and GPU. As we have seen from the tests we’ve ran, the cooling system can keep the card at relatively low temperatures during high loads. The card is also equipped with Zero Noise with Auto Load Sensing features, meaning that the card will turn off the fans completely when we are performing non-3D intensive work.

 

When we have seen that the card also comes with a decent overclock right out of the bat, we thought that in our tests we will reach the clock limits quite soon; well, thankfully it was not the case! We have succeeded to run a stable overclock of 1380MHz for the GPU and 1950MHz for the memory, which increased our Fire Strike score by quite a bit!

 

 

(click to enlarge)

 

This card is also advertised for VR, so it was in order to perform a SteamVR performance benchmark:

 

 

 

The card has scored a decent mark of 6 in this test.

 

With this mainstream product, XFX is offering a 3-year limited hardware warranty, so you may keep on gaming without worrying of losing manufacturer support after just one year or two.

 

The Radeon RX 470 RS 4GB OC Black Edition video card from XFX is available online for about 200 Euros, which is in line with the offerings from other manufacturers (4GB GDDR5 variant).

 

XFX Radeon RX 470 RS 4GB OC Black Edition Video Card is Recommended for:

 

 

 

We would like to thank again to AMD for making this review possible!