Jesper Berg
When it comes to Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards with pre-mounted water blocks, there are currently (as of mid-2023) two alternatives on the market: The PowerColor Liquid Devil RX 7900 XTX and the ASRock Aqua OC.
Other than being based on the same flagship AMD GPU from 2022/2023, these two cards have a lot in common but also some differences.
First and foremost, both are equipped with an extra 8-pin PCIe power connector, which will not be an option with third-party water blocks for the reference MBA (Made by AMD) model.
Specifications
| Specifications | ASRock RX 7900 XTX Aqua OC | PowerColor Liquid Devil RX 7900 XTX | Gigabyte Aorus RX 7900 XTX Elite | AMD RX 7900 XTX Reference Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX |
| Shading Units | 6144 | 6144 | 6144 | 6144 |
| GPU Clock: Base/Game/Boost | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2300 MHz / 2499 MHz |
| FP32 Theoretical Performance | 65.8 TFLOPS | 65.8 TFLOPS | 65.8 TFLOPS | 61.4 TFLOPS |
| Dual BIOS | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Memory Configuration | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock (Effective) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) |
| Memory Bandwidth (Bus Width) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) |
| Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1a 3x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.1a 3x DisplayPort 2.1 | 2x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 1x USB Type-C |
| TDP | 355 Watt | 355 Watt | 355 Watt | 355 Watt |
| Recommended Power Supply | 1000 Watt | 900 Watt | 850 Watt | 800 Watt |
| PCIe Power Connectors | 3x 8-pin | 3x 8-pin | 3x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |
| Slots | 2-Slot | 1-Slot | 3.5-Slot | 2.5-Slot |
| Dimensions (Length/Width/Height) | 275 mm (10.8 in) 157 mm (6.2 in) 22 mm (0.9 in) | 288 mm (11.3 in) 163 mm (6.4 in) 28 mm (1.1 in) | 335 mm (13.2 in) 137 mm (5.4 in) 69 mm (2.7 in) | 287 mm (11.3 in) 110 mm (4.3 in) 51 mm (2 in) |
Using water-cooling for your GPU comes with several advantages, one of which is the physical size of the graphics card. This is particularly noticeable when comparing the Liquid Devil RX 7900 XTX with just about any air-cooled card with the same GPU – but especially oversized behemoths like the Asus TUF or Sapphire Nitro+.
PowerColor’s Liquid Devil is the only single-slot RX 7900 XTX on the market, whereas the ASRock Aqua uses a dual-slot bracket.
Both of the liquid-cooled cards stick with the same OC-mode clock speeds as the pricier air-cooled variants such as the Gigabyte Aorus Elite, ASRock Taichi, and Sapphire’s Nitro+, possibly due to factory OC restrictions from AMD. However, ASRock has made a separate BIOS available for its water-cooled RX 7900 XTX Aqua model that lets the card boost significantly higher, up to 2935 MHz.
On the other hand, the PowerColor Liquid Devil RX 7900 XTX is equipped with a dual BIOS solution that lets you switch between ‘OC’ mode and an ‘Unleashed’ mode, which raises the power budget.
Like ASRock’s Aqua and other premium varieties of the RX 7900 XTX, the Liquid Devil comes with an additional 8-pin power connector. All other things being equal, this should allow for more overclocking by the user since the theoretical upper power bound for triple 8-pin connectors is 525 W. PowerColor’s minimum PSU recommendation is 900 W, up from AMD’s official 800 W.
Cooling Solution
The PowerColor Liquid Devil RX 7900 XTX uses an acrylic water block that covers all vital components including the GPU, VRAM, and VRM. This water block is in contact with the GPU through a nickel-plated copper base.
RGB lighting is present across the front of the board and can be customized via PowerColor’s Devil Zone software. On the other side of the card is an aluminum backplate decorated with a more discrete glowing logo.
Power delivery to the GPU is handled by a 12+3+2-phase VRM with DrMOS. There are also an additional 2+2 phases designated for the VRAM chips. According to PowerColor, the solution includes new technology that monitors current and power consumption for each phase.
PowerColor also includes a set of EK-Loop Leak Tester Flex that allows users to test for leaks and ensure a safe installation.
Reviews
We are once again under the spell of this Powercolor RX 7900 XT Liquid Devil whose frequencies soar and remain stable thanks to the liquid cooling.
There are no reviews yet.