Jesper Berg
The Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X is a significantly overclocked, premium version of AMD’s fastest GPU from late 2022. It is the most advanced version of this graphics card from Sapphire, whose lineup also includes the RX 7900 XTX Pulse and an MBA (made by AMD) model using the reference design.
Specifications Vs Reference
| Specifications | Sapphire 7900 XTX Nitro+ Vapor-X | AMD RX 7900 XTX Reference Model |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX |
| Shading Units | 6144 | 6144 |
| GPU Clock: Base/Game/Boost | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2300 MHz / 2500 MHz |
| FP32 Theoretical Performance | 65.84 TFLOPS | 61.42 TFLOPS |
| Dual BIOS | Yes | No |
| Memory Configuration | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock (Effective) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) |
| Memory Bandwidth (Bus Width) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) |
| Outputs | 2x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 1x USB Type-C |
| TDP | 420 Watt | 355 Watt |
| Recommended Power Supply | 800 Watt | 800 Watt |
| PCIe Power Connectors | 3x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |
| Slots | 3.5-Slot | 2.5-Slot |
| Dimensions (Length/Width/Height) | 320 mm (12.6 in) 136 mm (5.4 in) 72 mm (2.8 in) | 287 mm (11.3 in) 110 mm (4.3 in) 51 mm (2 in) |
In terms of overclocking capabilities and stock settings from the factory, the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX comes with some of the highest specs on the market in 2023. The GPU boost clock is 2679 MHz compared to the standard 2499 MHz, whereas the game clock (an expected clock rate during real-world gaming) at 2510 MHz is also well above the 2269 MHz used by reference-clock cards such as the MSI Gaming Trio model.
To enable the card to consistently run above spec, Sapphire has used a very large vapor-chamber cooling solution to match the additional power delivery potential from the extra 8-pin PCIe power connector.
On the downside, this also increases the power draw under load. The card’s TDP is 420 W instead of the reference model’s 355 W and the suggested power supply (PSU) requirement is 800 W instead of an already quite substantial 750 W. This is however optional, as the Nitro+ includes a dual BIOS feature that enables it to be quickly switched back to the reference TDP.
Cooling Solution
To deal with the higher clocks and additional power draw, Sapphire has designed a cooler to match. The Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X is equipped with a cooler that will occupy four expansion slots, or in theory 3.5.
As its name implies, the card uses vapor chamber technology along with heat pipes that dissipate the heat from the GPU and memory modules. There are also thermal pads on the backplate’s underside.
This is coupled with three ‘Angular Velocity’ fans, which are purported to generate 19% more airflow compared to previous generations. All fans have the ‘Quick Connect’ feature, meaning that each fan can be removed with a single screw and can therefore be replaced easily in case of failure.
Sapphire ships the Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX with a GPU support bracket, which should be installed on an expansion slot bracket underneath the card to support its considerable weight.
In addition to just keeping the GPU temperatures in check, the Nitro+ cooler also includes RGB design elements, which can be controlled and customized via Sapphire’s TriXX software. The video card has a 5V ARGB header for this purpose, as well as a 4-pin PWM header for managing the fan curves.
About the Radeon RX 7900 XTX
AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the manufacturer’s flagship GPU in 2022 and 2023. It was released in November 2022 right after Nvidia’s launch of the competing RTX 4000 series. The chip, which is internally named Navi 31 XTX, is one of the first GPUs to be built with a modular, chiplet-based design, using a combination of 5 nm and 6 nm process nodes at TSMC.
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX features support for DirectX 12 Ultimate as well as hardware-based raytracing and variable-rate shading. It contains 57.7 million transistors on a 529 mm² die area. Graphics processing is handled by 192 render output units (ROPs), 6144 shaders, 384 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 96 raytracing acceleration cores.
All cards using the RX 7900 XTX GPU feature 24 GB of GDDR6 graphics memory (VRAM) operating at 20 Gbps via a 384-bit memory bus.
Performance
The RX 7900 XTX GPU is consistently slower than the RTX 4090 on average, but usually faster than the RTX 4080 as measured in rasterization performance. Sapphire’s Nitro+ variation is of course a bit faster still versus the reference model.
With ray tracing turned on, there are only slight gains for the Nitro+ compared to MBA cards and the significantly higher power budget does not change the overall picture.
Expert Reviews
The Sapphire RX 7900 XTX Nitro+ is a superb entry into the market. There is no denying that the build quality is exceptional.
Averaged over our whole 25-game test suite at 4K resolution, with RT off, the factory-overclocked Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Nitro+ has a 3% performance lead over the AMD reference design.
The increased power budget and clock speed make this Radeon exceptionally quick right out of the box. It outperforms the RX 7900 XTX , which results in an average of 4% better.
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