Sapphire Reveals Custom Radeon RX 5600 XT Graphics Card

By Zhiye Liu
last updated

Sapphire's Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT takes AMD's reference 1,375 MHz game clock and overclocks it to 1,560 MHz.

Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT

Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT (Image credit: Sapphire)

Sapphire has taken the wraps of its Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT. The gaming graphics card arrives with the brand's distinctive Dual-X cooling system and other proprietary features. 

The Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT measures 254 x 135 x 46.5mm and adheres to a 2.3-slot form factor. The Dual-X cooler cools the graphics card's GPU, memory and power delivery subsystem. Meanwhile, the attractive all-aluminum backplate provides rigidity while also aiding heat dissipation.

As expected from a Pulse-branded card, a pair of dual-ball bearing fans actively cools the graphics card. Sapphire's fans reportedly have a 85% longer lifespan than typical sleeve-bearing fans. They are secured to the Dual-X cooler with a single screw, which should make replacement simple and painless.

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Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT
Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT (Image credit: Sapphire)

The Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT has a dual-BIOS feature. You can choose between the Performance or Silent profiles via a physical button on the graphics card. The graphics card also has a built-in fuse protection that's located in the PCIe power connector to safeguard its internal components. 

As far as specifications go, the Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT utilizes AMD's Navi 10 silicon, which has 2,304 Stream Processors (SPs). The graphics card rocks 6GB of 12 Gbps GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit memory interface. Sapphire's offering arrives with a heavy factory overclock. The reference Radeon RX 5600 XT features 1,375 MHz and 1,560 MHz game and boost clocks, respectively. The Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT boasts a 1,560 MHz game clock and 1,620 MHz boost clock.

The Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT is rated with a 150W TBP (Typical Board Power) and draws external power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. A 500W power supply is recommended as a minimum for proper operation. Display outputs on the graphics card are one HDMI and three DisplayPort.

Sapphire didn't share a price or release date for the Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT. 

Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • digitalgriffin
    $175 and it might do okay. $200 and slower than a 1660? Not going to happen.
    Edit: After the comments below I realized I compared it to the wrong model. I thought it was a 5500XT, not 5600XT
    Reply
  • hannibal
    More like 2060 speed, but better wait tests and real customers prices!
    This has very good gpu, but very tight memory, so there will be games where this will be really good and games where memory will badly hinder. So variance compared to 5700 can be quite wide.
    Reply
  • King_V
    digitalgriffin said:
    slower than a 1660?

    Not sure where you're getting that from. Initial estimates are that it will edge out both the 1660 Super and the 1660Ti.

    Of course, the real test will be when it gets in the reviews. If the initial estimates are true about it outperforming the 1660Ti, and that in gaming, it stays under 130W instead of the officially stated 150W, and the prices come down a little, then my son and I are definitely keeping an eye on this one for the ChromaTron.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    Sorry guys. I misread the article. I thought it said 5500XT Not 5600XT. Thanks for catching me. I hate posting incorrect info.

    $250-$275 would be reasonable depending on how it does against the 1660ti
    Reply
  • King_V
    digitalgriffin said:
    Sorry guys. I misread the article. I thought it said 5500XT Not 5600XT.

    Maybe from that headline from the other day that compared the 5500XT to the plain-jane 1660. I thought it was a kind of an odd lineup, but I could see the reasoning I guess with the plain-jane 1660 having occasional price dips into 5500XT 8GB territory.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    The fact that Nvidia responded to the announcement by releasing a KO version of the RTX2060 at $300, means that the 5600XT is a contender above the 1660ti.
    Reply
  • King_V
    I was under the impression that the KO was an EVGA-specific thing, rather than a new variant offered by Nvidia to all board partners.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    King_V said:
    I was under the impression that the KO was an EVGA-specific thing, rather than a new variant offered by Nvidia to all board partners.

    I'm not sure how Nvidia worked it out with EVGA, but coming down to that price point and the timing of the announcement totally stole the 5600XT's thunder.
    Reply
  • King_V
    gggplaya said:
    I'm not sure how Nvidia worked it out with EVGA, but coming down to that price point and the timing of the announcement totally stole the 5600XT's thunder.

    Could be - but I think it's a different thing when one board partner (in this case, EVGA) is offering a no-frills variant of the card, rather than Nvidia creating a new model, say, I dunno, 2060 Lite or whatever. Not quite the same impact.

    EVGA also briefly had a 1660Ti model down to $219.

    But, in this case, Nvidia's in a position they haven't experienced in a while, with an AMD card potentially matching or exceeding in performance AND power consumption for a given tier. We'll see what happens next week when the 5600XTs get released, the test results come out, and the price-war begins for this tier of cards.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    Nvidia just revealed that all RTX2060's are dropping to $299, not just the EVGA model.
    Reply