Sapphire Announces Pulse RX 500 Series Graphics Cards

Sapphire expanded its lineup of AMD's new RX 500 series graphics cards with the new Pulse family of products.

Pulse covers RX 550, RX 570, and RX 580. The lineup differs from the Nitro+ cards Sapphire released alongside the RX 500 series debut primarily in their clock speeds--the Pulse Radeon RX 580 can be clocked at up to 1,366MHz; the Nitro+ Radeon RX 580 (8GB) is clocked at 1,411MHz. Similar differences in clock speeds can be found between the Pulse Radeon RX 570 and Nitro+ Radeon RX 570 (4GB) cards.

Sapphire also limited the Pulse Radeon RX 570 to 4GB of memory clocked at up to 1,750MHz. The Nitro+ Radeon RX 570 is available in 4GB or 8GB models also clocked at 1,750MHz. Pulse changes things up a little with a Pulse Radeon RX 570 ITX model with a slightly slower 1,244MHz clock in a smaller form factor. If you're looking for an RX 570 to pop into a smaller PC, then, you'll probably be more interested in Pulse than in Nitro+.

The new lineup further differentiates itself with the Pulse Radeon RX 550, which is clocked at up to 1,206MHz and available with either 2GB or 4GB of memory. Sapphire hasn't announced an RX 550 member of the Nitro+ lineup, most likely because those cards are meant for people looking for a little more oomph, which the RX 550 can't provide. This also means it's bound to be the cheapest member of the RX 500 series lineup, though.

Sapphire said in a press release that the Pulse cards are shipping now to "selected Sapphire e-tailers and retailers worldwide." We found several cards--the Pulse Radeon RX 570 ITX, Pulse Radeon RX 570, and Pulse Radeon RX 580 (4GB)--on Newegg with prices between $170 and $200. That makes the Pulse cards roughly $30 cheaper than their Nitro+ counterparts.

You can learn more about AMD's new-ish RX 500 series in our reviews of the RX 570 (4GB) and RX 580 (8GB) by way of Asus' Strix RX 470 OC and Sapphire's Nitro+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition. (AMD didn't create any reference cards for the RX 500 series for us to review.)