Noise
Asus’ decision to substitute surface area for more airflow comes back to bite the company during our acoustic measurements. The Strix RX 570 OC's noise level is reasonable during gaming workloads, but it gets loud when we hit it with a more demanding task.
During our stress test in a closed PC case, the fans settle at 80 percent of their maximum speed. You'll want a good pair of closed headphones to drown out the sound.
Asus' Strix RX 570 OC generates 41.3 dB(A) during our gaming loop. The noise covers a broad range of frequencies, but the primary sound is a whooshing noise corresponding to air movement. The fan bearings and motors contribute some low-frequency noise as well.
Meanwhile, the stress test’s 44.7 dB(A) is too loud for comfort.
Asus prioritized cost over cooling performance when it designed the Strix RX 570 OC, and our testing reflects this. There are definitely thermal solutions capable of better performance and less noise. But do they make sense on a mainstream card like Radeon RX 570? It'll take a round-up to find out.
MORE: Best Graphics Cards
MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table
MORE: All Graphics Content