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After checking out the relatively uninspiring AMD RX 7900 GRE at the end of February, today we have assessed a total of four custom cards – Sapphire's Nitro+, Pulse and Pure, alongside the Gigabyte Gaming OC.
Taken in isolation, these are four very competent partner cards, each of which improves on the reference model in several ways. In fact, all four offer notably more efficient coolers than the MBA card, and all can easily handle the heat output of the Navi 31 XL silicon, to the point where thermal differences between the four are much of a muchness. That said, Sapphire continues to impress me with just how quiet its cards are out of the box.
Probably the main area of difference comes down to the physical appearance of each, with the Nitro+ being the biggest and most resplendent with RGB, whereas the Pulse is fairly stripped back, while the Pure will appeal to those who want a white card. The Gaming OC is also quite understated with a matte-black design, but also offers just a touch of RGB lighting.
As good as these graphics card may be when taken on their own, what complicates matters is the fact that I find it hard to recommend the RX 7900 GRE in the face of its competition. As I pointed out in my launch day review, this is a model that's very similar to the RTX 4070 Super in terms of rasterisation, but it can't compete when it comes to ray tracing, it lacks support for the superior DLSS upscaling technology, while being less efficient.
Naturally, the enhanced coolers and features of these partner cards also drive up the price, with the likes of the Nitro+ retailing for £560-£600 over the last few days, and even the Pulse model is listed for £550. 4070 Super is readily available at, or even below, its £579 MSRP, so with prices basically being equal, to me the Nvidia GPU just seems the stronger all-round choice. Again, I like what Sapphire and Gigabyte has done with their custom designs, but for me AMD's GPU line-up needs a price tweak to make it more competitive.
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Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC
Pros
- Slightly faster than the reference card.
- Cooler is a solid improvement over the MBA design.
- Quiet when using the Silent BIOS.
- Dual-BIOS.
- Stripped back colour-neutral design.
Cons
- Enhanced cooler and extra features drive up the price.
- Significantly slower than the 4070 Super for ray tracing.
- RDNA 3 is less efficient than Ada Lovelace.
Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Nitro+
Pros
- Slightly faster than the reference card.
- Cooler is a solid improvement over the MBA design.
- Very quiet out of the box.
- Dual-BIOS.
- On-board ARGB and fan headers.
- Lovely aesthetic.
Cons
- Enhanced cooler and extra features drive up the price.
- Significantly slower than the 4070 Super for ray tracing.
- RDNA 3 is less efficient than Ada Lovelace.
Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Pulse
Pros
- Slightly faster than the reference card.
- Cooler is a solid improvement over the MBA design.
- Very quiet out of the box.
- Relatively compact despite being a triple-fan cooler.
Cons
- Not as affordable as we'd hope for a Pulse model.
- No dual-BIOS.
- Significantly slower than the 4070 Super for ray tracing.
- RDNA 3 is less efficient than Ada Lovelace.
Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Pure
Pros
- Slightly faster than the reference card.
- Cooler is a solid improvement over the MBA design.
- Sleek white aesthetic.
- Very quiet out of the box.
- Relatively compact despite being a triple-fan cooler.
Cons
- White design carries a price premium over the Pulse.
- No dual-BIOS.
- Significantly slower than the 4070 Super for ray tracing.
- RDNA 3 is less efficient than Ada Lovelace.
KitGuru says: There's a good range of variety on offer here, but AMD needs to lower pricing to make the 7900 GRE more appealing.
