1. Introduction2. Meet the Sapphire RX 9070 XT Nitro+3. Testing Methodology4. Game Benchmarks5. Clock Speed6. GPU Temperatures7. Does the Backplate Affect Thermals?8. Acoustics9. Noise-Normalised Temperatures10. Power Draw and Efficiency11. Overclocking12. Closing Thoughts13. View All Pages

Sapphire has built a strong reputation over the years, manufacturing some of the best AMD partner cards on the market. We thought as much for the RX 7000 series and today our attention has turned to the latest entry in the Nitro+ range – the RX 9070 XT.

While the design is more of an evolution, rather than revolution, I have to say it really is a thing of beauty, offering a clean gun-metal grey colourway, alongside the nifty removable backplate that neatly hides your power connector. Factor in the smart grille over the side of the card and the clean RGB lighting, and I'd be very happy to stick one of these into my personal PC.

Cooling performance is also very solid – we saw similar GPU temperatures to the PowerColor Red Devil, and with the fans spinning at just 1215rpm, it is whisper quiet out of the box.

My only real complaint about the Nitro+ itself is the lack of dual-BIOS -a surprising omission considering it was a mainstay on the previous generation of Nitro+ cards. Considering this is a flagship partner card, with an MSRP of £699, I really would expect to see dual-BIOS as standard – this is a rare misstep from Sapphire.

Pricing also requires some decision, as being a flagship RX 9070 XT partner card, the £699 MSRP represents a significant 22% premium over the baseline MSRP, set by AMD at £575. At the time of writing, listed prices are even higher, hitting £720 at Overclockers UK, or £730 at Scan. That does mean things are creeping much closer to the RTX 5070 Ti than I would like, given the cheapest model is listed for £830 at Scan.

Of course, the Nitro+ will have more features – such as the removable backplate and ARGB lighting – and likely a more sophisticated cooler than an entry-level 5070 Ti, but the fact remains, the closer the 9070 XT gets to the 5070 Ti's price tag, the harder things become for AMD and its partners.

Still, if you are in the market for an RX 9070 XT, the Sapphire Nitro+ is an excellent option – just put the dual-BIOS back, please!

Pros

• Beautiful design.
• Magnetic backplate is a smart addition.
• Runs quiet and cool.
• Healthy factory overclock.
• Gains of 6-8% when overclocked and undervolted.

Cons

• Hefty premium over the baseline MSRP brings pricing closer to the RTX 5070 Ti.
• Lacks dual-BIOS.

KitGuru says: Sapphire's RX 9070 XT Nitro+ is a beautiful graphics card, though the lack of dual-BIOS is an odd move.

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