The long-rumored Navi has finally arrived. After what’s felt like years of speculation, we’re finally getting our hands on the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT. Early benchmark results are already in, so is Navi worth it or not?
Before we dive into the early testing results, let’s dig into what the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT are bringing to the table in terms of specs.
RX 5700
VRAM: 8GB GDDR6 (256-bit)
VRAM Bandwidth: 448 GB/s
Compute Units: 36
Stream Processors: 2304
Texture Units: 144
ROPs: 64
Base Frequency: 1465MHz
Boost Frequency: Up to 1725MHz
TDP: 180W
MSRP: $349
RX 5700 XT
VRAM: 8GB GDDR6 (256-bit)
VRAM Bandwidth: 448 GB/s
Compute Units: 40
Stream Processors: 2560
Texture Units: 160
ROPs: 64
Base Frequency: 1605MHz
Boost Frequency: Up to 1905MHz
TDP: 225W
MSRP: $399
There’s also an RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary edition available, but it’s just a very lightly overclocked (+75MHz) variant of the RX 5700 XT with gold trim and a much higher price tag. Not really worth it in my opinion, but if you’re a collector of special editions then this might be a decent one.
As you can see, there’s quite a difference between the RX 5700 and the RX 5700 XT. The XT has a much higher base frequency, more SPs, more TUs, and more compute units. Current benchmark results are putting the RX 5700 XT on par with Nvidia’s RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 Super in a lot of games.
The one major drawback with the current RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT options is cooling. All of the existing models are of the reference design, meaning all of them use a blower-style cooler. Buying a card with a blower-style cooler can be fine if your plan is to water cool, otherwise, they’re just not that good. They’re always much louder and cool significantly worse than fan cooled options.
While the new cards definitely show promise, early testing results have indicated the current blower-style options are sub-par. They’ve also indicated that the current drivers aren’t functioning as they should. So, if you’re planning on buying the RX 5700 or RX 5700 XT, wait until AIB partner cards have been released with better cooling solutions. By then, newer and better drivers will have been released. Why AMD opted for a blower-style cooler is beyond me when the earlier Radeon VII had a great fan setup – that’s the direction they should have gone with Navi.
What are your thoughts on the ryzen 7 2700x being 25% off? Is the quality good? Does it compare to intel well? Just wanted to ask the expert 🙂
(250$ Now was 330$ on Amazon)
It’s definitely a good CPU, but exactly how good it would be for you depends on how you’d be using your build.
For pure gaming, the i5 9600K would be better at the same price. But, for streaming gameplay, the R7 2700X would be a bit better.
Of course, we can’t forget the Zen 2 CPUs either, like the R5 3600 – it would arguably be better than both the i5 9600K and the R7 2700X for about $50 cheaper… If you don’t mind either flashing the BIOS on a B450 chipset board or spending $160+ on an X570.
Hope that helps!
Are they going to release anything above or below the 5700? A 5800 or a 5600?
There have been some rumors and leaks about an RX 5500, 5550, 5600, 5800, 5850, and a 5900 XT. But, there’s technically nothing official yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if the leaks are true.