Question Is this a new Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 XT

[charlietee]

Missed out on the ASUS AMD Radeon RX 5700 Overclocked 8G GDDR6 Dual Fan EVO deal for $309.00 trying to move money out of my PayPal account. Had decided to bite the bullet and buy the XFX RX 5700 XT Raw II selling and in stock at one of the local big box stores for $389.99 plus 8.25% sales tax coming to 422.99 out the door and in my hand tomorrow. Really mixed reviews with the usual numbers for 5700 XT cards. One of the better cards is the 2 fan Sapphire Pulse (not the one I am linking to below" and the 2 fan Red Devil.

Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 XT BE

XFX RX 5700 XT Raw II

The one online I cannot find any reviews of it and Sapphire's site really does not give much information on the cooling. However the online store list it as "First Available" on July 01 2020. Thinking of rolling the dice and getting the Sapphire hoping it is a newer improved model.

Sapphire's site info.

It is sitting in my "shopping cart" for $405.93 that includes a $15.00 discount code total out the door price.

Conventional wisdom (mine anyway) is telling me to stick with my decision to just wait until I can get the Asus RX 5700 Evo for $309.00 and if that does not happen then order different card. That went out the window with the decision to get the XFX card available here in town.

Now I have another option making me bang my head on the table trying to decide if the "unknown" Sappire Plus is the better option.

Any help, suggestions, This checking on the Asus card is driving me crazy. Waiting on it is really fading from an option. My people here in town think I should wait until the big-Navi"s come out and the middle priced cards come out. Really do not think I can wait that long.

Thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Red Hawk]

Huh...looks to me like it's just a standard Sapphire Pulse 5700 XT with an all black fan shroud. I'd expect it to perform the same as a standard Pulse 5700 XT, which was one of the better reviewed models (and I can attest to being very happy with my own). It's sold and shipped by Newegg, so it's doubtful there's anything shady going on, and if you're unhappy you can always return it. I'd say if it looks like a good deal to you, go for it.

 

[sandorski]

Asus had some serious issues with their 5700 cards. I would avoid.

 

[ao_ika_red]

The "BE" suffix of 5000 series generation from Sapphire means smaller and cheaper cooling solution than standard Pulse without "BE".

 

[charlietee]

Be nice if I could cool my jets on the video card end of this upgrade. For the $400.00 I could go ahead and get a 1TB Corsair MP600 to pair with the 500 GB MP600 that is the boot drive and another set of the TeamGroup Samsung B-Die 8x2 GB Dark Pro memory kit's, bumping me to 32 GB. That would leave me having to wait on the video card end of things.

Seems that once the big-Navi cards drop prices of the 5700 series video cards will drop...Really frustrating having to check on stuff 3 or 4 times a day to try and find it in stock with no back order or wait until a certain date to have it come out only to find it sold out.

Never really had to wait in the past except for the new chipset motherboards and video cards to come out.

I have always been reasonably patient and was well enough connected to get the new stuff the day it turned up for sale at one of the dealers here in Houston. Turns out I am not very patient at all.

Now I know what the "hurry up and wait" syndrome is all about...Madding I say !!!

 

[Stuka87]

The main difference between a Pulse and a Pulse BE is that the BE doesn't have the quick disconnect fans, and it does not have a dual BIOS. It is otherwise the same as the regular Pulse.

If you don't *need* a card upgrade right now, I would wait a few months. New cards are coming. Which means these will drop in price, or you could potentially get a faster card for the same price. If you DO need a card right now, the Pulse (either version) is a good 2-fan card.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The "BE" suffix of 5000 series generation from Sapphire means smaller and cheaper cooling solution than standard Pulse without "BE".

All the Newegg reviews except one for the "BE" Pulse card, are negative, talking about crashing and overheating.

 

[charlietee]

Well after checking and waiting for the Asus 5700 Evo 10 times a day for weeks. I seem to have found out a few things about other cards. Sold myself on a 2 fan 5700. Reason? Did not want to take the hard drive bay out of my case. Watched reviews of all the 5700 non XT's I could find. After watching all that business. I changed my mind about taking the drive bay out.

So starting looking at the difference between the 5700 and 5700 XT's. Now for some reason the XT's have caught my attention. The 2 fan option is not set in stone. Probably going to get the Power Color, Red Devil RX 5700.
Red Devil RX 5700
Normally I would let my wallet scream at me and just pony up the $60.00 premium for the RX 5700 XT Red Devil. But as Stuka87 sezz...

Which means these will drop in price, or you could potentially get a faster card for the same price. If you DO need a card right now, the Pulse (either version) is a good 2-fan card.

So do I need a card...No...Want one... YES !!! Gezzz I forgot how addictive this build a box fever used to mess with me. Hopefully I can sleep on it tonight and decide to just wait for the new cards to drop and get the latest and greatest. Wouldn't bet on it. But hey if I do go ahead and buy the non XT Red Devil I can tell my wallet "hey at least I didn't get the more expensive one".

Looks like missing out on the Asus 5700 for $309.00 and not being able to find one has opened my eyes to other options...Like the Sapphire Pulse and the Power Color 2 fan series which by all counts are better than the Asus card from a cooling stand point anyway. AMD kinda has taken all the fun out of hot rodding your video card. They all seem to be really close in performance. Manually overclocking them seems almost like a waste of time. The cooling solution seems to be the great divider to me anyway.

Now tomorrow the Asus will magically appear for $309.00. After I have already bought something else.

Once again getting pointed in the right direction by you guys here at AnandTech.

Really appreciate you guys helping me out !!! Thank you yet again.

 

[charlietee]

Well waiting has paid off...One of the sellers has the Asus 5700 Evo for 309.00. Had decided to wait until the big-Navi cards come out but from what I have gathered it will probably not happen for at least a couple of months. Add to that the rumor control mill has it that the custom mid priced cards will not be released for another couple of months after that.

Asus RX 5700 Evo

While resigned to waiting I went ahead and bought a Corsair RMx 650 watt power supply. And sure enough like magic the Asus card appears for sale at $309.99. Good things happen to those who wait. I guess anyway. Now at least I will not have to worry about the 12 year old Corsair HX520X having enough juice for the upcoming GPU and processor upgrade when they become available.

Saved me some money and now I can stop checking availability 10 times a day.

Now I can get to turning my case into swiss cheese.

 

[Krunchy T. Clown]

I own the original Sapphire Pulse 5700 XT, and haven't had any issues.

 

[charlietee]

The Asus Evo RX 5700 showed up at one of the online vendors for $309.00 so I jumped on it...then low and behold Asus dropped the dual fan EVO RX 5700 XT with "new and improved heatsink"... Asus does not even have the non XT version listed on their site.

Dual RX5700 XT

The plan was to buy an inexpensive video card and wait until the custom big-Navi cards dropped...the smoke cleared with reviews helping me make an "informed" decision...the RX 5700 had already shipped so I cancelled the order on it..during the wait I went ahead and upgraded the Corsair HX520W to the Corsair RM650X.

While waiting on all that RMA refund business I decided to go with either the Sapphire Pulse or Powercolor Red Devil...still have not received the money on the Asus Evo...So of course I had to go pick up a Lian-Li Lancool II Mesh today.

So what started out as just a motherboard...processor...memory upgrade with a "not a penny more" budget has morphed into basically a new build...As soon as the RMA money hits my "internet debit card" there will be a Red Devil added to the mix.

The price difference between the different RX5700 XT's has me thinking the Red Devil is the only logical choice...

Hopefully the big-Navi will drop soon and save me from...well from myself.

 

[charlietee]

MacDonald Carey saying, “like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”

Hopefully the big-Navi will drop soon and save me from...well from myself.

Well the video card roller coaster ride continues.

Now I am wondering if I should save $60.00 by getting the Powercolor Red Devil RX 5700 non XT version for $380.00 or the Red Devil RX 5700 XT for $440.00.

I was wondering if you guy's could give me a estimated timeline on when the custom big-Navi cards will come out and what to expect when selling used video cards.