Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Card! Should have had RGB or at least have the LOGO back-lit with an LED... Sigh =|
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2018
I bought this card at $USD 299.99 in July 2018. The XFX LOGO is not RGB nor an LED - its just ... white (I knew this before my purchase but just sharing this info for those ppl looking building a PC based on looks). It does have a tiny blue LED above the 8-pin power connector visible through the side of the PC case - but its a standard LED and not anything artistic.. seems to be there just for function or diagnostics - is always on as long as the PC is powered.
This card is Dual BIOS and has the switch on beside the 8-pin power connector. XFX calls one BIOS as "Gaming BIOS" and the other as "Mining BIOS" according to the website. My findings are firstly there is no automatic GPU boost. Secondly, the 'Gaming Bios' (default) runs 1150MHz core and 2100 VRAM (8.4GHz). When you switch to what XFX calls the 'Mining Bios' it is 1405MHz core with VRAM 2000MHz (8GHz) the latter being a respectable and repeatable 10% uplift in graphics performance which I tested in Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (1080p, Ultra, 8xAA, Tessellation Extreme) from 50 fps to 55 fps. Radeon Driver Version Adrenaline 18.5.1, Win 10 x64, FX-8350 stock :D
My only complaint so far is IMO for this price they should have at least back-lit their logo when the card is powered on - no reason why this would have been impossible. Not many cards give you a manually selectable Dual Bios feature and this is the only reason i bought it over the competition - which have RGB... :D
Performance: Well its a RX-580... and that is the tier of performance to expect. XFX however claims this XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Black Edition can do at least 1425MHz on the core for an overclock (I haven't tested this) but the card DOES NOT come running 1425MHz out of the box but 1150MHz so the marketing may be misleading to some ppl I suppose - I doubt that was their intention but it can potentially mislead. 1405MHz - what they market as "True Clock" on their website is the actual GPUcore speed u get once you have the overclocked bios switched on - I mean the 'Mining BIOS' in XFX terminology lol. I hope that explanation helps but I guess the message they want to get across from posting the cards as 1425MHz+OC is - this speed is guaranteed attainable according to them and that these possibly are among the best Polaris Dies in these "GTS Black Edition" cards.. Over Clockers will know that info means to them... So.. Yes the card is actually is clocked at and sustains 1405MHz on the core w/ VRAM 2000MHz(8GHz) - Just switch on the 'Mining BIOS'...
The fans are quiet yet powerful to keep it cool and they shut off under 50 degrees Celsius as long as you don't change fan profiles in software eg. MSI afterburner or Radeon settings, etc - you can however change the target temperature in radeon settings and the card still runs the fans to meet your desired temp and shut off once it goes under 50 Celsius.
The card performs as a RX-580 should and runs with no complaints... I also have been running dual 1080p monitors some weeks now for work purposes from it.
I do like the card - I just tried to provide a lot of info i believe some ppl will overlook or be misled by or mention things that are not stated in the description of the item nor website. These are all facts - wanting RGB and lighting is my personal preference. I will let y'all know if the card does something weird over time :D