Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 480 8Gb Graphics Card Review

Test Setup

We are testing with our X99 setup supporting DDR4, 2011-3 Socket CPU and some serious power and bandwidth for the GPU to play with. All updates to the Operating System, games and synthetic benchmarks are assumed, and a full de-fragmentation on the SSD after a fresh install before any benches are carried out. We will be testing in 1080p and UHD resolutions using the ViewSonic VP2780-4K 27-Inch UltraHD IPS Monitor.

• Processor: Intel i7-5820K
• Motherboard: Asus Rampage V Extreme Motherboard
• Memory: 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400Mhz @ 2666Mhz
• PSU: Corsair HX1000i
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
• Storage: Crucial BX100 500Gb
• Cooler: Reeven Okeanos RC-1402 CPU Cooler
• Resolutions: 1920 x 1080 and 3840 x 2160 UHD 4K

Default driver settings were used for synthetic and gaming tests, we only changed the game settings to push the resolutions, we maintained the Ultra quality settings throughout. All game tests have the game settings screenshot included.

The games and synthetic benchmarks are fully patched as well, though they may change the net performance from time to time, only the fundamentally flawed games or apps would have a significant performance jump when patched, and we don’t use them for testing. Also, Futuremarks’ systeminfo needs to be fully up to date before you can call a benchmark result valid.

We have included a quick test between the Vulkan API and the OpenGL 4.5 API in Doom, with both 1080p and UHD resolutions tested. We used PresentMon to test the Vulkan API courtesy of GameTechDev, an Intel graphics guru. Have a look at the GameTechDev GitHub for more information.

Our Charts

We use charts to describe the benchmark results. These use colours that can often be similar or even different shades of each colour. If this becomes hard to read, you can click on any of the review samples on the chart to remove it, or add it back in.

Testing Methodology

All synthetic and gaming tests are carried out several times with the best result taken. If the test is an online multiplayer, the same map is used each time and a ping constantly under 30ms is required before a test is valid. We always try synthetic and real world tests, for graphics cards, there is no better real world test than gaming.

Synthetic Tests

• AIDA64 Engineer
• 3DMark Professional
• Unigine Heaven 4.0

Real World Tests

• Battlefield 4
• Crysis 3
• Alien Isolation
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Doom (OpenGL & Vulkan)
• The Division
• Far Cry 3
• Watch_Dogs

4K UHD Tests

• 3DMark Professional
• Battlefield 4
• Crysis 3
• Alien Isolation
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Doom (OpenGL & Vulkan)
• The Division
• Far Cry 3
• Watch_Dogs

We have introduced a couple of newer games into our testing cycle, Alien Isolation and Batman: Arkham Origins, Doom and The Division, some excellent game titles. We didn’t have all review samples for all the game tests, so some of the charts will be missing some of the cards. We will keep adding games behind the scenes and more will come out in future reviews. If you have a game you would like to see tested, post a comment. We always run the benchmarks several times, taking the best results and recording them on the graphs, and only with the minimum diagnostic software running to capture the results.

Sound Performance

We tested the sound performance at idle and during load. We used a certified Db meter at a range of 15 inches. It is important to note we used the MicroCool Banchetto 101 Chassis for testing which is an open chassis. This means you are hearing the GPU cooler fan unobstructed and the card should have maximum airflow around it.