Conclusion
In today’s review, we took a look at the new SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GAMING OC Video Card, with an MSRP of $549. SAPPHIRE has several models in the new Radeon RX 7800 XT lineup, and the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT 16GB Gaming OC Video Card represents the highest-end, enthusiast-focused feature-rich model with the highest factory boost clock, and most robust heatsink and fan design SAPPHIRE offers.
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC uses SAPPHIRE’s Tri-X cooling design, and a factory boost clock of 2254MHz game clock and 2565MHz boost clock. This is compared to the AMD reference spec on the Radeon RX 7800 XT of 2124MHz game clock and 2430MHz boost clock. Combined with a thick, and impressive heatsink and fan, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC runs much cooler than the reference AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT design.
We also found that the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC does run faster in our game testing with this factory overclock. We saw improved performance over the made-by-AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT we have tested, thanks to this high factory overclock. It actually made a difference.
Performance
To put the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC to the test we focused on the 1440p gameplay experience with and without Ray Tracing and Upscaling. In Returnal the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC allowed a playable experience at over 100FPS. It was 18% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070, and 24% faster than the Radeon RX 6800. In Forspoken the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC also offered a playable experience at 92FPS. It was 6% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 24% faster than the Radeon RX 6800.
In The Callisto Protocol the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was very playable at 90FPS, offering smooth and enjoyable gameplay. The GeForce RTX 4070 was faster by just 0.2%, so they had the exact same performance. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was 22% faster than the Radeon RX 6800. In this game, several cards had the exact same gameplay experience. In Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC excelled quite a bit at 138FPS. It was a big 35% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 44% faster than the Radeon RX 6800.
In Chernobylite Enhanced Edition the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was playable at 118FPS. The GeForce RTX 4070 was 12% faster, but the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was 20% faster than the Radeon RX 6800. Dying Light 2 was playable at 124FPS, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was 7% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 15% faster than the Radeon RX 6800. In Cyberpunk 2077 the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was the fastest card, and it was 26% faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 and 30% faster than the Radeon RX 6800.
When it comes to Ray Tracing, the higher boosted clock speed also helped the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC. We also experienced faster performance compared to the previous generation Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT. There were some games where performance was close to or on par with the GeForce RTX 4070. In Returnal, the GeForce RTX 4070 was faster by 7%, but in Forspoken both the RTX 4070 and SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC had identical performance. In The Callisto Protocol the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was actually faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 with Ray Tracing.
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition was hard on Ray Tracing, but it did show that the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC is faster than the previous generation RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT by 35% and 29% respectively. The GeForce RTX 4070 was faster by 33%. In Dying Light 2 the GeForce RTX 4070 was faster by 15%, but the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was faster than the RX 6800 by 33% and faster than the RX 6800 XT by 14%. In Cyberpunk 2077 no video card was playable without upscaling. The RTX 4070 was faster by 31%, but the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC was faster than the RX 6800 by 36% and faster than the RX 6800 by 15%.
Power and Temp Summary
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC uses custom SAPPHIRE Tri-X cooling and has a higher factory overclock, which pushes TDP higher. The official TDP from SAPPHIRE is 288W on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC, which compares to the reference AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT spec of 263W. In our testing, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC reached a board power of 273W, which compared to the board power on our reference AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT of 254W. That is a 7% increase in power, for the added clock speeds.
When we overclocked the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC, power rose to 300W, which is a pretty big jump. However, we did not see a relative performance increase. This indicates that overclocking past the factory overclock is not worth the added power demand. With a 2, 3, or 5% performance increase, that doesn’t seem worth the extra power. It seems SAPPHIRE has already tapped out the full potential of the Radeon RX 7800 XT with the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC video card. With its factory overclock, it is giving you all its got, out-of-the-box. This is good news, as it means you aren’t leaving any performance on the table.
We were very impressed by the cooling from SAPPHIRE. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC is a chonky video card for this class, and price point, but it pays off in terms of thermals. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC runs much cooler than the made-by-AMD reference AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT video card. It fixes the Hot Spot temperatures we found were very high on the Radeon RX 7800 XT. It also has a much lower package, or edge GPU temp. The fans run at a low RPM at default, which means they are very quiet, and it still stays very cool. The cooling on this video card has improved upon the reference design by a large degree.
Final Points
An important point to make with the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GAMING OC video card is the fact that the factory overclock makes a difference. When you compare the results to the made-by-AMD reference Radeon RX 7800 XT, we find the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC is positioned better to the competition and previous generation offerings. In addition to the extra clock boost, the thermal design is a lot better and offers a cooler running video card. It takes up a lot of space, it’s a big design, but that actually helps the Radeon RX 7800 XT in this instance.
With the price being $549 for the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC, SAPPHIRE is demanding a price premium for this video card over the reference made-by-AMD design at $499. That extra $50 is buying you improved performance with that factory overclock, and the better thermal situation. It also brings you the full potential of performance out of the Radeon RX 7800 XT, without having to squeeze more out of it. There is no performance being left on the table here, for $549 you are getting the maximum performance you can get out of a Radeon RX 7800 XT, so that price pays for that performance ceiling.
At $549, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC is still cheaper than the $599 GeForce RTX 4070. You get more VRAM with 16GB, compared to 12GB on the GeForce RTX 4070, and you get performance that is competitive in games. There are many games where the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC is faster than the GeForce RTX 4070 (it will always be game dependent mind you), and it was even comparable with Ray Tracing in some games. Generally, the GeForce RTX 4070 is faster in Ray Tracing, but not always so. There are games where they are close in performance, or on par, it is very game-dependent.
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC also offers the Starfield game bundle, an expensive game, that is free with the purchase of this video card, which helps boost its value. If you are upgrading from a Radeon RX 6800, which was at a similar price point in the last generation, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC will be a pretty decent upgrade. You’ll be getting around 20-30% more performance now with the new Radeon RX 7800 XT, including better Ray Tracing performance. With the new features such as Hypr-RX to come, it could help extend the value of the Radeon RX 7800 XT compared to the previous generation.
Overall, if you are interested in a premium Radeon RX 7800 XT, with all the bells and whistles, a high factory overclock, and exceptional cooling, check out the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GAMING OC video card.