Introduction
At Gamescom 2023, AMD announced the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT video cards, based on the RDNA 3 architecture, to fulfill the Radeon RX 7000 lineup. The Radeon RX 7800 XT has an MSRP of $499, and the Radeon RX 7700 XT has an MSRP of $449. We published the specs announcement on August 25th, read that for the full press presentation and information about these new video cards, and also check out our full Radeon RX 7800 XT made-by-AMD reference video card review.
In today’s review, we will be looking at the brand new SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT GAMING 12GB Video Card video card, which SAPPHIRE has set with an MSRP of $449. The SAPPHIRE PULSE model offers custom SAPPHIRE Dual-X cooling technology and design and runs at the reference AMD clock speeds for the Radeon RX 7700 XT GPU. The complete product name is SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT GAMING 12GB GDDR6 DUAL HDMI/DUAL DP and SKU# 11335-04-20G.
The Radeon RX 7700 XT is positioned for the 1440p gameplay experience with 12GB of VRAM. It has 54 Compute Units, 3456 Shader Units, 54 RT Accelerators (2nd Gen), 108 AI Accelerators, and 96 ROPs. It uses 48MB of 2nd Gen AMD Infinity Cache. It has a Game Clock of 2171MHz and a Boost Clock of 2544MHz. It has 12GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus at 18Gbps which gives it 432GB/s of memory bandwidth, and it uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface with a TDP of 245W.
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT GAMING 12GB Specs
In SAPPHIRE’s Radeon RX 7700 XT lineup, the PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT is the first tier, and as we mentioned has custom cooling and design, with reference clock speeds. Moving up the tiers SAPPHIRE also has a new PURE Radeon RX 7700 XT branded video card, which is new and unique with a triple fan design and unique look. We will have a review of this video card coming up. At the top of the tier list is the NITRO+ Radeon RX 7700 XT with the highest factory overclocks and the most unique design and features.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT is a 2.5-slot video card using a Dual Axial Fan design with two ball bearing fans, SAPPHIRE calls this its Dual-X cooling technology and the video card has a full backplate. SAPPHIRE’s official TDP on this video card is just 230W, which is actually lower than the reference AMD spec of up to 245W. SAPPHIRE recommends a minimum 700W or greater power supply. The video card requires two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT has its game clock and boost clock set at the AMD reference specification, which is 2171MHz game clock and 2544MHz boost clock with 12GB of GDDR6 at 18GHz.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT uses a digital power design with 14-phase power. It uses an ultra-high-performance conductive polymer aluminu7m capacitor which has a small PCB footprint to allow for these phases on a 7700 series graphics card. It uses a high-density 14-layer 2oz copper TG PCB for stability and to handle the power requirements.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT uses angular velocity fan blades that double downward air pressure. Composite heatpipes flow throughout the heatsink design, and the PCB has fuse protection. VRMs and memory components are also cooled with heatsinks and thermal pads. The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT supports SAPPHIRE TriXX tweaking utility software.
Don’t forget, with the video card you also get Starfield bundled, which is a huge bonus.
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT GAMING 12GB Pictures
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT comes in a nice box with a heart pulse wave graphic, and it lists the VRAM capacity on the front, with system requirements on the back.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT has a heatsink shroud that covers the front and wraps around the top front and back end of the video card. It has a backplate but is vented in many areas so it does not trap heat, with the back of the GPU exposed. There are thermal pads on this backplate to make contact with the back of components for extra cooling.
There is a cutout in the back plate to access the power connectors more easily, but the front heatsink and shroud do get in the way a little bit when pulling cables out. The top of the video card is well-vented, and we don’t see any areas where heat would get trapped. This video card does not have any RGB lighting, but rather a black-and-red graphic design, which looks appealing.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT measures 11″ inches in length, 5.06″ inches in width, and 2.06″ in height. That makes it slightly longer and thicker than the Radeon RX 6700 XT made-by-AMD reference video card which is 10.5″ in length and 1.5″ in height. On board, you will find two DisplayPort 2.1 and two HDMI ports.
The two 8-pin PCIe connectors are atop the video card. It has a recessed backplate which makes connecting the connectors easier, but the heatsink can still get in the way when pulling the cables. At least you are able to get to the clips easier, and it’s nice to have that thought put into it. You can see that the VRMs and memory do have thermal pads and heatsinks attached.
The SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT looks good in a computer, and it will take up a bit more space than the reference AMD card, but not much. The black and red theme looks great, and this video card has no lighting. The SAPPHIRE logo atop the video card has a nice faded look pattern.