Verdict and Conclusion
Ok, as we all know the Radeon RX 590 isn’t a GeForce GTX 1080 killer nor is it a GeForce GTX 1070 killer either. But it did compete very well against the GeForce GTX 1060. We have to remember, the Radeon RX 590 was never really designed for the high-end enthusiast market, so in that sense it did do its job well as a mid-range graphics card for the mainstream gaming market.
One of the advantages of the RX 590 is that it now uses the 12nm FinFET process, offering higher clock rate over the original RX 580, which used the previous 14nm process. Is it a new graphics card with new GPU architecture… no, I’d say it’s more of a refresh of their original RX 580 with a higher clock rate.
Performance wise it’s what I expected, with performance hovering just above the GeForce GTX 1060, but in most cases, it did outperform the GTX 1060. Due to the higher clock rate, the power consumption for the RX 590 is around 225W compared to 185W of the RX 580.
If running the graphics card at default clock rate isn’t enough … ASRock has included their Phantom Gaming Tweaker software, which allows you to overclock the card even more. By default the card will run at the non-overclocked clock rate of 1498 MHz. Selecting OC Mode will enable to graphics card to run at predefined boost clock rate of 1591 MHz.
The card comes with 2 x DisplayPorts, 1 x DVI out and 2 x HDMI ports, which I really like. Most graphics card only come with 1 HMDI port. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the Radeon RX 590 can support multi-GPU configuration with CrossfireX. It’s competitor, the GeForce GTX 1060 however, can not do SLI – Nvidia’s multi-GPU equivalent.
Priced at $280-$299, it is currently around 10-15% more expensive than NVIDIA’s popular GeForce GTX 1060, but it is approximately 12% faster in terms of effective speed.
You can buy the ASRock Radeon RX 590 Graphics Card (8GB GDDR5) from various online retailers for around USD $280-$299.
Pros:
- Refreshed Polaris-based GPU built on 12nm FinFET process
- Higher clock rate than previous RX 580
- Beats the GeForce GTX 1060 in most benchmarks
- CrossfireX multi-GPU capability (GTX 1060 can not do SLI)
- 8GB GDDR5 ram
- Good performance
- Affordable price
Cons:
- Will Radeon RX 580 owners be annoyed?
Final Thoughts
If you want a decent graphics card that’s designed for gaming, affordable, and offers very good performance with the option of CrossfireX multi-GPU configuration… then look no further. The ASRock Phantom Gaming Radeon RX 590 8G OC is here!
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