Amd radeon rx 5700 review in Spanish (full analysis)

The second card introduced is the AMD Radeon RX 5700, the little sister of the XT version. Two GPUs that were unveiled at Computex 2019 and detailed in specs and pricing at E3. Well this July 7 are already a reality along with the two Nvidia Super. The manufacturer debuts its RDNA architecture with a 7nm chipset where they claim to have 50% more performance per watt of power and 25% more IPC. This is reflected in a card with 8 GB GDDR6, 256 bus bits and a GPU with 64 ROPs and 144 TMUs but without Ray Tracing.

All these innovations place this card on par with the RTX 2060, will theory match practice? Well then we will see, do not miss this review.

But first, we must thank AMD for their trust in us by temporarily releasing their new GPUs for us to do their analysis.

AMD Radeon RX 5700 technical features

Unboxing

AMD has opted for three new graphics cards in which the updates regarding the mode of operation have been significant, implementing the new RDNA architecture and leaving behind the GCN that clearly could not compete with the Nvidia. In this review we are dealing with the AMD Radeon RX 5700, the less powerful version, and clearly built to stand up to the RTX 2060.

But before, we are going to see the Unboxing of this graphics card, and in the first instance we find a flexible cardboard box that comes completely painted in black with red lines next to the brand and model of the card. We find absolutely nothing else in it.

So we extract it to see a second box, this time yes, of very thick rigid cardboard with a top opening on the widest face. This means that the card is supported horizontally on the inside, and also by means of two thick polyethylene foam molds to keep it safe from shock during transport.

The bundle consists of the following elements:

• AMD Radeon RX 5700 Graphics Card Warranty Documentation User Guide

We have absolutely nothing else inside, just a protector in the PCIe connection interface in the form of a plastic cap.

Exterior design

50% more performance per Watt and an IPC that improves the GCN architecture by 25% are the new cover letters for the RDNA architecture, but in terms of external appearance, the truth is that we do not have large news, for example, with respect to the reference models of the Radeon Vega. The measurements of this AMD Radeon RX 5700 are 268 mm long, 98 mm wide and 37 mm thick, so it is a very narrow and quite long card.

The entire outer shell of the heatsink is made of aluminum, and this is an improvement over the Vega. The plate is quite thick, although extremely simple in design, just a gray painted square case with the Radeon hallmark in the central area painted red (no lighting). In our view, it is not a design that clearly enters through the eyes.

What can draw attention, and not for good, is the choice of a heatsink with a fan in turbine mode. We do not understand AMD's desire to opt for these thermally inefficient designs, when in a chassis we have plenty of space for its two-fan system, even if they are narrow.

Beneath this circular chamfering of the housing we find a turbine design capable of rotating at 3700 RPM at maximum speed and yes, it is true that it provides good air flow. But the opening is only 70 mm in diameter and we already anticipate that this GPU heats up beautifully, so it is still insufficient. And it is that the entire heatsink is completely closed on the sides and rear.

If we zoom in to see the side areas, they feature a gray design exactly like the top area, with a distinctive Radeon on its visible side, as well as numerous screws that are responsible for holding the finned heatsink inside the AMD Radeon RX 5700. A positive thing about this is that it is a very compact design, both in width and in length and width, which makes it compatible with practically any chassis on the market.

At the front end we have four holes that we can use for example for fastening systems at the end and thus prevent the PCIe slot from suffering due to the weight, which is approximately 900 grams.

The upper part of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 is tremendously sparse when it comes to protection, because this type of aluminum backplate has not been introduced for the entire PCB area. So we see absolutely all the electronic components installed here, as well as the bracket that holds the heatsink to the GPU.

Throughout the outer perimeter we see a large number of star screws that are responsible for attaching the case and the heatsink to the PCB, so we intuit that the process of disassembling this GPU is not going to be too complicated. In my opinion, I consider that a graphics card like this that will exceed 350 euros deserves a back backplate.

Ports and power connections

It is time to know what are the connection ports of this AMD Radeon RX 5700 card and also the characteristics of them. And as always, we'll start with its rear port panel:

• 3x Display Port 1.41x HDMI 2.0b

Well, you see, it is quite simple, although it gives us the ability to connect a total of four high-resolution monitors on this GPU. In fact, the three Display Ports will give us a maximum resolution in the standard of 8K to 60 FPS, while in 5K we can go up to 120 Hz and offer DSC compatibility.

This new GPU is compatible with DirectX 12, the Vulkan API and Radeon VR Ready Premium, although we certainly have no trace of Open GL. In fact, we recommend changing the API in games running under Open GL, because the performance is going to be quite poor, for example in DOOM. It supports H264 rendering at 4K @ 150 FPS and H265 / HEVC at 4K @ 90 FPS and 8K @ 24 FPS, which isn't too shabby.

When it comes to power, this AMD Radeon RX 5700 card needs a 6 + 2-pin connector alongside another 6-pin to power the 180W TDP that it signs on its specs. In this model, we have no trace of the USB Type-C connector, and neither does AMD CrossFire, as this interface for using GPUs in parallel is in the PCIe slot itself. This model maintains its PCIe 4.0 interface as well as the 5700 XT, which from now on will use AMD along with its new Ryzen 3000 GPUs with native support, the first to be done on desktops.

PCB and internal hardware

Probably the most important thing about this new series of AMD cards is that the manufacturer claims to have completely redesigned its architecture, leaving behind the old GNC to now be called RDNA. Thanks to this, the performance of TSMC 's 7nm graphics processor is capable of improving ICP by 25% and increasing overall performance per watt by up to 50%. On the one hand, this is very good news for the manufacturer, since AMDs have always tended to consume a lot of energy in exchange for improved performance, but we must not forget that it does not yet have Ray Tracing capacity or code to implement deep learning like the Nvidia, and that still puts them one step behind them.

Both the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and the rest of the AMD models released, have Navi 10 architecture using the same manufacturing process as the Ryzen 3000. It has 10.3 million transistors and a matrix size of 251 mm ². If we compare this to the 10.8 million transistors on 445mm 2 of Nvidia's TU106 chipset, we have pretty much the same transistors in an area nearly half the size.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPU is made up of a total of 36 CUs or processing units, which inside have 2304 transmission cores. Remember that the 5700 XT has 40 CU. This also causes us to have some 144 TMUs and 64 ROPs. The clock speeds of this card are 1465 MHz in base mode, 1625 MHz in Game mode, as intermediate speed, and finally 1725 MHz in boost mode. In this way, a graphic core capable of delivering 7949 GFLOPS to a 180W TDP has been built, which is fine, but still not as efficient as Nvidia.

The hardware is completed with, this time yes, a memory of the GDDR6 type in a size of 8 GB to 14 Gbps not only for this AMD Radeon RX 5700, but also for the XT and XT 50 th anniversary model. Similarly, they all use a 256-bit bus at a speed of 448 GB / s through the new PCIe 4.0 bus, so bandwidth will undoubtedly not be an obstacle in this GPU. We don't have to worry about compatibility, because PCIe 4.0 is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0, and we can use this GPU on any current motherboard.

This intermediate frequency called Game Clock speed is maintained, which allows the GPU to work at moderate speeds when we are playing. Like the XT, we think it is a somewhat conservative AMD choice and synonymous with that the 1725 MHz will only be used on rare occasions, and this is how we have observed this during performance tests.

Test bench and performance test

Next, we are going to perform the entire battery of performance tests, both synthetic and in games, to this AMD Radeon RX 5700. Our test bench consists of the following elements:

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel Core i9-9900K
Base plate:	MSI MEG Z390 ACE
Memory:	G.Skill Sniper X 16 GB @ 3600 MHz
Heatsink	Corsair H100i RGB Platinum SE
HDD	ADATA Ultimate SU750 SSD
Graphic card	AMD Radeon RX 5700
Power supply	Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1000W
Monitor	Viewsonic VX3211 4K mhd

All the synthetic tests and tests have been carried out with the filters as they come in the configuration of each program. The tests consist of tests that run in various resolutions, such as Full HD and 4K. We have run all of them on the Windows 10 Pro operating system in its 1903 version with the Adrenalin drivers in the latest version available for this graphics card (they have provided us with new ones before launching them for sale). As is logical, in this case it has not been possible to perform the Ray Tracing Port Royal test, as it is not a compatible GPU.

What do we look for in the tests?

First, the best possible image quality. The most important value for us is the average FPS (Frames per second), the higher the number of FPS the more fluid the game will go. Benchmark scores will help us compare this GPU to the competition. To slightly differentiate the quality, we leave you a table to assess the quality in FPS based on the quantity we get in each game and resolution.

FRAMES PER SECOND
Frames Per Second (FPS)	Gameplay
Less than 30 FPS	Limited
30 ~ 40 FPS	Playable
40 ~ 60 FPS	Good
Greater than 60 FPS	Fairly Good or Excellent

Benchmarks

For benchmark tests we will use the following titles:

• 3DMark Fire Strike normal3DMark Fire Strike UltraTime SpyVRMARK

The objective of this AMD Radeon RX 5700 is to outperform the Nvidia RTX 2060, and it seems that this has been achieved, since in all tests we see a higher score. Even compared to custom models like MSI's Gaming Z. In Fire Strike for example, we see that it even surpasses the RTX 2060 Super, although we need to compare how this translates in practice, with games.

Game testing

After the synthetic tests, we will proceed to evaluate the real performance in games, thus having a closer guide of what our GPU will be able to deliver under DirecX 11, 12 and Vulkan in this case

The tests will be carried out at the three most used resolutions in gaming, we refer to Full HD (1920 x 1080p), QHD or 2K (2560 x 1440p) and UHD or 4K (3840 x 2160p). In this way, we will have a complete range of results to be able to compare them with other GPUs. For each of the games, we have kept the automatic settings selected in each and for each resolution.

• Final Fantasy XV, standard, TAA, DirectX 12DOOM, Ultra, TAA, VulkanDeus EX Mankind Divided, Alto, Anisotropico x4, DirectX 11Far Cry 5, Alto, TAA, DirectX 12Metro Exodus, Alto, Anisotropico x16, DirectX 12 (without RT) Shadow of the Tomb Rider, Alto, TAA + Anisotropic x4, DirectX 12

Again the results prove him right and we have a better performance in almost all the titles tested than the RTX 2060, and in all three resolutions, which is not bad. The problem here will be that the FPS figures are not much higher than this card, and we know that the RTX will lower its price with the arrival of the super version. In any case, the objective was to overcome it and this has been achieved.

What this card does demonstrate, is that it is perfectly capable of moving games with high graphic quality at more than 60 FPS at 2K resolutions, and almost reaches 50 FPS at 4K resolutions, very interesting results for a GPU at less than 400 Dollars. Increasingly, we are leaving the Full HD resolution behind as a reference and it is a very good thing. We also note that in these tests we have chosen to use Vulkan in DOOM (that's why the asterisk), and for this reason FPS go up a lot compared to other cards. This is because the AMD Radeon RX 5700 is not doing well under Open GL.

Overclocking

We have done a little overclocking to this AMD Radeon RX 5700 to see where it is capable of going, for this, we have used Radeon Wattman and also MSI Afterburner. We have run Deus Ex Mankind Divided and Fire Strike with this overclocking to see if performance improves.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided	Stock	@ Overclock
1920 x 1080 (Full HD)	102 FPS	104 FPS
2560 x 1440 (WQHD)	77 FPS	80 FPS
3840 x 2160 (4K)	40 FPS	42 FPS

We have increased the power delivery to the GPU to the maximum available and increased as far as the clock frequency allowed us, which in this case is self-limited in both MSI and Wattman at 1850 MHz, which we will hardly reach due to the high temperatures of the card. Likewise, we have slightly increased the memory clock frequency to 900 MHz, since in higher figures we have suffered several blocks.

The result has been an improvement of just 2 FPS in the game benchmark, and also with relative instability, despite the fact that we have increased the RPM of the turbine fan to approximately 3000. The airflow is good, but having a fully closed heatsink takes its toll on the temperature, so the overclocking capability is pretty low. AMD has reported that current drivers do not yet provide stable overclocking of these GPUs, so we expect further improvements in the next installments.

Temperatures and consumption

To finish, we have proceeded to stress the AMD Radeon RX 5700 for a few hours while monitoring its temperatures and consumption. To do this, we have always used FurMark and HWiNFO to capture results, along with a wattmeter that measures the power of all the complete equipment, except the monitor. The ambient temperature is 24 ° C.

Thanks to the fact that it does not have a backplate, the card lets us see all the heat that the GPU gives off towards the back, reaching temperatures close to 80 degrees, so it would be better if we do not touch the card while it is working. In the images we see that in the part near the port panel is where the most heat is concentrated in the heatsink, and this is due to the fact that the air flow reaches the end of the heatsink weaker, and also warmer, so that the thermal efficiency is not going to be optimal. In fact, we reach temperatures of up to 85 ° C without any overclocking, which are not negligible.

In terms of consumption efficiency, we have certainly improved records compared to the previous generation, and much, standing at consumptions of about 242W of the entire team when we subject the GPU to stress. Figures better than for example the RTX 2060 and 2070 and much more than the Radeon VII, although of course, it is more powerful. If we also stress the CPU, we will get about 271W of consumption, which is very good.

Final words and conclusion about AMD RX 5700

AMD Radeon RX 5700 is the card with the most discreet performance of the three new RX that have been presented, although one of them is an overclocked version of the 5700 XT. AMD has implemented its new RDNA architecture together with Navi 10 where it provides substantial improvements in IPC (25%) and efficiency (50%) compared to the GCN architecture. A new vision was necessary in the AMD family of cards, which thanks to the 7 nm we have much smaller and more efficient GPUs than the old Vega and RX.

Although they still heat up quite a bit, and it's not the architecture's fault, it's the choice of a fully enclosed heatsink configuration with a turbine fan. We agree that it is the hallmark of the brand, but we need much more thermal efficiency and a turbine is not the solution. Temperatures of up to 80 degrees demonstrate what we say.

And a consequence of this, is that we needed more RPM of the fan, making it louder, and almost being necessary to touch the RPM profile in Wattman if we want to play with maximum guarantees. It also means that the overclocking capacity is not high, self-limited to 1850 MHz and with almost negligible improvements.

We recommend our guide to the best graphics cards on the market

But something very positive is that it has effectively managed to beat the RTX 2060 in almost all games and scenarios. We don't have DLSS or RT, but there aren't many games that need it either, and DLSS doesn't improve texture quality either. We have practically secured more than 60 FPS in all games at 2K, bordering on 50 FPS in 4K and also 120 HZ in Full HD.

Another change in philosophy is to implement GDDR6 memories instead of HBM2, cheaper and less expensive because they are already established in the market for dedicated GPUs and with performance that equals AMD's own HBM2. 8GB at 14Gbps is the configuration we just needed, with rendering capability at 4K H264 at 4K @ 150 FPS and H265 / HEVC at 4K @ 90 FPS. We just ask for better performance on OPEN GL, which is quite lacking.

Consumption has also improved a lot, standing up to the Nvidia RTX with its 180W. With all this, we have a GPU that opens on July 7 in the market at an estimated price of $ 349 or in Spain for 374.90 euros as RRP, matching and surpassing its closest rival, the RTX 2060 staying close of the RTX 2070. Positive feelings and great hope that AMD gives us with RDNA.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ NEW RDNA ARCHITECTURE WITH PERFORMANCE JUMP / CONSUMPTION	- DESIGN WITHOUT BACKPLATE
+ PERFORMANCE SUPERIOR TO RTX 2060	- SLIGHTLY EFFECTIVE TURBINE HEATSINK
+ HIGH RENDERING CAPACITY	- WE DO NOT HAVE RT OR DLSS
+ COMPACT AND ALUMINUM HEATSINK
+ IDEAL FOR PLAYING IN FULL HD AND 2K + 70-80 FPS

The professional review team awards him the gold medal:

AMD Radeon RX 5700

COMPONENT QUALITY - 89%

DISSIPATION - 82%

GAMING EXPERIENCE - 85%

SOUNDNESS - 90%

PRICE - 88%

87%