Asrock phantom gaming u radeon rx 590 review in Spanish (full review)

ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 is the manufacturer's latest gamble to break into the entry / mid-range graphics card market at a price hard to resist. And it is that for less than 200 euros we have a card that will perform very well at 1080p resolution with the latest titles in high quality. It is a version very similar to the Phantom Gaming X, with a large heatsink and 8 GB of GDDR5 memory supporting up to 8K. And now with the novelty of implementing ASRock Polychrome RGB lighting.

We will see in this in-depth analysis all that this GPU can give of itself, because if you are looking for a product of less than 200 euros you are in the right place and time.

We can not start without first thanking ASRock for their trust in us by transferring this product to us for analysis.

ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 technical features

Unboxing

ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 has arrived in a double box whose presentation is at the highest level. It is common and use of this double box in the manufacturer, since in the first cover it presents the card and its key specifications, while in the second, more robust, it keeps the card safely protected.

The bundle that we have stores the following elements:

• ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 graphics card Support CD User guide

Of course, accessories we have very few. If they do not put them in the 800 euro cards, much less are we going to wait for a 200 euro card, in addition, it is not that anything is needed, since the current monitors already include all the necessary cables.

Exterior design

AMD also deserves a place in the Phantom range, and ASRock has demonstrated this with this Polaris architecture RX. There are already three generations that separate us from this GPU at present, but it still presents us with a very decent 1080p performance with the latest IP and at a price of about 200 euros. Yes, it is very rare to find new graphics cards at these prices, so your thing is to bet on previous architectures with an optimization as is the case. The manufacturer not only has this model, but also one with the denomination "X" instead of "U" that we already analyzed some time ago.

Well, this ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 is presented to us with a very aggressive and purely gaming design. With a casing made of hard plastic of good thickness that has multiple levels and edges, it is all painted in gray and black along with the distinctive red lines of the Phantom range. It is a double fan configuration that offers measures of 279 mm long, 127 mm wide and 41 mm thick. It is certainly not small for what we have in hand, but it will fit perfectly in all chassis and vertical configurations.

As always, we must make a stop in its cooling system, in which the manufacturers of the customized models always work harder, as in this case. The Polaris architecture has traditionally presented high temperatures, so it has opted for a Dual Fan configuration. In it we find two fans with 9 blades in a curved design, although simple with a diameter of 85 mm. At its core it features a double ball bearing together with a three-phase motor.

This ventilation system implements the brand's 0dB Silent Cooling technology. This means that when the GPU is under slight stress, its two fans will remain off and completely silent. As long as the graphics processor temperature does not exceed 55 ° C, the fans will not turn on. And once activated, they won't turn off until the temperature drops back to about 27 ° C. This is very good, but the truth is that the fans are quite noisy due to the high RPM they take, 3200 at maximum performance.

On the upper face we find a large aluminum backplate that is responsible for covering the entire upper part of the ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590. It has a design similar to its housing, with gray and red lines and only stops seeing the screws that we must remove to expose the PCB of components.

And speaking a little more about the lateral area, we have a quite attractive visually speaking, with gills to let the heatsink breathe and also with ASRock Polychrome Sync lighting in the lateral silkscreen. Obviously we can customize it in effects through the software with the same name from our operating system. However, we hoped that this version would include more lighting to differentiate it from the "X" version, since it is definitely one of its main innovations.

Like the “X” model, in this ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 we have support with AMD FreeSync 2 HDR to enjoy the best form of HDR content on our monitor. Similarly, Enharced Sync technology is implemented to improve latency in games if the frame rate exceeds the native monitor. And we have available the brand's own software, ASRock Phantom Gaming Tweak to manage the parameters of the graphics card, as well as its fans and frequency. Finally we will need to install the Adrenalin 2019 Edition Software with the official AMD drivers included in it, in order to get the most out of this GPU.

Ports and power connections

After seeing its exterior design in detail and seeing the few new features that it incorporates regarding the Phantom Gaming X model, let's see what we can find in the connectivity section, since there are also new features. As always, let's start with the rear panel, on which we have:

• 2x HDMI 2.0b2x DisplayPort 1.41x DVI-DL

We still have a great ability to connect a total of 5 high resolution monitors to this GPU. In fact, the two DisplayPort ports are going to 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 compatibility with HDCP, HDR10 and AMD FreeSync 2 HDR as we have already commented.

The truth is that it is one of the few graphics cards that support 5 monitors, and also with AMD Eyefinity technology, which allows us maximum compatibility with this multi-screen vision to have an extended and fully synchronized image among all the monitors we use.

And we not only have connectors outside, since, in the interior area, just on the side accessible by the user, we find an internal Mini DisplayPort that allows us to connect a screen inside the chassis, for example, for monitoring devices, and connect it directly to another graphics card. There are certainly not many applications for this connector, but at least it is a way to differentiate yourself from the competition.

We can also connect it to a thunderbolt 3 AIC R.20 mDP card to externally connect monitors from the Thunderbolt connection.

And we finish with the power connector and the connection interface. In this case, a TDP is maintained for this 175W ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 powered by an 8-pin connector. The interface of connections will of course be PCIe 3.0 x16 with its gold plated contacts for better power transfer. And we also do not forget the connections of the heatsink to the PCB, since we have a header for lighting, and only one for the two fans, which means that we will not be able to manage them separately.

PCB and internal hardware

Being a custom model, we have the obligation to fully open its heatsink to take a closer look at what we find in the ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590.

And in this case we have a configuration exactly the same as in the Phantom Gaming X, since, if something works, why change it? And it is that the RX 590 are quite warm cards from their first models, so ASRock has used a large heatsink with a complete aluminum block and high density finned in vertical configuration. In between them, we have a count of three anodized copper heat pipes with a nickel coating on the outside that will allow greater distribution of the heat of your chipset.

A great detail is the fact that the cold plate in contact with the GPU is also made of copper instead of aluminum, to optimize heat transfer. Above it, a second aluminum plate in contact with the heatpipes reinforces this heat transfer from the 8 GDDR5 memory modules thanks to silicone thermal pads. We finish this review of the heatsink with the thermal pads that are responsible for cooling the VRM area consisting of 6 power phases for the main supply to the processor.

Now we are going to take care of listing the main technical characteristics that this GPU offers us. This card is already overclocked at the factory, where its Polaris 30 12 nm FinFET chip supports a maximum OC frequency of 1591 MHz, although it will normally be at 1560 and in base mode at 1498 MHz. It has 2304 processors inside. shaded in 36 compute units, and of course without Ray Tracing or DLSS technology. For the processor, we have a total of 16 KB of L1 cache for each computing unit, and 2 MB of L2 cache.

If we move to memory, in this case a fixed configuration of 8 GB GDDR5 has been used with an effective frequency of 8000 MHz in normal mode, and 8032 MHz in OC mode. It works under a 256-bit bus and at a bandwidth of 256 GB / s. All of this is capable of achieving rates of 7, 119 TFOPS at FP32, 49.44 GPixel / s, 32 raster units (ROPs) and 144 texturizer units (TMUs).

This ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 is located in a mid-range or entry-level market judging by current models, aimed at gamers who want a team that performs well at 1080p resolutions and at 2K if we lower the graphics and The filters. On paper, it should be placed immediately above its Polaris 20 sisters, such as the RX 570 and RX 580, and that at a performance level they are very close to the GTX 1650 and 1660. In any case, we will see it in the benchmarks and games results below.

Test bench and performance test

Next, we are going to perform the entire battery of performance tests, both synthetic and in games, to this ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590. 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	ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590
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 all run on the Windows 10 Pro operating system in its 1903 version with the Adrenalin 2019 Edition drivers in the latest version available for this graphics card.

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 Orange Room

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 12 and Open GL 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 12 DOOM, Ultra, TAA, Vulkan Deus EX Mankind Divided, Alto, Anisotropico x4, DirectX 12 Far Cry 5, Alto, TAA, DirectX 12 Metro Exodus, Alto, Anisotropico x16, DirectX 12 (without RT) Shadow of the Tomb Rider, High, TAA + Anisotropic x4, DirectX 12

As expected, we will have no problem getting more than 60 FPS in games that require a lot of power in Full HD resolution. If we go to the 2K resolution, it will be necessary to decrease these graphics a little to raise the rates. Finally we must say that it is not a card that can withstand UHD resolutions for gaming, this is more than evident.

It should be said that in this case we have not overclocked the CPU, since its operation will be practically identical to the X version, depending on the silicon that each one touches. In addition, they already come quite a bit of a rev up base, so we are not going to get great improvements in the games.

Temperature and consumption

We see that for an RX 590 the temperatures are not bad, reaching 72 ° C at maximum performance, and during a stressful process of several hours with Furmark. The 38 degrees we have obtained at rest have been achieved with the fans stopped, since it does not exceed the activation threshold.

This is the positive part, but if we talk about loudness, the truth is that it leaves a lot to be desired. To obtain these good temperatures, the fan system needs to be used to its maximum, reaching its 3200 RPM in a rather fast and annoying way. At about 55 degrees this speed is around 1700 RPM.

And speaking of consumption, we have one very similar to what the X version offered, except for the differences in hardware. This is reason enough not to be able to buy it directly with it. In this case, the measurements have been obtained with the entire test bench connected to a wattmeter, except the monitor, and with the i9 9900K CPU and GPU stressed to the maximum, it is about 390W. It's a pretty high number, although we already know that RXs consume much more than RTXs and the new AMD GPUs.

Final words and conclusion about ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590

We come to the end of this review, and we can say that the feelings we have in terms of performance and design are almost identical to the one previously tested, also by this assembler. And is that the only difference we have in external appearance is the incorporation of RGB lighting on its side, which has also not helped to increase FPS.

As for performance, we are also in the same place, with drivers already squeezed to the maximum for this generation GPU that little else can get them. It is there, fighting you-to-you with the GTX 1660 and its custom versions, which is not bad for a user on a tight budget.

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

The heatsink has worked fabulous as far as temperatures are concerned, keeping this GPU at maximum performance at around 70-72 degrees. Of course, its fans must work to the maximum causing a lot of noise. In idle state these will turn off and we will have a completely silent team.

In short, it is a graphics card whose maneuvering terrain is Full HD resolution with good records in high quality, and better in the middle . If we go to 2K, yes we will have the odd problem and we will need to lower quality, but it is feasible.

If we consider that the Phanton Gaming X version is currently priced at about 195 euros, this ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590 should not exceed the figure of 200 euros, which is very good news for the market of mid-range and entry.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ DESIGN OF YOUR HEATSINK	- PRETTY NOISY FANS
+ VERY GOOD TEMPERATURES	- NOT FOR 4K, IT IS NORMAL
+ PERFORMANCE IN FULL HD AND WQHD
+ WITH RGB LIGHTING
+ CAPACITY OF UP TO 5 MONITORS

The professional review team awards him the gold medal:

ASRock Phantom Gaming U Radeon RX 590

COMPONENT QUALITY - 87%

DISSIPATION - 86%

GAMING EXPERIENCE - 80%

SOUND - 84%

PRICE - 88%

85%