AMD Radeon RX 470 custom card options round-up!

AMD’s Radeon RX 480 is a great budget card that serves up decent performance, but what if you wanted something even more affordable?

That’s where the Radeon RX 470 comes in. This is a card that can reportedly push over 60fps even in the latest AAA titles, as long as you play at 1080p (which is actually still most of us).

This also means that manufacturers are vying for customers with the usual slew of custom designs and beefier coolers. Here’s a round-up of what’s been announced so far so you can better decide who to give your money to.

ASUS

Compared to the Radeon RX 480, the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 470 features a more modest cooler that better fits its lower price bracket. While the ROG Strix version of the former card used a triple-fan DirectCU II cooler, the Radeon RX 470 is equipped with just a dual-fan DirectCU II solution.

It does however still feature certain mainstay features like factory overclocks, ASUS FanConnect, and Aura RGB lighting.

As on the more recent cards, ASUS’ FanConnect technology gives you an additional 4-pin fan header on the card itself that allows you to control a case fan according to the GPU’s temperature and provide dedicated cooling to the card itself. Furthermore, the Aura RGB lighting can be synced with Aura-equipped motherboards to create synchronized lighting effects.

The card is clocked at 1,270MHz in OC mode, up from the default 1,206MHz on AMD’s reference design. It is available with 4GB of video memory.

Gigabyte

The Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming features a dual-fan WindForce cooling solution and all the usual accoutrements. The WindForce 2X cooling solution boasts two 90mm fans and three pure copper composite heatpipes to help channel heat away from the GPU, while a “fan stop” LED indicator on the side will light up when the fans power down under low loads.

The onboard RGB LEDs can be customized from up to 16.8 million colors and a range of lighting effects, so there’s plenty of options when it comes to setting up a color-themed build.

Finally, Gigabyte has bumped up the clock speeds from the reference design as well, with a boost clock of 1,230MHz. Like the ASUS card, it comes with 4GB of video memory.

MSI

On MSI’s end, the custom Radeon RX 470s it is offering make for a familiar sight. It has announced the card in five different variants as follow:

• MSI Radeon RX 470 Gaming X 8G
• MSI Radeon RX 470 Gaming 8G
• MSI Radeon RX 470 Gaming X 4G
• MSI Radeon RX 470 Gaming 4G
• MSI Radeon RX 470 Armor

However, we only have details on the Radeon RX 480 Gaming cards for now, and MSI says that the Armor card will hit stores only in September.

For starters, the cards with the Gaming X designation are the higher clocked models, and the Gaming X 8G is clocked at 1,254MHz in OC mode, compared to 1,230MHz for the Gaming 8G card. The 4GB cards share the same clock speeds as their 8GB counterparts, and the only difference appears to be the amount of VRAM available.

Other than differences in clock speeds and VRAM, the cards share the same Twin Frozr VI cooling solution, which includes 8mm thick copper heatpipes and the new Torx 2.0 fans that boast improved static pressure over the previous iteration. All the Gaming cards also feature an 8-pin power connector – instead of the original 6-pin one – for greater overclocking headroom.

They also include an additional HDMI connector on the rear, so you’ll be able to connect a VR headset and monitor over HDMI at the same time. Still, it’s doubtful that you’ll want to run VR games on a budget-oriented card like this one.

The black-and-white Armor cards, when they are released, will use the older Twin Frozr V cooler instead.

PowerColor

The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 470 is equipped with a dual-fan cooler and traditionally high-end features like a metal backplate and even a dual BIOS switch.

The two 80mm fans use a double ball bearing design for improved reliability and longevity, and PowerColor says the Double Blade III design has more fan blades to increase air flow and prevent dust build-up on the fans.

The card also uses an 8-pin power connector in place of the 6-pin one on the reference design, presumably to allow for additional power draw and better overclocking headroom. It backs this up with an upgraded 6+1 phase power design for more stable power delivery.

The Red Devil comes with a boost clock of 1,270MHz out of the box. It is available at S$319 locally.

Sapphire

The Radeon RX 470 also gets the Nitro+ treatment from Sapphire. The Nitro+ Radeon RX 470 is available in both 4GB and 8GB variants, both of which feature the same Dual-X cooler with two 95mm dual-ball bearing fans and 1,260MHz boost clock. Two 8mm and a single 6mm heatpipe help draw heat away from the GPU to the heatsink.

One of the more interesting features is Sapphire’s Quick Connect system, which allows the fans to be easily removed to be cleaned or replaced – all you have to do is remove the single screw that holds them in place.

Finally, you get the requisite RGB lighting in the form of Sapphire’s Nitro Glow. A red button on the back of the card lets you customize the lighting effects, but you can also do that in Sapphire’s TriXX 3.0 utility.

XFX

XFX’s take on the Radeon RX 470 is the stealthy Radeon RX 470 RS. There are actually several variants of the card, with little to differentiate them but the clock speeds (it gets more than a little confusing). The Black Limited Edition model is clocked at a 1,280MHz core clock, while the regular model tops out at 1,226MHz. There's also a middle-of-the-pack Black Edition card, which is clocked at 1,256MHz.

Like the Sapphire Nitro+ cards, the XFX features fans that can be quickly removed for cleaning or replacement. XFX calls this Hard Swap, and it says you can even upgrade the fans for higher performance or more LED options.

The card also boasts an aluminum backplate to protect the PCB and provide passive cooling.

In addition, XFX introduced a single-fan card, the Radeon RX 470 4GB Single Fan Triple X, which comes with a 1,226MHz boost clock. Unlike its dual-fan brethren, this card doesn’t have hot swappable fans, but it does still come with an aluminum backplate.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.