Value and Conclusion
Oct 08, 2014 The AnandTech Guide to Video Card Overclocking Software. Sapphire TriXX. This makes TriXX a viable option for AMD users looking for a robust utility with a variety of features. May 18, 2014 Benchmarking the Sapphire TRI-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.0GHz Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 Memory: 16GB DDR3-1866 OS.
Sep 27, 2016 Our Quick Connect feature found in SAPPHIRE NITRO 400 Series models will let you easily swap the fans without disassembling the rest of the cooler (and voiding your warranty). Download SAPPHIRE TriXX 6.1 now! Our SAPPHIRE TriXX 6.1 is completely free and will work with all of our modern SAPPHIRE Radeon graphics cards.
- The Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC is currently available in the US for $700.
- No throttling
- Low noise during gaming
- Overclocked out of the box
- Memory has also been overclocked
- Hynix memory
- Good overclocking potential
- Dual BIOS
- Native full-size HDMI and DisplayPort
- HDMI cable included
Sapphire Trixx 7
- Very high retail price in the US
- No backplate
- Card is very long, might not fit all cases
- Idle noise levels not improved
The Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X OC is an excellent implementation of a custom design Radeon R9 290X. While it still uses an AMD reference design PCB, it improves significantly on AMD's two major shortcomings - heat and noise. With its performance BIOS active, the card is 2% faster than the AMD reference design because of its overclock out of the box. Memory is also overclocked, which boosts its performance some more. However, there are faster pre-overclocked R9 290X cards, but the performance difference to those cards is quite small. This makes the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X 2% faster than NVIDIA's GTX Titan, but 8% slower than the GTX 780 Ti. While AMD's reference design card often throttles to prevent overheating, Sapphire's card does not, always running at full speed.
As mentioned before, the card uses AMD's reference board, but cooling has received a major overhaul. The card may not fit into smaller cases because Sapphire chose to use three fans in a dual-slot form factor, though, which makes the card 31 cm long. But this choice also provides more room for the cooling technology to improve temperatures and noise. Our tests had the Tri-X produce very good gaming noise levels that are slightly quieter than the GTX Titan and GTX 780 Ti. While the card is far from inaudible, it has still taken a big step in the right direction. Noise levels in idle haven't improved at all, which is a shame. Sapphire could have engineered an extremely quiet card for work in idle, which would have benefited people who do not game all the time and want their PCs to be as quiet as possible. Don't get me wrong, the card is quiet in idle, but it could be virtually inaudible. Sapphire decided not to use the dual BIOS feature for a performance/quiet BIOS combo, which means that user can't opt to run the card very quietly but with higher temperatures or with lower temperatures but a bit more noise. The ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC does have the option, and I consider it an extremely useful feature because it eliminates the need for manual fan control via software. But with only a single BIOS, the Tri-X's acoustics (37 dBA) and temperatures (73°C) are well tuned. I would have opted for slightly higher temperatures with less noise as there is a ton of temperature headroom to do so. Remember, AMD's reference design runs 95°C, which is perfectly safe. I think Sapphire tried to focus on lower temperatures to impress people who get scared by such high temperatures, though. The ASUS DC II OC with its quiet BIOS enabled is a better choice if you want the absolutely quietest R9 290X out there, and it even comes with that backplate Sapphire's Tri-X doesn't have.
GPU Overclocking ends up in the upper reaches of what we've seen on R9 290X cards. Memory overclocking works incredibly well because Sapphire used Hynix chips on their board, which significantly improves overclocking potential and helps avoid the stability issues some users with R9 290 series cards running Elpida chips are encountering.
In the US, the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X is available online for around $700, which is a $30 increase over the current reference design price of $679. These price levels are clearly insane, and there is no reason to buy a 290X at that price. Only slightly more expensive, the GTX 780 Ti is much faster and comes with better power/heat/noise. The Sapphire Tri-X retails for €500 in Europe, while the reference design costs €445, which is a more reasonable price, and the ~10% price increase over the reference board is definitely worth it, without any doubt. If you were to ask me whether I would buy the Sapphire Tri-X or ASUS DC II, I'd still go for the ASUS card because it runs higher clocks, has a dual BIOS that includes AMD's quiet/performance mode, and is shorter, and it includes a backplate.
As mentioned before, the card uses AMD's reference board, but cooling has received a major overhaul. The card may not fit into smaller cases because Sapphire chose to use three fans in a dual-slot form factor, though, which makes the card 31 cm long. But this choice also provides more room for the cooling technology to improve temperatures and noise. Our tests had the Tri-X produce very good gaming noise levels that are slightly quieter than the GTX Titan and GTX 780 Ti. While the card is far from inaudible, it has still taken a big step in the right direction. Noise levels in idle haven't improved at all, which is a shame. Sapphire could have engineered an extremely quiet card for work in idle, which would have benefited people who do not game all the time and want their PCs to be as quiet as possible. Don't get me wrong, the card is quiet in idle, but it could be virtually inaudible. Sapphire decided not to use the dual BIOS feature for a performance/quiet BIOS combo, which means that user can't opt to run the card very quietly but with higher temperatures or with lower temperatures but a bit more noise. The ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC does have the option, and I consider it an extremely useful feature because it eliminates the need for manual fan control via software. But with only a single BIOS, the Tri-X's acoustics (37 dBA) and temperatures (73°C) are well tuned. I would have opted for slightly higher temperatures with less noise as there is a ton of temperature headroom to do so. Remember, AMD's reference design runs 95°C, which is perfectly safe. I think Sapphire tried to focus on lower temperatures to impress people who get scared by such high temperatures, though. The ASUS DC II OC with its quiet BIOS enabled is a better choice if you want the absolutely quietest R9 290X out there, and it even comes with that backplate Sapphire's Tri-X doesn't have.
GPU Overclocking ends up in the upper reaches of what we've seen on R9 290X cards. Memory overclocking works incredibly well because Sapphire used Hynix chips on their board, which significantly improves overclocking potential and helps avoid the stability issues some users with R9 290 series cards running Elpida chips are encountering.
In the US, the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X is available online for around $700, which is a $30 increase over the current reference design price of $679. These price levels are clearly insane, and there is no reason to buy a 290X at that price. Only slightly more expensive, the GTX 780 Ti is much faster and comes with better power/heat/noise. The Sapphire Tri-X retails for €500 in Europe, while the reference design costs €445, which is a more reasonable price, and the ~10% price increase over the reference board is definitely worth it, without any doubt. If you were to ask me whether I would buy the Sapphire Tri-X or ASUS DC II, I'd still go for the ASUS card because it runs higher clocks, has a dual BIOS that includes AMD's quiet/performance mode, and is shorter, and it includes a backplate.
by btarunrDiscuss (52 Comments)
Sapphire today released version 6.0.0 of TriXX its graphics card overclocking, tuning, and monitoring utility, included with Sapphire graphics cards, yet compatible with a wide variety of graphics cards. Version 6.0.0 comes with a revamped user-interface that not only gives you key readouts of your graphics cards, but also organizes its key functions so the main window doesn't look cluttered.
Since it's the first major release since AMD launched its new generation 'Polaris' GPUs, TriXX supports the Radeon RX 480, RX 470, and RX 460; with special features supported on Sapphire custom-design graphics cards. To begin with, on the new Sapphire NITRO+ series graphics cards, it features the Fan Check function, which tests the health of the fans, and alerts customer support to send replacement fans. It also supports NITRO Glow, letting you customize RGB LED lighting, including 5 lighting presets. Lastly, you can now set up to five profiles for your settings.DOWNLOAD:Sapphire TriXX 6.0.0Image Courtesy: ZeppMan217
Since it's the first major release since AMD launched its new generation 'Polaris' GPUs, TriXX supports the Radeon RX 480, RX 470, and RX 460; with special features supported on Sapphire custom-design graphics cards. To begin with, on the new Sapphire NITRO+ series graphics cards, it features the Fan Check function, which tests the health of the fans, and alerts customer support to send replacement fans. It also supports NITRO Glow, letting you customize RGB LED lighting, including 5 lighting presets. Lastly, you can now set up to five profiles for your settings.DOWNLOAD:Sapphire TriXX 6.0.0Image Courtesy: ZeppMan217
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52 Commentson Sapphire Releases TriXX Utility 6.0.0
#1Amd Sapphire Trixx
Why is MSI Afterburners old skin still the best looking of these utilities? (it still isn't pretty) .