XFX RX 480 GTR Black Edition Graphics Card Review

Overclocking and Overclocked Performance

Prior to overclocking the graphics card, readings are taken to demonstrate the baseline performance and if the core runs at the advertised speeds. The GPU’s core clock deviates slightly from the quoted 1338MHz figure and reported an average of 1328MHz. To be fair, any drop below 1338MHz is quite small and doesn’t appear to inhibit the performance in a significant manner. Furthermore, the memory hit an average reading of 1904MHz. This is stable with an average VDDC of 1.0906V and 1716RPM fan speed. Furthermore, the GPU power draw was 93W.

Throughout the overclocking process, I attempted to prioritise the GPU clock and employ a significant voltage increase to determine the card’s maximum potential. Despite my best efforts, the core clock wouldn’t go beyond 1375MHz even when the voltage was set to the highest value. Of course, the power target was increased to 150% to prevent the core clock from dropping below the manually configured 1375MHz figure. The memory overclocking wasn’t particularly great and well below what I initially expected. To clarify the memory’s poor overclocking headroom, I reinstalled the graphics drivers and employed a different overclocking utility but this didn’t change the results.

After the overclock was applied, the core clock remained at 1375MHz and didn’t drop due to thermal throttling or power restrictions. On another note, the memory recorded an average of 2041MHz while the fan speed was 60% with a 2320RPM reading. Additionally, the VDCC increased to 1.1205V and the GPU load went up to 103.3W.

Here is the final GPU-Z screenshot comparing the default performance profile and boosts achieved through manual overclocking:

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Once overclocked, the graphics card enjoyed a small boost which was enough to slot it ahead of the ASUS STRIX GAMING RX 480 OC.

Far Cry Primal

In Far Cry Primal, the 1375MHz overclock resulted in a single frame improvement to the minimum and average frame rate.

Gears of War 4

Here we can see the overclocked graphic card reported a higher frame rate which brings it closer to the GTX 1060.