Find our review of the XFX RX 5700 XT THICC II here: th-cam.com/video/IwczmQNHVfo/w-d-xo.html Grab a GN toolkit here: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit And Modmat here: store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat
This card specifically will probably make the cut. Especially since the PR guy at XFX made it personal. It would be a very fitting place for it. Although ANY 1650 would also be a good fit. Since were what, 6+months after launch, and no SFF 1650s exist publicly yet...maybe 1 for 200$ retail.. but the thicc would be funnier in the disappointment 2019 build.
@@UItEnthusiast My nickname there is Bloody-George. I often visit the "Show off your setup/battle stations" post to appreciate people's rigs, and you sometimes comment there.
I've seen some comments down below about internet retailers not honoring returns or charging a restocking fee... or it works for them and not for you then they skim money off your purchase. If you can help it and it's there... Purchase the cards from Best Buy, Frys, or Microcenter brick and mortar. I've had zero issues returning CPU's/Mobos/ and GC within the return window. 0 questions asked. They all price match too. So it's really a no brainer. Unless I have to buy it online and there is no other choice I will. But just driving up the street and getting my full money back.. you can't beat that.
BaileyPawsPlays Not sure about in the usa but best buy in Canada takes absolutely no returns on GPUs as soon as you open the package. Something to bear in mind.
This is a giant bummer because I had such a good experience back when I built my XFX 5850 Xfire system in 2009... I'm glad I dodged a bullet on this but sad too.
I won't defend this product, and I'm definitely not buying one. But I have had very good response from their support staff regarding one of their RX 580 GTR Black edition cards. TL:DR...the issue was my fault, and they completely replaced it. I still have the card and it works BETTER than the same generation Sapphire card I also have. I guess companies just make mistakes sometimes. Edit: I really appreciate this video. Thank you GN.
GDDR6 is far more temperature sensitive compared to GDDR5. That stupid cooler was bad enough before. These cards are almost guaranteed to end up artifacting or dying.
If these were stupid cheap I'd love to grab one and have the memory contact portion machines out of aluminum or something, looks like an easy enough project. But for the price gtfo
You just couldn't help yourself, could you? You saw the word "THICC" and your mouse cursor automatically clicked "add to cart." Did you dab after the order was processed?
Just bought the THICC III - best card on the market as far as I can see, albeit by a slim margin. With performance comes heat, and somebody who tested them said XFX did a good job solving the issues with the new 3 fan design. Specs edge out the Devil and the Sapphire - by a small margin. Current N price on the 3 fan improved model falls right between them. If you prefer either of them, that is totally valid, it's splitting hairs all the way. The ASUS has it's problems as does the Gigabyte (Seems that XFX isn't the only company that has minor issues with new designs). Haters gonna hate, and the ones complaining about "Fake" cosmetics are spending bucks festooning their machines with gobs of LEDs. It's just plastic trim and wouldn't work any better if it was CNCed aluminum. One reviewer pointed out correctly that the plastic covers reduce weight and help prevent damage to the slot, especially when shipping/transporting. The new version 3 is now $439 on Newegg. Different strokes for different folks, we are all computer enthusiasts, and so we should all get along. I'm happy because I've got a new XFX 5700XT card to go in my new Threadripper build and am looking forward to getting it together - Love new builds. Peace.
I got this card extremely cheap a couple of weeks ago, $74, and it's interesting how different the design of my Thicc ii is. No chrome, no grill, different fan mounts. I'm looking forward to modding this into a competent card. Thanks for the video.
The plastic chrome plated cooling plate is actually a production traceability tab that is required on all injection molded parts for quality certification from organisations like ISO9001 that contain date stamp time wheels and plastic material identification.
I just modded my XFX 5700 XT THICC II: All plastic parts removed except the part holding the fans. Backplate removed. Memory plate (stainless steel) removed. Memory temperature is worse now: 97°C junction (max) & 104°C memory (max) @ Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Before: 97°C junction (max) & 92°C memory (max). I did not alter the fan speed. Using the latest bios available from the XFX website. Edit: I misunderstood and thought they'd removed the memory plate too. I readded the memory plate and added paste on the contact points of the plate and the cooler. In contrary to Gamers Nexus I did not remove the thermal pads between the memory plate and the cooler. Memory temps are improved a lot now - still 92°C max but the average temp is lower. Thank you Gamer Nexus :)
I was going to buy one of these cards, but after seeing these videos I'm glad they weren't available in Finland when I built my system so I opted for the Powercolor Red Dragon.
Proof GN is willing to stick up for the consumer and take the heat from manufacturers for giving an honest review. I really appreciate it and hope you all do too.
Mine performs quite well. I really don't get all the hate, it might perform considerably worse than the rest of the custom line up but the card runs everything fine while never going past 70c. Only downside is the fact that it's quite loud.
@@habibsspirit I believe its a Bandwagon effect. The card's BIOS is broken, manually setting fan speed to 50% in afterburner fixed many problems regarding temps (in my specific case). I don't get above 62°C under load, and the noise is tolerable; also benchmarking exceptionally well. XFX still needs to offer solutions..
The performance has been unwelcome and disappointing for Gamers Nexus ONLY, for everyone else - including me, it's been great. So far so good. Although I admit the card is very loud under load. I understand the build and cooling could be a lot better but Steve's just throwing a hissy fit honestly. Likely he got a bad card and talks about it like it applies to everyone else. Now if you don't believe me, search on Google or TH-cam for other reviews. Or if you prefer, tell me which game you want me to benchmark and which temps you want to see and if I have the time and the game available on steam I'll do it no problem. (Or you can buy me the game and I'll benchmark it for free hehehe)
@@habibsspirit its more a case of, like the MSI cards, there is a lot better for the money, measurably better, better cooling, better designed, better performance *for less* As Steve says again and again, you can make a card that is really loud and pushes a lot of air and its still terrible, even if the "stock" temperatures are better. The best 5700 xt card on the market right now is the Sapphire Nitro.. but its "stock" settings favor silent running over pure performance. If you crank up the fans it outperforms other cards and it's still more silent than the likes of the XFX and MSI cards. XFX has clearly got issues. There is more than one reviewer who found fan control issues and temperature bugs. XFX may or may not fix those issues. What they CANT easily fix is the use of plastics and Stainless steel hashed together with termal pads and screws in their cooler design where others used a unified block of nickel plated copper, which is more expensive but vastly better at transferring heat, every interface between materials hurts cooling, meaning for example.. if covering a 1mm gap, a 1mm pad will outperform 2x 0.5 mm pads. The interface between the layers is less efficient. XFX used a lot of extra layers & cheaper metals which hurts performance. XFX and MSI have both been caught out cutting costs and charging more for their cards than their competitors who are using better materials and not penny pinching in areas that really do matter such as heatsink design and materials and fan fittings. You may like the look, but objectively the THICC is an inferior card with design choices which cant be easily remedied by the average user. In contrast the likes of saphire can Easily release a bios update which uses a more aggressive fan curve and takes advantage of their superior cooling design... their baseline hardware is solid and even with no changes the end user can alter the fan curves in AMDs Wattman.. nothing else is needed. Thats why GN is so critical of the Thicc. it has issues which cant be fixed without voiding your warranty in most countries... even if they fix the inconsistent and erratic fan speed control , the terrible cooler design wont change.
@@habibsspirit The performance is fine, because an Rx 5700XT performs like a RX 5700XT regardless of how good the cooler is. But you could both save money and get a quieter card by going with the Sapphire pulse, making this an objectively bad value and bad cooler.
@@martinpalmer6203 I agree completely. However my point still stands, to ridicule this card like it's useless and doesn't work is basically to admit you have beef with the brand. And although the cooler design is inferior to other brands it's still good enough to keep the card under 70°C under load whilst being loud but mildly noticeable using headphones. If it's the only custom design available where you live like it was in my case, I see no problem with purchasing it whatsoever.
if the XFX card was the only option.. id wait on stock. The other option is to ship internationally. After watching buildzoid discuss the various board designs I ultimately decided a reference XT + waterblock was better for my situation. international shipping a reference model+full cover block worked out similarly to buying an AIB partner card... but the cooling performance is better esp longer term. Of course its only economic if you already have a pump/res & radiator.
@@Vooman You know why most toothpaste is red, white, and blue? The white cleans your teeth, the blue tastes cool and fresh, and the red makes your toothbrush go faster.
I remember back in the day when XFX made nothing but cool stuff. Like the old socket 775 mobo's, everything was high quality (or so it seemed). Now even mention of XFX is rare. Come on guys step up your game make one card and make it damn good bring back the good old days.
I bought THICC II last week and I am enjoying the results. She is working as expected with temperatures and I got a good result of OVER stabilizing GPU clock at 2059Mhz and 1820Mhz in the memories. Apparently no difference in the build of the XFX RX 5700XT series for its VRM, both THICC II, THICC II Ultra and THICC III Ultra models have the same construction and performed very well in TechPowerup tests. Still congratulations on the review, very good.
It's sad to see what they did with newer cards because i absolutely love their RX 480/580 GTR design and performance. I'm sold for their big, bulky design without RGB ever since i first got my RX 480 GTR, it's just look badass, and GTR's cooler work great too. I'm still using the XFX RX 480 GTR for my main PC because i don't play games as much as before. But i could just turn the fan speed to 100% all the time for maximum cooling performance until its die and just effortlessly swap its with a new pair of fan.
I have a 580 gts and Ive been maxing out at 70c which is just fine. I have great case airflow, though it's in a meshify c which is pretty mid-range as far as case temps go according to Steve's data 😉
@@StonedSoldering Me too, i use MSI Afterburner to tune the fan speed raising base on the GPU temp. The 0db fan is quite pointless in Vietnam because it'll reach 60 degree Celsius in no time anyway.
Hmm, the thing is that if the stainless steel is magnetic, it has small chromium and tiny amounts/no nickel in it. Regular SS with nickel is not magnetic, nickel change the bonds. Never-mind. Basically being magnetic or not, doesn't prevent it from being one of the worse materials to use in this application, its on VRMs ffs. Keep up GN ... you're one of the best.
I have an XFX like that 580 you showed, 1405mhz stock and OC's great. Wonderful card, especially after upgrading pads and paste. It's sad to see XFX go so far backwards in design
im gonna play devils advocate , i love xfx and their customer service...*insert "im not paid to say this" meme* . i almost always used xfx cards and they were always good to me if an issue came up .they really will go above and beyond to help you. at least in my experience. i still have all 4 xfx cards i've used over the years. regardless , i really liked the teardown... edit , in my experience , if ive had a fan fail , xfx has sent me entire heatinks, back plates and shrouds if a fan fails. ive never had to send the card back.. they really do ignore the warranty sticker
For anyone curious, because I was, Stainless steel has a thermal conductivity of 14 (W/m K) vs Aluminum that ranges from 150 - 200 and copper that's around 300 (like Steve said). Although I'm not a chemist, and that was just from a quick google search so take with a grain of salt. (if someone knows this is wrong please correct me)
Thank you so much for these reviews that help us ordinary dead make the right choice this jungle of graphics cards, among other things! I was just about to pull the trigger on this card but will choose another one now. What I liked most about this was its appearance and that XFX usually makes good stuff. Keep up the good job and have a nice weekend. Cheers from Sweden :)
I live in country where they enforce those warranty tickers, i have XFX R580, and i had to replace thermal paste and my warranty is over. So satisfying to watch that someone can say screw you i have right to maintain my equipment .
the bad side about that vBIOS switch positioning: I bought this card (now returned for a Gigabyte 5700XT Gaming OC after consistently hitting 90c edge temp in any game), and when i first went to use a screwdriver to move that switch, since finger wouldn't reach, the switch plastic snapped off, lmao gg XFX
If this was like $420 it would be ok-ish But for $450.. it's trying to be same as Nitro+ While it's perform nearly same as MSI Evoke (which is $hitty to starts with) Just get Gigabyte for $420, or Sapphire Pulse.. or Nitro+ ($440) and have the best 5700xt in market for cheaper ( Thicc $450) Vs (Nitro+$440)
this was the card I was actually looking forward to, because it reminded me to the 290x double dissipation edition I used to have and those were a gorgeous card and performed very cool. Such a shame XFX.
Could you mod it to improve it, so you could prove your point. I don't say I don't believe you, your are amongst the most educated guys in this industry, and are still building your credibility. Message to XFX: All manufacturer are treated equal, these are the products you make that are treated AS THEY ARE.
I've owned this card for about 3 months. It's terribly hot. And the radeon software kept crashing. (wattman crash error) I had to totally remove it from my system as I couldn't even get into windows or bios. Very frustrating.
@@CaveyMoth I mean apparently whoever Mark at XFX is pretty salty about it over on Reddit. According to him and I quote "this is not the first time GN has come after us."
LordIron Weird of him to say that, GN is not even coming after them, he’s criticizing their product. Gotta be able to take criticism if you’re gonna make a product going into this market.
Thank you for reviewing it !! Almost one month ago it was the only custom card available here so I had to buy it in order to mount my new pc (couldn't wait any longer) thus I was hoping and looking each day for a tear down with some analysis. I am returning my Thicc to the warehouse where it's belongs even tho It is still the best looking card by far I will admit that , but not for a tradeoff in performance.My nitro+ is comming tomorow and hopefully I wouldn't have the same problem as the thicc, I had to settle to speed fan because it wasn't spinning causing burned fingertips (yeah it's feels better to check temp in reality and not with a software :p )
That warranty sticker... There was a time when XFX was well known for long, modder friendly warranties. I know they don't honour them now but my XFX R9 285X came with a lifetime warranty.
I bought Sapphire Nitro+ RX 590 Special Edition. I like this card a lot but I do want the RX 5700 XT. Sapphire makes the best cards from the looks of it.
When are we getting a review on the ASUS TUF and Strix RX 5700 XT's though? A lot of ppl have been waiting on your reviews for them since you guys make the best, informative and data-driven reviews. Thanks for the awesome videos guys! Keep it up.
2019 and manufactorers still make that kind of mistakes? People went from prop-planes to the space missions within 20 years and these guys cant put two stupid metal pieces together...
Not the first time for XFX though. Remember Ghost Edition furnaces? It was GTR and GTS (to a certain degree, no pun intended) when they got their shyte together, moreless. Just that not too many people were ever fond of the GTS looks, and GTR fans could be rattly at times.
Could you please make a video on the XFX rx 5700 xt THICC III? They've passed to a triple cooler design and they now have a copper coldplate over the gddr6 ram modules. Just like with the corsair case, it would be really interesting to see what XFX has improved on its card.
It would be interesting to see a fallow up, changing that steel plate for copper one and making better contact on the heatpipes, then testing it regularly and testing it once again but this time removing all the unnecessary plastic/metal around the card and just putting those 2 included fans on the heatsink without the plastic shroud, would really like to see what changes to temperature this will couse
So basically the problem is the same as with the RX 590, they used the same system that worked okay with the 580 there, in this case too, the standard Thicc version uses the same radiator, so as long as the clocks are not to high it is actually okay. They are just failing pushing it, when the design should just stay as a regular version, more close to the reference values. Also just to point out, the thermal paste is a common issue with XFX, you can just go like 10°c cooler replacing it, which at this point doesn't make sense, because in this case they are charging overprice, when their RX's were really cheap at least. I am pretty sure we will see a rev. 2.0 and not only from XFX, looks like just a few brands actually did their job, at least the Sapphire Pulse is a good budget card now and has a decent size.
I'd say there's no point, paying extra money for the looks and then removing the looks to catch up to the cheaper cards on cooling performance doesn't sound too appealing
got my tool kit today, quality is on the very end of high, look forward to the use of them-lol they will show on the channel I am working on getting off the ground-not a teaching channel at all like yours
Here's the deal though, XFX can be as upset as they want. Without people doing this work, people would overspend a significant amount for tech that they don't understand. Customers need someone to help us out as we dont have access to this until we purchase. Two thumbs up GN
thicc 3 seems to have most thic 2 issues solved according to some other sources. Think they watched this video and fixed most the problems. Hope you get a chance to take a look.
Personally - I didnt like how thick the thermal pad was that was supposed to making contact with the VRMs. Im 100% sure the thermal transfer is WORSE the thicker the pad is and that is definitely a key area where you would want good heat dissipation. Plus all the plastic?? It just makes me feel like the repurposed a cooler from a different card to save money but it was either to small to get good coverage so they messed around with the shroud to make it look like it would work
So I just wanted to leave this in the comments. A few months ago I had a Corsair ax 860i die on me. I’m from Australia so I got f@$#d over by one of these sticker things. Essentially Australian consumer law would protect me for the first year, however because Corsair products have an extended 7 year warranty and my product died within this warranty but outside the first year warranty, I was not offered a replacement or repair. Specifically I removed the sticker with the power ratings and serial number. I removed this because my case doesn’t have a psu shroud and it was facing up inside the case and was ugly. I provided proof of purchase with the receipt as well as pictures showing no damage was done to the unit. I since will never use a Corsair product again and my friends who have asked me to recommend products and build for them have not used any Corsair parts either.
Did you try Corsair forums? Seems like something they would take care of, they have always been good when I dealt with them, RMA hasnt been an issue. That said the only PSU ive had of theirs that died lasted 8 years under 24/7 load and was warrantied for 3. Otherwise no issues with Ram or Keyboard replacement while under warranty or even slightly past warranty because it was a "known defect"
Ive had at least a coupple of XFX cards in the past, and always been happy with them. They were priced good compared to their competition, and I never had any problems with them (well... I do have a dead fan on one, but it did good for many years, any fan could die at that point) But this... Its as expensive as the strix, and as useless as the reference.... Happy I went with powercolor!
ive been using my xfx 5700 for almost 2 and a half or 3 years and ive loved it i did have heat issues so i water-cooled it other than the heat i loved it but i know that's definitely not a option for everyone
It is too bad. Because XFX is the only company that encourages overclocking and honestly when I buy 480 and 580 cards for my builds I always look for XFX because of their warranty and being encouraged to overclock. I hope they fix this lack of cooling.
After looking up the model number of the fans on the thicc, it seems like that's the same model of fans used in their "xxx" RX 580 cards and the RX 590 Fatboy, which seems kind of interesting.
My only question is why burn budget making it thicker when you could make it more to the size it should be? They knew someone was going to call them on that when it was detected as underperforming in thermals. I mean smaller cases actually are getting more attention and they could have catered to those then to an aesthetic that few are going to see or care about once it was in some cases.
I think you had "thick" confused with "tall". I think of the cooler thickness instead (which I think you showed as basically normal), but I get your point.
Find our review of the XFX RX 5700 XT THICC II here: th-cam.com/video/IwczmQNHVfo/w-d-xo.html
Grab a GN toolkit here: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit
And Modmat here: store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat
The cheap, shiny plastic reminds me of the Demon Destroyer Gunn that LGR reviewed a while back.
So the thicc is what would happen if the Verge built a graphics card
Steve, do you think it would make any difference if I buy some thermal pads and sink better the memory plate and the back plate?
Can you test if the memory temps are better without the stainless steel plate and just thicc pads?
04:03 no thermal pads on any of the vrms.
xfx- stop its already dead
GN- its plastic
Aaaarggghhh
And not good plastic, but Macdonald's plastic.
Those happy meals are how it got THICC
The THICC is just a standard-sized card wearing a fat suit. The name needs to be changed to XFX Fat Suit.
XFX Big Momma
needs to be changed to XFX Shit Cooler
Phatt*
XFX IMplANTS
The XF-FAKE 5700 XT FRICC
Into the "disappointment build 2019" bin
im tired of this rx5700s, im so done
can i have one of those? a mans trash is anothers treasure :)
A Radeon VII with this shroud would be the ultimate disappointment.
Think the super series is already there
This card specifically will probably make the cut. Especially since the PR guy at XFX made it personal. It would be a very fitting place for it. Although ANY 1650 would also be a good fit. Since were what, 6+months after launch, and no SFF 1650s exist publicly yet...maybe 1 for 200$ retail.. but the thicc would be funnier in the disappointment 2019 build.
XFX should turn this engagement around and use GN to build the "customers" card. XFX RX 5700 GN+ (FTW)
i like "XFX RX5700 Tech Jesus edition" better
@@Atreea i for sure would buy this lol
XFX is gonna be even more salty after this lol!
Especially Mark at XFX lmaoo
Steve back at it with his salt bae move lol
Xfx already dead when they leave nvidia
More like denying it based on their reddit replies.
@@AndrianHendrawan Nvidia kicked xfx out because hey also sold, at the time, ati cards.
This is when the marketing team makes a joke and the design team takes it seriously.
Are you the same Schnoz from the Linus Tech Tips Forum?
The Reactive Code Wow what a shnoz
@@UItEnthusiast good to see you here, man!
@@GeorgAyres Wait, but who are you on the forums?
@@UItEnthusiast My nickname there is Bloody-George. I often visit the "Show off your setup/battle stations" post to appreciate people's rigs, and you sometimes comment there.
Worst card I've seen in while, good call Steve. Thanks for helping us buyers.
yeah and it's a shame because I've always been looking up those cards because they look cool as all hell.
I got the fat boy, avoid xfx
XFX: "It's not the first time GN has come after us"
Steve: "Hold my Snowflake"
it was a joke steve is taking it the wrong way
@@blazebott sure thing xfx
@@blazebott Seems like XFX social media handling skills are as bad as their cooling solutions.
@@ferrumignis ohhhhhhhhh snap
@@blazebott Calling joke to get out of something stupid you said only works if anyone believes you.
No one believes you XFX
I've seen some comments down below about internet retailers not honoring returns or charging a restocking fee... or it works for them and not for you then they skim money off your purchase. If you can help it and it's there... Purchase the cards from Best Buy, Frys, or Microcenter brick and mortar. I've had zero issues returning CPU's/Mobos/ and GC within the return window. 0 questions asked. They all price match too. So it's really a no brainer. Unless I have to buy it online and there is no other choice I will. But just driving up the street and getting my full money back.. you can't beat that.
BaileyPawsPlays Not sure about in the usa but best buy in Canada takes absolutely no returns on GPUs as soon as you open the package. Something to bear in mind.
"Stuffing their LTT branded underwear" I guess he must have seen the mug comment lol
@@nick-zc9xv linus did a video and one of his employees had a GN cup in his house, and Linus found it when filming a video. Its a recent video
@@nick-zc9xv Linus basically said one of his employees made poor life choices for owning a GN mug
@@GainingDespair and it was clearly a joke for anyone wondering or for people looking to find drama
@@Kyros9119 Pretty sure most people know that most tech youtubers have friendly back and forths like that.
@@CalculatedRiskAK oh you'd be surprised
I hate chromed plastic, nothing screams cheaply made like chrome plastic.
Oh man it's the worst
This is a giant bummer because I had such a good experience back when I built my XFX 5850 Xfire system in 2009... I'm glad I dodged a bullet on this but sad too.
I won't defend this product, and I'm definitely not buying one. But I have had very good response from their support staff regarding one of their RX 580 GTR Black edition cards. TL:DR...the issue was my fault, and they completely replaced it. I still have the card and it works BETTER than the same generation Sapphire card I also have. I guess companies just make mistakes sometimes.
Edit: I really appreciate this video. Thank you GN.
Padding in its LTT underwear.... that is FANTASTIC!
The design is to accommodate the possibilities of Linus dropping the card lol
The heatsink will keep it as cool as the water...in this LTT insulated cup.
I freaking lost it when I heard that! LMAO!
@@jaguh9069 you use the word possibility, when i know you mean "near-certainty" :D
SHOTS FIRED!
GDDR6 is far more temperature sensitive compared to GDDR5. That stupid cooler was bad enough before.
These cards are almost guaranteed to end up artifacting or dying.
For me it means a disco party on the screen.
If these were stupid cheap I'd love to grab one and have the memory contact portion machines out of aluminum or something, looks like an easy enough project. But for the price gtfo
@Stasss wow
@Stasss hardware unboxed video shows this 100c bug for those who maybe wondering... and the obviously terrible memory cooling even when its not bugged
Newegg is refusing returns. Good luck if you bought this like me! 😭
oh now that is just adding salt to the wound
You just couldn't help yourself, could you? You saw the word "THICC" and your mouse cursor automatically clicked "add to cart." Did you dab after the order was processed?
If it's working for you then you shouldn't feel bad and maybe next time wait for GamersNexus reviews before buying on a rush.
im stuck with the reference. be thankful for what you have
@@upperedgelon1317 waterblock it
Just bought the THICC III - best card on the market as far as I can see, albeit by a slim margin. With performance comes heat, and somebody who tested them said XFX did a good job solving the issues with the new 3 fan design. Specs edge out the Devil and the Sapphire - by a small margin. Current N price on the 3 fan improved model falls right between them. If you prefer either of them, that is totally valid, it's splitting hairs all the way. The ASUS has it's problems as does the Gigabyte (Seems that XFX isn't the only company that has minor issues with new designs). Haters gonna hate, and the ones complaining about "Fake" cosmetics are spending bucks festooning their machines with gobs of LEDs. It's just plastic trim and wouldn't work any better if it was CNCed aluminum. One reviewer pointed out correctly that the plastic covers reduce weight and help prevent damage to the slot, especially when shipping/transporting. The new version 3 is now $439 on Newegg. Different strokes for different folks, we are all computer enthusiasts, and so we should all get along. I'm happy because I've got a new XFX 5700XT card to go in my new Threadripper build and am looking forward to getting it together - Love new builds. Peace.
Title: XFX RX 5700 XT THICC II before plastic surgery.
I got this card extremely cheap a couple of weeks ago, $74, and it's interesting how different the design of my Thicc ii is. No chrome, no grill, different fan mounts. I'm looking forward to modding this into a competent card. Thanks for the video.
The plastic chrome plated cooling plate is actually a production traceability tab that is required on all injection molded parts for quality certification from organisations like ISO9001 that contain date stamp time wheels and plastic material identification.
I just modded my XFX 5700 XT THICC II: All plastic parts removed except the part holding the fans. Backplate removed. Memory plate (stainless steel) removed. Memory temperature is worse now: 97°C junction (max) & 104°C memory (max) @ Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Before: 97°C junction (max) & 92°C memory (max). I did not alter the fan speed. Using the latest bios available from the XFX website. Edit: I misunderstood and thought they'd removed the memory plate too. I readded the memory plate and added paste on the contact points of the plate and the cooler. In contrary to Gamers Nexus I did not remove the thermal pads between the memory plate and the cooler.
Memory temps are improved a lot now - still 92°C max but the average temp is lower. Thank you Gamer Nexus :)
I was going to buy one of these cards, but after seeing these videos I'm glad they weren't available in Finland when I built my system so I opted for the Powercolor Red Dragon.
Proof GN is willing to stick up for the consumer and take the heat from manufacturers for giving an honest review. I really appreciate it and hope you all do too.
It's the best looking GPU I have ever seen.
What a shame that it performs so poorly.
Mine performs quite well. I really don't get all the hate, it might perform considerably worse than the rest of the custom line up but the card runs everything fine while never going past 70c. Only downside is the fact that it's quite loud.
@@habibsspirit I believe its a Bandwagon effect. The card's BIOS is broken, manually setting fan speed to 50% in afterburner fixed many problems regarding temps (in my specific case). I don't get above 62°C under load, and the noise is tolerable; also benchmarking exceptionally well. XFX still needs to offer solutions..
Since the performance has been unwelcome and disappointing, perhaps this model should be rebranded "5700 DICC PICC".
The performance has been unwelcome and disappointing for Gamers Nexus ONLY, for everyone else - including me, it's been great. So far so good. Although I admit the card is very loud under load.
I understand the build and cooling could be a lot better but Steve's just throwing a hissy fit honestly. Likely he got a bad card and talks about it like it applies to everyone else.
Now if you don't believe me, search on Google or TH-cam for other reviews. Or if you prefer, tell me which game you want me to benchmark and which temps you want to see and if I have the time and the game available on steam I'll do it no problem. (Or you can buy me the game and I'll benchmark it for free hehehe)
@@habibsspirit its more a case of, like the MSI cards, there is a lot better for the money, measurably better, better cooling, better designed, better performance *for less*
As Steve says again and again, you can make a card that is really loud and pushes a lot of air and its still terrible, even if the "stock" temperatures are better.
The best 5700 xt card on the market right now is the Sapphire Nitro.. but its "stock" settings favor silent running over pure performance.
If you crank up the fans it outperforms other cards and it's still more silent than the likes of the XFX and MSI cards.
XFX has clearly got issues. There is more than one reviewer who found fan control issues and temperature bugs. XFX may or may not fix those issues. What they CANT easily fix is the use of plastics and Stainless steel hashed together with termal pads and screws in their cooler design where others used a unified block of nickel plated copper, which is more expensive but vastly better at transferring heat, every interface between materials hurts cooling, meaning for example.. if covering a 1mm gap, a 1mm pad will outperform 2x 0.5 mm pads. The interface between the layers is less efficient. XFX used a lot of extra layers & cheaper metals which hurts performance.
XFX and MSI have both been caught out cutting costs and charging more for their cards than their competitors who are using better materials and not penny pinching in areas that really do matter such as heatsink design and materials and fan fittings.
You may like the look, but objectively the THICC is an inferior card with design choices which cant be easily remedied by the average user.
In contrast the likes of saphire can Easily release a bios update which uses a more aggressive fan curve and takes advantage of their superior cooling design... their baseline hardware is solid and even with no changes the end user can alter the fan curves in AMDs Wattman.. nothing else is needed.
Thats why GN is so critical of the Thicc. it has issues which cant be fixed without voiding your warranty in most countries... even if they fix the inconsistent and erratic fan speed control , the terrible cooler design wont change.
@@habibsspirit The performance is fine, because an Rx 5700XT performs like a RX 5700XT regardless of how good the cooler is. But you could both save money and get a quieter card by going with the Sapphire pulse, making this an objectively bad value and bad cooler.
@@martinpalmer6203 I agree completely. However my point still stands, to ridicule this card like it's useless and doesn't work is basically to admit you have beef with the brand. And although the cooler design is inferior to other brands it's still good enough to keep the card under 70°C under load whilst being loud but mildly noticeable using headphones. If it's the only custom design available where you live like it was in my case, I see no problem with purchasing it whatsoever.
if the XFX card was the only option.. id wait on stock. The other option is to ship internationally. After watching buildzoid discuss the various board designs I ultimately decided a reference XT + waterblock was better for my situation. international shipping a reference model+full cover block worked out similarly to buying an AIB partner card... but the cooling performance is better esp longer term.
Of course its only economic if you already have a pump/res & radiator.
Chrome won't get you home, but you sure look good pushing!
Implication there being other colours perform better.
@@Asdayasman of course, red'z da fastest
@@Vooman You know why most toothpaste is red, white, and blue?
The white cleans your teeth, the blue tastes cool and fresh, and the red makes your toothbrush go faster.
The name is good tho. Instead of going full edge with like, lighting, they went full meme. THICC
I remember back in the day when XFX made nothing but cool stuff. Like the old socket 775 mobo's, everything was high quality (or so it seemed). Now even mention of XFX is rare. Come on guys step up your game make one card and make it damn good bring back the good old days.
Well they still have the same ridiculous boxes.
I bought THICC II last week and I am enjoying the results. She is working as expected with temperatures and I got a good result of OVER stabilizing GPU clock at 2059Mhz and 1820Mhz in the memories. Apparently no difference in the build of the XFX RX 5700XT series for its VRM, both THICC II, THICC II Ultra and THICC III Ultra models have the same construction and performed very well in TechPowerup tests.
Still congratulations on the review, very good.
This is why I don't buy anything until seeing a teardown. Love the work Tech Jesus, keep it up!
It's sad to see what they did with newer cards because i absolutely love their RX 480/580 GTR design and performance.
I'm sold for their big, bulky design without RGB ever since i first got my RX 480 GTR, it's just look badass, and GTR's cooler work great too.
I'm still using the XFX RX 480 GTR for my main PC because i don't play games as much as before. But i could just turn the fan speed to 100% all the time for maximum cooling performance until its die and just effortlessly swap its with a new pair of fan.
I have a 580 gts and Ive been maxing out at 70c which is just fine. I have great case airflow, though it's in a meshify c which is pretty mid-range as far as case temps go according to Steve's data 😉
And I don't have fans maxed
@@StonedSoldering Me too, i use MSI Afterburner to tune the fan speed raising base on the GPU temp. The 0db fan is quite pointless in Vietnam because it'll reach 60 degree Celsius in no time anyway.
Hmm, the thing is that if the stainless steel is magnetic, it has small chromium and tiny amounts/no nickel in it. Regular SS with nickel is not magnetic, nickel change the bonds. Never-mind. Basically being magnetic or not, doesn't prevent it from being one of the worse materials to use in this application, its on VRMs ffs.
Keep up GN ... you're one of the best.
I have an XFX like that 580 you showed, 1405mhz stock and OC's great. Wonderful card, especially after upgrading pads and paste. It's sad to see XFX go so far backwards in design
im gonna play devils advocate , i love xfx and their customer service...*insert "im not paid to say this" meme* . i almost always used xfx cards and they were always good to me if an issue came up .they really will go above and beyond to help you. at least in my experience. i still have all 4 xfx cards i've used over the years. regardless , i really liked the teardown...
edit , in my experience , if ive had a fan fail , xfx has sent me entire heatinks, back plates and shrouds if a fan fails. ive never had to send the card back.. they really do ignore the warranty sticker
For anyone curious, because I was, Stainless steel has a thermal conductivity of 14 (W/m K) vs Aluminum that ranges from 150 - 200 and copper that's around 300 (like Steve said).
Although I'm not a chemist, and that was just from a quick google search so take with a grain of salt. (if someone knows this is wrong please correct me)
"we dont care for the looks" - reviews cute pet card next.
It's basically a gpu in one of those inflated sumo costumes
Putting more wounds to the salt that is XFX Thicc
Thank you so much for these reviews that help us ordinary dead make the right choice this jungle of graphics cards, among other things!
I was just about to pull the trigger on this card but will choose another one now.
What I liked most about this was its appearance and that XFX usually makes good stuff.
Keep up the good job and have a nice weekend.
Cheers from Sweden :)
I live in country where they enforce those warranty tickers, i have XFX R580, and i had to replace thermal paste and my warranty is over.
So satisfying to watch that someone can say screw you i have right to maintain my equipment .
the bad side about that vBIOS switch positioning: I bought this card (now returned for a Gigabyte 5700XT Gaming OC after consistently hitting 90c edge temp in any game), and when i first went to use a screwdriver to move that switch, since finger wouldn't reach, the switch plastic snapped off, lmao gg XFX
Your camera is _crystal_ clear. Great content too 😂
If this was like $420 it would be ok-ish
But for $450.. it's trying to be same as Nitro+
While it's perform nearly same as MSI Evoke (which is $hitty to starts with)
Just get Gigabyte for $420, or Sapphire Pulse.. or Nitro+ ($440) and have the best 5700xt in market for cheaper ( Thicc $450) Vs (Nitro+$440)
I can't believe you said their card feels like it came in a nappy meal... lmao
And that it's stuffing its underwear, so to speak; Specifically, its LTT underwear.
*happy
@@Tallnerdyguy might as well be nappy! lmao
@@andreassheriff ewwww lol, but ya
this was the card I was actually looking forward to, because it reminded me to the 290x double dissipation edition I used to have and those were a gorgeous card and performed very cool. Such a shame XFX.
Why is it a shame? Mine runs great and i haven't seen it get over 72 at full load. Its not the ultra but it runs awesome. I paid 429 for mine
@@johnw9986 it doesn't performs nicely when compared to cheaper models. Just not worth the money...
Yeah, I had a 280x DD and it was also really good overall, better than most on thermals.
Could you mod it to improve it, so you could prove your point. I don't say I don't believe you, your are amongst the most educated guys in this industry, and are still building your credibility. Message to XFX: All manufacturer are treated equal, these are the products you make that are treated AS THEY ARE.
I've owned this card for about 3 months. It's terribly hot. And the radeon software kept crashing. (wattman crash error) I had to totally remove it from my system as I couldn't even get into windows or bios. Very frustrating.
Can't wait for the enviable baseless video takedown from XFX.
Oh! Did they take down any previous vids? The last one is still up though.
Are they on The Verge of doing it?
@@CaveyMoth I mean apparently whoever Mark at XFX is pretty salty about it over on Reddit. According to him and I quote "this is not the first time GN has come after us."
LordIron Weird of him to say that, GN is not even coming after them, he’s criticizing their product. Gotta be able to take criticism if you’re gonna make a product going into this market.
@@React2Quick What you didnt mention was that was the last line of a reply to someone else. Mark didn't make a post specifically to address GN.
I just watched through the whole channel from the beginning. It is the history of Steve's hair growth! :D
Thank you for reviewing it !!
Almost one month ago it was the only custom card available here so I had to buy it in order to mount my new pc (couldn't wait any longer)
thus I was hoping and looking each day for a tear down with some analysis.
I am returning my Thicc to the warehouse where it's belongs even tho It is still the best looking card by far I will admit that , but not for a tradeoff in performance.My nitro+ is comming tomorow and hopefully I wouldn't have the same problem as the thicc, I had to settle to speed fan because it wasn't spinning causing burned fingertips (yeah it's feels better to check temp in reality and not with a software :p )
That warranty sticker... There was a time when XFX was well known for long, modder friendly warranties. I know they don't honour them now but my XFX R9 285X came with a lifetime warranty.
So what your saying is if it come down to this or a blower card i get the blower
Weird that in 2019, some companies still make the mistake of taking reviews personally.
Could you get that steel plate made in copper and test to see if there is a difference? It could be a fun video.
Saw the upload. Me: "Oh boy here we go."
XFX needs to step it up or die. The competition is brutal and XFX is not even remotely close, let alone that they charge more.
I bought Sapphire Nitro+ RX 590 Special Edition. I like this card a lot but I do want the RX 5700 XT. Sapphire makes the best cards from the looks of it.
I'm all in!!! Start tearing it down!!!!!! - I love your content Gamers Nexus
those XFX pin-pad fans failed on me in only 4 months of usage, the fan just falls out of the ring socket
When are we getting a review on the ASUS TUF and Strix RX 5700 XT's though? A lot of ppl have been waiting on your reviews for them since you guys make the best, informative and data-driven reviews. Thanks for the awesome videos guys! Keep it up.
Phew, I was just about one click to buy one of this crap, but then I came here before it, you've saved me dude
2019 and manufactorers still make that kind of mistakes? People went from prop-planes to the space missions within 20 years and these guys cant put two stupid metal pieces together...
Not the first time for XFX though. Remember Ghost Edition furnaces? It was GTR and GTS (to a certain degree, no pun intended) when they got their shyte together, moreless. Just that not too many people were ever fond of the GTS looks, and GTR fans could be rattly at times.
Could you please make a video on the XFX rx 5700 xt THICC III? They've passed to a triple cooler design and they now have a copper coldplate over the gddr6 ram modules.
Just like with the corsair case, it would be really interesting to see what XFX has improved on its card.
@Steve. I chromed my Sapphire Pulse in honor of your review of this bad MEME card.
Sadly (because when there are a lot of competitors, that’s good) - XFX can really be R.I.P. after making this cards.
It would be interesting to see a fallow up, changing that steel plate for copper one and making better contact on the heatpipes, then testing it regularly and testing it once again but this time removing all the unnecessary plastic/metal around the card and just putting those 2 included fans on the heatsink without the plastic shroud, would really like to see what changes to temperature this will couse
What a shame. I'm still running an 8 year old XFX HD6870 DD (they've always had clever names) in an HTPC. Quiet and solidly built.
Are you tearing down the card or the company? xD
Why not both?
@@kujiko88 Yeah, it was rhetorical. ^_^
yes
Please do a review on the ASUS Tuf 5700 xt
Its shit. More shit then this.
So basically the problem is the same as with the RX 590, they used the same system that worked okay with the 580 there, in this case too, the standard Thicc version uses the same radiator, so as long as the clocks are not to high it is actually okay.
They are just failing pushing it, when the design should just stay as a regular version, more close to the reference values.
Also just to point out, the thermal paste is a common issue with XFX, you can just go like 10°c cooler replacing it, which at this point doesn't make sense, because in this case they are charging overprice, when their RX's were really cheap at least.
I am pretty sure we will see a rev. 2.0 and not only from XFX, looks like just a few brands actually did their job, at least the Sapphire Pulse is a good budget card now and has a decent size.
It's a shame because I used to look forward for this card when it was first leaked by Videocardz
Did you test it without the plastics or with proper contacts?
I'd say there's no point, paying extra money for the looks and then removing the looks to catch up to the cheaper cards on cooling performance doesn't sound too appealing
got my tool kit today, quality is on the very end of high, look forward to the use of them-lol they will show on the channel I am working on getting off the ground-not a teaching channel at all like yours
Here's the deal though, XFX can be as upset as they want. Without people doing this work, people would overspend a significant amount for tech that they don't understand. Customers need someone to help us out as we dont have access to this until we purchase. Two thumbs up GN
thicc 3 seems to have most thic 2 issues solved according to some other sources. Think they watched this video and fixed most the problems. Hope you get a chance to take a look.
This card is dummy thicc and the clap of its plastic keeps alerting Steve (that he paid $450)
+1 for the old school "flip chip" reference. That term started with the first socket Pentium 3 I think.
"if you want to repaste in few years" - it will be warranty void anyway in few years :)
Personally - I didnt like how thick the thermal pad was that was supposed to making contact with the VRMs. Im 100% sure the thermal transfer is WORSE the thicker the pad is and that is definitely a key area where you would want good heat dissipation. Plus all the plastic?? It just makes me feel like the repurposed a cooler from a different card to save money but it was either to small to get good coverage so they messed around with the shroud to make it look like it would work
So I just wanted to leave this in the comments. A few months ago I had a Corsair ax 860i die on me. I’m from Australia so I got f@$#d over by one of these sticker things. Essentially Australian consumer law would protect me for the first year, however because Corsair products have an extended 7 year warranty and my product died within this warranty but outside the first year warranty, I was not offered a replacement or repair. Specifically I removed the sticker with the power ratings and serial number. I removed this because my case doesn’t have a psu shroud and it was facing up inside the case and was ugly. I provided proof of purchase with the receipt as well as pictures showing no damage was done to the unit.
I since will never use a Corsair product again and my friends who have asked me to recommend products and build for them have not used any Corsair parts either.
Did you try Corsair forums? Seems like something they would take care of, they have always been good when I dealt with them, RMA hasnt been an issue. That said the only PSU ive had of theirs that died lasted 8 years under 24/7 load and was warrantied for 3. Otherwise no issues with Ram or Keyboard replacement while under warranty or even slightly past warranty because it was a "known defect"
Thanks for bringing the facts to consumers once again.
i have the auros master x570, can confirm, it is very nice board.
Thank you for keeping it honest and being impartial.
Did you test the THICC III? It seems that all the people on TH-cam love it.
Ive had at least a coupple of XFX cards in the past, and always been happy with them. They were priced good compared to their competition, and I never had any problems with them (well... I do have a dead fan on one, but it did good for many years, any fan could die at that point)
But this... Its as expensive as the strix, and as useless as the reference.... Happy I went with powercolor!
ive been using my xfx 5700 for almost 2 and a half or 3 years and ive loved it i did have heat issues so i water-cooled it other than the heat i loved it but i know that's definitely not a option for everyone
Shady!! Looks alot better than it is!
I remember when everyone on Reddit was freaking out over this card and saying it would be amazing... that didn't age well.
It is too bad. Because XFX is the only company that encourages overclocking and honestly when I buy 480 and 580 cards for my builds I always look for XFX because of their warranty and being encouraged to overclock. I hope they fix this lack of cooling.
Good stainless steel isn't magnetic
Last time I was this early, XFX was still good
I decided to tear-down two XFX cards today in honor of the thick drama....HD 7770 and R9 270x. I think they were done better.
Staaaaaap going after them Tech Jesus
Couldn't help but notice you still have the switch lite disassembled, _oof!_
stay hard at work out there, always looking forward to the next vid.
After looking up the model number of the fans on the thicc, it seems like that's the same model of fans used in their "xxx" RX 580 cards and the RX 590 Fatboy, which seems kind of interesting.
My only question is why burn budget making it thicker when you could make it more to the size it should be? They knew someone was going to call them on that when it was detected as underperforming in thermals. I mean smaller cases actually are getting more attention and they could have catered to those then to an aesthetic that few are going to see or care about once it was in some cases.
Teared in during this tear down at some points, damn...
I think you had "thick" confused with "tall". I think of the cooler thickness instead (which I think you showed as basically normal), but I get your point.