SAPPHIRE Radeon 11265-05-20G (Pros + Cons)

The SAPPHIRE Radeon 11265-05-20G is good and has excellent performance. Sapphire is among the most recognizable brands producing outstanding AMD graphics cards. Not to mention several different RX 580s, which have exceptional value for money.

Even at high settings, this is especially true for 1080p gaming. However, the new Sapphire Pulse series promises performance comparable to that of their more costly Nitro+ cards at a more attractive price for those who might be on a slightly smaller budget.

The GTX 1660 Super Gaming X From MSI is a competent performance at 1080p and 1440p. However, the recently introduced RX 5600 XT is a better choice for most people because it performs noticeably better.

SAPPHIRE Radeon 11265-05-20G

Although AMD’s new Radeon RX 500-series graphics cards offer some of the most acceptable value available, Our reviews have so far mainly concentrated on customized models with powerful coolers and high costs. What if you want to upgrade your PC for the least amount of money possible? Introducing more affordable versions like Sapphire’s newest Pulse line.

According to Sapphire, the Pulse cards are priced just over AMD’s standard MSRPs and are intended to provide gamers with “excellent value for money.” Only by putting it to the test can you determine whether it’s more than just marketing speak.

Global Rating

4.6 Out Of 5 Stars

Product Testing

I swapped over a fairly robust Nvidia Quadro K5000 with 4GB of video RAM, which performed admirably with CUDA in Premiere Pro 2019. That Nvidia card was terrible with metal in 2019. It’s not just wrong. Regrettably, I discovered after updating Premiere Pro 2020 that Adobe abandoned CUDA.

When I used the Nvidia K5000 card with the Metal option for PP 2020, it performed better than it did in 2019, but I still felt it suffered a little. It occasionally lacked where it did not exist in 2019. The multi-cam edit also seemed odd. I decided to try the AMD Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 because of its low cost; it had to be better since it had twice the VRAM. Oddly, my Nvidia card still costs nearly five times as much as this one.

A few years back, I had to download drivers and install Cuda software to use my Nvidia card. On and on… Installing the most recent cuda update required downloading every security update… None of that crap applies to AMD. It simply works.

I don’t care that you don’t see the Apple Boot Screen; it’s a Mac, for crying out loud; I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve needed to enter recovery mode in 11 years. I left Windows 11 years ago and haven’t turned around since.

Everything with Macs is simple; they are easy. Macs are reliable! You won’t experience any problems if you buy products approved for Mac or Apple suggests. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to maintain a backup boot disk so that, if the drive fails, I can quickly restart without any upgrades.

I often update my clone, but I never understand why I would require the startup screen with options or recovery mode. Since I don’t want dual boot, I don’t need the option command. I never boot straight into Windows upon power up; instead, I utilize Parallels to start Windows 7 inside the Mac OS when needed. I’ll use my previous card if I ever need alternatives or recovery.

I download, install, etc., when I upgrade from the OS. My Mac came with Snow Leopard, and I’ve primarily kept it updated by downloading and installing software from the app store instead of using the startup drive technique.

Compared to my Nvidia K5000, this card performs much better in Premiere Pro 2020! Is there a performance improvement? Yes. A good editing performance machine needs processors, RAM, SSDs, and a good GPU. Despite being only one component of the equation, GPU is perhaps one of the most crucial.

With SpeedFan running in the background, we test for heat during the same demanding Division benchmark at a challenging 4K resolution. After the run is complete, we record the highest GPU temperature.

Product Comparison

Here is a more obvious distinction between the related cards. The RX 580 Pulse variant in our test runs 4 degrees (Celsius) more fantastic thanks to Sapphire’s more powerful Nitro+ cooling, even though its temperature is by no means warm. When loaded, the RX 580 Pulse is slightly louder than the Nitro+, although both cards operate quietly when the case is closed.

Even though both cards have similarly shaped coolers and massive heatsinks, Sapphire’s Pulse manages to run 4 degrees colder than the Aorus in the RX 570 versions. One significant distinction between the two is that the Dual-X more excellent fans on the Sapphire Pulse turn off under light loads, unlike those on the Aorus RX 570. Because of this, the Pulse is quieter when you aren’t playing games, though both cards are tolerably quiet when the case is closed.

The TU116 GPU featured in the GTX 1660, and 1660 Ti is used by the GTX 1660 Super, which is based on the Turing architecture. Ray tracing is not supported, as shown by the GTX name rather than RTX.

The TU116 die is produced by TSMC utilizing the 12nm FFN (FinFET Nvidia) process. The GPU’s 6.6 billion transistors die size is 284 mm square. The GTX 1660 Super has 1,408 shaders, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, as opposed to the GTX 1660 Ti’s complete 1,536/96/48 configuration.

Final Summary

SAPPHIRE Radeon 11265-05-20G performs well. Sapphire is a well-known manufacturer of AMD graphics cards. Not to mention several RX 580s with good value. Even at high settings, 1080p gaming is best. The new Sapphire Pulse line promises similar performance to their more expensive Nitro+ cards at a lower price.