XFX RX 5700 Xt Thicc III (Full Review)

Version 3 of the THICC Ultra from XFX has been added to their XFX RX 5700 Xt Thicc III portfolio. The new model includes a longer cooler with three fans, more incredible clock speeds out of the box, and better fan settings. The card’s default speeds are 1935 MHz for the game mode and 2025 MHz for boost mode, which significantly improves the AMD reference architecture.

Since the RX Vega series more than two years ago, AMD’s first actual performance-segment graphics card is the Radeon RX 5700 XT. It is built on the brand-new “Navi” architecture, which uses the 7 nm silicon fabrication process, and the brand-new RDNA computes units from AMD.

These represent AMD’s most considerable GPU design change since the original Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture was introduced in 2013. In addition to clock rates, RDNA is intended to enhance IPC compared to GCN significantly. There are numerous architectural changes in the silicon as well.

The original XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT Thicc III Ultra, which only debuted in September, was a hit with us. Although the graphics card had a retro Double Dissipation appearance, it wasn’t flawless. We continued the hot-rod theme by saying, “It’s high-performing, a touch loud, incredibly amazing, and in need of some minor tinkering for top performance.”

It was hindered by third-party Radeon RX 5700 models’ usual fan control problems, which need a BIOS update right out of the box. Meanwhile, the fans raged to manage the card’s power-hungry clock speeds.

XFX RX 5700 Xt Thicc III

We won’t go into great depth about AMD’s new Navi GPU features because they are already well known. The newly released XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT Thicc III Ultra takes care of the fiddling for you.

It replaces the original’s dual 100mm chrome fans with two 90mm and one 100mm fan and strengthens the cooling system underneath the shroud to address heating issues. The power draws even further by XFX to raise clock speeds. The outcome? For the same price, you may get a graphics card that fixes the shortcomings of its predecessor while maintaining its stunning appearance and firm performance.

XFX expands on the foundation. The 1870MHz Game Clock on the original Thicc II Ultra was far faster than the reference 1,755MHz, making it the quickest Radeon RX 5700 XT we’ve tested. With a base rate of 1,810MHz and a scorching 1,935MHz game clock in performance mode, the Thicc III Ultra pushes the envelope even further.

Although, as you’ll see in our benchmarks, the frame rate difference won’t be visible to the unaided eye, it is the new Radeon RX 5700 XT performance champion. The stock (but heart-melting) speeds of the 8GB GDDR6 RAM are maintained.

This latest generation requires a pair of 8-pin power connectors rather than 6-pin and 8-pin connections because greater power demands more power. The Performance BIOS of the XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT Thicc III Ultra is rated for 230 watts, 20 watts more than the previous model and quite a bit more than the competition.

At the same time, a second Quiet BIOS, switchable physically on the board, reduces that to 195 watts for those more concerned with power efficiency. I have no clue who wants greater power efficiency from a massive, overclocked graphics card like the Thicc III Ultra. Still, more options are always appreciated, and enthusiasts will value the additional BIOS option if overclocking attempts go wrong (a more likely audience for this).

More power also necessitates more heavy metal to prevent things from getting too hot and too noisy. The Thicc III Ultra is about an inch longer than its triple-slot cousin yet is precisely as thin. Indeed, “Thicc.” Even that generous capacity wasn’t enough to properly contain Navi’s power in the original Thicc II. Still, with the Thicc III Ultra, XFX’s “Ghost” thermal design underwent some much-needed improvements.

As previously indicated, the original’s dual 100mm fans have been replaced by a pair of 90mm fans with an additional 100mm set of blades sandwiched between them for increased airflow. We had some noise worries with the Thicc II, but having more fans means they can also turn slower, which helps.

According to marketing materials, the Thicc III touts a 50 percent improvement over the Thicc II, which according to XFX, claimed a 35 percent noise reduction compared to the base Radeon RX 5700 XT. Additionally, the Thicc III Ultra features zero DB fan technology, which prevents the fans from operating until the GPU is put under a lot of strain. Idle fans make for a quiet environment when you’re shooting spreadsheets on the desktop rather than gaming bullets.

In addition, XFX enlarged the heatsink hence the card’s increased size, and added a copper cooling plate to the GDDR6 modules in response to issues with memory heat with the original Thicc II design. The cooling adjustments provide significant quality-of-life benefits when combined. Everything functions right out of the box now that Navi’s early teething issues with fan control have been resolved.

Global Rating

4.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Product Testing

Until I found this 5700 XT, everything was being snapped up by scales, making it difficult to find good bargains. I’m delighted I was persuaded to go off my typical Nvidia course. This card is ideal for my build and demonstrates how far Radeon has advanced.

With just 16GB of 1866 DDR3 memory and an I5 6600k OC 4.2, this card can play nearly every game you can imagine at maximum settings in 1080p and 1440p with frame rates of 60 or more FPS.

The only issue I discovered the hard way is that this card won’t appear until you upgrade to Windows 10, this card won’t appear. Fortunately, I had a home edition on hand, although I was disappointed to give up my Win 8.1. No driver connected to this card would go beyond 17.01 blah blah. I finally gave in and upgraded to Windows 10.

I should also mention how awe-inspiringly many settings and functions are included with this card. This was included with Godfall as well, and it runs flawlessly at 1440p maximum. I don’t worry about going above 60 frames per second as long as I know this card will run at maximum settings, even if you aren’t using it entirely.

I fed it the power to make my games run at least 60 frames per second and never more, so I know this card can go above that amount if you want. Because this card is hefty and will sag, think about buying a pilar to aid with GPU sag. It’s better to invest in one like the one in my photo, which isn’t too expensive, to ensure that your MB is protected and that your card is safe and level.

The fans aren’t spinning until it is under severe loads, and I can’t hear them. The automatic mechanism is flawless. I am happy I had the opportunity to use XFX once more because they have improved much since I last used their card back in the day.

The most significant temperature I recorded was 74°C under severe loads. The heat is fantastic. My CPU often reaches 47 degrees. It will adjust appropriately because the power is not even that high, but I have seen it use as little as 230w, which is nothing. I should also admit that I’m not using my resources at total capacity and don’t have to.

Product Comparison

The Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU-based video card in question is the thickest one we have ever seen. This card profile is categorized as having “2.8 slots.” This thickness is there for a reason; it provides a significant amount of heatsink space.

This is the THICC III series from XFX, their most recent series with the most advanced and durable design and a triple-fan cooling arrangement. The “Ultra” version of this product accelerates clock speeds to previously unheard-of heights when turned on by default, on top of everything else.

Radeon RX 5700 XT II has excellent 1440p gaming performance and many features that you can start using immediately. Although the recently introduced Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2060 Super have not yet significantly affected AMD’s stock price, they cannot be ignored either.

To Sum Up

On our test bench, we have one of the thickest, quickest, and most customized video cards with an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU. We specially requested this video card since we needed a video card that could maximize performance while controlling the thermals on the Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU.

The only factors limiting the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT are its power target, voltage, and clock speed. If it were just a little bit quicker, the Radeon RX 5700 XT might be a fantastic gaming GPU at a reasonably affordable price.

The XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT THICC III Ultra fills this need. The Radeon RX 5700 XT is used, providing us with the quicker performance that it should have had all along. Offering an extremely high factory overclock and controlling the thermals to prevent system meltdown finally gives the Radeon RX 5700 XT room to grow.

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