Sapphire Radeon RX 480 Nitro unveiled

It’s less than a week since AMD launched the company’s first Polaris-based graphics card Radeon RX 480 and now it’s starting to gossip about partner manufacturers’ own variants. First it looks like it will be Sapphire with its Radeon RX 480 Nitro, which appeared on the British e-retailer OCUK’s website.

The model comes with both its own circuit board and a much more porky cooling solution. The latter is based around two detachable fans that cool a solid heat sink with heat pipes. In addition, there are rumors of factory overclocking from cardboard of up to 1,350 MHz, which can be compared with the reference card’s 1,266 MHz at full turbo boost.

According to the revealed information, the card will use an improved current phase design, which together with power supply via 8-pin PCI Express will provide improved overclocking possibilities. The estimated power consumption (TBP) is 175 watts, compared to 150 watts for the reference model of the Radeon RX 480.

Other improvements include Sapphire’s improved flushing solution, which will reduce coil whine during operation. The card is also equipped with a button that allows the user to switch between different modes for LED lighting, and to turn off the lighting if desired. However, it is not clear whether the lighting is only aesthetic or if it represents different types of load.

The Sapphire Radeon RX 480 Nitro is expected to be available towards the end of July with a price tag of 249 GBP or the equivalent of SEK 2,795 including VAT.