AIB GPU manufacturer BIOSTAR is gearing up to launch two custom RX 5000-series graphics cards aimed at the budget-conscious builder, as VideoCardz spotted earlier today.
BIOSTAR will reportedly launch custom models of the Navi 14 AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (VA55T6XF81) and Navi 10 RX 5700 XT (VA57T6XM82) under new branding dubbed Extreme Gaming with what VideoCardz jokingly refers to as Batman Forever font. The two models represent BIOSTAR’s first foray into custom-design for AMD products with all previous offerings sticking religiously to reference designs and specifications.
According to press shots of the packaging and the cards, the Radeon RX 5700 XT model features a custom triple-fan aluminum fin-stack arrangement. The Radeon RX 5500 XT model uses a compact custom two-fan setup. These custom cooling solutions appear to sit on reference-design PCBs.
Seemingly contrary to the Extreme Gaming name, both GPUs run at reference clock speeds. Presumably, the extreme refers to the custom cooling and, in the case of the Radeon RX 5500 XT model, a retooling of the display outputs – DisplayPort, DVI, and HDMI instead of the standard three DisplayPort and one HDMI. DVI is undoubtedly an odd feature to implement by today’s standards but reveals just who BIOSTAR is targeting with the card, namely gamers injecting new life into older builds.
The RX 5700 XT appears to stick with the three DisplayPort/HDMI arrangement. Other than these slight changes, BIOSTAR is keeping it simple in both aesthetics and custom improvements: no fancy RGB lighting show, no obnoxious board flourishes, and no binned overclocked silicon, either. It does raise questions about why BIOSTAR would push out models so late in the life-cycle of the GPUs. But, hey, you won’t find us complaining about more options.
Looking at specifications, the RX 5700 XT features 8GB of GDDR6, 256-bit memory, 2560 cores, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs, a base clock speed of 1605 MHz, a gaming clock speed of 1755 MHz, boost clock speed of 1905 MHz, and 14 Gbps memory. It also supports Radeon Media Engine, DirectX12, AMD FreeSync, PCI 4.0, and Radeon VR Ready Premium.
BIOSTAR Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB (VA57T6XM82) Graphics Card
| GPU | Navi 10 XT |
| Cores | 2560 |
| TMUs | 160 |
| ROPs | 64 |
| Base Clock | 1605 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1755 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 14 Gbps |
| Memory | 8 GB GDDR6 256b |
The RX 5500 XT features 4 GB of GDDR6, 128-bit memory bus, 1408 cores, 88 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 1607 MHz base clock speed, 1717 MHz gaming clock speed, 1845 MHz boost clock speed, and 14 Gbps. Technology support matches the more powerful RX 5700 XT model.
BIOSTAR Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB (VA55T6XF81) Graphics Card
| GPU | Navi 14 XTX |
| Cores | 1408 |
| TMUs | 88 |
| ROPs | 32 |
| Base Clock | 1607 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1717 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 14 Gbps |
| Memory | 4GB GDDR6 128b |
There are currently no etailer listings for either card, meaning we don’t yet know how much they’ll set us back in terms of price. The lack of bells and whistles does suggest a competitive price, but we’ll have to wait for the official word before making a judgment on that front. BIOSTAR isn’t exactly known for pumping out wallet-busting PC components and we doubt they’ll veer from that well-trodden path this time around.
The same goes for when we might get our hands on the custom Radeon RX 5500 XT (VA55T6XF81) and RX 5700 XT (VA57T6XM82) – no word yet on a launch date.
Head over to our page for GPUs if you want to see how these new cards stack up against the other options available.