Best AMD Radeon RX 590 Graphics Cards
Searching for the best Radeon RX 590 graphics card.
Share this article...
When it comes to building a gaming computer, there are plenty of things to think about. There’s choosing components, checking specifications, finalizing your budget, sizing, and compatibility to keep in mind before you finally make the leap into buying them.
Your graphics card is one of the key components to carefully consider when it comes to building a gaming computer. It’s one of the parts most closely associated with your gaming performance. While other components still play a huge part, this is one of the best ways to increase your performance.
How do you choose the perfect graphics card, though, with so much choice in the market? If you have managed to finally narrow your choice down to an AMD card, specifically the RX 590, the work still isn’t over. You’ll no doubt have discovered that there are different RX 590 cards, even though they’re all based on the same reference model.
Different manufacturers add their own design and flair to graphics cards, so there’s yet still plenty of choices to make. Things to look at include the price, cooling system, VRAM, design, and overclocking potential. This is what we will help you with this article to make a decision.
We will put together a list of the best AMD Radeon RX 590 graphics cards from different manufacturers so you can make an informed decision yourself.
Let’s take a first look at which cards we’ll be recommending.
Our Top Picks
How We Choose
With such a difficult decision of choosing the right graphics card to complete your gaming rig, you want to be sure you’re getting the best information available.
That’s why we always put a lot of thought and research into any recommendations or tips we give out to fellow gamers. At the WePC offices, we spend all day testing out new products and researching components to make sure we are recommending only the best options for you.
We aim to cut through all the jargon and make your graphics card choices easier to make with comprehensive reviews like this which show you all the pros and cons of each model.
How We Test
Testing out our products is a huge part of what we do every day at WePC. This is how we make sure we’re only recommending the best products, which are components that we would happily use in our own gaming PC builds.
In order for us to recommend or consider something ‘the best of’, it must show great performance during our tests and also outshine the competition in terms of features and/or design.
The majority of the products we recommend are those which have been put through a strict testing process. We look at everything ranging from the price to the performance, design, efficiency, and how it looks. We push each product to the limit to see how it performs under intense pressure to ensure that it can handle everything.
This ensures we’re giving accurate reviews of each product so you can take a look and familiarise yourself with a product before buying it.
Things To Consider
Performance
This is one of the things that is top of the list when it comes to searching for a graphics card. The chances are, if you’re looking at the best Radeon RX 590 cards, performance is important to you. No one wants a slow graphics card after all.
With the modern games market, games are becoming more and more demanding and need a lot more from their graphics cards. That’s why it’s important to have a graphics card that can meet this demand and also set you up for the future, where the game market is inevitably likely to change.
You won’t need the most expensive, highest performing graphics card out there unless you play exceptionally demanding games or need it for other things such as video editing – and of course, have the budget to throw at it.
Most people won’t need to drop $500-$600 on a card if they are only playing simulation games.
Cooling
If you are looking for high performance, it’s always a balancing act. You need to also make sure that your system has adequate cooling. Graphics card manufacturers will always include cooling systems on their cards which should be fine if you’re running the card at an expected level.
However, if you are considering overclocking, you may need to look into other cooling systems on top of this as greater stress on the card will raise the temperatures.
Without adequate cooling, this could compromise your hardware efficiency or even lead to some damage. You will need to make sure you pair your graphics card with additional cooling systems to ensure temperatures are at as low a level as possible.
Size
This is something that a lot of people overlook when they buy graphics cards. Everyone’s so focused on the clock speed, fans, RGB lighting and so on that they forget the most important thing – can it even fit in your PC case?
With more modern and powerful graphics cards, they’re often larger in order to accommodate the extra fans needed to keep things cool. This often makes the horizontal length of the card the thing to look out for.
The good thing to note is that a larger card isn’t always better. You won’t need the biggest card out there to get the best performance, so don’t worry if the big cards don’t look like they will fit in your case.
Make sure you measure inside your PC case to check you have enough room in there. It’s also important to bear in mind that you will need some space leftover for airflow and to fit in extra fans if necessary.
What Budget Should I Set For An AMD Radeon RX 590 Graphics Card?
Finally, we come to pricing. Your budget, of course, plays a huge part in your buying decision, but as we mentioned above, you don’t need the biggest budget in the world to get your hands on a decent graphics card.
If you have narrowed down your search to the RX 590, it might surprise you to know that prices can vary depending on what model and manufacturer you go with.
Generally, when looking at entry-level models, you’ll be looking at cards that are priced between $150-$200. However, for higher-end models, you’re looking at around $200-$250 for a card that comes with extra features and better cooling.
This should give you some idea of the kind of budget you’ll need going forward.
The The Best RX 590 Graphics Card
In-depth Review
- Unique sapphire blue design
- Good cooling system
- RGB functionality
- Not the highest clock speed
- More expensive than other offerings
Starting off the list is the SAPPHIRE NITRO RX 590 card, which offers a healthy clock speed of 1560 MHz and is packed with 2304 GCN-based stream processors to deliver 1080p gaming.
Packed in a sapphire-blue case, the Nitro really stands out among the other cards on this list. Cooling the card are two Nitro fans which are up to 12 dB quieter than previous models. Also featured are a large heat dissipation surface, heat pipes, and the Intelligent Fan Control III system to increase the precision of the fan controls.
The precision of the fan controls is impressive. Traditional fans have up to a 10% difference in fan RPM when you alter the speed. However, with the Sapphire card, this is reduced to a precise 3.2% difference.
The Sapphire RX 590 card is built with a strong aluminum backplate, which offers more durability as well as extra heat dissipation. Sapphire has boosted the reliability and efficiency of this card with the use of 200,000-hour Polymer capacitors and Black diamond chokes, which are 25% more power-efficient than regular chokes.
There is some RGB element to this card too. While being used, the translucent fans will glow blue, and the Sapphire logo uses RGB LEDs, which change color depending on the board temperature. This can all be controlled easily with Sapphire’s TriXX software.
- Windforce cooling
- Sleek angular design
- Lowest clock speed out of our picks
While it doesn’t have the highest clock speed on the list, coming in at the same rate as the Sapphire Nitro card, Gigabyte’s offering is still an impressive card.
The cooling system and overall design really make this card stand out. The card utilizes Gigabyte’s impressive Windforce cooling technology. This uses dual fans built with 90mm blades, 3D active fans as well as three pure copper composite heat-pipes, which directly touch the GPU for effective heat dissipation. This enables you to run the card at high performance without having to worry too much about overheating.
If you want some more control over your graphics card, you can control everything from the AORUS Engine software, which allows you to tweak the clock speeds, fan performance, voltage, and power efficiency according to your specific needs and the needs of the game you’re running.
For those who want to overclock, Gigabyte offers a simple, one-click overclocking feature through the AORUS Engine, which makes it perfect for those who aren’t familiar with overclocking to get the most control and performance out of their card.
This is all wrapped up in an eye-catching angular design with orange trims making it a simple yet impressive design that will look good in any case.
- Auto load sensing fans
- Dual BIOS
- No RGB customization
The XFX RX 590 model offers great performance with a solid clock speed of 1565 MHz, meaning it’s a step up in terms of performance from the previous two cards mentioned.
One thing that makes this card stand out is the addition of Dual BIOS. This ensures that your card has optimal performance according to your specific needs. If you want better performance while also keeping the card cool, you can opt for the Performance BIOS. If, however, you prefer stealth, there’s a quieter lower RPM BIOS, which might suit your needs a bit better.
For those who like a bit of overclocking, there’s a great tool available. XFX True Clock Technology enables you to control the clock speeds through hardware rather than software. XFX says that software-controlled clock speeds can be let down by overall computer performance and that their BIOS-controlled version ensures that you’re always running at the top performance levels.
The cooling system onboard is also impressive. XFX fans are designed to run at high performance while their Zero DB Fan System also minimizes the noise where needed when you’re running low-load scenarios. It will increase the fan speed automatically if you’re running the card at high performance and need the extra cooling.
- One of the best looking cards out there
- Dual BIOS
- Highest clock speed of our picks
- LED rather than RGB
Some cards are definitely built with a theme in mind, and this card would look perfect in the kind of system you’d dedicate to playing Diablo. The Red Devil branding gives this card a dark and edgy look, especially with the pentagram stencil printed onto the brushed black backplate!
This card also has the clock speed to match its impressive looks. Boasting a clock speed of 1576 MHZ, the PowerColor Red Devil will be more than enough to push your favorite titles to the limit.
While this card doesn’t have any RGB features to speak of, we imagine you wouldn’t want to be switching from the red aesthetic anyway if you purchased this card. There is a small LED switch on the Red Devil branding, however, which gives this card that extra bit of personality.
Finally, this card includes one of my favorite quality of life features, the dual BIOS switch. Perfect for when you need to game in relative silence, this switch allows you to switch from with an overclocking mode to a silent overclocking mode without too much performance loss.
This is a great feature for overall noise reduction, and when paired with the Mute Fan technology, which shuts down the fans once temperatures are below 50 degrees Celsius, you’ll be in for some silent sessions.
The Best RX 590 Graphics Card frequently asked questions
What is the best RX 590?
The best RX 590 is the Sapphire Nitro+, with some colorfulness to it, it stands out from the crowd. As well as offering great performance and cooling as well. Whilst for the best value card you may consider the XFX Fatboy Core. Or the best budget card which is the PowerColor Red Devil.
Final Word
That about rounds off all we have for you today. We’ve tried to put together a comprehensive list of the best AMD Radeon RX 590 graphics cards for you to choose from. While a lot of these cards are similar in price and performance, a couple of them have some great stand out features such as dual BIOS functionality.
Have we missed anything? We know our users are passionate when it comes to graphics cards, especially offerings from AMD. Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section below. Better yet, why not head over to our Community Hub to take part in discussions with our other users.
WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
