This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover!
PowerColor has went from being one of the mid-tier AMD AIBs (add-in boards) for GPUs to one of the top brands over the past few years and their Red Devil GPUs being a big reason for it. This card is the first time PowerColor has branched out into a watercooled GPU.
TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, brings out a Navi first with a water cooled RX 5700 XT, the Liquid Devil. A long term AMD partner, PowerColor was one of the original adopters of factory overclocked graphics cards and was the first AMD partner to manufacture a graphics cards with premium performance water blocks. PowerColor once again partner with the liquid cooling industry leader EK to customize a uniquely designed water block for its custom RX 5700 XT for unmatched thermals and performance.
Featuring a nickel plated copper base, the Liquid Devil provides the better heat transfer capabilities of copper with the corrosion protection of the nickel, with the added bonus of making for a clean and sleek aesthetic. In order to maximize the potential of the PowerColor Liquid Devil, only the best 5700 XT GPUs which have been binned specifically for lower temperature and higher clock speeds have been selected for use, making sure that all Liquid Devil cards are the able to hit the highest performance points.
In addition to the binned components, PowerColor has built the Liquid Devil with a new 12-layer PCB designed with 10-phase VRMs, utilizing DrMOS and high polymer capacitors capable of handling over 300 W of power: plenty of just for anyone who wishes to utilize the Unleash BIOS to its full potential.
Where the standard RX 5700 XT models that have a dual BIOS option feature an OC and Silent mode, the Liquid Devil features an Unleash and OC mode. The OC mode is the typical overclock seen on models such as the Red Devil and Red Dragon. The Unleash BIOS kicks this up a notch, running at record breaking clocks and performance that can only the binned GPU modules can maintain.
Niche Gamer’s Take: The card looks absolutely stunning, and probably is some of the best binned chips that PowerColor has, but frankly this card costs almost as much as a GTX 2080 Super at $599.99 and will get beaten pretty handily by one. So the general user looking for the highest performance per dollar should look at the non water cooled models about $150 cheaper.
Only the water cooling enthusiast who is already planning on paying a premium for quieter performance need apply. Thankfully they chose to use EK for the watercooling hardware and should get some of the best gear in the industry.