AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ?

GIGABYTE hits the mainstream market with their new AORUS Radeon RX 570 4GB graphics card. Here's our full review of it.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: AORUS
9 minutes & 29 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 85%
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The Bottom Line

GIGABYTE fills out its RX 500 series with the Radeon RX 570 AORUS, one of the best price/performance offerings, especially when bundled with a FreeSync display which is $150+ cheaper than the G-Sync alternative at this price.

Introduction

GIGABYTE has released quite a few Radeon RX 500 series graphics cards, in both GIGABYTE and AORUS branding - but the package we received today found us with the AORUS RX 570 4GB, and the faster RX 580 8GB AORUS. As I've already reviewed SAPPHIRE's oh-so-meh RX 580 Nitro+ I thought that GIGABYTE could impress me with a cheaper mid-range card.

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Before we dive into the card itself, the flagship RX 500 series card is the GIGABYTE RX 580 8GB AORUS XTR - which arrives as a ridiculous 3-slot graphics card. Personally, I think mid-range cards need to justify their unnecessary bulky coolers, and the RX 580 8GB AORUS breaks those rules. So I decided on looking at what felt like a better fit for its price, and the market - with the GIGABYTE RX 570 4GB AORUS, a dual-slot graphics card that will handle gaming at 1080p 60FPS without a problem.

The big difference between the XTR and normal AORUS versions of GIGABYTE's refreshed Radeon RX 500 series is that the XTR card features the massive WINDFORCE 2X cooling system that keeps Polaris 20 XTX cooler with its 2 x 100mm fans, and four composite copper heat pipes that are connected directly to the GPU. GIGABYTE goes a step further with its WINDFORCE 2X cooling system as it has an advanced copper back plate that we'll be testing out on the AORUS RX 570 4GB.

WINDFORCE 2X & Advanced Copper Back Plate

WINDFORCE 2X Cooling Tech

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GIGABYTE has had great graphics card cooling technology for years courtesy of its WINDFORCE cooling technology, but it's also the other things like GPU Gauntlet Sorting - which has GIGABYTE scouring AMD's fabs to find the best Polaris GPUs for their AORUS cards.

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It's not just the heat pipes and fans that make a cooler great; it's all of the engineering below - that AORUS details incredibly well here. We have the back side cooling module, with the GPU copper back plate, the PCB itself, then the front side cooling module, and finally - the 2 x 90mm blade fans on the front keeping the AORUS RX 570 4GB cool.

Advanced Copper Back Plate - Does It Help?

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AORUS went with something a little different with its new cooler, which has a copper back plate directly on the GPU - something that is intricately connected to the VRAM and MOSFETs through the huge heat sink array.

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We have 2 x 90mm fans, four pure copper composite heat pipes, and a heat pipe directly touching the GPU... what more could you want on a sub $200 graphics card?!

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Ohhh, LEDs... how silly of me. AORUS provides their RGB Fusion technology, blasting out some not-so-in-your-face LEDs on the AORUS RX 570 4GB.

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The cooling technology continues, with 'AORUS Excellence' spanning three areas: the metal plate, power indicators on the back, and durability.

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The Smart Power LED Indicators are actually a great touch, something that I think should be a new normal on graphics cards.

Detailed Look

GIGABYTE has crafted a good looking card for the mid-range market with the RX 570 AORUS graphics card, with a dual-fan design and the usual orange/black theme.

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Here we have the 2 x 90mm blade fans, with a large WINDFORCE cooler that keeps the entire card cool during gaming sessions.

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On the back GIGABYTE has deployed its backplate styled with the same orange/black scheme, and then there's the pure copper heat pipes that run through the card and even directly onto the GPU. I've found it doesn't cool the GPU more than it does without it, but if you were to push more voltage through it - it's a niche thing that GIGABYTE is exclusively doing on its higher-end cards.

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The GIGABYTE RX 570 AORUS requires a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, with the heat sink running off of the end of the card.

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Speaking of the heat sink, here's a better look at the end of the card with the plastic cooling shroud surrounding the heat sink.

Test System Specs & Benchmark Details

Test System Specifications

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For our mid-range testing, we're shifting over to testing the cards on our AMD Ryzen 5 1600X system. It represents more real-world results compared to benchmarking them on the Core i7-7700K, especially when the Ryzen 5 1600X is priced at $100 cheaper than the 7700K, and offers 6C/12T of performance over the 4C/8T chip from Intel.

Detailed Tech Specs

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X (6C/12T)
  • Cooler: AMD Wraith Cooler
  • MB: ASRock AB350 Gaming K4
  • RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) GEiL EVO X 3200MHz DDR4
  • SSD: 1TB OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2
  • PSU: be quiet! Dark Power 1200W
  • Chassis: In Win X-Frame

Detailed Look

There's a bigger article I've got coming that will detail the new system, but for now - here are some shots I've taken of the new system in action:

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What Resolutions We Are Testing

I've run through Unigine's new Superposition on a bunch of different resolutions, bringing every single graphics card - even overclocked GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, to their knees.

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  • 1080p (1920x1080)
  • 1440p (2560x1440)
  • 4K (3840x2160)
  • UW (3440x1440)
  • 5K (5120x2880)
  • 8K (7680x4320)

Benchmarks - Synthetic

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

3DMark Fire Strike benchmark

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark Fire Strike - 1440p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark Fire Strike - 4K

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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Heaven - 1080p

Unigine Heaven benchmark

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

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Heaven - 1440p

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Heaven - 4K

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Benchmarks - 1080p

1080p Benchmarks

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Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 22
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 102

Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

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AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 104

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 25
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 105

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

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Benchmarks - 1440p

1440p Benchmarks

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Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 32
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 102

Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

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AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 101

Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 34
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 104

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 35
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 105

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

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Benchmarks - 4K

4K Benchmarks

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 106

Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 42
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 102

Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 43
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 101

Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 44
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 104

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 45
AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 105

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

AORUS RX 570 4GB Graphics Card Review - Mid Range Champ? 46

Temps & Power Consumpion

Temps & Power

I was interested to see how the entire system would fare with power consumption, since I was running a 6C/12T processor with the AMD Ryzen 5 1600X mixed with AMD's Radeon RX 570, at least in AORUS form. Our entire system was consuming anywhere between 218W and 260W, depending on the test - with the GIGABYTE RX 570 AORUS falling in at around 240W average.

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Directly comparing the RX 570 AORUS against MSI's new GTX 1060 Gaming X+ 9Gbps card that uses just 185W average, Polaris is using 50W+ while being slightly slower. But, in the end it averages out when you factor in total costs with a gaming setup and purchases like a FreeSync display which are radically cheaper than competing NVIDIA G-Sync gaming displays.

As for temps, we were sitting anywhere between 62C and 68C depending on the test, with the RX 570 AORUS maxing out at 69C. But comparing the RX 570 AORUS against our EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 graphics card, the temps are the same - and the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 is a much more powerful card.

Final Thoughts

If I were to review the Radeon RX 570 from purely a performance perspective, it wouldn't be a glowing review. It would be a good review, but I wouldn't have positive things to say about a few parts of the card like power consumption. The RX 570 is using more power than the GTX 1080, and that's really not efficient at all.

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Where AMD not only picks up its game but it saves gamers hundreds of dollars, is that their FreeSync-capable displays are much cheaper. This means you can pick up a graphics card like the GIGABYTE RX 570 AORUS that we have here to review, and couple it with a 24-inch 1080p 144Hz FreeSync monitor from Nixeus (their NX-VUE24A) for $239.99 and you have a monster GPU/monitor combo that makes the GIGABYTE RX 570 AORUS an incredible buy.

Comparing the 24-inch 1080p 144Hz FreeSync monitor against the same size, native resolution, and refresh rate - but with G-Sync, it would cost you $390.99. This is a huge $150 more expensive, making the RX 570/FreeSync combo beyond potent, it destroys the value for money of a GTX 1060/G-Sync combo.

GIGABYTE has placed its Radeon RX 570 AORUS perfectly, if we take power consumption out of the argument, the RX 570 AORUS + FreeSync monitor combo is potent. Games like Prey, Battlefield 1, Overwatch, League of Legends, CS:GO, and many other games will run at 1080p/1440p without a problem.

TweakTown award
Performance (overclocking, power) 80%
Quality (build, design, cooling) 90%
General Features (display outputs, etc) 90%
Bundle, Packaging & Software 80%
Overall 85%

The Bottom Line: GIGABYTE fills out its RX 500 series with the Radeon RX 570 AORUS, one of the best price/performance offerings, especially when bundled with a FreeSync display which is $150+ cheaper than the G-Sync alternative at this price.

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Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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