The Bottom Line
Introduction
Note: This is a feel-good review of a company listening to its consumers. It's not often we get to see this, especially from a giant like ASUS but the company really pulled all the right moves here with the TUF GAMING EVO series cards. The first of which I have here is the Radeon RX 5700 XT.
I've been hearing quite a bit of fuss over the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card, with virtually every review throwing shade at ASUS for the crappy cooling of its TUF Gaming family of Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards. I've got the flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT version of the TUF Gaming card here today, and I'm going to take it for a spin.
ASUS improved on the thermal solution of its TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card, so we shouldn't have those ridiculous GPU and VRM temperatures. The GDDR6 chips had no heat sinks on them, so the previous design relied on the mammoth fan array to keep them cool -- and that's not good enough.
In the first wave of reviews, the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO was worse than AMD's own reference card, with some reviews seeing the VRAM bursting over the temperatures that Micron allows (and sometimes, over 100C). That's not the case with the revised card, something I'm going to go into a little bit of detail later on in the review.
ASUS has used a totally redesigned heat sink and a new fan solution on its revised TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card, with the VRAM now given a heat sink and improved cooling. As for the GPU clocks and VRAM clocks we're still looking at the same 1795MHz for game clocks, and up to 1905MHz or so for boost.
ASUS leaps out of the gate with a triple-fan cooler on its TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card, with ASUS putting in some engineering effort into the TUF card. The company is using "space-grade lubricant" here on the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO, with the sleeve bearings delivering a quieter gaming experience over dual ball bearings -- at least according to ASUS.
The company says it puts its TUF Gaming graphics cards through a huge 144-hour validation process, where each TUF Gaming card needs to meet the "rigorous performance and reliability standards before it ships. Performance and stress tests are run with the latest chart-topping titles like Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. We also carry out reliability trials that include a 144-hour stability test and a series of 3DMark benchmarking runs to ensure the card performs well when pushed to the limits".
List of reviewed Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards so far:
- AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT reference
- SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 5700 XT NITRO+ OC
- SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 5700 XT PULSE OC
- MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT GAMING X
- ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi OC+
- XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT THICC II ULTRA
ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO Details
A little more detail on the "space-grade lubricant" ASUS is using on the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card.
ASUS puts a bunch of engineering work into its products, and the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO is no different. This is why it'll be interesting to see later on in the review how the thermal results are on this card given the drama it is causing online in the early reviews of the card.
I'm a big fan of graphics card backplates, and while the TUF Gaming variant is a cheaper model compared to the ROG Strix RX 5700 XT it still rocks a great-looking backplate.
What is TUF Gaming?
TUF Gaming is the second highest brand in the ASUS catalogue, under the ROG (Republic of Gamers). The ASUS TUF Gaming and TUF Gaming Alliance products from ASUS partners goes through a bunch of different validation tests in order to give a "seamless plug-and-play experience".
ASUS ensures that all TUF Gaming products share a common design language, meaning that your PC has an unified aesthetic -- and that is very important. A full TUF Gaming PC looks, well, TUF. I mean, the slogan for TUF is 'The Ultimate Force' -- get it... TUF! Furthermore "stay cool, be TUF". So ASUS is telling you to stay cool (your TUF product) because you're The Ultimate Force, or TUF.
ASUS has some wicked custom TUF case mods from modders throughout the world, with the ASUS TUF Case Mod: Rockcrawler X99, Tiger Soul, Sabranco Humvee, Immortal, Hammer, and so much more. Check them all out here.
Detailed Specs
Detailed Look
As always, ASUS has some fine looking retail packaging -- it's not as luxurious as the ROG STRIX brand gets, but it is tough enough for the TUF (pun intended).
From the front the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO looks mean, rocking its military style and triple-fan cooler.
I love the backplate, it looks great for a cheaper custom RX 5700 XT graphics card.
From the top, you can see the chunky heat sink underneath -- and the 8 + 6-pin PCIe power connectors you'll need to get the card up and running.
From the bottom, we can see the 2.5-slot width of the card and the massive heat sink array ASUS has on the card. You can see at the half way mark the heat sink and plate go right over the GDDR6 chips now.
We have 3 x DP and 1 x HDMI for display output.
ASUS includes a single line of RGB lighting -- not too much, and I dig it.
I do like the LEDs for the PCIe power connectors, it's a nice touch.
Test System Specs & Synthetic Benchmarks
GPU Test Rig Specs
Welcome to the latest revision of our GPU test bed, with our system being upgraded from the Intel Core i7-7700K to the Core i7-8700K. The CPU is cooled by the Corsair H115i PRO cooler, with the 8700K overclocked to 5GHz. We've stayed with GIGABYTE for our motherboard with their awesome Z370 AORUS Gaming 7.
We approached our friends at HyperX for a kit of their kick ass HyperX Predator DDR4-2933MHz RAM (HX429C15PB3AK4/32), with 2 x 8GB sticks for a total of 16GB DDR4-2933. The RAM stands out through every minute of our testing as it has beautiful RGB lights giving the system a slick look while benchmarking our lives away, while the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 motherboard joins in with its own array of RGB lighting.
Anthony's Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (buy from Amazon)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K @ 5GHz (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H115i PRO (buy from Amazon)
- Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) HyperX Predator DDR4-2933 (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: 1TB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: 512GB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 (buy from Amazon)
- Power Supply: InWin 1065W
- Case: InWin X-Frame
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (buy from Amazon)
Additional Images
3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p
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.
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.
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.
3DMark TimeSpy
3DMark TimeSpy Extreme
Heaven - 1080p
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.
Heaven - 1440p
Heaven - 4K
Benchmarks - 1080p
1080p Benchmarks
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
You've got some great 1080p performance coming out of the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO, with 127FPS average in Shadow of War -- an identical result to the reference RX 5700 XT. Over 60FPS in Metro Exodus (and 2FPS faster than the reference RX 5700 XT).
Far Cry New Dawn hums along with 108FPS average at 1080p, beating out the reference RX 5700 XT by 4FPS while Shadow of the Tomb Raider glides at 144FPS average -- once again, an identical result to the reference RX 5700 XT. It does all of this while running cooler and quieter than AMD's reference RX 5700 XT.
Benchmarks - 1440p
1440p Benchmarks
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
Cranking the resolution up to 2560 x 1440 the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO still holds its own, offering 93FPS in Shadow of War -- 2FPS better than reference. Metro Exodus gets close to that magic 60FPS line and with some detail adjustments you'll sail right over it.
Far Cry New Dawn is 1FPS why of 100FPS average -- and 1FPS better than the reference Radeon RX 5700 XT card from AMD. Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p passes 100FPS with 102FPS average, but is 2FPS slower than the reference card from AMD.
Benchmarks - 4K
4K Benchmarks
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. 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 War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts
I wouldn't buy any Radeon RX 5700 XT solely for 4K gaming (seriously, wait for Navi 2X which is a few months away) but we still have some great 4K gaming numbers here.
4K in Shadow of War sees the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO hitting 55FPS average (identical to the reference RX 5700 XT) while Metro Exodus crushes every card it can at 4K -- we have 36FPS average, which is 3FPS better than the reference card.
Far Cry New Dawn is just 2FPS short of 60FPS average, but it beats the reference RX 5700 XT by a single FPS. Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K offers 54FPS average (losing to the reference board by 2FPS).
Temp & Power
TUF Cooler? Not Before, But Maybe Now...
I wanted to spend more time testing the thermals on the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card more than I would normally do -- to see how much ASUS improved the thermal design on the revised cooler.
We have some impressive results from ASUS and while it doesn't beat all of the other cards, it's a hell of a lot better than the first wave of cards and the lackluster (pathetic) cooling that the original TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO card had. Seriously, over 100C on the GDDR6 chips is not good at all.
I re-tested all of my Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT graphics cards that I have here in the TweakTown GPU labs, including:
- AMD Radeon RX 5700 (reference) (my review here)
- AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (reference) (my review here)
- MSI RX 5700 XT GAMING X (my review here)
- SAPPHIRE RX 5700 XT Nitro+ OC (my review here)
- ASRock RX 5700 XT Taichi OC+ (my review here)
- ASUS TUF Gaming X3 RX 5700 XT EVO (this review)
- ASUS TUF Gaming X3 OC RX 5700 (coming soon)
GPU, GPU Hotspot, Memory, GPU VRM temps
You can see how well the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card does here, beating out the reference easily -- and the GDDR6 chips are running much cooler at 77C. This is 5C cooler than reference, and just 5C hotter than the custom ASRock Taichi+ OC card.
Max GPU Boost
The second of two new charts today, where we can now see the maximum GPU boost of the graphics card after an hour of running Heaven at 4K. Once again the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO holds its own with 1910MHz, beating the reference card without a problem. It's 70MHz slower than SAPPHIRE's NITRO+ OC and 110MHz slower than the custom ASRock and MSI cards.
Temps
Now this is the big test -- GPU temperatures. The original card before its revised cooler was used, was hot -- but the revised TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO is one of the coolest operating cards I've tested at just 64C.
Power Consumption
The power consumption falls right into line with the other custom Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards, with my entire Intel Core i7-8700K test bed using 280W. This is actually great, as it is less than some of the other custom Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards but performs within a few FPS of them all.
What's Hot, What's Not & Final Thoughts
What's Hot
- Improved cooling: ASUS caught considerable flak for its crazy GPU core and VRM temperatures, pushing out a revised thermal solution for its TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card -- and it shows. This review is a testament to that, something that ASUS deserves credit for. It listened, reacted -- and we have a better product because of it.
- TUF style: I actually kinda dig the styling choices ASUS made with the TUF Gaming X3 RX 5700 XT EVO, the backplate is one of the best styled for its price range and the triple-fan cooler looks mean AF.
- Triple fan cooler: I dig the triple-fan cooler, but it also means we have a chunky near 3-slot graphics card.
- Great 1080p/1440p performance: AMD offers stellar price/performance ratios with its Radeon RX 5700 XT and the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO is no different -- you'll have no problems with gaming at high FPS at both 1080p and 1440p on this card.
What's Not
- Not the best RX 5700 XT: There are better RX 5700 XT cards on the market, but ASUS is going for the value here. If you want a better RX 5700 XT then ASUS has its ROG STRIX family of cards, too. The competitors in MSI, ASRock and XFX are also up on offer -- all faring better than the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO.
Final Thoughts
ASUS doesn't have a bad card with its ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO, it's just not the best custom RX 5700 XT on the market and doesn't really have a place.
If you couldn't buy another RX 5700 XT, would you buy this? Probably yeah -- the new revised thermal solution improves the card in all the right ways. It's a much cooler operating card now and falls better in line with its competitors -- although, in saying that ASUS should never have let the TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO out in the first place with that shoddy thermal design.
I expect much more from ASUS and it's hard to forgive them for that, but you have to give them credit for listening to reviewers and consumers. They went back to the drawing board, made the required tweaks to the card and re-released it. I didn't have the first wave of cards, but I do have the second wave here and can now happily write ASUS has fixed the issues that pissed people off.
Should you buy the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO graphics card? Sure. If you're gaming at 1920 x 1080 (1080p) or 2560 x 1440 (1440p) then you're going to have zero issues here. You'll hit 60FPS in AAA games without a problem, and 120FPS+ in esports titles like Apex Legends, Overwatch, League of Legends, CS:GO, and more.
The revised cooler helps it fall in line with competing Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards, so you're buying this for the TUF styling. If you have a TUF-branded motherboard and wanted the best custom TUF-branded Radeon graphics card, then the ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO is an easy purchase.
Would I have recommended the original ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO? Nope.
I didn't test it but from reading reviews and consumer comments across the internet and Reddit, it was far too hot and had sub-par cooling that I expect from ASUS. How can you validate a graphics card with 144 hours of testing and all this engineering marvel that goes into it... and not have heat sinks on GDDR6 that runs ridiculously hot?
ASUS: you get a nod for listening to the community and fixing your issues. But please, don't let it happen again.
But the revised ASUS TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO is a great card for the money, something that would make any Radeon gamer happy.
Performance |
90% |
Quality |
90% |
Features |
90% |
Value |
90% |
Overall |
90% |
ASUS improves the glaring issues of its TUF Gaming X3 Radeon RX 5700 XT EVO, with greatly improved GDDR6 temperatures. It is TUF enough for you? Now it is!
What's in Anthony's PC?
- CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K
- MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE Z690 AERO-G
- RAM: Corsair 32GB DDR4-3200
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB
- SSD: Sabrent 4TB Rocket 4 Plus
- OS: Windows 11 Pro
- CASE: Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL
- PSU: ASUS ROG Strix 850W
- KEYBOARD: Logitech G915 Wireless
- MOUSE: Logitech G502X Wireless
- MONITOR: LG C3 48-inch OLED TV 4K 120Hz
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