When comparing PowerColor Radeon RX 480 Red Devil 8 GB vs XFX RX 480P8DFA6 8GB, the Slant community recommends PowerColor Radeon RX 480 Red Devil 8 GB for most people. In the question“What is the best AMD Radeon RX 480 card?” PowerColor Radeon RX 480 Red Devil 8 GB is ranked 3rd while XFX RX 480P8DFA6 8GB is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose PowerColor Radeon RX 480 Red Devil 8 GB is:
The triple fan layout of the Red Devil's cooler result in a satisfyingly quiet operation. When idling (tamps are below 60 Celsius), the card's fans won't spin, which means they aren't producing any noise. [Even under full load](http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_rx_480_red_devil_review,8.html), the RX 480 Red Devil is barely audible with 38 measured decibels (A). This makes the Red Devil a lot quieter than a reference RX 480 at 42 dB(A). Because the decibel scale is logarithmic the difference can be noticeable (it's about 40% louder).
Specs
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Pros
Pro Extremely quiet operation
The triple fan layout of the Red Devil's cooler result in a satisfyingly quiet operation. When idling (tamps are below 60 Celsius), the card's fans won't spin, which means they aren't producing any noise. Even under full load, the RX 480 Red Devil is barely audible with 38 measured decibels (A). This makes the Red Devil a lot quieter than a reference RX 480 at 42 dB(A). Because the decibel scale is logarithmic the difference can be noticeable (it's about 40% louder).
Pro Good overclocking potential
You can easily overclock the RX 480 Red Devil with additional boosts for the Boost Clock, GPU Clock and even the Memory Clock, especially considering the latter two haven't been overclocked by PowerColor. In this particular situation, a maximum boost clock of 1375 MHz (+ 45 MHz) and Memory Clock of 9000 MHz (+ 1000 MHz) was achieved with very little issues. The temperature limit was set at 83 degrees Celsius. Further overclocking of the card increases performance. In this case, the overclocked Red Devil card scores 4802 points in 3D Mark: Time Spy, while the same card using stock speeds only scores 4441 points. The overclocked card offers an improvement of a little over 8%.
Pro Decent cooling results, prevents throttling
The cooler of the Red Devil card performs well, both in idle and full load situations. The maximum temperature measured in idle was 37 degrees Celsius, which is an excellent result. Keep in mind that the fans don't spin up at all in idle, which makes the result even more impressive. The hottest temperature measured under full load using stock fan settings was 76 degrees Celsius, a difference of seven degrees compared to a reference RX 480.
Lower temperatures not only ensure a longer lifespan, but it also prevents throttling. Throttling is the phenomenon where the card gets too hot and clocks itself down in order to stay cool, effectively sacrificing performance. Due to the Red Devil's decent cooling results, this never occurs.
Pro Very little added power consumption
Because the Red Devil card is outfitted with a large cooling solution and also because of the slightly higher boost speed, it's reasonable to think that the power consumption would also be higher. Luckily, the difference is very minimal. As seen in this graph, the card is measured to have a maximum power consumption of 168 watts which is only two watts higher than a reference RX 480.
Pro BIOS switch located on the card
The PowerColor Radeon RX 480 Red Devil has two BIOS settings: Silent and OC, which provides the Boost Clock. The card has the OC setting in place out of the box. You could adjust the GPU settings to achieve similar results in the drivers and additional software, but there's a handy and physical switch located on the graphics card itself which makes for an effortless switch.
Pro 8-pin power connector allows for plenty of headroom
A reference RX 480 is equipped with a 6-pin power connector, but the power limit of the 6-pin connector has proven to be an issue for the RX 480 cards, as the total power consumption is sometimes higher than specified. The Red Devil 8 GB uses an 8-pin connector and although an 8-pin connector requires more power than a 6-pin connector, this effectively eliminates all concerns about the RX 480's power consumption and distribution and allows plenty of headroom for overclocking the card even further.
Pro Fairly quiet in operation compared to other RX 480 cards
While under a heavy load, the XFX RX 480 runs at around 37dB(A). This is quieter than most other RX 480 cards, but is still a bit louder than the leading MSI RX 480 Gaming X which runs around 31dB(A). Having quiet operation doesn't mean much in terms of performance, however it does mean that it runs quieter, and thus you'll be able to enjoy your gaming in peace.
Cons
Con Very cheap PCB components
The components used in the PCB are really cheap. The VRM is rated at 46 amps (25 degrees Celsius) and 34 amps (80 degrees Celsius). For comparison, the reference RX 480 is rated at 66 amps (25 degrees Celsius) and 50 amps (80 degrees Celsius), which is significantly better. PowerColor has stated to not run Furmark on this card, because it just can't handle it without breaking.
For full details, this YouTube video by Actually Hardware Overclocking breaks down the problem.
Con GPU Clock hasn't been improved
Although the Red Devil 8 GB is equipped with an impressive cooling solution, the card only received a 5% Boost Clock overclock, while the GPU Clock has remained the same. This is a missed opportunity, as many other third-party RX 480 cards have received a GPU Clock improvement.
Con Quite long, won't fit in smaller cases
The maximum length of the PowerColor RX 480 Red Devil is 12.2 inches (310 mm), which is significantly longer than the reference 9.5 inches (241 mm). The additional length may cause installation issues in some smaller enclosures.
Con Poor performance compared to other RX 480 cards
The clock speeds out of the box haven't been changed at all from the reference design. All of the other custom RX 480 chips have increased at least the boost clock which leads to slightly better performance in games. As such, compared to the other RX 480 chips this XFX card will have the worst in-game performance.
Con Only 1 HDMI port requires a dongle for VR headsets
The RX 480 is one of the most affordable graphics cards capable of running VR through a headset such as the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. However, this particular graphics card only has 1 HDMI port when high-end VR headsets require 2 HDMI ports. This means that you will need to use a dongle if you plan on using this for VR. Many of the other RX 480 cards already have 2 HDMI ports, which alleviates this issue.
Con Warmest RX 480 currently on the market, and might throttle performance
The XFX RX 480 is the hottest current RX 480 card when put under a full load. It runs up to 82 degrees Celsius, which is 6 degrees warmer than the next RX 480 (and a whopping 14 degrees warmer than the Asus Strix RX 480, which runs at 68 Celsius). In this range, the XFX card may thermal throttle, which will slow the card down so it doesn't overheat - at the cost of reduced performance.