The new AMD Radeon RX 5700 series graphics cards are here and have plenty to offer at a modest price point. But, one thing the new graphics cards don't offer is alternative cooling options. AMD's Radeon Business Unit Vice President and General Manager Scott Herkelman posted on Reddit to announce add-in-board (AIB) partners will release new designs in mid-August.
- See our head-to-head: Radeon RX 5700 vs RX 5700 XT
- Learn all about AMD Navi
- Get the details on the Ryzen 3000 series processors
The RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT both have a blower-style cooler, which is a negative in our books. In the case of the RX 5700 XT, we saw the card heat up to 81 degrees Celsius during our testing. AIBs can bring all sorts of different designs that may better fit a wide variety of possible PC builds.
The perks of board partners
We expect to see board partners releasing custom coolers with two- and three-fan designs, plus any number of water-cooled options. Beyond the ability to make the graphics card potentially run cooler, they could run quieter as well. One other thing board partners often manage is new value propositions.
With higher-end cooling options, board partners can push graphics processors further in overclocking. This means you may see board partners offering RX 5700 models with higher performance than the reference models from AMD.
Another angle is that board partners can release cheaper cooling shroud designs that bring the price of the graphics card down. Of course, AMD's new graphics cards are already on the affordable side, and the company may have minimum price restrictions for partners in place this early on, but that could loosen up over time.
So, if you're looking for a new AMD graphics card but want it to run cooler, clock higher, cost less, or potentially be smaller than AMD's reference designs, there may be a card in mid-August that does the job.
AMD fans not have to worry about the blower limitation as much in the future either. Herkelman responded to feedback, saying he liked the idea of launching dual- and tri-axial cooling options alongside blower designs.
Via HotHardware
