The Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6800 XT is the latest graphics card from Sapphire, one of AMD's largest partners. The company may not have the high profile of Asus or MSI in some markets, but it has a well-deserved reputation for producing excellent cards at very competitive price points.

The Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse was one such card, but in hindsight, these cards were merely teasers as credible rumors of Big Navi began to circulate in mid to late 2019. We've covered several RX 6800 series cards, now it's Sapphire's turn.

The Nitro series will sit above the Pulse in Sapphire and will compete with premium class cards like the MSI Gaming X and Aorus Master.

The global GPU market is in a difficult situation right now. But value and price aside, there is still much that separates the good from the merely average. We've introduced a few RX 6800 series cards, and now it's Sapphire's turn: the Nitro series sits above the Pulse in Sapphire, competing with premium-class cards such as the MSI Gaming X and Aorus Master.

The reference AMD RX 6800 XT has a boost clock of 2,250MHz, while the Sapphire Nitro+ is boosted to a whopping 2,360MHz. The memory specifications of the reference RX 6800 XT and Sapphire Nitro+ are identical, with 16GB of 16Gbps memory on a 256-bit bus.

The 7nm Navi 21 GPUs on the AMD RX 6800, AMD RX 6800 XT, and AMD RX 6900 XT represent a significant generational leap forward in traditional raster performance. As seen in the AMD RX 6800, AMD RX 6800T, and AMD RX 6900 XT, it brings a major generational leap in traditional raster performance, even surpassing the powerful Nvidia RTX 3080 in some cases. Time will tell if these implementations will contribute to AMD's occasional reputation as "fine wine."

Once all of AMD's technologies are supported by drivers, we look forward to seeing how AMD performs in games like Cyberpunk 2077.

Like most custom RX 6800 XTs, the Sapphire Nitro+ uses a large triple-slot, triple-fan cooler; unlike the RTX 30 series Founder Edition coolers, the back of the card has large cutouts for airflow. The Nitro+ has a standard black fan and three DisplayPort connections, plus one HDMI 2.1 port The Nitro+'s three DisplayPorts are a favorite of triple-monitor users, especially those with older refresh rate-limited HDMI ports The Nitro+ SE, which sits above the Nitro+, adds an RGB fan and omits one of the DisplayPort sockets in favor of a USB Type-C port. Otherwise, both cards are identical.

The Nitro+ PCB has a 13-phase VRM driven by dual 8-pin power connectors The TDP is 350W, considerably higher than the reference card's 300W. Will this help with power-limited OC? the PCB shares many similarities with the reference PCB, but that is because AMD's PCB is a good one, not because Sapphire is taking the easy option. Still, there are many differences. The card has dual BIOS capability, allowing for optional lower TDP settings in addition to the default ones.

There is also a third setting. This can be selected for both BIOSes in Sapphire's Trixx software app, and those looking for a splash of RGB will appreciate the attractive RGB light bar and logo on top of the card, as well as the additional graphics on the back plate. There is also an ARGB header if you want to synchronize the card's RGB with other RGB devices.

The cooler design is quite aggressive. The back plate is metal, but the outer shroud is plastic. The diameter of the central fan is rather small, presumably to keep the overall length of the card to 31 cm. An extra centimeter or two over the longest RX 6800 XT may make the difference between fitting in a case or not. In addition to the sturdy six heatpipe cooler, Sapphire has a fairly elaborate secondary heat sink to cool the memory and VRMs. Thanks to its finned design, it has a large surface area. The Sapphire is the quietest of the three non-reference RX 6800 XT cards reviewed so far.

The performance characteristics of the RX 6800 XT card seem to depend at least partially on the quality of the silicon itself; the Sapphire Nitro+ and ASRock RX 6800 XT Taichi X OC have the same boost clock, but the ASRock boost clock is about 20-30 MHZ higher, stabilizing at approximately 2,350 MHz vs. 2,380 MHz. The performance difference is not large, but as seen with Nvidia's boosting technology, the rated clock is not more than a rough indication of what to expect.

This particular RX 6800 XT was able to overclock to a very impressive average clock of slightly above 2,600 MHZ. This is likely due to the Nitro's official TDP of 350W, which is plenty more than the 300W reference card. This puts it ahead of the RX 6900 XT and RTX 3080 in 4K Metro Exodus. Nevertheless, as is usual with overclocking, your judgment may differ.

Now, we really hate to talk about this. It's price and availability.

We can talk about performance, specs, features, and all that good stuff, but while the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6800 XT is very good, it means nothing if you can't afford it, and at Newegg USA, the Sapphire Nitro+ 6800 XT is $1,. 000 USD. In the UK, Overclockers lists it at £830, which equates to over $1,100. C'mon, really.

We criticized the $849 pricing of the Gigabyte RX 6800 XT Gaming OC, which seems like a veritable bargain by comparison. This market has officially gone crazy; will we see a situation in the future where the RX 6800 XT can be purchased for anywhere near the suggested retail price (RRP), and while the supply of Nvidia cards is hardly better, at least as of this writing, most are under $1,000, which is a bargain for the price of the RX 6800 XT.

The Sapphire Nitro+ is a very good example of AMD's RX 6800 XT and is therefore a great 4K/60Hz card that strikes a very good balance between high clock, low noise level, and temperature. It is quiet, has very effective primary and secondary cooling, and offers better performance than high-performance reference cards.

With an MSRP of $770, it should offer reasonable value and will be one of the best RX 6800 XT cards around. But if it really costs $1,000, this is not for sale; we don't blame Newegg or Sapphire. Given the demand, both companies are no doubt desperate to increase supply. But right now there is still no supply and this pricing is not fair. If that changes, so will the score. Better to wait until pricing stabilizes, and not give in to eBay rip-offs or ultra-expensive actual retailers.

If the crypto market hits bottom again, you might be able to find an RTX 3080, but for now the GPU market is like a water prison. Let's hope sanity prevails.