Radeon RX 590 in review - Polaris at the absolute limit | Page 17

The transition to an improved manufacturing process (12nm FinFET) is also intended to breathe new life into Polaris before retirement. However, with regard to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1060, the goal has been to use the newly acquired reserves exclusively for clock increases and not to increase efficiency with the same performance, which is a pity from our point of view. XFX also relies on existing technology of the current RX 580 GTS Black Edition for the RX 590 Fatboy tested today, saving the costs for a new development of the board and radiator. We tested more closely...

The fan stop works and the fans start later with approx. 700 rpm (or just below). With more than 2000 rpm in a closed housing, you can still live, even if the cooling capacity reaches its limits. There is hardly any reserves to adjust the fan curve somewhat downwards, rather the opposite is the case. But then it will be loud, as we will see in a time.

Let's look at the measured values again as a tabular listing:

	XFX RX 590 Fatboy
Fan speeds Open Benchtable Maximum	1699 rpm (Gaming, Peak)
Fan speeds Open Benchtable Average	1652 rpm (warmed up)
Fan Speeds Closed Case Maximum	2028 rpm (Gaming, Peak)
Fan Speeds Closed Case Average	1947rpm (warmed up)
Noise Emission (Air) Average	41.4 dB(A), Closed Case (Peak)
Noise Emission (Air) Idle	Passive mode
Sound characteristic / hearing impression	rushing, bearing and engine noise, chirping
Coil-feathers/electric noises	audible coil fever

Sound Spectrum

The measured 38.1 dB(A) is based on the measured 1700 rpm in the closed housing. We have applied the same gaming load to the open set-up in the measuring room, but the fans are limited to approx. set at a fixed position of 1700 rpm in order to be able to adjust this cooling situation exactly. Although the overall value is not so bad, the sound spectrum is interesting in several places. First, we see and hear engine and bearing noise from the fans and secondly, at the upper end of the spectrum, the chirping of the coils.

Since the stress test generates higher waste heat and higher temperatures, but the load remains more constant, we see in the torture loop a much stronger fan noise in the middle part of the spectrum, but also less zirp noise of the coils at the upper end. You can live with that, but it is and remains somewhat borderline.