I was reticent to make this purchase after reading about the weakness of AMD drivers and the frequent coil whine under load that many users were reporting. I can not speak on the front of drivers, because that is a shared pain of all AMD users- though I can say the issue has been minimal for me (some flickering in a few games such as 7 days to die and Cities:Skyline). This is not a problem with the card, but rather an ongoing battle with Catalyst drivers- and if you are considering using an AMD card you should already be aware of those limitations. If you are not, consider this a fair warning: AMD drivers are not 100% stable and you may occasionally have issues. Only you can decide if some such minor inconveniences are enough to dissuade you from the cost to performance advantage of a Fury.
The Fury, as opposed to the Fury X (as I am sure you want to know) is extremely similar. It has a slightly lower clock speed, and uses physical fans rather than a water cooler. The Fury tends to overestimate how much power it needs (see later in the review for details) so downvolting can lower the power demands of the card with almost no performance deficit. This is not a major reduction, but significant enough. Overclocking goes the same way. It can not overclock significantly while remaining stable, though you can definitely push it a little harder than default if you really want those extra frames.
The AMD Fury goes toe to toe with the NVIDIA 980, and even trades blows with the 1070, although it definitely comes in well underneath it. Considering the card is 200 dollars cheaper, this is pretty impressive as far as I am concerned. Whether it will meet your needs definitely depends on what you want to do. At 1080p this card RIPS- I easily push enough frames to my 144 hz monitor (freesync baby!) even in modern games. If you are in 1080p and using a standard 60hz monitor, you will be more than satisfied for quite some time with this card. For the price, if you are running 1080p (1920x1080) this card is a no-brainer. It will 100% meet your needs
If you are looking at going up to 1440p or higher, you will find that this card performs admirably for the time it was released. It outshines the 1060 with ease, though you will see it struggle to keep up with the newest NVIDIA tech. If you want the latest and greatest, understand that 1440+ is still new and therefore expensive. If you are trying to use the latest and greatest, buying an older card like this is probably not a sound investment. It will work great, but it is not futureproof. If you are on a budget, this will suit you- but don't be surprised when you feel like the kid that brought the mustang to the supercar race. Temper your expectations.
Lastly and HUGELY important- please understand this is a POWER HOG. The coil whine that many users complain about, from what I have gathered in my troubleshooting since getting the card, is often due to power strain. I had coil whine, performance issues, crashes...the works. I was convinced the card was a lemon or not compatible with my system... but I decided to stress test my power supply and it turns out I was not getting enough power through my 12A rails to keep this beast happy. I upgraded to a 850W power supply (I run an all AMD system, so power is a big deal) and all coil whine has disappeared, and performance has been wonderful.
Bear in mind this card is MASSIVE. Like...physically large. More than a foot long. I have an NZXT full case, and I had to remove several drive bays to fit it. Do not buy this card if you do not have a large case. Check the length of the card and measure if it will fit. Having it arrive and not being able to get it into your computer would be a MASSIVE disappointment.
I recommend this card as best in class for the price. If you want the top of the line AMD- go ahead and get the X for the cooling solution, but pound for pound and dollar for dollar I think this was the perfect choice for me. If you want a BEAST 1080p machine, or a serviceable but antiquated 1440+ machine, this is a solid choice. If you can afford the latest tech, go for it, but for those of us looking for a price to performance ratio...the Fury is a solid option.
Test Rig
Sapphire AMD Fury
FX-8350 4.0 GHz
12 GB 1333 RAM
Nixeus Vue 24" 144Hz Gaming Monitor, AMD FreeSync, 1920x1080
G40 water cooler
| Max Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1600 |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | 1000 MHz |
| Graphics Coprocessor | AMD Radeon |
| Chipset Brand | AMD |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 4 GB |
