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- Review count2
- Helpfulness votes39
- First reviewDecember 17, 2009
- Last reviewAugust 26, 2016
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating4.5
- Review comment count1
- Helpfulness votes1
- First review commentAugust 30, 2016
- Last review commentAugust 30, 2016
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grandforker's Reviews
Bash the opposition with this Radeon RX 480 graphics card. It's optimized for virtual reality experiences thanks to the powerful future-ready technologies that include advance architectures for outstanding gameplay. Incredible color, sharp, crystal-clear graphics and rapid frame rates ensure your game runs at the highest quality with this Radeon RX 480 graphics card.
Posted by: grandforker
from Grand Forks, ND
I bought this card thinking that for the price, it must be the XFX Black Edition of the RX 480, which features a beefy cooler and a factory overclock above 1300 mhz. I was wrong.
This is a special edition card that XFX builds for Best Buy. Other than the two white LED fans, there isn't much special about it. The card's overclocked slightly higher than a stock RX 480 and comes with a heat sink and three pipes rather than the four on the black edition.
So while that might be disappointing, the card's performance isn't. I bought the RX 480 to replace a Sapphire R9 270. I'd been using it to play Doom 2016 at around 45 fps using the Vulkan API. That was at 1080p using medium settings.
I thought Doom probably couldn't look much better. But when I ran it with the RX 480 at the same settings, I was getting well above 100 fps. So I cranked up the settings and went to 1440p, which is the native resolution of my monitor. The game looks amazing and averages around 70 fps. Wow! I am impressed.
I also ran the Metro At Last Light benchmark for comparison. With the R9 270, my system averaged 49 fps. With the RX 480, it average 68 fps at the same settings. It's definitely a noticeable improvement.
Another minor annoyance was the after I installed the card and turned on my PC, only one of the fans lit up and spun. I thought perhaps this was a power-saving feature, but it wasn't. When I ran the MSI Kombustor stress test, the card's temp suddenly shot up to 83C and only one fan ran. I knew something was wrong.
I tried swapping the removable fans (a very nice feature, by the way) and made sure the contacts solidly clicked into place. This time, both fans worked. The card idles around 57C. During prolonged gaming or while running the Kombustor stress test, when the temp hits 70C, the fans kick in and the temp stays around 67-68C. If the fans are making more noise while running at high loads, I can't hear it over my system fans. This may not be the XFX Black Edition cooler, but it definitely does the job.
I have no plans to overclock this card, so I haven't even tried. I think the fact that XFX put a slimmed-down version of its cooler on it is an indication that it isn't intended for overclocking.
The card looks good and seems well made. Between the white LED fans and the lighted XFX logo, it puts out a lot of light. I don't have a windowed case, so that doesn't matter much to me. There doesn't seem to be any way to change the logo's color, although you can buy the LED fans in different colors.
Overall, I really like the way this RX 480 performs. The one thing I don't like is the price. $290 is too much for a slightly improved reference card. If you have your heart set on an RX 480 that overclocks well, look at the XFX Black Edition or the 8GB Sapphire Nitro, both of which should be available for around the same price.
My Best Buy number: 219925029
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+37points
38of 39voted this as helpful.
Use this Klipsch ProMedia 3-piece speaker system to enjoy brilliant sound when playing games, listening to music or watching videos on your computer.
Customer Rating
5
Amazing sound!
on December 17, 2009
Posted by: grandforker
from Grand Forks, ND
I looked at the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers a few years ago and decided that I couldn't justify the cost. But when Best Buy had them on sale recently and my daughter wanted a better pair of speakers for her computer, I took advantage of the opportunity. She got my old Logitech Z4 speakers and I got the new Klipsch speakers. The difference is phenomenal.
With the Z4s (which I really liked), I had to make adjustments using my sound card's software to produce the quality of sound I wanted. I quickly discovered with the ProMeida 2.1 system that none of that was necessary. The quality of the sound is fantastic with no software enhancing whatsoever. I also learned how bass should really sound.
This is a terrific speaker system for gaming, and it's even better for music. I love it.
What's great about it: Outstanding sound quality. Easy to set up and use.
What's not so great: Power switch on back of subwoofer. Not much to look at.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Sound Quality
5
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grandforker's Review Comments
Bash the opposition with this Radeon RX 480 graphics card. It's optimized for virtual reality experiences thanks to the powerful future-ready technologies that include advance architectures for outstanding gameplay. Incredible color, sharp, crystal-clear graphics and rapid frame rates ensure your game runs at the highest quality with this Radeon RX 480 graphics card.
Overall
4 out of 5
4 out of 5Know what you're buying
By grandforker
from Grand Forks, ND
I bought this card thinking that for the price, it must be the XFX Black Edition of the RX 480, which features a beefy cooler and a factory overclock above 1300 mhz. I was wrong.
This is a special edition card that XFX builds for Best Buy. Other than the two white LED fans, there isn't much special about it. The card's overclocked slightly higher than a stock RX 480 and comes with a heat sink and three pipes rather than the four on the black edition.
So while that might be disappointing, the card's performance isn't. I bought the RX 480 to replace a Sapphire R9 270. I'd been using it to play Doom 2016 at around 45 fps using the Vulkan API. That was at 1080p using medium settings.
I thought Doom probably couldn't look much better. But when I ran it with the RX 480 at the same settings, I was getting well above 100 fps. So I cranked up the settings and went to 1440p, which is the native resolution of my monitor. The game looks amazing and averages around 70 fps. Wow! I am impressed.
I also ran the Metro At Last Light benchmark for comparison. With the R9 270, my system averaged 49 fps. With the RX 480, it average 68 fps at the same settings. It's definitely a noticeable improvement.
Another minor annoyance was the after I installed the card and turned on my PC, only one of the fans lit up and spun. I thought perhaps this was a power-saving feature, but it wasn't. When I ran the MSI Kombustor stress test, the card's temp suddenly shot up to 83C and only one fan ran. I knew something was wrong.
I tried swapping the removable fans (a very nice feature, by the way) and made sure the contacts solidly clicked into place. This time, both fans worked. The card idles around 57C. During prolonged gaming or while running the Kombustor stress test, when the temp hits 70C, the fans kick in and the temp stays around 67-68C. If the fans are making more noise while running at high loads, I can't hear it over my system fans. This may not be the XFX Black Edition cooler, but it definitely does the job.
I have no plans to overclock this card, so I haven't even tried. I think the fact that XFX put a slimmed-down version of its cooler on it is an indication that it isn't intended for overclocking.
The card looks good and seems well made. Between the white LED fans and the lighted XFX logo, it puts out a lot of light. I don't have a windowed case, so that doesn't matter much to me. There doesn't seem to be any way to change the logo's color, although you can buy the LED fans in different colors.
Overall, I really like the way this RX 480 performs. The one thing I don't like is the price. $290 is too much for a slightly improved reference card. If you have your heart set on an RX 480 that overclocks well, look at the XFX Black Edition or the 8GB Sapphire Nitro, both of which should be available for around the same price.
grandforker
Grand Forks, ND
Correction
August 30, 2016
Because I can't edit my review, I will add this correction: The XFX Radeon 480 idles at 35 degrees C, not 57C as I stated in my review above. When there is no system activity, the card idles down and the fans stop spinning. I still like this video card, even though I consider it overpriced.
+1point
1of 1voted this comment as helpful.
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