XFX RX 7800 XT Merc 319 Review
Up Close
XFX are the only company that moved their packaging to a vertical box design, and it’s something they’ve stuck to in recent years. We like it. It might seem like a tiny change, and most people will just tear the box open and get on with things, but when you see as many products as we do then any change is definitely a pleasurable thing.
The fan surround on the Merc 319 echoes the Thicc cards we spoke about, going for a very smooth design with a nice white ring around the fans to accentuate them. The outer fans are 100mm with a 90mm one in the middle. Certainly plenty of cooling potential, especially with that many blades.
The backplate is robust and, thanks to four thermal pads connecting it to the PCB, ridged for maximum surface area and thus heat dissipation. XFX have also continued to utilise the cutout that helps hot air escape the card as well as pushing the cool air from your intake fans up towards your CPU cooler.
The heatink on the Merc 319 combines a huge fin density for plenty of surface area with a copper vapour chamber. This works in conjunction with 5 6mm heatpipes to get all the heat away from the GPU, GDDR and VRMs as quickly as possible. Big cut-outs beneath the shroud ensure the air can be pushed away from the card with the maximum efficiency, so hopefully the XFX RX 7800 XT will be nice and cool.
Like the other RX 7800 XTs we’ve looked at today, the XFX Merc 319 retains the 8pin PCIe power connector, enabling you to keep your current rig and upgrade easily, rather than invest in a new power supply or adaptor cables.
A large heatsink is all well and good but you need good quality fans to cover them in cool fresh air too, and the XFX Merc 319 boasts two 100mm fans either side of a 90mm central fan. These are 15mm thick and the keen-eyed amongst you might be able to spot the alternating height of the aluminium heatsink fins, which itself boasts nearly a square meter of surface area.
Lastly the XFX Merc 319 has three DisplayPorts and a single HDMI for all your display requirements.
