Final verdict

Again: Sapphire’s $220 Nitro+ RX 480 only costs $20 more than the reference model, and at that price it’s a hell of a steal. Taking in the gameplay boost, amazing build quality, and superb cooling solution, you’d be mad to opt for a reference edition of either the RX 480 or the GTX 1060 over this card. That might not necessarily hold true for the untested $270 8GB version, which provides a heartier overclock but also falls firmly into custom GTX 1060 territory. But the 4GB model that we’re reviewing today earns our unequivocal buying recommendation, especially if you’re gaming on a 1080p monitor.

The 4GB Nitro+ RX 480 is a damned fine and damned affordable version of an absolutely amazing graphics card. Sapphire’s setting the bar high for custom RX 480 models with this card’s quality and price—especially if achieving sky-high overclocks continues to be a pipe dream with Polaris, thus limiting it to higher-end custom cards.