Functionality & Aesthetics: 17 out of 20
While some will be a bit put off by the aesthetics, others will really love it. It simply is a case of being either love or hate with few opinions falling in between. We personally really like the looks of this card. Especially when it is not just a pretty face. The dual fans, backstopped by a well designed heatsink is a winning one. One that does not only keep temperatures (relatively) in check, but allows for even a bit of overclocking. That certainly is not too shabby for its asking price to say the least! As such we have little to complain about beyond the location of the 8-pin PCIe cable header.
Build Quality & Warranty: 18 out of 20
With few exceptions, XFX have always built very good cards. They simply know how to get the most from AMD designs and it shows. They are also known for their excellent customer service for those times when things do go south. As such we can only ding this card for its poorly thought out 8-pin power header location, and the two piece backplate design (which should have been one solid chunk of metal).
Performance: 30 out of 35
While the RX 580 series was never intended to take on NVIDIA GTX 16-series cards… it actually does a pretty darn decent job at precisely that. Of course, as the resolution goes up the performance of this card does quickly fall, but for the most part that is true of any inexpensive video card… even those with a 256-bit wide memory bus.
Value: 21 out of 25
The value of this card right now is hard to argue with as it does offer a lot bang for your buck. By the same token it is based on a core design that is nearly 2 (and arguably 3) generations out of date. To us this means that as time goes by (and NIVIDA start refining the 16-series drivers) its relatively performance will start slide. As such it will be a very good value for those looking for an inexpensive, but not ‘cheap’, card to tide them over for a year or so. For those looking for a more longer-term investment the value of this card (and its entire generation) will be much more variable and controversial.
Final Score: 86 out of 100
For those looking for an inexpensive short-term investment the XFX GTS RX 580 Black edition is worthy of consideration. Yes it may be old, but old does not necessarily mean antiquated. By the same token those looking for a card to last them a couple years… may wish to look elsewhere. This card is going to be two generations out of date soon so we doubt this series will be a high priority for AMD’s driver development team in the future. Time will only tell, but in the meantime the XFX GTS RX 580 Black is serious competition for NVIDIA’s latest and greatest GTX 1600 series cards.
