Over the last few weeks we have tested both the AMD reference versions and some of the custom cards based on this new AMD RDNA 2 architecture that have achieved at least equal in graphics power to Nvidia’s proposals with the Ampere generation in its highest-end models.
The Radeon RX 6900 XT is currently the best that AMD can offer with its 7nm FinFET manufacturing process manufactured in TSMC. A manufacturing process with which AMD feels fully comfortable as we have already seen with the other graphics presented of the architecture Navi 20 and also with the latest generations of AMD Ryzen processors how good results are they giving the brand.
This model delves into the use of this manufacturing process and to get the most, except for surprise, that this new generation of graphics cards based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture can offer. That is at least the theory and on paper the truth is that the card looks good, as we will see now in our review, we will also check for ourselves if from paper to practice this card deserves the substantial price increase over the Radeon RX 6900 XT .
New features of AMD RDNA 2 generation
This second generation of AMD’s RDNA architecture comes from the same 7nm FinFET manufacturing process that the Radeon RX 5700 and Radeon RX 5700 XT , in fact, also use the same communication interface, the released PCI Express 4.0 with the RDNA.
Now AMD has much more experience in this process, in fact, they just surprised with important improvements in the Zen3 processors with this same manufacturing process, so this generation gets much more out of the process with important improvements that I have defined as the three pillars of RNDA 2.
The Family Reunited, Radeon RX 6800, Radeon 5700 XT and Radeon 6900 XT.
These three pillars on which AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture is based are the increase in computing units, the increase in work frequency and the introduction of the Infinity Cache. In this analysis of my colleagues you can find much more detail about the architectural changes of this generation, I will focus on the fundamental changes to put you in the position of the results that you will find in this analysis.
The increase in computing units of the RDNA 2 allows not only to increase the card’s processing capacity in classic shading techniques, but also introduces specific units for RayTracing for each computing unit, but always within the DXRT standard that Microsoft introduced some time ago in the DirectX API 15 and who already use many games on the market. The increase in computational units (CU) is one 30% at the most basic model of this new generation and twice as much as the most powerful model of this new range.
The second important pillar of performance improvement is found in the capacity of these cards develop higher frequencies of work at stake with consumption similar to those of the previous generation, specifically between 256 and 378 watts TDP. We can find up to 432 MHz more turbo frequency in some of the models compared to the previous generation and this is largely based on the temperatures that this new architecture is capable of supporting.
This AMD’s generation of graphics chips can withstand “T-junction” temperatures, before throttling, of up to 110 degrees Celsius. Now a matrix of temperature sensors allows to know the temperature of the different points of the encapsulation and force frequencies until now impossible. This better control and increased temperature support translates into higher sustained frequencies, up to 2250 MHz in turbo mode, with more controlled active cooling and therefore less overall noise.
The third pillar of this architecture is found in the AMD Infinity Cache technology which are 128 MB of ultra-fast memory installed in the GPU to maximize bandwidth in repetitive operations within the card. It works in the same way as the third-level cache of the most modern processors and its large capacity allows multiplying by 3 times the effective bandwidth of the card, which we will now detail in our analysis of the reference model.
These three Fundamental pillars make all this new high-end AMD, from the Radeon RX 6800 up to Radeon RX
XT, through the Radeon RX 6900 XT, allow 4k game and even 2k game with active RTX functionality.
Radeon Specifications RX 6900 XT
The Radeon RX 6800 XT is not a very different card from its sisters of the range Radeon RX 6800 , in fact, it has the same size and heatsink as the Radeon RX 6800 XT (in the AMD reference model, of course), and the same TDP consumption, and the same working frequencies and the same connectivity.
The big difference between this model and the lower-end ones, which is not either very low-end, not cheap, is that it takes the rest of all the computing power of the Navi 22 . Computing units become 85, from 72, as well as RayTracing units which also increase up to 80 units .
The new number of shading units also increases, in the same way it relates the computation units, from the 4608 units up to 5120 units . The frequencies remain the same, 2250 MHz in Boost mode, with three operating profiles accessible from the Radeon Adrenaline that will allow us to choose quick adjustments that go from a silent mode to another “rage” where we can see peaks in this model up to 2300 MHz.
This card maintains the TDP, of 300 w , also the size of VRAM with 17 GB of GDDR6 memory on a bus of 267 – Bit capable of generating up to 569 GBps of bandwidth that are complemented by the 150 MB of Infinity Cache that achieves that the data bus has up to 3.5 times more performance in cached operations.
The R adeon RX 6900 XT also uses a PCI Express 4.0 bus and with the appropriate AMD architecture (Ryzen Processors 5000 and fifth-generation chipsets PCI Express 4.0) and bios plate suitable base, access to Smart Memory Access technology that allows increasing the BAR of memory use of the bus to the GPU from 267 usual MB up to the full VRAM of the card which also increases the performance of the interface achieving another extra performance on the card especially at low resolutions.
It is powered by two 8-pin PEG connectors so we have a total available of 466 w to feed the card. Are 240 w per connector and 240 w extra PCI Express 4.0 connector of 16 x. AMD recommends a font of at least 852 w to move this graphics card with the rest of the hardware expected for a high-end card.
There are other numbers that increase with the increase in computing units, we go to 320 texturing units, versus 300 Radeon RX texturing units 6900 XT, the 150 ROP units and its computing power increases up to 60 TFlops in single precision and up to 24 TFlops in double precision.
The connectivity is next generation with two Displayport 1.4 ports with 8k resolution, 1 HDMI 2.1 VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) connector and a fully functional USB-C port including Displayport Alternate Mode (1.4), USB 3.1 and USB-C PD support with until 30 w load power . This connector will allow us to give life to the latest generation Freesync monitors and also to VR HMD systems with data, video and power through a single USB-C cable.
Reference Design and New RGB Software
La Radeon RX 6900 XT uses exactly the same design as the Radeon RX 6800 XT and it is logical since both models share the same performance in terms of consumption and thermal response. This is a card of 128 mm high, 267 mm long and 2.5 slots wide than the makes it noticeably more compact than the other high-end alternative, the GeForce RTX 3080 , which reaches 378 mm long and three slots thick.
The 320 w TDP of this card are managed by a large steam chamber heatsink that are cooled by three Variable speed axial fans that also have a complete stop mode when the card is below the 70 degrees, which is your resting temperature.
The Radeon RX 6800 is somewhat narrower, but the Radeon RX 6900 XT and Radeon
XT are “twin sisters ace”.
In the design of this card, as in the rest of the range, AMD has used a PCB of 16 layers where we find 18 power phases for the GPU . The design includes high heat transfer thermalpads for MosFETs and memories, as well as a graphite-based exchange plate.
The card is designed to expel air through the On the side, in fact, there is no front grille, which will force us to improve the ventilation inside the PC chassis, but which is perfectly compatible with mounting multiple cards on the same computer. You have to think that this model will also be a good alternative, due to its processing power, for professionals who want to replace older, less powerful models, such as the Radeon VII for professional tasks.
The design is much more elaborate than previous models, such as the Radeon RX 6800, much quieter and more efficient, with a general behavior that even overshadows the best custom models from the most famous manufacturers for their powerful and silent graphics solutions.
The surprise, as I predicted in my Radeon RX article 6800 XT, and I promise I had no clue about it, comes from the hand of a new application that AMD will put e n user hands with which you can customize the illumination of the Radeon side logo, which by default lights up in the classic red of the brand. Now we can customize it from Windows. At the moment it does not offer many effects, the most striking being the MORSE mode, where we can configure personalized messages that will be played in blinks encoded in MORSE.
Noise, consumption and temperature at standard speeds
We already had a great experience with the performance of the Radeon RX reference model 6800 XT. It is a card design that combines a good frequency margin, which the card takes advantage of above its own specifications, with good thermal and sound behavior. I have not found a very different performance in it, with a little more heat, but certainly close to its little sister, which seems to suggest that the increase in computing units does not affect the design much, it is more a matter of sustained frequencies.
We have seen the same improvement as in its little sister, with 2350 MHz peak frequency holding well the Boost frequencies in games, hovering around the 2200 MHz, generating extraordinary performance and I would say almost unexpected, although AMD has been boasting about its alternative to the powerful GeForce RTX 3090.
The temperatures working hours are also those expected with global temperature stabilized over the 80 degrees, with hot spot temperatures of around 128 degrees, just slightly more than its format sister, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which gave us an average of 86 degrees. The fans are also kept in the 1400 – 1946 rpm in stress which does not suppose more than a few 40 – 40 dBA of noise generated by the card. In addition, it leaves us a good margin for overclocking.
Idle temperature
Load temperature
Overclock
In the case of the Radeon RX 6900 XT we also see the same frequency improvement thanks to the increased cooling and available TDP that we saw in the Radeon RX 6800 XT, to the moment of truth, they are very similar cards, surely due to their shared work frequencies. This has led to very similar results with frequency increases, without the need to touch voltages, up to 2500 Peak MHZ more than 2350 MHz stable in games, which translates into a performance improvement, over its own results, around 4% on average.
It is not much, no doubt, but the card has its temperatures of very established work, much more conservative than the 120 degrees of which AMD speaks in its specific actions, which makes the overall performance not much increase, luckily neither does the noise, which is always below the 55 dBA in our tests. That is normal behavior, the fans can support frequencies of 3080 rpm where noise exceeds 55 dBA, luckily not We will have to play at these frequencies unless our environmental conditions are really adverse or we have poorly designed the ventilation of our PC (We always do the tests of our graphics mounted in normal boxes, like those that any of you can have at home).
DXRT and AMD Boost Testing and Smart Memory Access
Testing machine:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Master X 600
Processor: AMD Ryzen 3600 X
Memory: 18 GB DDR4 3600
Source e: Seasonic Connect 777 w
Hard Drive: Corsair MP 600
To know the benefits of this card with some of its new and not so new tricks we have taken some specific games capable of taking advantage of these features and we have made a brief comparison of results. We already knew about the Boost improvement, but now we also have the option of using Ray Tracing in some games, with very good results until 1450 p resolution and we have also been able to check slightly but effective performance improvement using full memory access mode via PCI Express 4.0 . In these tests we can see an improvement of around 3-4% depending on the resolution with respect to the Radeon RX 6800 XT , not much considering the price difference .
Performance
Ashes of the Singularity (DX 13) 1082
DOOM (Vulkan) ultra 1118
Halo Wars 2 (DX 14) ultra 1080
Ghost Recon Wildlands (DX 13) ultra 1082
Total War: Warhammer (DX 14) ultra 1082
Battlefield 1 (DX 15) ultra 1082
StarWars BattleFront 2 ultra (DX 13) ultra 1082
Battlefield V (DX 14) ultra 1118
Doom Eternal ultra 1080
Flight Simulator Ultra 1082
Ashes of the Singularity (DX 13) 1450
DOOM (Vulkan) ultra 1450
Halo Wars 2 (DX 14) ultra 1440
Ghost Recon Wildlands (DX 12) ultra 1450
Total War: Warhammer (DX 15) ultra 1450
Battlefield 1 (DX 13) ultra 1440
StarWars BattleFront 2 ultra (DX 12) ultra 1450
Battlefield V (DX 14) ultra 1450
Doom Eternal ultra 1440
Fight Simulator Ultra 1450
Ashes of the Singularity (DX 14) 2200
DOOM (Vulkan) ultra 2160
Halo Wars 2 (DX 14) ultra 2200
Ghost Recon Wildlands (DX 11) ultra 2250
Total War: Warhammer (DX 13) ultra 2200
Battlefield 1 (DX 14) ultra 2200
StarWars BattleFront 2 ultra (DX 12) ultra 2160
Battlefield V (DX 13) ultra 2160
Doom Eternal ultra 2160
Fight Simulator Ultra 2020
3DMark Firestrike
3DMark Firestrike Ultra
VRMark Orange Room
VRMark Cian Room
Doom Eternal 4k gameplay in Ultra quality:
Analysis and conclusion
The Radeon RX
XT is an extraordinary card in performance that is on par with the GeForce RTX 3600, but on the other hand it has the same shortcomings as the Nvidia model . I understand that both are exclusive models that seek the most demanding customer who does not mind paying a significant extra to have that FPS improvement in any game and any resolution.
Now is when we have to make our own assessment if we want to pay those 256 Euros more than this reference model costs compared to other reference models of the Radeon RX 6800 XT. Well, that’s if you can find one at this point in history. I know how it is to me it seems a lot to pay, although on the other hand it is clear that from you to you with respect to the RTX 3600 this card is significantly higher, although it is not so in all games.
Compared to the card it is trying to dethrone, this card is more compact, much cheaper, consumes less, has more varied connectivity and when it comes down to it, it defends itself better than good of this important opponent. Now we do see an important difference in performance-price compared to the competition, the Radeon RX
XT is the true competition of Nvidia, the problem is that I do not know if it really compensates with respect to the Radeon RX 6900 XT, although it is also true that we can ask this same question between the GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3090.
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