ASRock has introduced its fastest air-cooled graphics cards to date, the Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula 16GB. The new board carries factory-overclocked AMD’s top-of-the-range Navi 21 XTX GPU (5120 stream processors) GPU that can boost to almost 2.50 GHz and backed by a sophisticated voltage regulating module (VRM).
The Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula has a 21-phase VRM along with three eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connectors to deliver up to 450W of ‘clean’ power to the GPU to guarantee stable operation at factory clocks as well as enable some further overclocking potential.
Speaking of clocks, the ASRock Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula 16GB has a base GPU frequency of 2125 MHz, up from 1825 MHz recommended by AMD. Meanwhile, the board comes with two BIOS modes: the Q mode and the P mode. In Q mode the GPU features game clock of 2165 MHz and a boost clock of 2365 MHz. In P mode, the graphics processor operates at 2295 MHz ~ 2475 MHz, which is considerably higher when compared to frequencies of other factory-overclocked Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards introduced so far.
ASRock’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Graphics Cards
| Radeon 6900 XT OC Formula | Radeon RX 6900 XT Phantom Gaming D | Radeon RX 6900 XT | |
| Base | 2125 MHz | 1925 MHz | 1825 MHz |
| Game | 2165MHz | 2105 MHz | – |
| Game P Mode | 2295 MHz | – | – |
| Boost | 2365 MHz | 2340 MHz | 2250 MHz |
| Boost P Mode | 2475 MHz | – | – |
Being one of the fastest factory-overclocked Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards announced to date, the ASRock Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula comes with an extremely large triple-slot OC Formula 3X cooling system featuring two aluminum heatsinks, seven heat pipes, three striped axial fans, and a backplate. To make the cooler look and feel even more attractive, it is equipped with ARGB LEDs and has a metal cover. Since the cooling system is large, the card measures 332 × 137 × 61 mm, so those who plan to use will need to ensure that it fits into their chassis.
ASRock unveiled its Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula board at the same day when PowerColor launched its Red Devil Ultimate and Liquid Devil Ultimate graphics cards that support GPU clocks of up to 2425 MHz and 2525 MHz, respectively. PowerColor officially stated that its graphics boards were based on cherry picked GPUs, but ASRock did not make such a claim. Therefore, it is unclear whether ASRock used hand-picked GPUs to build its Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula or its advanced VRM and cooling system can enable Navi 21 XTX GPUs operate at clocks that are about 10% higher when compared to those recommended by AMD.
ASRock did not say when it plans to start shipments of its flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula 16GB nor did it disclose its MSRP. Setting a recommended price on graphics card these days does not make a lot of sense as it will be sold at a price that significantly exceed its MSRP. Nonetheless, it would still be interesting to see — at least on paper — how much ASRock charges for a ~10% performance gain over AMD’s reference design.