AMD’s Radeon RX 6900XT has once again broken the world record for the highest frequency possibly on a GPU. Overclocking group OG managed to squeeze a whopping 3.3 GHz out of the 6900XT, one of the best graphics cards with liquid nitrogen, breaking the current 3.2 GHz GPU clock speed record held by OCer Der8auer on the same RX 6900XT GPU.
OGS tested the 6900XT in Fire Strike Extreme, where the GPU managed a score of 37618 points. That’s an excellent score for a single GPU, and you’ll need a multi-GPU setup to beat that score if you aren’t using liquid nitrogen.
3.3 GHz is an amazing achievement for AMD’s TSMC fabricated RDNA2 GPUs. When AMD’s RX 6000 series GPUs first launched, they were already hitting frequencies well above 2.5GHz, something Nvidia’s latest Ampere GPUs (built on Samsung 8nm) simply cannot compete with (without exotic cooling, Ampere’s clock speeds barely hit 2 GHz).
What’s most interesting is that AMD’s RDNA2 architecture could have much more headroom than even 3.3GHz. Overclocker Der8auer, in a video showcasing his 3.2GHz 6900XT overclock, mentioned AMD’s use of an artificial clock limiter on most of the AIB partner cards and reference cards, which limits the cards to around 3 GHz.
However, the PowerColor RX 6900XT Liquid Devil Ultimate card Der8auer used (and presumably OGS, too) has an artificial clock limit of 4.0 GHz. That means we could see even higher frequencies in the future from the RX 6000 series.
These artificial clock limiters from AMD could also hint at what the future holds for AMD’s RDNA3 and future product lines as well. If RDNA2 can already scale to 3.3 GHz on liquid nitrogen, who knows how quickly we’ll reach the 4.0GHz barrier on future nodes and architecture, whether that be from AMD or Nvidia.
AMD has begun to enable support of its smallest GPU in the RDNA2 family (aka Navi 20-series) in Linux, which revealed its internal codename, the Beige Goby, reports Phoronix. Not the most exciting of fish names, but let’s continue.
The enablement means that the entry-level RDNA2 graphics processor is on track to be released in the coming months and find its home inside inexpensive desktops and notebooks. At this point it’s not completely clear which model numbers will be adopted by the Beige Goby, and its codename is just as mysterious as its future.
AMD’s RDNA-based family of GPUs is codenamed Navi after the informal name of the Gamma Cassiopeiae star that’s located roughly 550 light-years away from Earth. For internal codenames for its Navi 20-series GPUs, AMD decided not to go that far and named them after… fishes. Or at least, AMD’s own driver team refers to the company’s Navi 20-series GPUs using rather odd fish codenames, as we can see from their Linux driver enablement.
The Radeon RX 6800/6900 (Navi 21) was called Sienna Cichlid. There are also Navy Flounder (Navi 22), Dimgrey Cavefish (presumably Navi 23, though it’s not out yet), and now Beige Goby (which should be Navi 24).
With four different GPUs, AMD’s RDNA2 / Navi 20-series family of GPUs will cover a wider spread than any other Radeon lineup in recent years. Vega for example only targeted the high-end market, while Polaris went after budget and maisntream. Last generation’s Navi 10-series likewise had budget to mainstream offerings, while Navi 20 covers the entire gamut from entry-level PCs all the way to high-end gaming desktops.
AMD’s Radeon RX 6000-Series Family of GPUs
Navi 21
Sienna Cichlid
Radeon RX 6800/6900
Navi 22
Navy Flounder
Radeon RX 6600/6700 (?)
Navi 23
Dimgrey Cavefish
Radeon RX 6500/6600 (?)
Navi 24
Beige Goby
Radeon RX 6400 (?)
Based on various leaks, it looks like AMD’s entry-level Navi 24 GPU for cheap PCs is known internally as Beige Goby. Since this is a low-end graphics processor, it will likely power AMD’s Radeon RX 6400-series graphics products (something that AMD yet has to confirm, of course). We can speculate that the new GPU is scheduled to be launched by the back-to-school (BTS) season in a bid to address users that prefer discrete GPUs, though we have no idea about actual launch dates.
Keeping in mind that AMD continues to use the rather outdated GCN5-based architecture (Vega) for its integrated GPUs, many OEMs might prefer to use entry-level Radeon RX 6000-series discrete graphics boards to differentiate themselves from their rivals. To that end, making Radeon RX 6400-series products available as soon as possible is in AMD’s best interests.
Asus has introduced its highest-performing AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT-based graphics card to date, the ROG Strix LC RX 6900 XT Top Overclocked Edition. The board features an out-of-box boost clock of 2525 MHz and uses a hybrid air / liquid cooling system to lower temperatures and maximize overclocking potential.
Asus were among the first vendors to introduce an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT-powered graphics card with a hybrid cooling system, so the new ‘Top Overclocked Edition’ with the same cooler is almost certainly based on AMD’s Navi 21 XTXH silicon that has 5,120 stream processors, no limitations when it comes to clock rates and which has set an absolute GPU frequency record of 3225 MHz.
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Asus’ hybrid cooling system is actually pretty regular: it uses a blower-type fan to cool-down VRM and a closed-loop liquid cooling system featuring a large cold plate (that covers both GPU and memory) as well as a 240-mm radiator with two fans. Since the graphics card is designed for enthusiasts who sometimes use large EATX cases, the LCS uses 600 mm tubing to enable compatibility with such chassis. Meanwhile the card itself is not large and measures 27.7×13.1×4.36 cm.
The board has four display outputs: two DisplayPort 1.4a, one HDMI 2.1, and one USB Type-C. It also supports the HDCP 2.3 technology for compatibility with content that uses it.
The product relies on a custom-designed printed circuit board (PCB) with an enhanced voltage regulating module (VRM) that uses quality components like inductors, solid-state capacitors, and high-current power stages. The board features three eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power inputs that can deliver up to 450W of power and in the technical specs we note that Asus recommends an 850W PSU.
Traditionally for ROG Strix-badged products, the ROG Strix LC RX 6900 XT Top Overclocked Edition has numerous addressable RGB LEDs.
World’s Fastest Radeon RX 6900 XT Graphics Cards
Sapphire Toxic Radeon RX 6900 XT EE
PowerColor Liquid Devil Ultimate RX 6900 XT
Asus ROG Strix RX 6900 XT Top
ASRock RX 6900 XT OC Formula
Radeon RX 6900 XT
Base
?
?
?
2125 MHz
1825 MHz
Game
2375 MHz
2305 MHz
2375 MHz
2165MHz
?
Boost
2500 MHz
2375 MHz
2525 MHz
2295 MHz
2250 MHz
Performance Game
2525 MHz
2480 MHz
–
2365 MHz
–
Performance Boost
2730 MHz
2525 MHz
–
2475 MHz
–
Cooling System
Hybrid
Custom LCS
Hybrid
Triple-Fan
Triple Fan
High out-of-box clocks and the ‘unlocked’ processor are the key selling points of the new ROG Strix LC RX 6900 XT Top Overclocked Edition graphics card as Asus has been formally offering an a Radeon RX 6900 XT with a hybrid cooling system for quite a while now.
Just like other makers of graphics cards these days, Asus does not talk about recommended pricing of its latest product since its real-world price tag will differ significantly from its MSRP.
(Pocket-lint) – The HTC Vive Pro was revealed as the successor to the HTC Vive, back at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. Since then the company has launched the HTC Vive Pro Eye and HTC Vive Cosmos. In 2021, at Vivecon, the company the revealed the HTC Vive Pro 2.
While Oculus is focussing on making accessible and affordable VR headsets for the masses with the Oculus Quest line-up, HTC is very much aiming for the top-tier, best-in-class VR experience.
We’re summarising the differences between the headsets so you know what’s changed.
HTC Vive Pro 2: Dual front-facing cameras, adjustable comfort dial
The original HTC Vive was a striking VR headset with a funky black finish and an unmistakable pocked-marked design. A wired virtual reality headset that required a fairly high-end gaming PC in order to work. This headset was the start of serious VR headsets from HTC and the company has continued to improve upon an award-winning formula since then with various iterations of the Vive Pro line-up.
The HTC Vive Pro is immediately recognisable thanks to some striking design changes. Where the original headset came in black, the HTC Vive Pro came in a bold blue with two front-facing cameras.
The classic pocked-marked design remained with the sensors still a key part of the VR tracking experience, but the Vive Pro included some comfort upgrades missing from the original Vive. As well as other improvements too.
Where the HTC Vive featured three velcro straps that need adjusting to get the right fit, the Vive Pro had an updated design that includes a solid strap, integrated headphones and a clever comfort system. This included a dial at the back that allows for easy fit and comfort adjustment.
The design of the HTC Vive Pro also features enhanced ergonomics to give a more balanced fit by decreasing weight on the front of your face while you play. This includes a redesigned face cushion and nose pad combination which blocks out more light than the current design on the original HTC Vive.
The HTC Vive Pro has two front-facing cameras that look like eyes on the front of the headset. These are primarily designed for developers to take advantage of, but allow for better tracking of your environment as you game too.
The HTC Vive Pro 2 has mostly maintained the same outward design aesthetics as the Vive Pro. The main difference being the front faceplate is now black instead of blue. A lot has changed under the hood, but HTC has taken an “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it” attitude to the general setup of the headset itself.
The HTC Vive Pro uses a DisplayPort 1.2 connection. This is something to bear in mind if you’re considering the upgrade or purchase of the HTC Vive Pro – as not all graphics cards have a DisplayPort output and you might need an adapter.
Despite significantly upgraded visuals, it’s said that any machine capable of running the Vive Pro will be handle the Vive Pro 2 as well. That’s thanks to something called “Display Stream Compression” which downscales visuals if necessary on lesser hardware.
HTC Vive Pro review: The best VR experience… if you can afford it
HTC Vive Pro Eye review: The future of VR is controller-free
HTC
The Vive Pro Eye was an interesting addition to the Vive line-up. A powerful VR headset that’s was more aimed at “professional” users than gamers.
It features similar design aesthetics to the HTC Vive Pro but stands out as having rings around the two front-facing cameras. The highlight of this device is the internal tech though as the HTC Vive Pro Eye features eye-tracking technology. This design, therefore, includes LED sensors around the lenses that both track and analyse eye movements as you observe the virtual world.
The HTC Vive Pro, the HTC Vive Pro Eye and Vive Pro 2 all features adjustable headphones, head strap and eye relief system to ensure you get a comfortable gaming experience. All these headsets are compatible with a wide range of games available from Steam and Viveport.
Best HTC Vive and Vive Pro games: Incredible experiences to play right now
HTC
Display resolution and specifications
HTC Vive Pro: 1400 x 1600 per eye (2800 x 1600 overall resolution), 110-degree field of view, 90Hz refresh rate
HTC Vive Pro Eye: 1400 x 1600 per eye (2800 x 1600 overall resolution), 615 PPI, 110-degree field of view, 90Hz refresh rate
HTC Vive Pro 2: 2448 x 2448 pixels per eye (4896 x 2448 overall resolution), 120-degree field of view, 120Hz refresh rate
The original HTC Vive was the pinnacle of VR when we first reviewed it. Things have come a long way since then and screen technology has changed a lot.
The HTC Vive Pro offered an increased resolution to deliver an even better optical experience. Dual-OLED displays on the headset offered a total resolution of 2880 x 1600. That’s 1400 x 1600 per eye compared to 1080 x 1200 per eye on the original HTC Vive.
The HTC Vive Pro Eye offered the same visual specifications as the Vive Pro. With the only difference being in the way this headset tracks your eyes.
The HTC Vive Pro 2 has lept forward even more with the offer of not only 4896 x 2448 pixels but a faster 120Hz refresh rate and a wider field of view too.
HTC claims the Vive Pro 2 has the “best-in-class” display with the highest resolution to date, even compared to top-of-the-line competitors like the HP Reverb G2 and Valve Index.
This resolution change improves clarity during gaming as well as enhancing immersion for gamers. The HTC Vive Pro 2 offers clearer text rendering and a crisper picture whether playing games or watching videos while using the headset. In-game textures are smoother and more realistic as well as stunning to look at.
HTC has also improved the Vive Pro 2 with the addition of a dual-stack lens design with two lenses redirecting the image for a wider field of view. This is said to have a bigger sweet spot and a more realistic view of the world around you. The fast-switch LCD IPS panel also sports RGB subpixel technology and that, combined with the high pixel count should result in virtually no screen-door effect.
Despite these changes, the Vive Pro 2 can still run on similarly specced gaming PCs:
The recommended specifications are:
Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350, equivalent or better.
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX1060 or AMD Radeon RX480, equivalent or better.
Memory: 4 GB RAM or more
Video out: DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB ports: 1x USB 3.0 or newer port
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8.1 or Windows 10
Audio quality and features
HTC Vive Pro: High-performance Hi-Res certified headphones with a built-in amplifier and 3D spatial sound, dual microphones with active noise cancellation
HTC Vive Pro Eye: Hi-Res certified headphones, built-in digital amplifier, 3D spatial sound, dual microphones with active noise cancellation
The HTC Vive Pro includes earcups built right into the design. These headphones offer a similar design to the Deluxe Audio Strap upgrade for the HTC Vive, but with improvements to enhance them further.
The HTC Vive Pro includes high-performance headphones with a built-in amplifier that delivers a superior audio experience including a “heightened sense of presence” and better spatial sound.
The HTC Vive Pro only requires a single cable to connect to the link box which then attaches to your PC, so there are far fewer cables to get in the way as you game.
The headphones click down into place when you need them and click up out of the way when you don’t.
The design of the HTC Vive Pro also includes dual built-in microphones with active noise cancellation for a superior communication experience when playing multiplayer or co-op games. These headphones also include volume controls and a mic mute button built right into the design for easy access while you play.
The HTC Vive Pro Eye and the HTC Vive Pro 2 offer the same audio experience as the HTC Vive Pro. There are no upgrades here as far as we can see from the specs or from testing. It is worth noting though that the headphones on the HTC Vive Pro 2 are detachable so you can pop them off and use your own if you so wish.
HTC
Tracking compatibility and upgrades
HTC Vive Pro: Backwards compatibility with original base stations (sold separately)
The original HTC Vive required users to plug two base stations into the mains power supply in the room that would make up the playspace. These sensors would then help track and relay movement data of both the headset and controllers back to the PC. With a base station in either corner of the room, users can achieve a Room-Scale play space of around 4×3 metres.
The HTC Vive uses sensors that make it capable of tracking six degrees of movement – meaning it can track all movement up and down, back and forth and around the play space as long as the base stations can see you.
The HTC Vive Pro is compatible with the original HTC Vive base stations meaning theoretically if you own the original VR device you can just buy the new headset and it will work fine with the original setup. New and improved base stations also offer an increased level of Room-Scale tracking with up to 10×10 metre playspace.
Similarly, the Vive Pro 2 follows the same logic and with the headset available to buy on its own it makes a logical upgrade path for anyone who owns the original headsets.
As we mentioned earlier, the HTC Vive Pro Eye boasts an upgrade in terms of its tracking capabilities that includes LED sensors that monitor eye movements. This is said to not only allow your eyes to act as a controller but also allows the headset to gather data on your eye movements while you play or look around the virtual environment.
In practice, this will result in faster reactions in gaming and useful data for businesses who are trying to track audience gaze. For example, monitoring what products or virtual objects get the most attention from a lingering look. It also presents the possibility of controlling games with just your eyes – whether indicating where you want to go or by controlling different menus within the game.
The Vive Pro 2 is interesting as it’s still compatible with the HTC Vive wireless adapter, it will also work with the Facial Tracker and with the Vive Tracker 3.0 setup which means you can theoretically track anything in the real world.
The Vive Pro 2 will also work with both Vive wand controllers and Valve’s Knuckle controllers, giving you more options to control the headset with ease.
HTC
Which is the right HTC headset for you?
The HTC Vive Pro 2 is now the most logical choice for those considering an HTC VR headset. It isn’t cheap, but if you’re upgrading from previous HTC headsets then you can save some money by just purchasing the headset and nothing else.
For those who are new to VR, the HTC Vive Pro 2’s price tag might seem high compared to the likes of the Oculus Quest 2, but with some serious specs under the hood, it should be the pinnacle of VR. Though you’ll need a high-end PC to make the most of the headset and the full kit in order to successfully track it.
We thought the HTC Vive Pro was one of the best VR headsets money could buy and the Vive Pro 2 should continue that trend too.
An ASRock filing to the ECC has indicated that AMD’s future RX 6600 and RX 6600XT could be equipped with an 8GB memory configuration. ASRock’s ECC filing showcases model name names for ASRock’s custom RX 6600 and RX 6600XT graphics cards and will be ready when (maybe if) AMD releases budget-oriented RDNA2 cards.
If this is true, then the 8GB configuration could potentially be AMD’s second memory configuration for the RX 6600 series. A few months ago, another ASRock ECC filing demonstrated that the RX 6600 XT could be equipped with 12GB of video memory.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see two memory configurations for the RX 6600XT, as AMD has done multiple memory configurations on its more budget-friendly cards for years, helping make the cards even more affordable for consumers. However, 12GB and 8GB are odd combinations, suggesting perhaps a high-end 6600 XT and a lower spec vanilla 6600.
This is the first we’ve heard of a memory configuration for the RX 6600, and for now, it seems that 8GB is the only memory configuration for this GPU. But don’t be surprised if you see rumors of another memory configuration in the future.
Hopefully, AMD won’t consider going below the 8GB mark on its RX 6600, as we’ve found out in graphics card tests that modern games are already sucking dry 6GB graphics cards like the RTX 2060 if you want to play at high detail settings. 8GB and higher should give gamers more than enough memory to play modern titles without worrying about VRAM limitations (at least for a couple of years).
ASRock has also listed several RX 6700 12GB model names in the ECC listing, which further indicates that AMD’s future RX 6700 is most likely to have 12GB of VRAM. We’ve already heard about this configuration a few months ago, including a 6GB configurationion for the card, but there is no mention of a 6GB card in this ECC listing.
Presumably, AMD is dropping the idea of a 6GB configuration for the RX 6700 in light of the recent RTX 3060 12GB launch. Now that Nvidia has raised the bar on how much memory should be put in a mid-range GPU, it would look bad if AMD released a 6GB model of an RX 6700 which would have to compete with the RTX 3060. Unless you’re looking at laptops, in which case Nvidia seems content to give the RTX 3050 Ti and RTX 3050 only 4GB of memory.
Hopefully, AMD will release an RX 6700 and RX 6600/6600 XT in the near future. With the 12GB and 8GB VRAM configurations listed, this would certainly help bring more competition to Nvidia’s RTX 3060, at least on paper. But really, until this technology shortage expires, we doubt anyone will care. In related news, profitability for Ethereum mining on GPUs doubled this past week.
HTC kicked off its Vivecon 2021 virtual event with a big announcement. During the opening keynote today, the company revealed a pair of near-5K resolution VR headsets, the HTC Vive Pro 2, which connects to a PC, and a standalone product called the HTC Vive Focus 3. HTC said these upcoming devices are primarily for businesses, but the specs and features, including a data compression technique not yet seen among the best VR headsets, will also interest gamers with a penchant for a high-end headset upgrade.
HTC Vive Pro 2
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HTC new PC VR headset, the Vive Pro 2 is, more of an evolutionary change than a revolutionary change from the original HTC Vive Pro. HTC poured its attention into improving the visual experience you get from the new headset rather than redesigning the entire structure of the product.
The HMD maker worked with AMD and Nvidia to implement Display Stream Compression (DSC) on the Vive Pro 2 – a first for a VR headset – enabling lossless transmission of high-resolution data. The Vive Pro 2 includes dual fast-switching RGB subpixel displays, giving the headset a total resolution of 4898 x 2448. These displays also operate at a speeder 120 Hz refresh rate to reduce motion blur. Faster refresh rates also improve user comfort, as we learned with Valve’s Index.
DSC, which is standardized by VESA, helps the high-bandwidth display signal stay within the constraints of DisplayPort 1.2. It even allows HTC’s Vive Wireless Adapter accessory to carry the Vive Pro 2’s high-bandwidth signal, which upon release will make it the highest resolution wireless PC VR solution.
The Vive Pro 2 shares the same shape and design as the original Vive Pro, including a rigid, mechanical headstrap and built-in adjustable headphones. This time, however, the headphones feature 3D spatial audio and Hi-res-certified speakers. The new headset also retains compatibility with all SteamVR and Vive Pro accessories, such as the Vive Trackers, Vive Facial Tracker and Valve Index controllers. The screens and the lenses are the significant changes.
HTC said you would need an Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card or an AMD Radeon 5000-series or better to get the full potential out of the Vive Pro 2. However, you can set the screens to run at 90 Hz if necessary, which should allow you to use the new headset on lower-end graphics cards while you wait out the GPU shortage.
Beyond increasing the resolution and refresh rate, HTC also expanded the field of view (FOV) by a slight margin compared to the original Vive Pro from 110 degrees to 120 degrees. The improvement closes the FOV gap between the Vive Pro and the Valve Index (adjustable up to 130 degrees), but it’s still a far cry from ultrawide Pimax headsets.
HTC developed new dual-element lenses to achieve the FOV improvements within the existing Vive Pro form factor by enabling the displays to sit closer to the lenses and retain focus.
HTC is approaching the market with the Vive Pro 2 the same way it did with the original Vive Pro headset. The headset will initially hit the market as an upgrade kit for people with an existing SteamVR-based VR system. It works with both the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of Valve’s base stations.
The headset alone will sell for $749 (£659 / €739), with pre-orders open today and hardware shipping before the end of the month. A complete Vive Pro 2 kit, with base stations and controllers, will be available on June 4 for $1,399 (£1,299 / €1,399).
HTC Vive Focus 3: A Standalone Vive
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The Vive Pro 2 is HTC’s top PC VR offering, but that’s not the only incoming Vive headset. The Vive Focus 3, which doesn’t require tethering to a system, shares a handful of the new features introduced on the Vive Pro 2.
HTC’s new standalone includes the same dual-element lenses found in the Vive Pro 2, giving it the same 120-degree FOV as the PC VR headset. The Vive Focus 3 also has dual 2448 x 2448 RGB panels, but they’re limited to 90Hz. HTC’s new headset also features adjustable IPD (interpupillary distance, the amount of space between your pupils), with a granular range of 57-72mm.
Unlike the Vive Pro 2, which borrows its exterior design from its predecessor, the Vive Focus 3 features an entirely new industrial design. HTC reduced the weight by 20% compared by building it from magnesium alloy instead of plastic. HTC said the metal housing is also 500% stronger than plastic.
To help balance the weight evenly, HTC installed the battery pack under the rear cushion of the headstrap. The battery gives the headset roughly 2 hours of run time, with a charge time of approximately 30 minutes. The battery is also removable, so you can always keep a spare ready to go. The headset doesn’t have a backup power source, so you can’t hot-swap the batteries while it’s running.
The Vive Focus 3 has a pair of speakers embedded in the rigid head strap, plus a headphone jack so that you can use your favorite headphones with it. Four onboard cameras embedded in the front of the visor handle inside-out tracking and provide tracking for the two wand controllers that ship with the headset.
In this era of working in a pandemic, no one wants to share something like a VR headset. That’s why HTC looked to make the Vive Focus 3 simple to keep hygienic. The front and rear cushions are easy to remove for cleaning, thanks to a magnetic mounting mechanism.
A Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 SoC does all the heavy lifting to power the Vive Focus 3. HTC installed a copper heatpipe and an active cooling fan to extract the most performance possible out of the XR2 platform. By contrast, Facebook throttled the XR2 in the Oculus Quest 2 standalone headset to keep it within certain temperature constraints.
Not Really for Gamers
On paper, the Vive Focus 3 looks like a worthy competitor to the Oculus Quest 2. Unfortunately, it’s not priced for consumers and doesn’t include a game library to back it up. However, HTC said the new headset will support streaming PC VR content wirelessly over WiF, so maybe we’ll see support for PC VR gaming.
The Vive Focus 3 will be available on June 27. Buying one will set you back $1,300 (£1,060 / / €1,180). For this price, you get the headset with controllers and a business warranty.
A Business Ecosystem
HTC is offering more than just a pair of new VR headsets. The company has put together an entire ecosystem for using VR in business announced today. Vive Business provides a handful of business-focused VR solutions, such as the Vive Business Device Management System, which gives IT departments the tools necessary for keeping track of a fleet of devices.
The Vive Business platform also includes an Android-based progress monitoring system for instructors called Vive Business Training and a VR meeting place called Vive Sync.
Meanwhile, the Vive Business AppStore offers a curated collection of off-the-shelf business-related VR software for the Focus 3 headset. HTC said it would launch with roughly 20 titles, with more content in development from various ISV partners.
With all of these tools, HTC hopes to accelerate the adoption of VR in the workplace. The company believes that as more people encounter VR for the first time at work, it will drive more adoption in the home. So don’t think we’ve seen the last gaming-centric Vive headset quite yet.
HP’s first laptops to use Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake-H processors are its ZBook G8 line, which consists of four notebooks. There are two ZBook Fury laptops — one 15.6-inch and one 17.3-inch — along with the ZBook Power and ZBook Studio.
The ZBook Power is the entry-level workstation, going up to an Intel Core i-11950H CPU, using GPUs with 4GB of VRAM. The HP ZBook Studio G8, aimed at data scientists and creators, uses more powerful GPUs, with both gaming-grade GeForce RTX and workstation-grade RTX A-series cards with as much as 16GB of VRAM.
(Image credit: HP)
In an atypical move, the ZBook Studio G8 is getting an RGB keyboard, which you would typically find in gaming laptops. In fact, it will use the Omen gaming hub to make profiles. These key presets can be set per application, not just games, so you could have custom lighting for creative software.
HP ZBook Power G8
HP ZBook Studio G8
HP ZBook Fury 15.6-inch G8
HP ZBook Fury 17.3-inch G8
CPU
Up to Intel Core i9-11950H
Up to Intel Core i9-11950H
Up to Intel Core i9-11950H, Up to Intel Xeon W-11955M
Up to Intel Core i9-11950H, Up to Intel Xeon W-11955M
Graphics
Nvidia T1200, RTX A2000 or Nvidia T600 (4GB GDDR6 each)
Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6), Up to Nvidia RTX A5000 (16GB GDDR6)
Up to Nvidia RTX A5000 (16GB GDDR6) or AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (8GB GDDR6)
Up to Nvidia RTX A5000 (16GB GDDR6) or AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (8GB GDDR6)
The Fury line, which comes in both 15.6 and 17.3-inch sizes, offers the most power, including 11th Gen Xeon processors as well as up to 128GB of RAM. These two laptops also have configurable choices with either Nvidia or AMD graphics and allow for Intel LTE to work on the go.
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For this round of workstations, HP is introducing its Tamper Lock system, which came from the Firefly G8, which notifies users or IT departments if the bottom of the laptop is removed. They can choose to disable the system, lock the BIOS or use Bitlocker to secure the system. Users would also know if RAM or HDDs were removed. Additionally, the laptops continue HP’s tradition of using Tile tracking to recover the notebook if it is lost or stolen.
Pricing has not been made available, but HP says it will announce that closer to the laptops’ launches.
Laptops like the recent Samsung Galaxy Book Go run Windows 10 on a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. However, according to reports Samsung will introduce a new Exynos chipset in the second half of this year that will be used to power future laptops.
This chip – tentatively named Exynos 2200 – will feature an AMD Radeon GPU, which will deliver a PC-class graphics performance. The chip will be fabbed at Samsung’s 5nm foundries.
The €450 Galaxy Book Go runs Windows 10 on a Snapdragon 7c chipset
Interestingly, when Samsung and AMD officially announced their collaboration, there was supposed to be no overlap between products using the new Exynos chip and AMD chips. And AMD sure does make laptops. An additional agreement may have been made since then.
Anyway, after making its debut in a laptop, the Exynos 2200 may find its way into Galaxy tablets as well (perhaps even phones). It should support Android as well as Windows.
The Exynos will rival the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, which Qualcomm unveiled in September, and (of course) Apple’s M1 product line-up, which recently added iPad Pro tablet into the mix. While the Qualcomm chip uses the same Kryo 495 CPU cores as the original 8cx from 2019, the Exynos should benefit from more current ARM Cortex designs.
The Monoprice Dark Matter 27 leaves out a few minor elements but includes everything needed for a satisfying game experience. Its 240 Hz refresh rate with adaptive sync means fast action will render clearly. Accurate color and good contrast deliver a first-rate image and the whole package sells for less than $300. What’s not to love?
For
+ Value
+ Snappy response with low input lag
+ G-Sync & FreeSync
+ Decent contrast
+ Color accurate with calibration
Against
– No extended color
– No additional contrast for HDR content
– No USB ports
Features and Specifications
When it comes to high performance gaming monitors, you usually get what you pay for. Mainstream brands all sell similar levels of speed and features for roughly the same cost. But if you’re willing to stray from the beaten path, there are some terrific value choices out there.
We’ve looked at such displays from smaller companies like Viotek and Pixio. Monoprice is also a major player in the budget monitor category. It’s gone from a few simple enterprise-level offerings to a healthy stable of gaming screens in every popular size and shape.
If high frame rates are your goal, then you’ll want to shop at 240 Hz or higher. And that is considered the premium tier if you buy from Asus or Acer. But the Monoprice Dark Matter series offers much of that same performance for much less cash. Designed to compete with the best gaming monitors, Tthe 27-inch 240 Hz model, product number 40778, delivers FHD resolution in a Fast IPS panel with adaptive sync, HDR and high brightness for less than $300.
Brand & Model
Monoprice Dark Matter 27
Product number: 40778
Panel Type & Backlight
AHVA-IPS / W-LED, edge array
Screen Size & Aspect Ratio
27 inches / 16:9
Max Resolution & Refresh
1920×1080 @ 240 Hz
FreeSync Premium: 48-240 Hz
G-Sync compatible
Native Color Depth & Gamut
8-bit / sRGB
HDR10
Response Time (GTG)
1 ms
Brightness (mfr)
500 nits
Contrast (mfr)
1000:1
Speakers
–
Video Inputs
1x DisplayPort 1.2
1x HDMI 2.0
1x HDMI 1.4
Audio
3.5mm headphone output
USB 3.0
–
Power Consumption
22.5w, brightness @ 200 nits
Panel Dimensions WxHxD w/base
24.3 x 18.3 x 9.9 inches (616 x 465 x 252 mm)
Panel Thickness
2.2 inches (57mm)
Bezel Width
Top/sides: 0.3 inch (8mm)
Bottom: 0.8 inch (20mm)
Weight
10.7lbs (4.9kg)
Warranty
One year
The Dark Matter 27 is a Fast IPS panel running at 1920×1080 pixels. While that may turn off some buyers, ultimate motion resolution should be considered. 240 fps in FHD will look just as clear if not more so than Ultra HD at 120 Hz. Keeping detail sharp when engaged in a twitch-fest shooting game is more dependent on frame rates than pixel count.
The Dark Matter 27 relies on FreeSync as its native adaptive tech and is G-Sync compatible as confirmed by our tests (see our story on FreeSync vs G-Sync). It has not been certified by Nvidia. HDR10 signals are supported as well with both technologies, again confirmed by our tests. While its IPS panel won’t deliver life changing contrast, and there is no dynamic option for HDR, it offers a bit more dynamic range than many of its more expensive competitors.
The main thing missing here is extended color. Many HDR monitors today include a wide color gamut as part of their feature set but the Monoprice tops out at sRGB. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and it is not uncommon in the budget monitor genre. You’ll have to decide how much that extra color is worth because it will cost you a bit more. It should also be noted that many monitors running at 240 Hz and higher don’t offer a wide gamut.
The Monoprice Dark Matter 27 also includes gaming options like aiming points, timers and a blur-reduction feature that works fairly well if you prefer that approach over adaptive sync. But at 240 Hz, a rate that’s easy to achieve with a mid-level video card, you won’t need much additional help to smooth out the image.
On paper, the Monoprice Dark Matter 27 looks attractive next to some premium 27-inch screens. How it works in practical application is what we’re here to find out. Let’s take a look.
Assembly and Accessories of Monoprice Dark Matter
The Monoprice Dark Matter 27 comes with its upright already attached to a lightweight panel. You’ll need a Phillips head screwdriver to attach the solid metal base. The bolts are found inside the main accessory bag which also contains an HDMI cable. We wondered why there was no DisplayPort cable until we discovered that the monitor would run at 240 Hz with adaptive sync and HDR over its HDMI 2.0 input. The only other item in the box is an external power supply.
Product 360 of Monoprice Dark Matter
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The Monoprice Dark Matter 27 is simply styled with only a few molded in lines in back to indicate its gaming focus. From the front, the bezel is flush and shows an 8mm frame around the top and sides of the image. The trim across the bottom is 20mm wide and features a tiny Monoprice logo.
The base and upright are all metal and finished with a black crackle texture that reflects no light. The only adjustment is tilt which goes 20° back and 5° forward. There is no height adjustment so you’ll either need to tilt the screen up toward you, or place it on a pedestal if you prefer a perfectly vertical panel. There is no swivel adjustment either.
In back, you’ll see some styling features that look a lot like the Pixio PX279 Prime. We initially thought the Monoprice Dark Matter 27 was a rebadged display but after running our suite of benchmarks, there are some differences in the results. We’ll get into those later but suffice it to say that the Monoprice and Pixio monitors are not the same product.
Other external features are minimal. There are no USB ports or built in speakers. The input panel is well-stocked with one HDMI 1.4, one HDMI 2.0, a DisplayPort 1.2 and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The USB port is for service and firmware upgrades only.
OSD Features of Monoprice Dark Matter
The Monoprice Dark Matter 27’s OSD control is managed by a tiny joystick which opens three different quick menus for input selection, picture mode and gaming aids. Pressing it opens the full menu which is divided into six subsections that have image calibration, gaming enhancements and everything else you need to optimize performance.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Display menu has basic luminance controls and access to the seven picture modes. User is the default and best preset for all content. Black Equalize raises the black level to make shadow detail easier to see. The sharpness control will add obvious edge enhancement at any level over 50 so we recommend leaving it alone. Ultra Vivid adds a lot of ringing and other artifacts in an attempt to sharpen the picture. It too should be left off.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Color menu has a complete set of image controls including four gamma presets, four color temps and hue & saturation sliders. You also get a low blue light slider to help with fatigue when reading text against white backgrounds. A User color temp offers three very precise RGB sliders which helped us achieve excellent grayscale tracking. Color in general is a tad over saturated but very close to the sRGB spec.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Gaming Setup menu lets the user toggle adaptive sync, choose from three overdrive levels (Low is best), and toggle HDR, dynamic contrast (SDR signals only) and MPRT which is a blur-reducing backlight strobe. It has no pulse width adjustment, but it does work well, if a bit subtly, at reducing blur. It only reduces brightness by about 10%. It cannot be used in conjunction with adaptive sync.
Setup and Calibration of Monoprice Dark Matter
The Dark Matter 27 comes out of the box in its User mode and doesn’t quite qualify for our calibration-not-required list. Grayscale is a little cool though not excessively so. Color is slightly over-saturated but again, this is not objectionable. The default 2.2 gamma preset is accurate, so we just adjusted the RGB sliders to achieve excellent grayscale tracking. Below are our recommended settings.
To engage HDR mode, apply the signal first, then switch modes in the Gaming Setup menu. You’ll have to do the reverse when returning to SDR mode. HDR doesn’t deliver much improvement in contrast as there is no dynamic feature.
Picture Mode
User
Brightness 200 nits
34
Brightness 120 nits
17
Brightness 100 nits
13
Brightness 80 nits
9
Brightness 50 nits
3 (Min. 37 nits)
Gamma
2.2
Color Temp User
Red 51, Green 51, Blue 49
Gaming and Hands-on with Monoprice Dark Matter
The Dark Matter 27 is a competent monitor for everyday tasks and an excellent gaming monitor. For things like spreadsheets and word processing, more resolution would be nice but 82ppi is enough to get the job done. The touch of extra color saturation is certainly welcome when editing graphics or watching video. It’s close enough to spec to look natural but delivers plenty of punch, even though the gamut is sRGB.
This monitor has a little more contrast than the average IPS screen and it shows. Blacks are nice and deep, and the picture has good dimension. We tried the dynamic contrast option and though it had a positive effect on shadow detail, making it blacker and more realistic, it made the overall image much too bright. The backlight can’t be adjusted when it’s engaged so its use was restricted to gaming during our tests.
Booting up Tomb Raider, we saw an immediate advantage to the dynamic contrast. It made blacks truer without washing out detail. Highlights popped nicely without being too harsh. Occasional flares of light looked harsh, but only for short durations. We’d play most SDR games with the option turned on. In either case, color was well saturated and natural in tone.
Video processing was as expected from a 240 Hz FHD monitor. The frame rate remained maxed when playing in G-Sync mode on a GeForce RTX 3090. Our FreeSync platform maintained around 220 fps with a Radeon RX 5700 XT card. We tried the backlight strobe briefly, but it had no impact on image quality, either positive or negative. Adaptive sync is the better choice. The overdrive is very effective at its low setting. Other options caused visible ghosting and trails behind moving objects.
Response was always quick and input lag seemed non-existent. While any refresh rate higher than 60 Hz is an improvement, 240 Hz and higher will spoil you. Once you’ve experienced it, even for a short while, it’s hard to go back. That’s why lower resolution is often the better choice. Frame rate is more important than pixel density. In the Dark Matter 27’s case, you are getting a lot of performance for under $300. We’ve gamed on plenty of high-end monitors and this Monoprice can go toe-to-toe with most of them.
Dominic Moass 3 days ago CPU, Featured Announcement, Graphics
KitGuru was recently able to sit down with Frank Azor, Chief Architect of Gaming Solutions at AMD. In a wide-ranging discussion, we spoke about the unique position AMD is in as both a CPU and GPU manufacturer and how the company can use that to its advantage, with features like Smart Access Memory and SmartShift. We also get the latest update on the company’s highly anticipated FidelityFX Super Resolution feature.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
Timestamps
00:00 Start
00:37 What is Frank’s official title and what has he been responsible for at AMD?
02:38 How has Frank’s time at Alienware informed what he does at AMD?
06:20 Smart Access Memory – is it just resizable BAR, or is there more to the story?
10:28 Why can Smart Access Memory result in negative scaling?
13:40 Was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla developed with SAM in mind?
17:34 Why haven’t we seen a unified CPU+GPU strategy from AMD before?
20:21 SmartShift – what is it and how does it work?
25:21 Why haven’t we seen more SmartShift-enabled machines?
28:00 is Ryzen 5000 a turning point for AMD mobile CPUs?
30:28 What’s the latest with AMD Radeon software?
36:56 FidelityFX Super Resolution – latest update
38:46 Wrapping up
Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.
KitGuru says: Thanks to Frank for taking the time to answer our questions – and here’s hoping we will see FidelityFX Super Resolution in action soon!
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RX 7900 XT RDNA 3 GPU reportedly brings at least 40 percent more performance
AMD’s flagship RDNA 2 GPUs have been out for a while now, which means it is time to start looking ahead to the next generation. AMD is currently working on its RDNA 3 GPU architecture, and according to early leaks, we can expect at least a 40% performance improvement.
AMD launched its RDNA2-based Radeon RX 6000-graphics cards in early November, so it’s about time for the company to use the latest Big Navi GPU for its Radeon Pro graphics cards aimed at CAD/CAM and DCC professionals. Indeed, the first benchmark score of AMD’s yet-to-be-announced Radeon Pro W6800 with 32GB of memory got published recently.
The AMD Radeon Pro W6800 32GB (1002 73A3, 1002 0E1E) scored an ‘outstanding’ result in UserBenchmark, hitting 146% of the average effective GPU speed. When compared to other graphics cards, 146% is between Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2080 Super (138%) and GeForce RTX 3070 (152%). Meanwhile, AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT scores between 152% and 171%.
It’s hard to make guesses about specifications for AMD’s upcoming Radeon Pro W6800 32GB graphics card based on one benchmark score, so we’ll refrain from doing so. Meanwhile, it looks like the Radeon Pro W6800 32GB will offer compute performance comparable to that of the Radeon RX 6800 XT. Still, since it will have more memory onboard, it will certainly provide higher performance in high resolutions when compared to the gaming adapter.
(Image credit: UserBenchmark)
Professional graphics cards tend to adopt the latest architectures a bit later than consumer boards as developers need to certify their drivers with developers of professional applications, something that takes time. The leak of a Radeon Pro W6800 benchmark result indicates that AMD is getting closer to release its RDNA2-based cards for CAD, CAM, and DCC users.
Since the UserBenchmark is a general benchmark designed for casual users, it does not really put heavy loads on GPUs, so an ‘outstanding’ result for the Radeon Pro W6800 32GB is not surprising. Unfortunately, UserBenchmark gives absolutely no idea about performance of the graphics card in professional applications.
Valve’s Steam hardware survey was just updated, and one of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060, one of the best graphics cards, showed up on the charts for the first time. Sure, it has a very minute 0.17% market share at the time of this writing, but the card only launched in late February. Every Ampere GPU now at least shows up, which makes us wonder where AMD’s RX 6000 series GPUs are hiding.
It’s no secret that Nvidia is pumping out a far greater volume of Ampere graphics cards compared to AMD and its competition RDNA2 products. AMD has to split its allotment of TSMC 7nm wafers between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Ryzen 5000 CPUs, and Radeon 6000 GPUs. AMD’s contractually obligated to provide a lot of console chips, relative to the others, so guess which product line gets the short end of the stick.
AMD CEO Lisa Su is aware of the problem as she has promised to ramp up production significantly for the Radeon RX 6700 XT after it launched. And to be fair, it’s only been out a bit less than two months. However, it seems RX 6700 XT production still isn’t competitive with even the lowest stock of Nvidia’s GPUs.
Looking at eBay’s sold listings for the RTX 3060 and RX 6700 XT, which is what we do in our GPU pricing index, scalpers are selling off literally double the number of 3060s compared to RX 6700 XTs. Just this week alone, 382 RTX 3060s and 182 RX 6700 XTs were sold off to buyers. There were also 734 RTX 3070 cards sold, at an average price of $1,371.
These numbers from eBay should give us a good guess as to the production numbers of AMD and Nvidia worldwide. If these numbers are at all accurate, it helps explain why Steam hasn’t put any RX 6000 series GPU on its hardware survey list.
Steam has never told us how it operates the hardware survey program and what requirements hardware models have to meet to be on the chart. However, looking at the charts, we believe there’s a market share limit in place that all products on the charts have to meet. It may change a bit month to month, but right now the minimum value to show up as a line item is 0.15%. Considering Nvidia’s RTX 3060 has 0.17% and appears to be selling at roughly twice the rate of the RX 6700 XT, that would put AMD’s best RDNA2 share at less than 0.10%.
Again, there’s some conjecture on our part, but this suggests Steam simply needs more of AMD’s RX 6000 series graphics cards before they’ll breach the 0.14% market share point. The RX 6700 XT has also been selling at nearly triple the rate of the other RX 6000 series cards — since launch, on eBay at least, RX 6700 XT alone outsold the combined RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800.
This certainly isn’t good news for AMD, though it’s regretably expected. There were rumors that 80% of the wafers AMD uses at TSMC right now are for the latest consoles, leaving Ryzen and Radeon to share the remaining 20%. Nvidia meanwhile only has to produce GPU wafers at Samsung, and while it can’t keep up with demand, it appears to be doing a much better jump at shipping cards than AMD. In general, Nvidia looks like it’s outselling AMD GPUs by at least a 5-to-1 ratio.
Hopefully, something will change so that AMD’s more budget-friendly RDNA2 products can be more competitive in production volume with Nvidia’s Ampere GPUs. But while we wait for RX 6700, RX 6600, and RX 6500 products to launch, there are strong indications Nvidia will have RTX 3050 Ti and RTX 3050 laptops this month, and likely RTX 3080 Ti desktop cards as well.
According to reports from VideoCardz, Gigabyte is readying an Aorus-branded AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card equipped with a water block. The Aorus Xtreme WaterForce WB Radeon RX 6900 XT will feature multiple addressable RGB LEDs and will be aimed at those who already have a custom liquid cooling system (LCS). Right now details are sparse, so take them with a pinch of salt.
Gigabyte’s Aorus Xtreme WaterForce WB Radeon RX 6900 XT will carry AMD’s top-of-the-range Navi 21 GPU with 5,120 stream processors, though it is unknown whether the GPU will come in its XTX variant (with certain limitations for clocks and voltages) or in the unlocked XTXH version with no limits. Exact specifications of the board are unknown at this point, reports VideoCardz.
Just like Gigabyte’s Aorus Radeon RX 6900 XT Master 16G, the upcoming Aorus Xtreme WaterForce WB Radeon RX 6900 XT features three eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connectors that can deliver up to 450W of power to the card but right now there are no details on actual power requirements. Since we have no idea which GPU version the card uses, it is hard to make guesses about exact clocks that can be expected.
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Gigabyte’s Aorus WaterForce water block has a transparent acrylic cover and seems to be slightly more than one slot thick. Therefore, the card still comes with a dual-slot bracket. Traditionally for custom water blocks, this one has multiple integrated addressable RGB LEDs. As for outputs, they are pretty standard: two DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.1.
When it comes to launches of new graphics cards, Gigabyte’s usual strategy is to release reference boards first, then follow up with a custom design, and then proceed with models featuring a liquid cooling solution. This was the case with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, but as far as AMD’s Radeon RX 6800/6900-series is concerned, Gigabyte just released three custom cards with the Aorus brand (RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT) and never offered anything with liquid cooling. But at least it now looks that Gigabyte’s liquid-cooled RDNA2 product is on the way. All we need to know now are when to expect it, and how much it will cost.
We have with us the ASRock Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Formula, the company’s new flagship graphics card, positioned a notch above even the RX 6900 XT Phantom Gaming. This sees the company revive its topmost “OC Formula” brand co-developed by Nick Shih, which represents the company’s boutique range of motherboards and graphics cards for professional overclockers taking a crack at world records of all shapes and sizes. What triggered the company to come out with an RX 6900 XT-based graphics card in particular, is a concerted preemption by AMD to NVIDIA’s rumored GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, an SKU slotted between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090.
The Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU at the heart of the ASRock RX 6900 XT OC Formula isn’t the same chip as the one in the RX 6900 XT Phantom Gaming. AMD refers to this silicon as the Navi 21 “XTXH”. It is the highest bin of the Navi 21, designed to sustain up to 10% higher clock speeds than the regular RX 6900 XT. With its default “performance” BIOS, the RX 6900 XT OC Formula can now boost up to 2475 MHz, and achieve game clocks of up to 2295 MHz. The reference AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT sustains only up to 2250 MHz boost, and 2015 MHz game clocks, while ASRock’s previous RX 6900 XT-based flagship, the RX 6900 XT Phantom Gaming, does 2340 MHz boost, with 2105 MHz game clocks. Compared to the reference design, that’s exactly a 10 percent OC from ASRock.
The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is AMD’s current-generation flagship graphics card, which, along with the RX 6800 series, propelled the company back to the big leagues of enthusiast-segment graphics cards against NVIDIA. The RX 6900 XT is powered by AMD’s RDNA2 graphics architecture, which is its first to feature full DirectX 12 Ultimate readiness, including real-time raytracing. The RDNA2 architecture transcends platforms, and also powers the latest PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, which makes it easier for game developers to optimize for the architecture on the PC.
At the heart of the RX 6900 XT is the 7 nm Navi 21 silicon, which it maxes out. This chip features 5,120 stream processors spread across 80 RDNA2 compute units, 80 Ray Accelerators (components that accelerate raytracing), 288 TMUs, 128 ROPs, and an impressive 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. This memory, however, runs across a 256-bit wide memory interface. AMD attempted to shore up bandwidth by using the fastest JEDEC-standard 16 Gbps memory chips, and deploying Infinity Cache, a 128 MB last-level cache on the GPU die, which speeds up transfers between the GPU and the memory, by acting as a scratchpad. Together with the GDDR6 memory, Infinity Fabric unleashes memory bandwidths of up to 2 TB/s.
The ASRock RX 6900 XT features the company’s most opulent custom board design to date, with a large triple-slot, triple fan cooling solution that’s packed with innovations; the company’s most over-the-top power-delivery solution ever on a graphics card; and design optimization for professional overclocking using liquid- or extreme cooling methods. The Navi XTXH silicon not only sustains boost frequencies better, but is also designed for better overclocking headroom than the original Navi 21 XTX powering the reference RX 6900 XT. In this review, we take our first look at this exotic new graphics card to tell you if ASRock has tangibly improved performance of the RX 6900 XT over the reference, and whether it gets any closer to the RTX 3090.
Reviews for Capcom’s Resident Evil Village have gone live, and we’re taking the opportunity to look at how the game runs on the best graphics cards. We’re running the PC version on Steam, and while patches and future driver updates could change things a bit, both AMD and Nvidia have provided Game Ready drivers for REV.
This installment in the Resident Evil series adds DirectX Raytracing (DXR) support for AMD’s RX 6000 RDNA2 architecture, or Nvidia’s RTX cards — both the Ampere architecture and Turing architecture. AMD’s promoting Resident Evil Village, and it’s on the latest gen consoles as well, so there’s no support of Nvidia’s DLSS technology. We’ll look at image quality in a moment, but first let’s hit the official system requirements.
Capcom notes that in either case, the game targets 1080p at 60 fps, using the “Prioritize Performance” and presumably “Recommended” presets. Capcom does state that the framerate “might drop in graphics-intensive scenes,” but most mid-range and higher GPUs should be okay. We didn’t check lower settings, but we can confirm that 60 fps at 1080p will certainly be within reach of a lot of graphics cards.
The main pain point for anyone running a lesser graphics card will be VRAM, particularly at higher resolutions. With AMD pushing 12GB and 16GB on its latest RX 6000-series cards, it’s not too surprising that the Max preset uses 12GB VRAM. It’s possible to run 1080p Max on a 6GB card, and 1440p Max on an 8GB card, but 4K Max definitely wants more than 8GB VRAM — we experienced inconsistent frametimes in our testing. We’ve omitted results on cards where performance wasn’t reliable in the charts.
Anyway, let’s hit the benchmarks. Due to time constraints, we’re not going to run every GPU under the sun in these benchmarks, but will instead focus on the latest gen GPUs, plus the top and bottom RTX 20-series GPUs and a few others as we see fit. We used the ‘Max’ preset, with and without ray tracing, and most of the cards we tested broke 60 fps. Turning on ray tracing disables Ambient Occlusion, because that’s handled by the ray-traced GI and Reflection options, but every other setting is on the highest quality option (which means variable-rate shading is off for our testing).
Our test system consists of a Core i9-9900K CPU, 32GB VRAM and a 2TB SSD — the same PC we’ve been using for our graphics card and gaming benchmarks for about two years now, because it continues to work well. With the current graphics card shortages, acquiring a new high-end GPU will be difficult — our GPU pricing index covers the details. Hopefully, you already have a capable GPU from pre-2021, back in the halcyon days when graphics cards were available at and often below MSRP. [Wistful sigh]
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Granted, these are mostly high-end cards, but even the RTX 2060 still posted an impressive 114 fps in our test sequence — and it also nearly managed 60 fps with ray tracing enabled (see below). Everything else runs more than fast enough as well, with the old GTX 1070 bringing up the caboose with a still more than acceptable 85 fps. Based off what we’ve seen with these GPUs and other games, it’s a safe bet that cards like the GTX 1660, RX 5600 XT, and anything faster than those will do just fine in Resident Evil Village.
AMD’s RDNA2 cards all run smack into an apparent CPU limit at around 195 fps for our test sequence, while Nvidia’s fastest GPUs (2080 Ti and above) end up with a lower 177 fps limit. At 1080p, VRAM doesn’t appear to matter too much, provided your GPU has at least 6GB.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Turning on ray tracing drops performance, but the drop isn’t too painful on many of the cards. Actually, that’s not quite true — the penalty for DXR depends greatly on your GPU. The RTX 3090 only lost about 13% of its performance, and the RTX 3080 performance dropped by 20%. AMD’s RX 6900 XT and RX 6800 XT both lost about 30-35% of their non-RT performance, while the RTX 2080 Ti, RX 6800, RTX 3070, RTX 3060 Ti, and RTX 3060 plummeted by 40–45%. Meanwhile, the RX 6700 XT ended up running at less than half its non-DXR rate, and the RTX 2060 also saw performance chopped in half.
Memory and memory bandwidth seem to be major factors with ray tracing enabled, and the 8GB and lower cards were hit particularly hard. Turning down a few settings should help a lot, but for these initial results we wanted to focus on maxed-out graphics quality. Let us know in the comments what other tests you’d like to see us run.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The performance trends we saw at 1080p become more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 1440p Max, more VRAM and memory bandwidth definitely helped. The RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 only lost a few fps in performance compared to 1080p when running without DXR enabled, and the RX 6800 dipped by 10%. All of the other GPUs drop by around 20–30%, but the 6GB RTX 2060 plummeted by 55%. Only the RTX 2060 and GTX 1070 failed to average 60 fps or more.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
1440p and ray tracing with max settings really needs more than 8GB VRAM — which probably explains why the Ray Tracing preset (which we didn’t use) opts for modest settings everywhere else. Anyway, the RTX 2060, 3060 Ti, and 3070 all started having problems at 1440p with DXR, which you can see in the numbers. Some runs were much better than we show here, others much worse, and after repeating each test a bunch of times, we still aren’t confident those three cards will consistently deliver a good experience without further tweaking the graphics settings.
On the other hand, cards with 10GB or more VRAM don’t show nearly the drop that we saw without ray tracing when moving from 1080p to 1440p. The RTX 3060 only lost 18% of its 1080p performance, and chugs along happily at just shy of 60 fps. The higher-end AMD and Nvidia cards were all around the 15% drop mark as well.
But enough dawdling. Let’s just kill everything with some 4K testing…
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Well, ‘kill’ is probably too strong of a word. Without ray tracing, most of the GPUs we tested still broke 60 fps. But of those that came up short, they’re very short. RTX 3060 is still generally playable, but Resident Evil Village appears to expect 30 fps or more, as dropping below that tends to cause the game to slow down. The RX 5700 XT should suffice in a pinch, even though it lost 67% of its 1440p performance, but the 1070 and 2060 would need lower settings to even take a crack at 4K.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Even with DXR, the RTX 2080 Ti and RX 6800 and above continue to deliver 60 fps or more. The RTX 3060 also still manages a playable 41 fps — this isn’t a twitch action game, so sub-60 frame rates aren’t the end of the world. Of course, we’re not showing the cards that dropped into the teens or worse — which is basically all the RTX cards with 8GB or less VRAM.
The point isn’t how badly some of the cards did at 4K Max (with or without DXR), but rather how fast a lot of the cards still remained. The DXR switch often imposed a massive performance hit at 1080p, but at 4K the Nvidia cards with at least 10GB VRAM only lost about 15% of their non-DXR performance. AMD’s GPUs took a larger 25% hit, but it was very consistent across all four GPUs.
Resident Evil Village Graphics Settings
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You can see the various advanced settings available in the above gallery. Besides the usual resolution, refresh rate, vsync, and scaling options, there are 18 individual graphics settings, plus two more settings for ray tracing. Screen space reflections, volumetric lighting and shadow quality are likely to cause the biggest impact on performance, though the sum of the others can add up as well. For anyone with a reasonably high-end GPU, though, you should be able to play at close to max quality (minus ray tracing if you don’t have an appropriate GPU, naturally).
But how does the game look? Capturing screenshots with the various settings on and off is a pain, since there are only scattered save points (typewriters), and some settings appear to require a restart to take effect. Instead of worrying about all of the settings, let’s just look at how ray tracing improves things.
Resident Evil Village Image Quality: Ray Tracing On / Off
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Or doesn’t, I guess. Seriously, the effect is subtle at the best of times, and in many scenes, I couldn’t even tell you whether RT was on or off. If there’s a strong light source, it can make a difference. Sometimes a window or glass surface will change with RT enabled, but even then (e.g., in the images of the truck and van) it’s not always clearly better.
The above gallery should be ordered with RT off and RT on for each pair of images. You can click (on a PC) to get the full images, which I’ve compressed to JPGs (and they look visually almost the same as the original PNG files). Indoor areas tend to show the subtle lighting effects more than outside, but unless a patch dramatically changes the way RT looks, Resident Evil Village will be another entry in the growing list of ray tracing games where you could skip it and not really miss anything.
Resident Evil Village will release to the public on May 7. So far, reviews are quite favorable, and if you enjoyed Resident Evil 7, it’s an easy recommendation. Just don’t go in expecting ray tracing to make a big difference in the way the game looks or feels.
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