AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT vs. Radeon RX 6800 XT

As we speak we’re evaluating AMD’s finest worth high-end GPU from the earlier era, the Radeon RX 6800 XT, to the brand new Radeon RX 7900 XT, which with a just lately discounted value of $800 is form of first rate worth for players buying within the premium phase.

We need to see how these two GPUs examine in an enormous pattern of video games, however you may be questioning, why the 6800 XT and never the 6900 XT or 6950 XT? The reason being that the Radeon 6800 XT was the good choice amongst Radeon GPUs, very like how the RTX 3080 10GB was the final smart GeForce GPU, a minimum of based mostly on the MSRP.

Sometimes you can count on to pay ~50% extra for the Radeon 6900 XT for a mere 10% increase over the 6800 XT. Nowadays, the 6900 XT is all offered out, leaving the 6800 XT at round $570, whereas the Radeon 6950 XT could be had for $680, making it ~20% costlier for roughly ~20% extra efficiency.

We may have used both the Radeon 6800 XT or 6950 XT for this comparability, however in the end selected the 6800 XT because it was the extra smart product on the MSRP. It was additionally accessible for an extended time period, and was usually rather more reasonably priced, so we consider significantly extra Radeon 6800 XT’s had been offered to players.

With that out of the best way, let’s discuss concerning the match up. The AMD Radeon 6800 XT was launched again in November 2020 for $650, however because of the crypto increase, getting any graphics card close to that MSRP was mission inconceivable on the time.

In the meantime, the Radeon 7900 XT can be 38% costlier at its instructed $900 retail pricing at launch. Nonetheless, it did not take lengthy for AMD to confess this was too excessive and dropped that to $800 which is extra acceptable. At that value, the newer Radeon is 23% costlier than the 6800 XT’s MSRP, whereas present retail pricing sees the brand new 7900 XT costing 40% extra.

Based mostly on consumer ballot knowledge from three years in the past, we all know most PC players need to see a minimum of a 50% efficiency uplift earlier than you will think about upgrading your GPU, and presumably this needs to be at across the similar value level that you just initially bought at.

So in the event you had purchased the 6800 XT on the MSRP, which means the 7900 XT is already simply over 20% costlier, and thus ideally it’d have to be a minimum of 60% sooner, if not 70-80% sooner for 6800 XT homeowners to tug the set off on the improve. That is an issue for AMD as we’re about to find.

For powering our check system we used is the Ryzen 9 7950X3D however with the second CCD disabled. We do that to make sure most efficiency in all video games, basically testing with upcoming 7800X3D. This CPU has been examined on the Gigabyte X670E Aorus Grasp utilizing 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 reminiscence.

As normal we’ll go over the info for round a dozen titles earlier than leaping into the massive breakdown graphs. The resolutions of curiosity are 1440p and 4K.

Benchmarks

First we’ll check out Cyberpunk 2077 utilizing the prime quality preset with upscaling disabled. The Radeon 7900 XT is 33% sooner than the 6800 XT at 1440p and 44% sooner at 4K, so on this instance RDNA 3 is scaling a lot better than RDNA 2 because the decision will increase. 4K efficiency was a weak point of AMD’s earlier structure, so it is good to see this has been addressed with RDNA 3.

AMD additionally improved ray tracing efficiency with RDNA 3, although we’re not seeing any proof of that with this recreation.

Enabling RT results with assistance from FSR upscaling, the Radeon 7900 XT was 36% sooner at 1440p and and 43% sooner at 4K. That is principally the identical margins we noticed with out RT.

Dying Gentle 2 utilizing the prime quality preset allows DX11 and gives us with what needs to be a reasonably typical consequence. The Radeon 7900 XT is 32% sooner at 1440p and 31% sooner at 4K.

Not an enormous win for the newer Radeon GPU, however once more that is usually what we might count on to see, particularly with ray tracing disabled.

Talking of which, enabling the prime quality ray tracing preset which requires DX12, we see that the 7900 XT is now 46% sooner at 1440p and 44% sooner at 4K, so the RDNA 3 structure is scaling higher right here, however efficiency total is not wonderful with simply 67 fps at 1440p – although that is definitely extra pleasant than 46 fps. In that sense, the Radeon 7900 XT is extra usable for these hoping to allow RT results.

Surprisingly, the Radeon 7900 XT is way sooner in Name of Responsibility Trendy Warfare II, pumping out a formidable 174 fps at 1440p to make it nearly 50% sooner than the 6800 XT.

The margin stays the identical at 4K, the place the 1% lows of the 7900 XT matched the common body price of the 6800 XT. A giant win right here for the newer Radeon GPU.

The Radeon 7900 XT additionally presents massive efficiency positive factors in A Plague Story: Requiem with 46% larger body charges at 1440p and 4K. It is a robust displaying for the brand new RDNA 3 GPU and can be sufficient to entice most into upgrading, assuming the value was related, which it is not.

Warhammer III additionally sees massive efficiency positive factors for the 7900 XT, delivering 45% extra frames at 1440p and 47% extra at 4K. The 4K uplift might be particularly noticeable as had been going from 44 fps to a a lot smoother 65 fps in that instance.

The Callisto Protocol allows FSR by default with the extremely high quality preset, so we have not altered that configuration. Below these circumstances the Radeon 7900 XT is 41% sooner at 1440p and 39% sooner at 4K, a stable efficiency uplift ignoring the price enhance.

Atomic Coronary heart is one other recreation that sees practically a 40% enhance at each examined resolutions. The Radeon 6800 XT is greater than succesful at 1440p with 74 fps on common and with some tweaks to the visuals you can get that up round 100 fps.

The actual distinction could be seen for these of you concentrating on 4K, the place the 6800 XT fell under 60 fps, so once more some tuning of the setting may get you to 60 fps with out a lot of a visible downgrade, however you’d additionally get nearer to 90 fps with the 7900 XT.

Shifting over to Fortnite the Radeon 7900 XT is simply 29% sooner than the 6800 XT at 1440p, which is an affordable efficiency uplift. Once more, it is at 4K the place you’ll actually discover the distinction between these two GPUs.

Switching to DirectX 12 degrades the efficiency of each GPUs in Fortnite and now the Radeon 6800 XT is sweet for simply 60 fps at 1440p, making the 7900 XT 34% sooner, whereas it was as soon as once more 40% sooner at 4K.

With {hardware} ray tracing enabled together with upscaling we do not see an enormous change to the margins, at 1440p the 7900 XT was 33% sooner after which 41% sooner at 4K, so similar to what was seen with out RT enabled.

Subsequent up now we have Hogwarts Legacy, the place the Radeon 7900 XT is 34% sooner at 1440p utilizing the extremely high quality preset and 29% sooner at 4K. Pretty delicate positive factors in comparison with what we have seen thus far.

Enabling ray tracing in the identical recreation blows out the 1440p margin to 48% at 1440p, although oddly we’re nonetheless solely seeing a 29% margin at 4K. Efficiency for each GPUs is roughly halved when in comparison with what was seen at 1440p.

Shifting on to Halo Infinite we’re taking a look at a 24% margin at 1440p. Actually one of many smallest margins seen thus far, after which 32% at 4K, although each did ship extremely playable efficiency, however you can argue that the Radeon 7900 XT enabled a greater excessive refresh price expertise.

Forza Horizon 5 is one title the place RDNA 3 performs the worst relative to RDNA 2. At 1440p the Radeon 7900 XT was simply 8% sooner than the 6800 XT after which 18% sooner at 4K. Scaling at 4K is best on the newer GPU, however efficiency total is weak on this title.

Demise Stranding is one other weak title for RDNA 3. Right here the Radeon 7900 XT is simply 5% sooner than the 6800 XT at 1440p, which you can declare appears to be like like CPU restricted knowledge.

The 4K outcomes definitely again that declare because the Radeon 7900 XT is 25% sooner, which an enormous enchancment over 5% however effectively under what we have usually discovered.

In Struggle Thunder we’re totally CPU restricted utilizing the very best in-game high quality settings. There’s not a lot to glean from these outcomes, aside from to say that for these of you primarily taking part in much less visually demanding titles resembling Struggle Thunder, upgrading from a 6800 XT goes to be a waste of time (and cash).

Counter-Strike International Offensive outcomes are just like these from Struggle Thunder as the sport is generally CPU restricted, particularly at 1440p. At 4K the Radeon 7900 XT was barely sooner, although we’re speaking a few minor 9% enchancment.

Efficiency Abstract

After taking a look at 14 of the 50 video games we examined, some with ray tracing results enabled, it is time to see how these two GPUs examine throughout the whole lineup of video games.

Beginning with the 1440p knowledge, on common the Radeon 7900 XT is 32% sooner than the 6800 XT, which is a gentle efficiency enhance, particularly provided that at MSRP the 7900 XT prices 23% extra or 40% based mostly on present retail pricing.

We did see efficiency positive factors as excessive as 59%, with over 40% positive factors in 16 of the video games examined. That stated there have been 19 titles the place efficiency ranged from 20-30%, resulting in a 32% margin total.

Leaping as much as 4K did not change the general consequence. The Radeon 7900 XT is 35% sooner on common, although we did see quite a few video games the place the additional 20-40% resulted in a lot smoother efficiency at 4K.

These of you hoping to recreation at 4K, the Radeon 7900 XT is a extra spectacular improve over the 6800 XT than the 35% consequence would have you ever consider. However sadly, given the distinction in value, that does not change that by way of worth the Radeon 7900 XT is considerably underwhelming, even at $800.

Out of curiosity, we eliminated any recreation check that had ray tracing enabled and recalculated the averages. This lowered the Radeon 7900 XT’s lead over the 6800 XT at 1440p to 30%, a minor 2% distinction in comparison with the info seen beforehand combining all the outcomes.

It is a related story at 4K, we’re taking a look at a 2% change down from 35% sooner for the 7900 XT to 33% sooner.

How about simply taking a look at ray tracing-enabled titles? Nicely, at 1440p the 7900 XT was on common 39% sooner throughout the 16 titles examined. That is up 7% when in comparison with the mixed outcomes. Not an enormous change, but it surely’s clear that for essentially the most half RDNA 3 handles ray tracing a bit higher than RDNA 2.

We’re trying on the similar 39% enchancment on common at 4K for the Radeon 7900 XT over the 6800 XT.

What We Discovered

For those who’re buying round for a brand new Radeon GPU or seeking to improve, you now know that throughout a variety of video games the Radeon 7900 XT is about 30% sooner than the 6800 XT (with out ray tracing enabled), and nearer to 40% sooner with ray tracing enabled.

These are first rate positive factors, although the efficiency uplift is not essentially the priority right here, Relatively it is the value creep. As we have famous on this article, at this time you are confronted with having to spend 40% extra on the Radeon 7900 XT over the 6800 XT.

If the Radeon 6800 XT was nonetheless promoting on the $650 MSRP, then the Radeon 7900 XT can be a bit extra thrilling at $800, as you would be paying slightly over 20% extra for what usually quantities to slightly over 30% extra efficiency.

However because it stands proper now, the 6800 XT and 7900 XT could possibly be members of the identical product household. Certainly, the 7900 XT is extra energy environment friendly, however with each GPUs consuming an identical degree of energy, players are hardly going to care.

We might definitely pay the premium for the Radeon 7900 XT over the 6800 XT if we had been occupied with ray tracing, however then if that had been the case you are usually a lot better off with a GeForce GPU, just like the RTX 4070 Ti, for instance.

In our opinion, it is not a scenario the place you would be tossing up between these two merchandise. in the event you’ve received $800 to spend on a GPU and also you need the very best efficiency potential, the Radeon 7900 XT turns into the plain alternative. But when your price range is $600 and you are not keen to stretch it any additional, you then purchase what you may afford and proper now nothing beats the Radeon 6800 XT at $570.

The present GeForce different can be the 8GB RTX 3070 Ti, which could be had for $600, however the 6800 XT is on common ~20% sooner and with twice the VRAM, it seems to be the higher purchase.

As for upgrading, that is not on the playing cards both. If there was an RDNA 3 product that provided 30-40% higher efficiency than the 6800 XT on the similar value, then based mostly on polling knowledge that will solely be sufficient of an uplift to entice round 30% of you to improve, so hopefully AMD and Nvidia’s subsequent era of GPUs will supply much more.

However truly, we went again and polled players once more, asking the very same query in 2023 and now 50% of you’ll solely improve for a 60% or bigger efficiency uplift. This sort of is sensible as graphics playing cards at the moment are costlier than earlier than, so if you are going to spend extra you are going to need extra. Not nice information for AMD and Nvidia although… the Radeon 7900 XT is roughly twice as quick because the Radeon 5700 XT, but it surely additionally prices twice as a lot, and we name that poor progress over a 4-year interval.