What’s important for a gaming graphics card now? It should be sold freely, but at the same time, it should not be desirable to miners. AMD has presented a fresh model, promises a reasonable price, but what about the new product with performance?
The AMD RX 6700 XT. Following the AMD conference on March 3, this card seems to be placed as a direct competitor of the RTX 3070 in 1440p. We cannot imagine two cards coming to compete on the 1440p, especially since their architecture is different.
AMD platform equipped with a Ryzen 9 5900X combined with AMD SAM technology, the ” Smart Access Memory,” which would have an impact on performance. Therefore, we will carry out our comparative tests on our usual platform equipped with an i9-10900K at 5 GHz on an APEX Z490 motherboard. Still, we will also add the results ” in-game ” with a Ryzen 9 5900X on a Crosshair VIII Dark Hero where we will compare this AMD RX 6700 XT to the RTX 3070 FE as well as to the RTX 3060 Ti FE.
- 40 compute units RDNA 2
- 40 Ray Accelerator blocks (one for each compute block)
- Frequencies: base 2.3 GHz, “game” 2.4 GHz, auto-acceleration up to 2.74 GHz
- 12 GB DDR6 192 bit + 96 MB Infinity Cache
- Video memory frequency 1.98 MHz, auto-overclocking up to 2.15 GHz
How RDNA 2 Works
The AMD RDNA Architecture 2nd Generation supports the Radeon 6000 Series graphics. The Xbox Series X and PS5 GPUs use a similar development, however with notable differences. The hardware-accelerated ray tracing distinguishes it from the RX 5000. Its implementation differs from NVIDIA’s RT cores, therefore comparing the number of computing units is pointless. However, built-in ray tracing is far from RDNA 2’s most essential feature.
AMD’s reference design is predominantly aluminum and occupies exactly two slots in height – it is significantly smaller and lighter than the RX 6800 XT. Cooling is provided by two coolers and a relatively small radiator with side blowing. Some heat also helps dissipate the metal case, which is connected to the board with thermal pads.
| AMD RX 6700 XT | |
 | |
| $ | CHECK PRICE |
| Brand | AMD |
| GPU Model | RX 6700 XT |
| Stream Processors | 2560 CUDA Cores |
| Boost Clock Speed | 2581 MHz |
| Interface | PCI Express 4.0 x16 |
| Supported APIs | DirectX: 12 OpenGL: 4.6 Vulkan |
| Operating System Support | Windows |
Before starting this AMD RX 6700 XT presentation, here is a summary table that will allow you to highlight the differences between the different models.
Architecture
This AMD RX 6700 XT is the fourth card we are testing and benefits from AMD’s new architecture: RDNA2. This is intended to succeed the RX 5700 XT, which represented the manufacturer’s most powerful card and launched a little over two years ago. This RX 6700 XT benefits from a Navi 22 XT graphics chip with a 7 nm manufacturing process carried out by TSMC. The size of the chip is 335 mm², which makes it smaller than its big sisters (519 mm²), which benefit from a Navi 21 chip. Currently, we do not know the number of transistors. This model has 2560 CUDA Cores, while the RX 6800 has 3840.
The AMD RX 6700 XT graphics card has 16 GB of GDDR6 in 192-bit, translating into a bandwidth of 384.0 GB / s. Today’s copy has a TDP of 230 watts, twenty less than the RX 6800.
Cooling
This card features a new cooling system that goes from three fans to two 85mm fans. This RX 6700 XT is now the model benefiting from the lowest price in the RX 6000 series. Logically, we should also see an RX 6700 land in the coming weeks. The design of this reference card is very pleasing visually with a touch of RGB backlighting on the top with the RADEON logo, which will light up in red when the graphics card is powered on.
In terms of the card’s dimensions, we are on proportions of 267 x 110 x 40 mm with a thickness of 2 slots which will allow it to fit easily into standard size boxes. The front fascia is predominantly black and gray plastic, with a gray metal insert in the center flanked by the letter R.
On the front face, the two 85 mm fans are responsible for keeping the radiator in contact with the graphics chip cool and the various components of the PCB. These fans have 9 blades and will remain at rest when the card is not requested and vice versa, become active again when the temperature requires it. As can be seen, hot air escapes only through the top edge of the card. It remains to be seen whether this surface is sufficient.
The radiator is quite large and is a little longer than the PCB. It is crossed only by three 6 mm heat pipes. The part in contact with the GPU is made of copper. The special thing is that the four fixing screws placed around the GPU resume a traditional center distance. The memory chips and the memory supply stage are covered with thermal pads to optimize heat transfer to the radiator.
The only role of the backplate is to stiffen the PCB and prevent it from twisting under the weight of the card. We especially like the shape of this backplate which gives the impression that the PCB is enclosed in a shell.
Memory Support
| Base Clock | 2321 MHz |
| GPU Clock Rate | 2424 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 16 Gb/s |
| Memory Configuration | 12 GB |
| Memory Interface | GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface Width | 192-Bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 384 GB/s |
The base one is announced at 1582 MHz when the Boost peaks at 2664 MHz in terms of frequency. Meanwhile, the 12 GB of G-DDR6 memory runs at 2000 MHz (384 GB / s) on a 192-bit bus. Our RX 6700 XT in the AMD version thus gives us a reference point for the frequencies offered by AMD. Although you will see when testing the Powercolor version, AMD seems to have already pushed the frequencies of this benchmark card quite a bit.
Small passage through GPU-Z to verify that the information read is correct. The GPU frequency is 1582 MHz, and the Boost frequency is 2664 MHz. Remember that the latter will be different during benchmarks depending on the quality of your chip and determined by GPU Boost 4.0. The memory has a frequency of 2000 MHz. We remind you of how GPU Boost works here.
Display Support
| Display Connectors | 3 x DisplayPort 1.4a 1 x HDMI 2.1 |
| Maximum Digital Resolution | 7680 x 4320 @60 Hz |
| Dimensions | 279 x 131 mm |
| Cooler Type | Open Fansink |
| Lighting | RGB LED |
Two standard connectors for 8 + 6 pins are responsible for the power supply – AMD recommends using a PSU with at least 650 watts.
For connecting screens, three Displayport 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 are provided, compatible with 4K and 8K TVs.
At first glance, the memory subsystem of the Radeon RX 6700 XT resembles the cheaper GeForce RTX 3060: 12 GB GDDR6 with a reduced 192-bit bus (six channels of 32 bits). With such a bus, you can use either 6 or 12 GB of memory (six modules of 1 or 2 GB each) since different modules within one card are considered far from the optimal solution.
However, AMD graphics cards are fundamentally different from NVIDIA – the memory subsystem in RDNA2 is strengthened with a separate 96 MB Infinity Cache. The manufacturer claims that the actual memory access speed is 2.5 times higher than that of video cards with a 256-bit bus, so the efficiency of the RX 6700 XT is higher than that of the RTX 3060 of a similar specification.
Tests in games
AMD claims that the Radeon RX 6700 XT is designed to play at 1440p – so we ran most of our tests with it and at the highest graphics settings possible.
Overall, the GPU looks pretty good in the 1440p benchmarks, delivering a decent frame rate. Of course, it all depends on the graphics settings and the games themselves.
Power Requirements
| PCI Power Connectors | 2 x 8-Pin |
| Power Requirement | 220W |
| Suggested PSU | 650W |
To power the card, there is an 8-pin connector + a 6-pin. AMD recommends using a 650-watt power supply for your setup if you go for an RX 6700 XT. Finally, note that the card has three DisplayPort 1.4a video outputs and an HDMI 2.1 port. It can also be noted that the square does not have a recessed surface to force the hot air to escape through the upper edge of the card.
This reference version proposed by AMD plays on simplicity, which is not to displease us while maintaining a design that will be associated with most motherboards.
Would you buy an AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT?
- The performance is nothing, and the price seems adequate: I am already preparing a wallet.
- No, for that kind of money, it’s better to take something from NVIDIA
- I don’t play on PC at all, and I don’t care about hardware issues.
PROS
- Excellent quality and style;
- Cooling system with passive mode;
- Very decent work culture;
- Allowable temperatures under load;
- Hardware-accelerated ray tracing;
- Some interesting AMD technologies (including SMA);
- 12 GB of GDDR6 memory onboard;
- High factory clock speed of the GPU.
CONS
- Performance closer to RTX 3060 Ti rather than RTX 3070;
- Narrow memory bus (192 bits);
- Overall poor ray tracing performance;
- There is no real alternative to NVIDIA DLSS;
- Price relative to GeForce RTX 3070.
