In the present day we’re evaluating AMD’s greatest worth high-end GPU from the earlier era, the Radeon RX 6800 XT, to the brand new Radeon RX 7900 XT, which with a lately discounted worth of $800 is type of respectable worth for players purchasing within the premium phase.
We wish to see how these two GPUs examine in a large 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, not less than primarily based on the MSRP.
Usually you possibly can anticipate to pay ~50% extra for the Radeon 6900 XT for a mere 10% enhance over the 6800 XT. Nowadays, the 6900 XT is all bought out, leaving the 6800 XT at round $570, whereas the Radeon 6950 XT may be had for $680, making it ~20% costlier for roughly ~20% extra efficiency.
We might 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 out there for an extended time frame, and was usually rather more inexpensive, so we consider significantly extra Radeon 6800 XT’s have been bought to players.
With that out of the best way, let’s speak concerning the match up. The AMD Radeon 6800 XT was launched again in November 2020 for $650, however as a result of crypto growth, getting any graphics card close to that MSRP was mission unattainable on the time.
In the meantime, the Radeon 7900 XT can be 38% costlier at its urged $900 retail pricing at launch. Nevertheless, it did not take lengthy for AMD to confess this was too excessive and dropped that to $800 which is extra acceptable. At that worth, 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 person ballot information from three years in the past, we all know most PC players wish to see not less than a 50% efficiency uplift earlier than you may think about upgrading your GPU, and presumably this needs to be at across the identical worth level that you just initially bought at.
So in case you had purchased the 6800 XT on the MSRP, meaning the 7900 XT is already simply over 20% costlier, and thus ideally it’d must be not less than 60% quicker, if not 70-80% quicker for 6800 XT homeowners to drag the set off on the improve. That is an issue for AMD as we’re about to find.
For powering our take a look at 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, primarily testing with upcoming 7800X3D. This CPU has been examined on the Gigabyte X670E Aorus Grasp utilizing 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 reminiscence.
As traditional 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 top quality preset with upscaling disabled. The Radeon 7900 XT is 33% quicker than the 6800 XT at 1440p and 44% quicker 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 sport.
Enabling RT results with assistance from FSR upscaling, the Radeon 7900 XT was 36% quicker at 1440p and and 43% quicker at 4K. That is mainly the identical margins we noticed with out RT.
Dying Gentle 2 utilizing the top quality preset permits DX11 and supplies us with what needs to be a reasonably typical outcome. The Radeon 7900 XT is 32% quicker at 1440p and 31% quicker at 4K.
Not an enormous win for the newer Radeon GPU, however once more that is sometimes what we would anticipate to see, particularly with ray tracing disabled.
Talking of which, enabling the top quality ray tracing preset which requires DX12, we see that the 7900 XT is now 46% quicker at 1440p and 44% quicker 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 actually extra gratifying 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 far quicker in Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, pumping out a formidable 174 fps at 1440p to make it virtually 50% quicker than the 6800 XT.
The margin stays the identical at 4K, the place the 1% lows of the 7900 XT matched the common body fee of the 6800 XT. An enormous win right here for the newer Radeon GPU.
The Radeon 7900 XT additionally provides massive efficiency positive factors in A Plague Story: Requiem with 46% higher 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 worth was comparable, 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 will probably be particularly noticeable as have been going from 44 fps to a a lot smoother 65 fps in that instance.
The Callisto Protocol permits 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% quicker at 1440p and 39% quicker at 4K, a stable efficiency uplift ignoring the fee improve.
Atomic Coronary heart is one other sport that sees almost a 40% improve 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 possibly can get that up round 100 fps.
The actual distinction may be seen for these of you focusing on 4K, the place the 6800 XT fell under 60 fps, so once more some tuning of the setting might 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% quicker 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 nice for simply 60 fps at 1440p, making the 7900 XT 34% quicker, whereas it was as soon as once more 40% quicker 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% quicker after which 41% quicker at 4K, so similar to what was seen with out RT enabled.
Subsequent up we’ve Hogwarts Legacy, the place the Radeon 7900 XT is 34% quicker at 1440p utilizing the extremely high quality preset and 29% quicker at 4K. Pretty delicate positive factors in comparison with what we have seen to this point.
Enabling ray tracing in the identical sport 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 a 24% margin at 1440p. Actually one of many smallest margins seen to this point, after which 32% at 4K, although each did ship extremely playable efficiency, however you possibly can argue that the Radeon 7900 XT enabled a greater excessive refresh fee 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% quicker than the 6800 XT after which 18% quicker at 4K. Scaling at 4K is best on the newer GPU, however efficiency total is weak on this title.
Dying Stranding is one other weak title for RDNA 3. Right here the Radeon 7900 XT is simply 5% quicker than the 6800 XT at 1440p, which you possibly can declare appears to be like like CPU restricted information.
The 4K outcomes actually again that declare because the Radeon 7900 XT is 25% quicker, which a giant enchancment over 5% however nicely under what we have sometimes discovered.
In Warfare Thunder we’re solely 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 similar to Warfare Thunder, upgrading from a 6800 XT goes to be a waste of time (and cash).
Counter-Strike International Offensive outcomes are much like these from Warfare Thunder as the sport is generally CPU restricted, particularly at 1440p. At 4K the Radeon 7900 XT was barely quicker, although we’re speaking a few minor 9% enchancment.
Efficiency Abstract
After 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 your complete lineup of video games.
Beginning with the 1440p information, on common the Radeon 7900 XT is 32% quicker than the 6800 XT, which is a light efficiency improve, particularly on condition that at MSRP the 7900 XT prices 23% extra or 40% primarily based 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 outcome. The Radeon 7900 XT is 35% quicker 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 sport at 4K, the Radeon 7900 XT is a extra spectacular improve over the 6800 XT than the 35% outcome would have you ever consider. However sadly, given the distinction in worth, that does not change that when it comes to worth the Radeon 7900 XT is considerably underwhelming, even at $800.
Out of curiosity, we eliminated any sport take a look at that had ray tracing enabled and recalculated the averages. This diminished 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 comparable story at 4K, we’re a 2% change down from 35% quicker for the 7900 XT to 33% quicker.
How about simply ray tracing-enabled titles? Effectively, at 1440p the 7900 XT was on common 39% quicker throughout the 16 titles examined. That is up 7% when in comparison with the mixed outcomes. Not a large change, but it surely’s clear that for probably the most half RDNA 3 handles ray tracing a bit higher than RDNA 2.
We’re trying on the identical 39% enchancment on common at 4K for the Radeon 7900 XT over the 6800 XT.
What We Realized
For those who’re purchasing round for a brand new Radeon GPU or trying to improve, you now know that throughout a variety of video games the Radeon 7900 XT is about 30% quicker than the 6800 XT (with out ray tracing enabled), and nearer to 40% quicker with ray tracing enabled.
These are respectable positive factors, although the efficiency uplift is not essentially the priority right here, Slightly it is the worth creep. As we have famous on this article, as we speak 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 sometimes quantities to slightly over 30% extra efficiency.
However because it stands proper now, the 6800 XT and 7900 XT might 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 would actually pay the premium for the Radeon 7900 XT over the 6800 XT if we have been considering ray tracing, however then if that have 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 isn’t a state of affairs the place you would be tossing up between these two merchandise. in case you’ve received $800 to spend on a GPU and also you need the perfect efficiency attainable, the Radeon 7900 XT turns into the apparent alternative. But when your finances is $600 and you are not prepared to stretch it any additional, then you definitely 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 may be had for $600, however the 6800 XT is on common ~20% quicker 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 identical worth, then primarily based on polling information that might 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 really, 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 type 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.
