AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 Overview

AMD has for a number of years now lagged in the back of Nvidia within the graphics efficiency race, specifically on the excessive finish the place ray tracing has turn out to be the brand new must-have characteristic to sing their own praises, and patrons all the time need the newest and largest. The corporate’s issues are compounded in India, the place destructive pricing and restricted distribution continuously tip the scales in Nvidia’s favour even if efficiency is similar. Simply find it irresistible did with its Ryzen desktop CPUs a couple of years in the past, AMD has been running on turning its fortunes round with new Radeon GPUs constructed across the RDNA structure and its successors.

With the brand new Radeon RX 6000 collection in keeping with the RDNA 2 structure, AMD thinks it might probably take Nvidia on even on the very most sensible finish. 3 GPUs were introduced thus far: the flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT which hopes to take at the GeForce RTX 3090; and the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800, which might be for avid gamers who need nice high quality at 4K however do not need infinitely stretchable budgets. That is probably the most assured that AMD has been in a long time, and sure, there is even ray tracing – or no less than an early implementation of it.

Lately, we are checking out and reviewing the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800. Those GPUs have been introduced in overdue 2020 however as anticipated, availability in India has been slightly constrained. Does their efficiency justify going towards the grain and opting for them over competing Nvidia choices? Can AMD pull off a decisive victory in any case? Let’s to find out.

AMD has designed a steel wraparound shroud with 3 tradition axial lovers

 

AMD RDNA 2 structure

Whilst it would have lagged in relation to PC marketplace percentage, AMD’s graphics department has ruled the high-end gaming console house for years now. The present and former generations of Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox consoles have all used some type of Radeon GPU, which does give AMD some benefits and perception into what features avid gamers and recreation builders shall be the use of over the following a number of years.

Ultimate 12 months’s Radeon RX 5700 XT, in keeping with the RDNA 1 structure, was once an important growth over its predecessors, handing over 50 % higher efficiency in line with Watt. AMD now says that RDNA 2 can succeed in 54 % higher efficiency in line with Watt than even that. The RDNA2 chip on which those two GPUs are based totally has over 26 billion transistors, despite the fact that each and every GPU fashion makes use of other quantities of those sources.

On the structure stage, the choice of Compute Devices (CUs) has doubled, going from 40 to 80, and new ray accelerator blocks were added for ray tracing. Even if RDNA 2 makes use of the similar 7nm production procedure as RDNA, optimisations to energy dealing with, the processing pipeline itself, and boosting clock speeds via as much as 30 % has resulted on this generation-on-generation efficiency uplift.

A large a part of that comes from what AMD is asking “Infinity Cache”. This high-density 128MB L3 cache is in keeping with AMD’s Epyc server CPU designs. It is mentioned to be a lot sooner than gaining access to GDDR6 RAM and is built-in into the on-die Infinity Cloth interconnect for high-bandwidth, low-latency verbal exchange. The Infinity cache is helping stay knowledge able for the GPU so it might probably paintings at excessive frequencies with out getting bottlenecked, which is a bonus when coping with 4K-quality recreation property.

Any other new characteristic, which AMD calls “Sensible Get admission to Reminiscence”, necessarily lets in a pc’s CPU to at once get right of entry to all the contents of the GPU’s reminiscence. This has thus far been restricted to 256MB on account of the character of the PCIe connectivity protocol, however PCIe 4.Zero now lets in for what is known as a resizable base deal with sign in (BAR). Sensible Get admission to Reminiscence would require a Ryzen 5000 collection desktop CPU and Radeon 6000 collection GPU, plus a 500-series motherboard, and naturally the entire newest BIOS and driving force updates. That is mentioned to ship as much as 11 % higher efficiency in some video games, and builders may optimise higher for it one day.

At the side of ray tracing, the DirectX 12 Final API introduces DirectStorage, which we could a GPU load recreation property at once from a high-speed SSD to GPU reminiscence, with out going thru machine RAM or requiring CPU sources. That is being implemented in next-gen consoles and will have to give a boost to loading time for ranges and transitions in video games.

The up to date HDMI 2.1 usual will permit for 4K 144Hz or 8K 60Hz video output, and AMD says it is able for Show Flow Compression (DSC), which will have to permit for even upper resolutions. If you happen to circulate your gameplay on-line, it’s possible you’ll have the benefit of 8K AV1 decode and 8K HEVC encode in {hardware}.

The Radeon Device software now helps computerized in addition to absolutely guide overclocking. As well as, Efficiency Tuning Presets will let customers practice optimised per-game profiles, which AMD says is not going to void a graphics card’s guaranty. Radeon Anti-Lag and Radeon Spice up are each options that may doubtlessly make video games really feel extra responsive via optimising enter latency and dynamically lowering solution in small patches.

The inventory Radeon RX 6800 occupies two slots whilst the Radeon RX 6800 XT will want two and a part.

 

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 specs

4K is the objective solution for all video games at top quality, even for the Radeon RX 6800 – lower-priced GPUs will probably be introduced later this 12 months for individuals who are concentrated on 1440p and 1080p, however the 3 fashions introduced thus far all goal enthusiast-class avid gamers. The baseline for the Radeon RX 6800 is 4K 60fps in just about all current-day video games, and it is located as an growth over the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, because of this it is going to take at the GeForce RTX 3070. You will have to additionally see over 90fps at 1440p, in step with AMD.

The upper-priced Radeon RX 6800 XT is ready to compete with the GeForce RTX 3080, staying above 4K 60fps in as of late’s AAA video games even at the very best quality settings, or handing over 144-240fps at 1440p in lots of esports titles.

Then again, enabling ray tracing will take a toll on those figures. Even AMD’s respectable projected efficiency numbers point out that 1080p and 1440p are extra sensible expectancies if you wish to keep at or above 60fps. Nvidia will get round this the use of its machine-learning-powered upscaling set of rules DLSS (Deep Studying Supersampling), which we could its GPUs render decrease resolutions after which stretch them out with out dropping high quality. AMD has one thing an identical within the works, however it’s not able but. The excellent news is that the GPU’s ray tracing {hardware} is not only for video games; it is going to assist accelerate paintings in content material introduction packages comparable to Blender and Autodesk Maya.

The Radeon RX 6800 options 60 lively CUs with one ray accelerator and 64 circulate processors each and every, for a complete of three,840 circulate processors. It runs at burst speeds of as much as 2105MHz. Its larger sibling, the Radeon RX 6800 XT, has 72 CUs with an equivalent choice of ray accelerators and four,608 circulate processors, and runs at as much as 2250MHz. Each characteristic 16GB of 256-bit GDDR6 RAM with a height bandwidth of 512GBps. The 2 have rated TDPs of 250W and 300W, and AMD recommends 650W and 750W energy provides respectively.

You get one HDMI 2.1 port, two DisplayPort 1.Four outputs, and a USB Sort-C port at the inventory Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT

 

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 reference design

AMD’s spouse manufacturers, which come with Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire, XFX, and Powercolor are loose to design their very own graphics playing cards that includes Radeon GPUs, together with ones with AIO liquid coolers. Then again, reasonably some of the playing cards you can see out there will use AMD’s reference design. Sapphire specifically, which is without doubt one of the extra simply to be had manufacturers in India, shall be promoting playing cards just like the reference gadgets that we’re reviewing as of late.

AMD does not promote its personal playing cards like Nvidia does with its Founders Version fashions, however a large number of paintings nonetheless is going into their design. The Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 reference playing cards are heavy and really feel solidly constructed. They each have vapour chamber coolers and a die-cast aluminium shroud with 3 custom-designed axial lovers. The lovers can spin down totally when the GPU is not being stressed out.

All that is to optimise acoustic in addition to cooling potency, and also you will have to to find those playing cards quieter than the former technology. Even so, this design could also be claimed to permit for a point of overclocking to stay lovers glad. AMD says it has used a graphite pad to interface between the GPU itself and the cooler, slightly than thermal compound which will dry out through the years. There also are thermal pads between the cooler, GDDR6 reminiscence, and gear circuitry for higher warmth conductivity.

AMD has used usual 8-pin PCIe energy connectors, versus Nvidia’s contemporary shrunken usual that calls for an adapter. Each the Radeon RX 6800 XT and the Radeon RX 6800 have two 8-pin connectors dealing with upwards on the rear.

The Radeon RX 6800 XT reference design occupies 2.Five slots whilst the RX 6800 is slightly slimmer. Each are a normal 10.Five inches lengthy. AMD has used its signature crimson color as an accessory across the uncovered heatsink vents at the most sensible and there is a crimson illuminated Radeon brand on each and every card.

Each playing cards have one HDMI 2.1 port, two DisplayPort 1.Four ports, and oddly, a USB Sort-C port. AMD says this permits for single-wire connections to head-mounted presentations since it might probably delivery a video sign plus as much as 27W of energy. If you have already got a triple-monitor setup, it’s possible you’ll want some adapters. The verdict to head with USB paves the way in which for long term screens that may be daisy-chained and feature a USB hub or different built-in peripherals, however it is a captivating selection seeing as how the VirtualLink usual is successfully useless, or even Nvidia got rid of this port from its Founders Version playing cards after only one technology.

The Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT each carry out smartly in benchmarks and recreation assessments

 

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 efficiency

All assessments have been run the use of an AMD Ryzen 2700 CPU, ASRock X470 Taichi Final motherboard, 2x8GB of G.Talent F4-3400C16D-16GSXW DDR4 RAM, a 1TB Samsung 860 Evo SSD, and a Corsair RM650 energy delivery. The visual display unit was once a 4K Asus PB287Q. Home windows 10 was once up to date to the 2H20 unlock and all drivers have been up-to-the-minute together with the Radeon Device Adrenalin 2020.12.2 unlock.

Artificial assessments allow us to examine other GPUs at once. 3DMark is the most obvious position to begin. The present-gen Time Undercover agent and Time Undercover agent Excessive assessments display efficiency scaling somewhat predictably with worth around the Nvidia and AMD camps. The GeForce RTX 30-series does pull forward within the Port Royal DirectX 12 check, whilst the Radeon RX 6800 siblings have the benefit within the older Fireplace Strike assessments. Unigine’s Superposition benchmark, working at its 4K Optimised preset, additionally scales with worth. If all graphics playing cards have been to be had at their MRPs, there could be no dangerous alternatives, most effective feature- and budget-related selections.

Coming to in-game benchmarks, A ways Cry Five at 4K the use of its Extremely preset, and controlled to hit averages of 80fps at the Radeon RX 6800 XT and 72fps at the RX 6800. Center Earth: Shadow of Warfare additionally ran easily at 4K with its Extremely high quality preset, averaging 73fps at the Radeon RX 6800 however leaping as much as 82fps at the Radeon RX 6800 XT. Metro: Exodus additionally ran at 4K with its Extremely preset (which isn’t the perfect on this case), with out ray tracing enabled, at 61fps and 52.35fps at the two playing cards respectively.

In guide gameplay, Doom: Everlasting was once extraordinarily easy at 4K at Extremely Nightmare high quality, attaining 150-160fps at the Radeon RX 6800 XT and 120-125fps at the Radeon RX 6800, as measured via the in-game body counter even in heavy combat scenes. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt averaged 84fps and 73fps respectively, at 4K Extremely.

I then became to Battlefield V to test how AMD’s ray tracing implementation impacts efficiency. And not using a DLSS similar, there is not any technique to carry the body fee to catch up on the extra tension that ray tracing places at the new Radeon GPUs. With the solution set to 4K and the use of the Extremely high quality preset, the Radeon RX 6800 XT controlled round 105fps in a hectic scene with a number of gunfire and working round. With ray tracing enabled, that fell steeply to round 60fps. The Radeon RX 64800 confirmed a sharper drop, from round 95fps to simply 40fps. You’ll need to decrease the solution and compromise on high quality if you wish to have ray tracing results, no less than for now.

AMD’s new cooler design does appear to be efficient, and neither of the 2 playing cards examined was once noisy even beneath heavy load.

AMD has used usual 8-pin PCIe energy connectors, in contrast to Nvidia’s new shrunken design

 

Verdict

AMD has obviously finished really well with this technology of Radeon GPUs. They are unquestionably robust sufficient for as of late’s lovers who call for easy visuals at 4K and at very top quality settings. The reference design playing cards are slick and unobtrusive. Then again, the topic of whether or not the brand new Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 are in a position to difficult Nvidia’s dominance comes down to 2 elements – options and pricing.

Relating to options, ray tracing after all stands proud. AMD’s implementation is not absolutely realised but. A lot of video games do give a boost to AMD’s manner, and it is most likely that long term upscaling tech will make issues much more even between the 2 competition. For now despite the fact that, if you wish to experience the entire graphical bells and whistles, and declare bragging rights, Nvidia has the benefit. One small notice this is that 16GB of GDDR6 RAM is a lot more than what Nvidia’s recent choices at this worth and function stage have, and your use instances would possibly have the benefit of that.

After all, we come to the thorny – and ongoing – factor of Radeon costs in India. To be truthful, all current-gen GPUs are scarce, and there was vital worth gouging and scalping for the previous a number of months. It is tricky to make comparisons since costs stay converting and a few fashions merely don’t seem to be to be had. Then again, Nvidia does promote its personal Founders Version graphics playing cards in India at their respectable MRPs, thru a distributor. Even supposing it’s important to undergo a tedious waitlisting procedure and so much will depend on good fortune, no less than there are periodic updates. AMD has no such association.

AMD’s respectable costs in India for the Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT graphics playing cards are Rs. 45,999 and Rs. 64,990 respectively, now not together with taxes. In america, they value $579 and $649 respectively. It is atypical is that the corporate is the use of a miles upper trade fee for the RX 6800 XT, which makes this card disproportionately costlier than its sibling. On most sensible of that, side road costs (together with tax) in India are all over, starting from a slightly comprehensible Rs. 59,999 for a reference Sapphire RX 6800 (indexed at just one on-line store however out of inventory, without a ensure it is going to in fact be up for acquire that worth) to an outrageous Rs. 1,10,000 for a Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6800 XT with a tradition cooler. Actually, some Radeon RX 6900 XT listings are in fact more economical.

This will have to were a detailed name between Nvidia and AMD, however the results of this supply-side confusion is that it is just about all the time going to make sense for avid gamers in India to make a choice the similar GeForce 30-series card. The Radeon RX 6800 could be price it if you’ll to find it at a just right worth, however there is little hope for the Radeon RX 6800 XT right here at the moment ­– possibly we will see vital reductions someplace down the road, at which level calculations may also be reconsidered. AMD does critically wish to kind this out, or it is going to lose in spite of no matter growth it has made in relation to efficiency.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 (reference)
Worth: Rs. 45,999 + taxes

Execs

• Very good inventory cooler
• Superb efficiency at 4K and 1440p 

Cons

• No solution upscaling at release 
• Dear and tough to search out

Rankings (out of five)

• Efficiency: 4
• Price for Cash: 4
• General: 4

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (reference)
Worth: Rs. 64,990 + taxes

Execs

• Very good inventory cooler
• Superb efficiency at 4K and 1440p 

Cons

• No solution upscaling at release 
• Dear and tough to search out

Rankings (out of five)

• Efficiency: 4.5
• Price for Cash: 3.5
• General: 3.5