AMD today launched two graphics cards, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. In this review, we’re going to look at the latter. These new graphics cards, which replace the old RX 6900 series, are built on the company’s RDNA 3 architecture. As a dig into NVIDIA’s current pricing fiasco, AMD’s new flagship 7900 GPUs are designed to deliver solid 4K gaming experiences for less than $1,000.
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX will probably steal a lot of the thunder for this GPU launch, but the RX 7900 XT is also worth considering. It’s essentially the same GPU with slightly weaker specs. We’ve found it’s still great for 2K (1440p) and 4K (2160p) gaming, taking on the much more expensive NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. It’s easily one of the best graphics cards launched this year.
Source: AMD
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Advantages |
Cons |
|---|---|
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Great value proposition against NVIDIA |
Still relatively expensive |
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Solid 1440p and 4K gaming performance |
Not really a 2 slot GPU |
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Excellent reference card design |
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Good thermals and cooling |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT: Pricing and Availability
- The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT retails for $899.
The price of graphics cards (and other PC components) is significantly more expensive than before the global lockdowns, silicon shortage, and cryptocurrency mining craze. The launch of NVIDIA’s latest RTX 40 series cards did little to return to the norm, especially since both the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 cost well over $1,000.
Enter AMD with the new Radeon RX 7900 XT. It costs just $899, which is still a significant amount for a GPU, and performs just as well (if not better) than the $1,199 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. AMD launched the Radeon RX 7900 XT on December 12 alongside the RX 7900 XTX . , 2022, will cost $899 and $999 respectively.
AIB partners such as ASUS, MSI, XFX and ZOTAC will price their aftermarket versions accordingly and offer better performance than the reference cards we have for review.
RDNA 3 architecture
- Switch to chiplets, the first for gaming GPUs.
- Introducing 2nd Generation AMD Infinity Cache.
We went into detail about AMD’s new RDNA 3 architecture in our AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX review, so I recommend you read through that if you want to learn more about what’s new with this generation of cards. Basically, AMD has moved to a chiplet design, the first we’ve seen with a graphics card. This allows the company to achieve more performance per watt.
There are also some other highlights, such as 2nd Gen AMD Infinity Cache with up to 3,494 GB/s of bandwidth using Smart Access Memory (with an AMD Ryzen CPU), improved ray tracing cores, hardware-accelerated AV1 support, and a new Radiance Display- engine. Compared to the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, this GPU is largely the same, with slightly less memory, lower clock speeds, and fewer cores.
The goal of RDNA 3 was to produce some excellent GPUs for less than $1,000. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX just barely achieves this, but the Radeon RX 7900 XT is a little more affordable, costing just $899. This is a little closer to what we’d expect to pay for a flagship GPU before prices exploded due to the pandemic and the crypto mining craze.
Design features
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is a very subtle graphics card. There is no fancy styling or aggressive color accents. The design is sleek with an all black design and some red accents thrown in. The architecture has changed from the 6000 series AMD Radeon cards, but the cooling solution used here to keep the RX 7900 XT within a desired operating temperature range isn’t anything groundbreaking.
AMD managed to get more performance per watt, allowing the company to effectively use the same three-fan setup. It’s largely exaggerated for what’s present on this map and decent in-game temperatures are to be expected. There are three 92mm fans that honestly fire at the full logic board. It weighs quite a bit, thanks to the metal shroud and back plate.
While this is nowhere near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in terms of size, AMD notes that this is a 2.5-slot GPU, meaning you’ll have to sacrifice three PCI slots. I really hope manufacturers stop using “2.x” slots for marketing. If it is a 2.5 slot card, then it is a 3 slot card. You can’t plug anything into the slot under this GPU and that’s a fair sacrifice for such a powerful GPU.
The graphics card is powered by two 8-pin PCIe connectors. There’s no 12-pin dedicated port here, which is to be expected given that this card is only rated at 315W.
The back of the GPU is where the backplate is located. It’s similar in appearance to the XTX version of the RX 7900, but there are some minor changes that help you tell the cards apart. The cooler is huge, and the positioning of the fin array means AMD relies on venting air on the sides of the GPU, as opposed to the top and PCI bracket, the latter of which has no vents.
Like the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the 7900 XT has a single HDMI 2.1a port, two Display 2.1 ports, and a USB-C port (with DP 2.1) for monitors that support video signals over USB. And that is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. It’s a sleep GPU that will look good in most PC builds.
Game achievements
- Performance is solid in 1440p and 4K gaming tests.
- Undercuts and almost matches the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080.
Like our AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT test, we ran a full AMD test bench (as well as an Intel build) to see how well these cards perform. Here are the specifications of our test rig:
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X PROCESSOR.
- ASUS ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi motherboard.
- 32 GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5-7200 RAM.
- Sabrent PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD.
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT has been tested at UHD (2160p) and QHD (1440p) resolutions. All games are loaded on and from the same Sabrent PCIe 4.0 SSD for maximum performance. Clearly, AMD’s Smart Access Memory impacts performance compared to using an AMD GPU with an Intel motherboard and processor, though most people wouldn’t really notice a difference until you want the absolute best frame rates.
In addition to software, a kilowatt meter was used to monitor sensors and other metrics through testing. All sync technologies were disabled during our testing, including V-Sync, AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync, though we can note how much of an impact these can have when enabled.
Let’s see how the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the Radeon RX 7900 XT compare:
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AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX |
AMD Radeon RX 7900XT |
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|---|---|---|
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Architecture |
RDNA 3 |
RDNA 3 |
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Process |
5nm, 6nm |
5nm, 6nm |
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Transistors |
57.7 billion |
57.7 billion |
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Calculate units |
96 |
84 |
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Jet accelerators |
96 |
84 |
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AI accelerators |
192 |
168 |
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Stream processors |
6,144 |
5,376 |
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Base clock speed |
2,300MHz |
2,000MHz |
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Increase the clock speed |
2,500MHz |
2,400MHz |
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Memory capacity |
24GB GDDR6 |
20GB DDR6 |
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Memory bus |
384-bit |
320-bit |
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AMD Infinity cache |
96MB |
80MB |
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Memory Bandwidth (with Infinity Cache) |
3,500 GB/sec |
2,900 GB/s |
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Power consumption |
355W |
315W |
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Price |
$999 |
$899 |
Synthetic benchmark tests aren’t that relevant to the average gamer, as you’ll probably never run them on your own system. With these results we can compare hard figures with those of the competition.
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benchmark |
AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX |
|---|---|
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Fire Strike Ultra |
16,233 |
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Time Spy (DX12) |
24,285 |
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Time Spy Extreme (DX12) |
12,589 |
We expected the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT to lag slightly behind the Radeon RX 7900 XTX with slower memory, speeds, and fewer active cores. What we’ve seen with our results is about a 15% reduction in our battery of synthetic tests. If you compare the RX 7900 XT to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, it comes incredibly close. NVIDIA’s GPU scores only 17,000 (or thereabouts) in the 4K Fire Strike Ultra test. It’s a similar story to Time Spy.
Gaming performance is solid at 1440p and 4K resolutions using the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. It’s not quite on par with the RTX 4080, especially when ray tracing is activated, but you can easily crank up the settings without encountering much in the form of stuttering.
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Game |
AMD Radeon RX 7900XT |
|---|---|
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Cyberpunk 2077 |
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DOOM Eternal |
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Fay cries 6 |
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Subway Exodus |
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Red Dead Redemption 2 |
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While passing these tests, the card draws an average of 309W from the PCIe slot and cables. The fans sped up to about 1,750 RPM, and we measured the noise emanating from the card at 42 dBA. This is in line with expectations at this level and should not be a problem when installed in a chassis with adequate sound attenuation. Temperatures were excellent, thanks to the three-fan setup.
We saw that the card reported a temperature of only 58C after some time in games with a hotspot value of 78C. There’s plenty of room here to tweak settings and get extra performance out of the card.
If you buy the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
You should buy the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT if:
- You want a better deal than what is currently available on the market.
- You don’t mind spending $899 on one of AMD’s flagship GPUs.
- You don’t need the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
- You preferably use AMD software and have an existing AMD processor for Smart Access Memory.
You should not buy the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT if:
- You definitely want the best graphics card available, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
- You can afford the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
- You don’t want to spend $899 on a graphics card.
Yes, you need to buy the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. It’s a fantastic GPU that undercuts the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 by a whopping $300, but pretty much matches the GPU in terms of performance. AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture is a significant step forward for the company, unlocking better performance per watt and the results show just how far this generation has bridged the gap between the green and red teams.
But if you can stretch an extra $100, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the better deal overall, with the best RDNA 3 performance money can buy right now.
Source: AMD
AMD Radeon RX 7900XT
Part of AMD’s RX 7900 launch, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is one of the best GPUs released by AMD this year. It is well suited for 2K (1440p) and 4K (2160p) gaming with ample performance at a more reasonable price.
