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AMD Radeon RX 6800 series gets loads of reviews

by on18 November 2020


Review roundup: Beats RTX 3070 and breaths down RTX 3080 neck

AMD's first RDNA2 graphics cards, the Radeon RX 6800 and the RX 6800 XT, are finally available and AMD has lifted the NDA so we can now see the official reviews.

In case you missed it - which we don't think you have -AMD has announced a total of three Radeon RX 6000 series SKUs, the Radeon RX 6800 and the RX 6800 XT, which are available today, November 18th, and the special edition Radeon RX 6900 XT, which are set to be available on 8th of December.

The Radeon RX 6800 XT gets 72 Compute Units (CUs), 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory interface, 128MB of Infinity Cache, and works at 2015MHz Game and 2250MHz Boost clocks, all at 300W TBP.

The Radeon RX 6800 has 60 Compute Units, the same 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory interface, 128MB of Infinity Cache, and slightly lower 1815MHz Game and 2105MHz Boost GPU clocks. It has a 250W TBP.

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AMD has marketed the RX 6800 XT against the RTX 3080 while the RX 6800 goes against the RTX 3070.

During AMD's big RDNA2 event, the new marchitecture is all about Compute Unit improvements, performance, power, and new features, and the company claimed has managed to deliver on all fronts, especially performance per Watt.

AMD RX 6800 XT is close to RTX 3080, but RX 6800 beats RTX 3070

The RX 6800 XT gets very close to RTX 3080, breathing down its neck on all resolutions and most games. While the Rage Mode is a nice feature, it does not bring any significant improvements, and the same goes for the AMD Radeon Smart Access Memory feature, which, although a great feature, does not change much in terms of performance games, but all of this could change in the future.

When it comes to performance per Watt, the RX 6800 XT trashes the competition, delivering impressive performance while maintaining an average power draw of around 200W, and peaking at around 280W.

The RX 6800, on the other hand, does its job, and it is generally faster than the RTX 3070 on all fronts, and offers unprecedented performance per Watt, putting even some mid-range cards to shame.

Competition in the graphics card market is heating up

Nvidia has managed to beat AMD to the market with its RTX 30 series GPUs, and while it still holds the performance crown, with both RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, AMD is as threat , offering similar or better performance in the same price bracket.

Of course, Nvidia is heavily invested in ray tracing and does a better job on that front, which is no big surprise.

On average, the RTX 3080 still ends up slightly faster, but bear in mind that the RTX 3080 has less VRAM and it is actually $50 more expensive. The RX 6800 XT will sell for $650, while the RTX 3080 sells at around $700, at least if you manage to find it in stock. There may well be bargains.

The RX 6800, on the other hand, is a good $80 more expensive than the RTX 3070 and comes with double the amount of VRAM, so we suspect this one will be a great seller for AMD, considering it offers exceptional performance, great performance per Watt, but we would love to see it in the sub $500 price bracket. And by that we don't mean $499/

Here are some of the reviews that have gone online, so you can get a clearer picture of the performance in games.

- Techpowerup.com - AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review, AMD Radeon RX 6800 review

- Hothardware.com - Radeon RX 6800 & RX 6800 XT Review: AMD’s Back With Big Navi

- Techspot.com - AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Review - 6800 XT vs. RTX 3080: Fight!

- Hexus.net - AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800: Find out if Big Navi can really deliver

- Tomshardware.com - AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 Review

- Tweaktown.com - AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Review: RDNA 2 Totally Makes AMD Great Again

- Guru3d.com - AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review, AMD Radeon RX 6800 review

- PCWorld.com - AMD Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT review: A glorious return to high end gaming

- Overclock3d.net - AMD Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT Review

 

Last modified on 18 November 2020
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