Top-notch performance for the masses?

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the current-gen flagship providing from Team Red. It competes immediately in opposition to the likes of the Nvidia RTX 4090 and the RTX 4080, and ranks amongst the quickest video playing cards on the market. Gamers should pay a fairly penny for this GPU because it begins from $999, with high-end fashions going as much as $1,200.

The firm is concentrating on top-notch 4K gaming performance with its current-gen flagship. It is predicated on the Navi 31 GPU, which brings the better of the underlying structure, RDNA 3, to the desk. Do be aware that though gaming is at the forefront of what this card guarantees, it’s primarily for skilled use instances like video enhancing, 3D modeling, and others.

AMD was form sufficient to ship over the RX 7900 XTX to us for evaluation. We ran it via its paces and can share our ideas on this article.

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The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is high-end in each side
Pre-delivery
The RX 7900 XTX is the current-gen flagship (Image through AMD)
The RX 7900 XTX is a high-end card constructed for 4K gaming, as talked about earlier than. It is the finest that AMD has to supply right now. The GPU is obtainable each in a Reference Edition and by a number of AMD companions like Sapphire, PowerColour, ASUS, Gigabyte, and others.

The unit we’re reviewing is the triple-fan AMD Reference Edition. The detailed specs of this graphics card are as follows:
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTXGraphics processorsNavi 31Shading units6144Texture Mapping Units384Compute units96RT cores96Base clock1855 MHzShader clock2269 MHzIncrease clock2499 MHzVRAM24 GBMemory type20 Gbps 384-bit GDDR6TDP355WSuggested PSU750WPower connectors2x 8-pin
The RX 7900 XTX focuses on effectivity as an alternative of bumping each side to the absolute most, in contrast to the RTX 4090 we reviewed earlier than. This makes it a fairly attention-grabbing high-end GPU in the present market.

Unboxing expertise
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is available in a fairly compact field. Inside, we get the video card and a few paperwork, and that is it. I do not suppose that is the finest GPU unboxing expertise I’ve had as far as it’s purely useful and in the spirit of getting issues finished.

Inside the field of the graphics card (Image through Sportskeeda)
While AMD would not get any brownie factors for packaging a card higher, it’s anticipated their flagship top-of-the-line GPU would get a flowery therapy. This is in sharp distinction to what we noticed with the Ryzen 9 7950X and the 7950X3D, which function some fancy pants unboxing.

A better take a look at the Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Design
The 7900 XTX is a triple-fan card (Image through Sportskeeda)

The RX 7900 XTX is not an enormous card. The Reference Edition mannequin is predicated on a 2.5-slot design with three followers. AMD has opted for an old-school open-air design that will likely be okay for nearly each trendy PC construct.
The purple streak on the 7900 XTX video card (Image through Sportskeeda)
The card is predicated on an all-black design and the firm hasn’t targeted on a color-neutral sample. This is in contrast to the RTX 40 collection GPUs, and it does add some character to the Radeon playing cards.
The trendy backplate of the 7900 XTX (Image through Sportskeeda)

The GPU encompasses a fairly trendy backplate with a powerful give attention to design, and I like the way it seems to be. In some ways, it beats the Founder’s Edition design from Nvidia with extra give attention to performance.

Heatsink and fan placement
The 7900 XTX Reference Edition is an open-air design (Image through Sportskeeda)
The RX 7900 XTX options three heavy-duty followers. They are paired with a thermistor, which can assist precisely measure the intake-air temperature. This will assist these overclocking the GPU. The decrease the consumption temperature, the larger the thermal headroom for OC.

The 7900 XTX weighs over 1.8kg (Image through Sportskeeda)
The GPU is constructed like a brick. It could be very heavy for its dimension, weighing in at 1.8kg. The heatsink is constructed fully out of aluminum and encompasses a small purple streak at the proper finish. However, the rear I/O is totally sealed off. Thus, the card will not be exhausting any sizzling air from the again.
Overall, the 7900 XTX packs a good heatsink. We will take a look at its capabilities later on this evaluation.

Test bench

A glimpse at the system used to bench the 7900 XTX (Image through Sportskeeda)
The following system was used to check the 7900 XTX:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3DMotherboard: ASRock X670E TaichiRAM: Kingston Fury Beast RGB 2x 16 GB DDR5-6000Cooler: DeepCool LT720 360mm high-performance liquid coolerGraphics card: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Reference EditionSSD: Gigabyte Aorus NVMe 1 TB PCIe Gen 4PSU: Corsair RM1000e 1000W totally modularCase: Open-air take a look at bench

Productivity performance
Let’s begin with some artificial benchmarks to check the place the RX 7900 XTX stands regarding different GPUs in the market. Do be aware that that is the first trendy AMD Radeon GPU I’m testing. Therefore, the comparability will primarily be in opposition to different Nvidia playing cards I’ve examined over the previous couple of years.

The 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark is a take a look at of DirectX 11 performance. It typically depends on rasterization performance. The 7900 XTX comes off as solely barely slower than the RTX 4090 on this benchmark, which ranks it as a powerful GPU in gaming and 3D rendering workloads.

Fire Strike Extreme is a extra demanding model of the benchmark we examined above. We not too long ago added it to our take a look at suite, therefore the take a look at pattern is comparatively small. The 7900 XTX outperforms all different GPUs I’ve beforehand examined and claims the high spot in the chart.

The 3DMark Time Spy benchmark is a take a look at of DirectX 12 performance. In this take a look at, the 7900 XTX continues the pattern and comes off as barely slower than the 4090, however quicker than different GPUs I’ve examined in the previous.

Like Fire Strike Extreme, the Time Spy Extreme take a look at is a extra demanding variant of Time Spy. The pattern dimension is kind of small on this take a look at as nicely as a result of it’s a new addition. The 7900 XTX claimed the high spot on this benchmark as nicely.

Blender Monster, Junkshop, and Classroom is a productiveness and feature-focused benchmark. It assessments the graphics card’s capabilities in 3D modeling workloads, particularly in Blender. The AMD flagship dissatisfied me on this benchmark because it got here out to be slower than the RTX 4060 Ti, a $400 mid-range GPU from Team Green.
This additional stresses the reality the AMD card is just good for gaming workloads. It is not constructed for creators and artists.

The same story continues in the 3DMark ray tracing function take a look at. As the identify suggests, it assessments a graphics card’s ray-tracing capabilities. Since the last-gen RX 7000 collection, AMD GPUs have faltered in ray tracing-heavy workloads. The same story continues this era as the 7900 XTX got here off as solely about as quick as the RTX 4070, a mid-range $600 GPU from Team Green.

Port Royal is a take a look at of ray tracing in trendy AAA gaming workloads. Scores enhance on this take a look at as the 7900 XTX beats different cheaper Nvidia GPUs and the last-gen RTX 3080 Ti to assert the #2 spot, solely behind the RTX 4090. The distinction between these two GPUs, nevertheless, is kind of massive.

3DMark Speed Way is a take a look at of DirectX 12 Ultimate performance. This benchmark is a current addition to the take a look at suite as nicely. The RX 7900 XTX got here off as the quickest on this take a look at as nicely. However, the pattern dimension is fairly small and would not function any correct competitor to the RX 7900 XTX.

Unigine Superposition is a take a look at of DirectX 12 gaming performance, like Time Spy. It measures the relative performance at varied resolutions. The same pattern continues on this benchmark like in the different 3DMark assessments as the 7900 XTX pulled off scores barely decrease than the 4090.

The upscaling function take a look at is a mixture of the DLSS and FSR function assessments. Do be aware that the RTX 20 and 30 collection video playing cards assist DLSS 2.0, the 40 collection playing cards assist DLSS 3.0, and the RX 7000 collection helps FSR 2.1. In this take a look at, we discovered that beneficial properties with FSR are practically equal to that with DLSS 2.0. DLSS 3 leverages body era to realize these additional frames.

Gaming performance
I examined the RX 7900 XTX in a bunch of various video video games. I did not pitch the card in opposition to different rivals due to minor modifications to the take a look at bench. The RTX 4090 was examined with a 7950X and 32 GB of DDR5-5200 reminiscence. Thus, a head-on comparability will not be honest, to say the least.

Let’s start with the RX 7900 XTX’s capabilities at 1440p. Although the GPU is constructed for 4K, the numbers at a barely decrease decision give us a clearer thought of what to anticipate from the GPU if avid gamers are prepared to barely sacrifice the decision (or just haven’t got the finances for 4K).

The 7900 XTX delivers large framerates at QHD. The graphics card proves to be an exquisite resolution for a excessive refresh charge 1440p gaming setup. Given 120+ Hz QHD screens are going for fairly low-cost as of late, the GPU generally is a strong advice for such high-end rigs.

AMD has nailed rasterization performance with the newest RX 7000 collection lineup. This is obvious from the incredible performance we logged at 4K with this GPU. Most avid gamers ran at 60 FPS or extra, with Fortnite being the solely exception.

Ray tracing is not AMD’s stronghold. Thus, it’s no shock that the card faltered in video video games with DXR turned on. All of the ends in the chart above are at 4K with each setting cranked as much as the absolute most. Every recreation, besides The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, had been playable. Thus, these with the GPU will not be dissatisfied.

Path tracing is the most demanding type of ray tracing. Until now, just one recreation helps the graphics function, Cyberpunk 2077. Performance at 4K is totally unplayable, and even turning FSR on can not help the GPU. The RX 7900 XTX is just good for path tracing at 1080p.

Next, let us take a look at the beneficial properties with the temporal-upscaling function of the card. The 7900 XTX helps FSR 2.1, which is not the finest resolution in the market. Unlike DLSS 3, AMD’s resolution cannot do body era. Hence, the beneficial properties are nonetheless inside 20-30% at finest, with just a few video games reporting as much as 100% framerate jumps.
Do be aware that each one of those outcomes are with the highest settings utilized at 4K, with FSR set to the Performance preset (which renders the recreation at 50% of the decision, 1080p).

Power consumption and thermals
Ambient temperature for all thermal assessments: 29ºC.
Now that performance marks are out of the park, let’s have a fast take a look at the vitals of the GPU: energy consumption and thermals. The 7900 XTX is not as power-hungry as the RTX 4090; it’s rated for 355W.
When I pressured the GPU with Furmark, it shot as much as a most of 64°C (147°F). This is fairly spectacular for a high-end card like the 7900 XTX. AMD has bundled a top-notch cooler with its flagship Reference Edition card.
The detailed temperature statistics are as follows:

In the stress take a look at, the complete board energy draw hits a most of 347W, about 8W lower than the marketed most. The complete graphics card stays at ~290W, which is fairly spectacular for the performance we logged on this GPU. The statistics are fairly flat, which is kind of attention-grabbing:

While gaming, the temperatures stay just about the identical, with a most of 65°C. The detailed attribute is as follows:

There had been no fluctuations in the energy draw both. While enjoying Fortnite at 4K with ray tracing results turned on, the TBP hovered round 347W and the TGP sat someplace round 290W.

Overall, the AMD RX 7900 XTX is certainly one of the most thermally and power-efficient high-end GPUs in the market. However, energy draw whereas gaming is not the very best. Previously, we logged the RTX 4090 drawing lower than 300W TBP whereas enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with the Ray Tracing Psycho preset utilized.

Fans

The RX 7900 XTX Reference Edition options three followers that function in unison to blow air into the card. It is predicated on an open-air design, as talked about earlier than. The followers do not ramp up considerably whereas pressured, and we solely logged a most of about 1900 RPM beneath full load.
While gaming, the followers ramped as much as greater than 2000 RPM, which does not considerably hurt the acoustic performance in any manner.

Noise ranges had been fairly okay. I haven’t got a quantity to pen down beneath its identify simply but as a result of correct acoustic measurements are fairly difficult.

Is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX value shopping for?
The RX 7900 XTX is the finest AMD has to supply right now (Image through Sportskeeda)
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX sits at the high of the stack of recent video playing cards. It ranks amongst the quickest GPUs cash should buy, and due to this fact, comes with a really hefty price ticket.
However, it has some issues. As we discovered, ray tracing and rendering performances aren’t the finest. In addition, many customers have reported driver instability points with AMD. Although I have not confronted these in my one month with this GPU, it may be a official concern for some.

The backplate of the RX 7900 XTX (Image through Sportskeeda)
For the backside line, I want to point out the 7900 XTX does one factor nice: play video video games at 4K. Thus, in case you are constructing a high-end rig and do not wish to dump over $1,200 in video playing cards, this RDNA 3 flagship could be an possibility value contemplating.

Conclusion
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a brilliant high-end card however it has some flaws (Image through Sportskeeda)

Product: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (unit supplied by AMD)Release date: December 13, 2022Size: 287mm x 110mm x 51mmBoost clock: 2,499 MHzShow ports: 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x ShowPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-CPower draw: 355W

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