How does the RX 6700 XT perform in benchmarks? AMD pits its new mid-range graphics card against the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070 in 8 top titles.
In the benchmarks presented, the RX 6700 XT is slightly or significantly ahead of Nvidia’s competition in 5 out of 8 titles:
The benchmarks in detail:
- In all presented titles, the RX 6700 XT achieves more than 60 FPS at maximum details in WQHD resolution
- In 5 out of 8 titles, the RX 6700 XT is slightly or significantly ahead.
- In Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 3070 is slightly ahead of the RX 6700 XT and still ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti
- In Gears 5, the RX 6700 XT is ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti, but the RTX 3070 is still slightly faster.
- In the Ubisoft title Watch Dogs Legion, the RX 6700 XT falls furthest behind the Nvidia graphics cards. AMD does not specify reasons for this.
How does it compare against older graphics cards? In additional benchmarks, AMD shows its new GPU compared to the GTX 1070 Ti and the RTX 2080 Super.
The competition is clearly left behind here, especially the GTX 1070 Ti, which was released in October 2017. In Cyberpunk 2077, the gap between the RTX 2080 Super and the RX 6700 XT is the smallest.
Is the RX 6700 XT competition for the RTX 3070?
How does the direct comparison of the cards look? As some have already suspected, AMD’s new graphics card aims to compete with the RTX 3070. This is shown by both the presented benchmarks and the price recommendations.
Both in price and performance, AMD is orienting itself closely to the competition. AMD is asking for $479 from March 18, 2021, for its new graphics card. Nvidia set the launch price of the RTX 3070 at $499.
The RX 6700 XT offers 12 GB of video memory, which is generally more than the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 3070. However, the RTX 3070 has the larger and faster memory interface. The RX 6700 XT tries to compensate for this disadvantage with higher base and boost clock speeds.
Raytracing topic: Should Raytracing support for AMD cards improve further, the larger video memory of the RX 6700 XT could play an important role.
Currently, Nvidia still leads with the RTX 3000 cards in Raytracing and DLSS; however, with proper support and a strong alternative from AMD, this could change.
| GeForce RTX 3070 | Radeon RX 6700 XT | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 |
| Base clock | 1500 MHz | 2321 MHz |
| Boost clock | 1730 MHz | 2581 MHz |
| Memory size | 8 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory interface width | 256-bit | 192-bit |
| TDP (power consumption) | 220 Watt | 230 Watt |
Radeon RX 6700 XT could also be dangerous for RX 6800
Performance-wise, the Radeon RX 6700 XT is also very close to the RX 6800. Although the RX 6700 XT offers less memory (12 GB vs 16 GB) and fewer shader units, the game clock of the Radeon RX 6700 XT at 2.424 MHz is a whopping 34 percent higher than that of the Radeon RX 6800 and 20 percent higher than that of the Radeon RX 6800.
With a TDP of 230 watts, the power consumption of the RX 6700 XT is only slightly lower than the RX 6800, which requires 250 watts.
In the long run, AMD’s RX 6800 could be in trouble due to its own competition as well, since the price is around $100 lower ($479 vs $579).
What about availability? The RX 6800 XT sold out extremely quickly and there were long lines outside electronics markets in the USA.
AMD had promised that the availability of the RX 6700 XT would be significantly better and emphasized this again during the press conference.
However, it is unlikely that availability will be sufficient to satisfy all interested buyers. We will have to be patient and hope that prices stabilize soon.
AMD has announced its latest graphics card. It is a WQHD graphics card that aims to compete with the RTX 3070. During the presentation, AMD also showed initial benchmarks of the graphics card.
The main points at a glance:
- AMD has introduced its RX 6700 XT and expanded support for Smart Memory Access for Ryzen processors.
- AMD’s DLSS competitor FidelityFX Super Resolution is expected to support more than 40 games soon.
- The Radeon RX 6700 XT is a WQHD graphics card that competes with the RTX 3070 in benchmarks.
- The new graphics card will be available from March 18, 2021, for $479 directly from AMD and from other retailers.
Overview: AMD introduced its latest graphics card, the Radeon RX 6700 XT, at its press conference on March 3. This GPU is aimed at gamers who want to play in WQHD.
In addition to the graphics card, the developers have also presented a wealth of new information on performance improvements. This will also benefit owners of older Ryzen processors soon.
Smart Memory Access soon for older Ryzen processors
At the beginning, the three main performance improvements for AMD graphics cards were presented in detail again. AMD Radeon Anti-Lag, AMD Radeon Boost, and AMD Smart Access Memory. These are already usable through the Radeon software.
While Anti-Lag aims to reduce latency while gaming, Radeon Boost aims to significantly improve the framerate in fast games. With AMD Smart Access, AMD introduced a new technology at the end of 2020 that primarily benefits owners of Ryzen 5000 and Radeon RX 600.
More processors benefit from SAM: The most exciting news for gamers is certainly the expansion of “Smart Memory Access” support (SAM). Owners of an RX 6000 graphics card with a Ryzen 3000 processor will also benefit from the improved performance. AMD speaks here of up to 12% more performance.
The Ryzen APUs, specifically the Ryzen 3 3200 G and Ryzen 5 3400 G, are excluded from the update. You still need at least a B550 motherboard to use Smart Access Memory.
What about FidelityFX Super Resolution? Here, AMD has announced that support for FidelityFX Super Resolution will be further expanded. This is AMD’s DLSS competitor for Radeon graphics cards and is also an anti-aliasing technique supported by AI. Low resolutions are upscaled and should look good while providing better performance.
Some games like Dirt 5, Godfall, and WoW Shadowlands are expected to already support FidelityFX.
What else happened at the press conference? AMD then also introduced its latest graphics card, the RX 6700 XT. At this point, we want to present the graphics card and the benchmarks to you.
RX 6700 beats the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 in benchmarks
Where do the benchmarks come from? The benchmarks come from AMD’s own press conference. Therefore, you should take the performance data with a grain of caution. There are no independent tests available yet, so the values cannot be verified.
What hardware was used? For the benchmarks, AMD combined the RX 6700 XT with a Ryzen 9 599X, 16 GB DDR (3200 MHz) on an X570 motherboard.
How does the RX 6700 XT perform in benchmarks? AMD pits its new mid-range graphics card against the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070 in 8 top titles.
In the benchmarks presented, the RX 6700 XT is slightly or significantly ahead of Nvidia’s competition in 5 out of 8 titles:
The benchmarks in detail:
- In all presented titles, the RX 6700 XT achieves more than 60 FPS at maximum details in WQHD resolution
- In 5 out of 8 titles, the RX 6700 XT is slightly or significantly ahead.
- In Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 3070 is slightly ahead of the RX 6700 XT and still ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti
- In Gears 5, the RX 6700 XT is ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti, but the RTX 3070 is still slightly faster.
- In the Ubisoft title Watch Dogs Legion, the RX 6700 XT falls furthest behind the Nvidia graphics cards. AMD does not specify reasons for this.
How does it compare against older graphics cards? In additional benchmarks, AMD shows its new GPU compared to the GTX 1070 Ti and the RTX 2080 Super.
The competition is clearly left behind here, especially the GTX 1070 Ti, which was released in October 2017. In Cyberpunk 2077, the gap between the RTX 2080 Super and the RX 6700 XT is the smallest.
Is the RX 6700 XT competition for the RTX 3070?
How does the direct comparison of the cards look? As some have already suspected, AMD’s new graphics card aims to compete with the RTX 3070. This is shown by both the presented benchmarks and the price recommendations.
Both in price and performance, AMD is orienting itself closely to the competition. AMD is asking for $479 from March 18, 2021, for its new graphics card. Nvidia set the launch price of the RTX 3070 at $499.
The RX 6700 XT offers 12 GB of video memory, which is generally more than the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 3070. However, the RTX 3070 has the larger and faster memory interface. The RX 6700 XT tries to compensate for this disadvantage with higher base and boost clock speeds.
Raytracing topic: Should Raytracing support for AMD cards improve further, the larger video memory of the RX 6700 XT could play an important role.
Currently, Nvidia still leads with the RTX 3000 cards in Raytracing and DLSS; however, with proper support and a strong alternative from AMD, this could change.
| GeForce RTX 3070 | Radeon RX 6700 XT | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 |
| Base clock | 1500 MHz | 2321 MHz |
| Boost clock | 1730 MHz | 2581 MHz |
| Memory size | 8 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory interface width | 256-bit | 192-bit |
| TDP (power consumption) | 220 Watt | 230 Watt |
Radeon RX 6700 XT could also be dangerous for RX 6800
Performance-wise, the Radeon RX 6700 XT is also very close to the RX 6800. Although the RX 6700 XT offers less memory (12 GB vs 16 GB) and fewer shader units, the game clock of the Radeon RX 6700 XT at 2.424 MHz is a whopping 34 percent higher than that of the Radeon RX 6800 and 20 percent higher than that of the Radeon RX 6800.
With a TDP of 230 watts, the power consumption of the RX 6700 XT is only slightly lower than the RX 6800, which requires 250 watts.
In the long run, AMD’s RX 6800 could be in trouble due to its own competition as well, since the price is around $100 lower ($479 vs $579).
What about availability? The RX 6800 XT sold out extremely quickly and there were long lines outside electronics markets in the USA.
AMD had promised that the availability of the RX 6700 XT would be significantly better and emphasized this again during the press conference.
However, it is unlikely that availability will be sufficient to satisfy all interested buyers. We will have to be patient and hope that prices stabilize soon.

