Since AMD’s official presentation of the RX Radeon 6900 XT, the first independent tests are available. MeinMMO presents the most important results and explains for whom it is worthwhile to buy the RX 6900 XT.
What is it about? In October 2020, AMD introduced the RX 6000 series, including the RX 6800 XT and the RX 6900 XT. AMD’s goal is to finally compete with Nvidia in the high-end sector. Nvidia has already released its GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. Until now, Nvidia has had it easy, as AMD focused mainly on the mid-range and price-performance ratio.
With December 8, the official testing embargo on the RX 6900 XT has also been lifted. MeinMMO presents what the new flagship model of the new RX 6000 series can do and for whom the graphics card is worthwhile.
Radeon RX 6900 XT Overview:
| Radeon RX 6900 XT | |
|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 |
| Base Clock | 2015 MHz |
| Boost Clock | Up to 2250 MHz |
| Memory Size | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Speed | 19 GB/s |
| Bandwidth | 512 GB/s |
| TDP (Power Consumption) | 300 Watts |
What do testers say about the Radeon RX 6900 XT?
The first independent testers have now tested AMD’s new high-end graphics card. We present excerpts from the tests and explain for whom the graphics card is worthwhile.
GameStar: A disappointment foretold
The GameStar notes in its review that the graphics card offers extremely high performance. It remains very quiet and provides excellent energy efficiency. With 16 GB, it also has enough video memory for the future. However, its problem is the in-house competition, as the RX 6800 XT offers barely less performance, but costs only 649 euros at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, which is 350 euros less than the RX 6900 XT. Additionally, there is poor availability.
The likely last major hardware release this year is in a way a disappointment foretold, which fits into the somewhat sobering overall impression. I think it’s great that fast, new hardware is coming out, but if the price structure and availability aren’t right, it’s a major dampener. Let’s hope that next year will be better.
IgorsLab: AMD has finally caught up
According to IgorsLab, AMD delivers a very fast and powerful graphics card with its Radeon RX 6900 XT. It delivers a few percent less performance than the RTX 3090 in overview, but is significantly more energy efficient. Overall, the RX 6900 XT is thus considerably more efficient than the competition from Nvidia:
Due to all the uncertainties, also regarding the feature set, I cannot give an explicit buying recommendation for the RX 6900 XT, but rather the performance booster, because this card is really fast and also cheaper and significantly more efficient than the competitor’s product. In conclusion, it remains that AMD has finally caught up.
Guru3d: High performance, but problems with ray tracing
According to the English-language magazine guru3d.com, the graphics card provides very high rendering performance but has issues with ray tracing. Games like Assassins Creed: Valhalla benefit greatly from AMD’s new technology “Smart Access Memory”. With resolutions up to Ultra HD, AMD’s new GPU has no problems.
If you are less interested in what ray tracing and DLSS deliver, then the 6800/6900 XT with its 16 GB of graphics memory is the recommended choice compared to the 699 US dollar GeForce RTX 3080 or the 1499 US dollar RTX 3090. Conversely, if you want maximum ray tracing performance, then AMD lacks power and a DLSS equivalent. (…) For top-notch render performance, you can save a third of the money (of the RTX 3090) with the 6900 XT.
DLSS is a special technique developed by Nvidia. Users with RTX graphics cards benefit from a significantly increased frame rate while maintaining image quality. Especially our colleagues from GameStar are enthusiastic about DLSS and its possibilities.
MeinMMO-PCs mit Radeon 6900XT kaufen
MeinMMO-PCs mit Ryzen 9 5900X & Radeon RX 6900XT für Multitasking, 4K-Gaming mit hohen Frameraten und anspruchsvolle Anwendungen. Die Verfügbarkeit der 6900 XT ist jedoch begrenzt.
RX 6900 XT vs RTX 3090: The competition is almost neck and neck
According to the benchmarks from GameStar, the two high-end graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD are almost level.
By the way, the benchmarks of GameStar are a combined rating. Here, the average from all tested games is calculated.
In some games, the Radeon RX 6900 XT manages to narrowly outperform the GeForce RTX 3080 overall. However, Nvidia’s RTX 3090 remains the fastest graphics card.
Buying the AMD 6900 XT: For whom is the graphics card worthwhile?
For whom is the graphics card suitable? At around 1000 euros, the graphics card mainly appeals to enthusiasts. Those who do not care about a few percent of performance can also opt for other models of the RX 6000 series. These offer slightly less performance but also provide future-proof 16 GB of memory, more than the RTX 3080 and the RTX 3070, which only offer 10 GB.
Additionally, you save another 300 to 400 euros compared to the RX 6900 XT if you choose one of the smaller models of the RX 6000 series.
However, if you want powerful ray tracing and don’t want to forgo DLSS, you still have to opt for Nvidia. If you are less interested in that and mainly focused on high gaming performance, then you can safely go for the RX 6900 XT. Because it is more efficient than the RTX 3090 and offers very good overall performance.
For users who mainly play in Full HD, the 6900 XT is hardly interesting, as its performance is barely ahead of the 6800 XT (+ 2%). This is mainly because the CPU plays a more important role in Full HD. In significantly more demanding resolutions like 4K, the performance of the graphics card is then the primary factor.
The competition is not sleeping: Nvidia is likely closely monitoring the release of the RX 6900 XT: There is already speculation about a possible memory upgrade for the RTX 3080 to ensure long-term security for gamers. The coming year, 2021, is expected to be just as exciting for gamers as 2020.
