AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review: AMD is back in the game

As a adolescent, I used to love AMD. I would proudly stick AMD and ATI stickers to the front of the custom-made PCs I built, excited to use the latest and greatest Athlon 64 processor and an ATI Radeon 9800 card. That was 17 years ago, before AMD acquired ATI in 2006. AMD went on to kill off the ATI brand in 2010 and has struggled to compete with Nvidia and Intel always since .
It ’ randomness been a long time since I ’ ve been excited about AMD processors or graphics cards, but the past couple of weeks has wholly changed that. After stealing the performance crown from Intel with its latest zen 3 CPUs sooner this calendar month, AMD is nowadays setting its sights securely on Nvidia. The new $ 649 AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is available today, and it ’ sulfur $ 50 less than Nvidia ’ s most direct rival, the RTX 3080. AMD is promising it will match or outperform the RTX 3080 at both 4K and 1440p gambling .
I ’ ve put those performance claims to the test over the past week, and the results are storm. AMD is back in the game. big time .

Hardware

The construction of the Radeon RX 6800 XT is what I ’ d call normal. There ’ mho no dual-fan frame-up here, nor a illusion new PCB or a 12-pin connection. It ’ sulfur fair the typical 2.5 slot card with two regular PCIe eight-pin ability connectors and a triple-fan system for cooling. AMD hasn ’ thyroxine reinvented the wheel here, and it has stuck identical a lot to the basics.

Reading: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review: AMD is back in the game

It has, however, opted for an axile cool solution, rather of the extremely brassy blower-style it has used in the by. This means that the three fans at the bottom of the menu work to pull in air to cool the 6800 XT, which is then exhausted out of the side into the rest of your system. At the side there ’ s a adult crimson Radeon sign, which besides glows bolshevik when it sits in your font. During my screen, I found this new cooling arrangement to be a lot quieter than what I ’ ve experienced from AMD ’ s previous cards .
At the rear, the 6800 XT includes two DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, a single HDMI 2.1 port, and a USB-C port for VR headsets. The USB-C port is besides monitor-capable, and evening supports 27W tear .
precisely like Nvidia, AMD is recommending a 750W power supply for the 6800 XT. however, AMD ’ s card draws up to 300 watts, compared to the 320 watt that the RTX 3080 can draw. It ’ s a minor remainder, but every little piece helps for any impacts on the environment and electricity bills. I ’ ve besides noticed that the 6800 XT runs around 77 degrees Celsius, which is a distribute cooler than we saw on the Radeon VII .

1440p testing

Test machine for 1440p and 4K:

Processor: Intel Core i9-10900K 3.7GHz 10-Core
CPU Cooler: Corsair H150i PRO RGB
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB M.2 SSD
Case: Corsair Crystal 570X
PSU: Corsair 850W RMx Series RM850x

I ’ ve been testing the 6800 crosstalk on a newly built machine using Intel ’ s latest Core i9-10900K inside. For 1440p tests, I hooked up the 6800 crosstalk to a 27-inch Asus ROG Swift PG279Q proctor. This monitor supports refresh rates up to 165Hz summation, so it ’ south ideal for AMD ’ s latest card. I ’ ve besides been testing 4K operation, which you can find below .
I ’ ve put the 6800 XT lead to heading with the RTX 3080 in a variety of games we typically test and some new titles like Watch Dogs : legion and Assassin ’ s Creed Valhalla. In most of the games I ’ ve tested, the 6800 crosstalk outperforms the RTX 3080 at 1440p .
When the 6800 crosstalk outperforms in certain titles, it does so comfortably. Shadow of the Tomb Raider manages a full 10fps more on AMD ’ s card, and with Assassin ’ s Creed Valhalla, it ’ s closely 20fps. In other titles, it ’ s extremely close on performance between the two cards at 1440p, but most of the time AMD ’ s Radeon RX 6800 XT is holding its own against the RTX 3080 or beating it .

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (1440p)

Benchmark
RX 6800 XT
RTX 3080 Founders Edition

Microsoft Flight Simulator
44fps
40fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider
144fps
132fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)
N/A
144fps

CoD: Warzone
144fps
133fps

CoD: Warzone (RT)
142fps
132fps

Fortnite
156fps
160fps

Fortnite (DLSS quality)
N/A
212fps

Fortnite (DLSS perf)
N/A
225fps

Gears 5
121fps
120fps

CS:GO
283fps
325fps

Death Stranding
179fps
170fps

Death Stranding (DLSS quality)
N/A
188fps

Death Stranding (DLSS perf)
N/A
193fps

Control
109fps
126fps

Control (DLSS quality + RT)
N/A
125fps

Control (RT)
58fps
78fps

Control (DLSS quality)
N/A
174fps

Metro Exodus
56fps
56fps

Metro Exodus (RT)
28fps
37fps

Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT)
N/A
65fps

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
92fps
73fps

Watch Dogs: Legion
81fps
78fps

Watch Dogs: Legion (RT)
N/A
49fps

precisely like the RTX 3080, the 6800 XT is a bang-up choice for 1440p bet on. The majority of games I ’ ve tested have comfortably exceeded 60fps at soap settings, with competitive titles like Fortnite and Call of duty : Warzone hitting more than 100fps .
This all sounds great for AMD for pure rasterization, until you hit re trace. Nvidia has been pushing re tracing for years, but this is AMD ’ s first tease to enable real-time ray hound. unfortunately, the 6800 XT fails to match the RTX 3080 ’ s frames per second when using re tracing performance in both Control and Metro Exodus. Control is one of the best examples of ray tracing to date, and it ’ s a full template to what we might expect to see as more games pick up ray tracing .
watch Dogs : legion is emerging as another good exercise, but I wasn ’ t able to test it by rights on the 6800 XT. Ray-traced reflections merely don ’ thyroxine solve with AMD ’ south drivers however, making it difficult to compare to the RTX 3080. AMD tells me a future driver update will address this .

4K testing

Over on the 4K side, the 6800 XT international relations and security network ’ thymine as impressive. I ’ ve been testing the 6800 crosstalk with Acer ’ s 27-inch Nitro XV273K, a 4K admonisher that offers up to 144Hz freshen rates and HDR support .
The 6800 crosstalk manages to comfortably deliver 60fps or more in games like Fortnite, Gears 5, and Assassin ’ s Creed Valhalla, but it falls behind the RTX 3080 in Control, Watch Dogs : horde, and Metro Exodus. I noticed this the most when playing Control, as the 6800 XT would regularly drop well below 60fps to the point where it felt unplayable at times .
In other games, the 6800 crosstalk excels at 4K. It comfortably beats the RTX 3080 in Call of duty : Warzone by more than 10fps, and the limit ray tracing in this game doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate seem to have a big impact on performance, either. even in the games it drops behind the RTX 3080, the 6800 XT still delivers impressive 4K performance across the dining table.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (4K)

Benchmark
RX 6800 XT
RTX 3080 Founders Edition

Microsoft Flight Simulator
33fps
36fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider
77fps
76fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)
N/A
93fps

CoD: Warzone
106fps
93fps

CoD: Warzone (RT)
100fps
84fps

Fortnite
85fps
93fps

Fortnite (DLSS quality)
N/A
133fps

Fortnite (DLSS perf)
N/A
162fps

Gears 5
69fps
76fps

CS:GO
205fps
267fps

Death Stranding
105fps
101fps

Death Stranding (DLSS quality)
N/A
135fps

Death Stranding (DLSS perf)
N/A
164fps

Control
56fps
68fps

Control (DLSS quality + RT)
N/A
78fps

Control (RT)
29fps
49fps

Control (DLSS quality)
N/A
112fps

Metro Exodus
30fps
34fps

Metro Exodus (RT)
14fps
19fps

Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT)
N/A
48fps

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
66fps
61fps

Watch Dogs: Legion
47fps
51fps

Watch Dogs: Legion (RT)
N/A
26fps

just like with 1440p, ray trace in 4K is where the 6800 crosstalk falters. Control and Metro Exodus are both unplayable in most areas with broad ray tracing enabled at 4K. The gaps in performance can ’ metric ton be improved on AMD ’ s slope so far, as the company doesn ’ t have an equivalent to Nvidia ’ s DLSS .
As you can see in the chart above, DLSS offers a significant boost to frame rates while maintaining alike visualize choice in the games that support it. It was in truth transformative for the RTX 3080, but AMD is silent working on its own solution. AMD ’ s own superintendent sampling will be designed to improve beam tracing performance, but we placid don ’ thyroxine know precisely how it will work so far or when it will arrive .
AMD says its goal for ray trace is to hit native 1440p or 1080p resolutions, quite than push performance at 4K. That means the 6800 XT will probably always be behind Nvidia when you turn ray tracing on, but competitive when it ’ s off .
Nvidia ’ s advantage here is clear, and more and more games are being updated with DLSS and re trace. Ray tracing and a lack of a DLSS equivalent is the one big area where AMD falls behind Nvidia, and if you care about switching ray tracing on then you should go with one of the modern RTX cards rather of the 6800 crosstalk .

Software and drivers

One area where AMD has always struggled is driver support. That appears to be continuing with these early drivers for the 6800 XT. Ray-traced reflections are missing in Watch Dogs : numerous, and some textures in Assassin ’ s Creed Valhalla don ’ triiodothyronine always render correctly or have black texture putrescence. call of duty : Modern Warfare besides crashes sometimes with re tracing enabled .
I think it ’ s reasonable to expect drivers to be quick for games like Assassin ’ s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs : numerous, specially when it feels like the competition is constantly pumping out game-ready updates for every one big game plunge .
These early issues make me a little aflutter that AMD ’ s driver support hush needs work, but there are other areas where it ’ south ahead of Nvidia. The AMD Radeon software includes a bang-up dashboard with access to all the settings and game optimizations you could want. You can tweak individual games easily to enable or disable AMD features, or you can even see how your performance compares to alike systems .

This software is sincerely capital, and there ’ s even immediate and comfortable access to overclocking tools if you want to push things a small far. Nvidia splits its tools and driver settings into two sections in its GeForce Experience app and Control Panel. Heading into the Nvidia Control Panel is like a stumble down memory lane to Windows 95, as the interface is ancient and not very user-friendly at all .
AMD ’ sulfur basic operate gore might be better, but Nvidia besides offers a range of RTX features that are designed for creators. AMD doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate actually have any equivalents to things like RTX Voice that make background sounds magically disappear on voice and video recording calls, or even RTX Broadcast that includes virtual backgrounds and car framing .
These are particularly useful during a pandemic, where you might be stuck on television calls more frequently than not, and it ’ mho clear Nvidia has an AI advantage here .

I ’ m surprised that AMD has managed to catch up to Nvidia at the bounty end of personal computer bet on and even beat the RTX 3080 more much than not at 1440p. The gap has besides narrowed on the 4K side, but Nvidia still takes the edge and a net advantage for beam tracing and superintendent sample distribution .
The fact that AMD has managed to narrow this gap is impressive. It has done so with architectural improvements, while even delivering a graphics calling card that works like we ’ d expect with a goodly measure of VRAM ( 16GB ). There ’ mho no illusion cool or a clunky power adapter, and it ’ s on equality with the RTX 3080 at a lower price point and using less power .
If you ’ d said to me earlier this year that AMD was going to catch up to Nvidia, I would have probably laughed. The RX 6800 XT is a worthy rival to the RTX 3080, and it ’ mho more than capable of 4K and 1440p bet on .
AMD now has to prove it ’ s able to deliver ray tracing performance improvements and deliver super sampling to in truth compete in full for next-generation games. If it can, then this will be a card that will deliver great performance for years.

If you ’ re inactive struggling to pick up an RTX 3080, AMD might equitable have you covered here. AMD has made 4K gambling just a little bite more low-cost than even Nvidia was able to. Let ’ s fair hope there are more than a handful of cards available .
It might have taken more than 10 years, but AMD is ultimately back and competitive. And that ’ s bang-up for every personal computer game .
photography by Tom Warren / The scepter

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Category : Reviews