AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Review

Name: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
Brand: AMD

AMD's most popular Big Navi GPU might just be the new Radeon RX 6700 XT, enough GPU firepower to hit NVIDIA where it hurts.

Anthony Garreffa

@anthony256

Published Mar 17, 2021 8:00 AM CDT
Updated Mar 22, 2021 3:47 AM CDT

Manufacturer: AMD

14 minutes & 36 seconds read time

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TweakTown's Rating: 92%

The Bottom Line

AMD's kick ass RDNA 2 architecture is shining bright in the Radeon RX 6700 XT, offering GeForce RTX 3070 levels of performance with 12GB of GDDR6. Perfect for high-end 1440p and UltraWide gaming.

Buy at Amazon

Introduction

AMD is back with another launch and another member of the Big Navi GPU family with the introduction of the Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card -- a new GPU aimed at offering powerhouse performance for 1440p gaming.

VIEW GALLERY - 76 IMAGES

Just like its other Big Navi brethren we have the RDNA 2 architecture at its core, infused with AMD's new Infinity Cache technology, and 12GB of GDDR6 memory. Just stopping here for a second, the faster NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card has 10GB of GDDR6 -- AMD's new mid-range Radeon RX 6700 XT now ships with more VRAM.

We have the normal flurry of AMD technology included, with DX12 from the outset, AMD FidelityFX, DirectX Raytracing (DXR) support, variable rate shading (VRS), and so much more. We've also got HDMI 2.1 output on the Radeon RX 6700 XT which makes for perfect use on a next-gen 4K 120Hz gaming TV.

Read more: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Review
Read more: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Review
Read more: AMD Radeon RX 6800 Review

There's a big upgrade here over the Radeon RX 5700 XT -- the previous-gen RDNA flagship GPU that had 10.3 billion transistors, and GPU clocks of up to 2000MHz or so. AMD's new Navi 22-powered Radeon RX 6700 XT has 17.2 billion transistors and GPU clocks of up to 2600MHz (and beyond with custom AIB solutions).

The Radeon RX 5700 XT packed 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory bus with 448GB/sec of memory bandwidth on a 225W TDP. AMD pushes this up with 12GB of GDDR6 but on a smaller 192-bit memory bus with less memory bandwidth with 384GB/sec on offer, with a 230W TDP.

AMD says the starting price of its new Radeon RX 6700 XT is $479 but we all know that's going to be far from the truth... in a perfect world the RX 6700 XT is $479-$549... but unfortunately that's not the case. I have no idea what price you're going to see or find the Radeon RX 6700 XT in your country for... but AMD is stating the price of the Radeon RX 6700 XT starts from $479.

Everything You Need to Know About The RX 6700 XT

AMD's new RDNA 2 architecture has more changes than any previous-gen GPU architecture I can remember from AMD (and even ATi) in the last 10+ years.

There's a lot to go over here, but we're looking at an enhanced compute unit, new visual pipeline featuring Ray Accelerators, and the all-new (and very exciting) Infinity Cache (which I'll go into on the next page. We're looking at a huge 1.54x higher performance-per-watt and 1.3x higher frequency at the same per-CU power -- impressive stuff, AMD.

Ray Accelerators

One of the largest new introductions in the new RDNA 2 architecture is the high-performance ray tracing acceleration architecture known as the Ray Accelerator. AMD doesn't have NVIDIA-beating ray tracing performance, but it's here in RDNA 2.

Each Ray Accelerator is capable of calculating up to 4 ray / box intersections, and 1 ray / triangle intersection every clock. This means the RDNA 2-based Ray Accelerators can efficiently calculate the intersections of the rays with the scene geometry as represented in a Bounding Volume Hierarchy, sorts them, and returns the information to the shaders for further scene traversal or result shading.

HDMI 2.1

This is another big deal -- HDMI 2.1 connectivity.

HDMI 2.1 ushers in the worlds of 4K 120Hz and 8K 60Hz through a single HDMI 2.1 cable to your flashy new TV or gaming monitor. Personally I own a new CX series LG OLED TV with HDMI 2.1 that drives its 4K 120Hz, so plugging my gaming PC into my TV can only be done a single way if I want 4K 120Hz -- which I kinda do.

The introduction of HDMI 2.1 on graphics cards began with NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 30 series, and continues with AMD's new Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards. All 3 of the new Radeon RX 6000 series cards -- the Radeon RX 6900 XT (review here), the Radeon RX 6800 XT (review here) and Radeon RX 6800 all have HDMI 2.1 output.

Now this is where things get really interesting -- Infinity Cache, which provides some kick ass memory bandwidth even with it smaller 256-bit memory bus and slower GDDR6 memory.

NVIDIA might have a superior 320-bit memory bus, faster GDDR6X -- but it has less VRAM (10GB versus 16GB) and the Radeon RX 6800 XT still kicks ass against the GeForce RTX 3080 in all resolutions and situations. But in the right situation -- like when paired with a Zen 3 processor, like I've done preliminary with the Ryzen 9 5900X -- you can get in excess of 10% more performance when you add SAM (Smart Access Memory) into the equation.

The SAM results are as good as you see in these charts, and in some cases better -- it's an impressive thing to see, and I truly can't wait to see more from Smart Access Memory technology.

AMD marketing

AMD engineered the new Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card for "enthusiasts with a focus on premium materials and design", with the card built to standards that "enable customers and partners, all in an efficient power package".

AMD has used a 10-layer high-performance PCB with 2 layers of 2 oz. copper on the Radeon RX 6700 XT for enhanced power delivery, with Premium IT-170 material and 9 (7+2) high efficiency DrMOS phases on the Radeon RX 6700 XT reference graphics card.

One of the biggest parts of Radeon gaming is FidelityFX, with the new RDNA and RDNA 2 architectures supporting FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) in early 2020 and then Ambient Occlusion, Screen Space Reflections, HDR Mapper, and Downsampler.

AMD FidelityFX is on over 40 games right now wand that list will continue to get bigger.

The new Radeon RX 6700 XT has 12GB of GDDR6 memory which AMD says is "futureproofing" the Navi 22-based GPU with 12GB, saying that many modern games use over 8GB of VRAM and that the Radeon RX 6700 XT packing 12GB of GDDR6 lets you play games at "max settings for today and tomorrow".

Detailed Look

The retail packaging remains the same as the reference Radeon RX 6800, Radeon RX 6800 XT, and Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards. It's simple, and nice.

Out of the box the Radeon RX 6700 XT is much lighter than its other Big Navi siblings, with a large 'R' in the middle for -- drum roll please -- Radeon. The dual-fan reference design is nice from the front, but I do wish that R lit up -- or at least had the option of lighting up.

The same backplate as the other cards, but the entire back of the GPU is now covered versus the back plate of the Radeon RX 6800 XT reference card that I have below for your reference -- pun not intended, but it so works.

A nice and neat dual-slot card, I love that.

Just an 8 + 6-pin PCIe power connector setup required.

The usual 3 x DP 1.4 and 1 x HDMI 2.1 connector on the back of the Radeon RX 6700 XT.

Test System Specs

Latest upgrade:

ASUS provided a rather large upgrade to my GPU testing lab -- or rather, I kept the ASUS ROG Swift PG43UQ gaming monitor after my review on it. The 43-inch 4K 144Hz panel is just glorious to look at -- it's huge, the DPI for Windows 10 when set perfect for your viewing distance is kiss-fingers-emoji good. It's just amazing -- for work, and gaming.

Sabrent sent over their huge Rocket Q 8TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD, which will be my new Games install SSD inside of my main test bed.

I'll be making some changes over the coming months to the GPU test bed here for TweakTown, to both the Ryzen 9 5900X and then Intel's new Core i9-11900K to do some proper PCIe 4.0 testing between the chipsets for GPUs + super-fast load times into games on these new super-fast Sabrent SSDs.

Sabrent helped out with some new storage for my GPU test beds, sending over a slew of crazy-fast Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSDs. I've got this installed into my GPU test bed as the new Games Storage drive, since games are so damn big now. Thanks to Sabrent, I've got 2TB of super-fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage now.

Anthony's GPU Test System Specifications

I've recently upgraded my GPU test bed -- at least for now, until AMD's new Ryzen 9 5950X processor is unleashed then the final update for 2020 will happen and we'll be all good for RDNA 2 and future Ampere GPU releases. You can read my article here: TweakTown GPU Test Bed Upgrade for 2021, But Then Zen 3 Was Announced.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (buy from Amazon)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII HERO (buy from Amazon)
Cooler: CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360R RGB (buy from Amazon)
RAM: G.SKILL Trident Z NEO RGB 32GB (4x8GB) (F4-3600C18Q-32GTZN) (buy from Amazon)
SSD: Sabrent 2TB Rocket NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 (buy from Amazon)
PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1200W (buy from Amazon)
Case: InWin X-Frame 2.0
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional x64 (buy from Amazon)
Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG43UQ (buy from Amazon)

Benchmarks - Synthetic

3DMark Fire Strike

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

3DMark TimeSpy

Heaven - 1080p

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

Benchmarks - 1080p

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

1080p performance is strong with the Radeon RX 6700 XT with it topping the GeForce RTX 3090 in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, a heavily optimized AMD game. In Shadow of War it comes close to the RTX 3090, but ultimately competes with the RTX 3070 -- although it beats the RTX 2080 SUPER and RTX 2080 Ti here at 1080p.

Metro Exodus is harder on the Radeon RX 6700 XT, but AMD is still beating out the RTX 2080 SUPER and getting closer to the RTX 3070, losing to the RTX 2080 Ti as well. Things are a bit better in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with the Radeon RX 6700 XT competing right there neck-and-neck with the GeForce RTX 3070 in 1080p.

Overall, a kick ass 1080p performer.

Benchmarks - 1440p

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

Alright, let's shift over to where I think the Radeon RX 6700 XT is a stellar gaming GPU: 1440p gaming.

AMD's new Radeon RX 6700 XT stomps in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla even at 1440p, matching the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 78FPS average. It gets knocked down a bit more in Shadow of War but still holds its own with 112-118FPS average at 1440p depending on stock or overclocked, with the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 2080 SUPER sandwiched in-between.

We are ever-so-close to 60FPS in Metro Exodus at 1440p, beating the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 2080 SUPER here, and losing (just) to the RTX 3070 and RTX 2080 Ti. We have over 120FPS average in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, so we're totally fine there.

Benchmarks - 4K

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts

I do NOT recommend the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT for 4K gaming, as that is the job of the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards... but if you wanted to do some light 4K gaming at 30-60FPS that would be alright.

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is maxed out remember, and we're still talking 43-44FPS average -- but it gets its ass handed to it by the GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 here. Whereas at 1080p and 1440p the Radeon RX 6700 XT was the one opening up a can of Whoop Ass.

Shadow of War is great at 4K on the Radeon RX 6700 XT running at over 60FPS average, but drops to 37FPS average in Metro Exodus -- alright, because it's not a fast-paced shooter. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is once again fine, with over 60FPS average on the Radeon RX 6700 XT.

Overclocking

Out of the box my sample of the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reference graphics card sat pretty nicely at 2500MHz on the dot, with temps hitting 81C on the GPU and an alarming 96C on the GPU hotspot temps. Ouch. This is with the fans at their default setting with them spinning at around 40% and around 1400RPM or so.

The maximum stable overclock I could get out of the Radeon RX 6700 XT reference graphics card was 2724MHz or so, and it would peak above this up to 2770-2800MHz but it depends on the game. Some weren't stable at that speed. When it comes to temps, with the Radeon RX 6700 XT overclocked and the fans between 85-100% the temps dropped to just on 70C or so with GPU hotspot temps still reaching nearly 90C.

Power Consumption & Temps

AMD has a much hotter-operating Big Navi card here with the Radeon RX 6700 XT reference graphics card, with my sample running at over 80C out of the box... up there with the hottest cards. But with the fans cranked to 100% the temps drop below 70C while custom cards are much, much cooler. I would go for the custom card over the reference all day long.

Power numbers aren't out of control, with total system power consumption tapping out at 345W with max overclocks applied while 320W for the full AMD Ryzen 7 3800X test system at stock clocks.

What's Hot, What's Not

What's Hot

Great RDNA 2 upgrade for Radeon RX 400, RX 500, RX Vega series owners: If you've got a previous-gen Radeon GPU and have been waiting to upgrade to a new sub $500 card from the RDNA 2 clan of GPUs then now is your time. Upgrading from a Radeon RX 480, Radeon RX 580 or Radeon RX Vega 56 or 64 to the new Radeon RX 6700 XT would be a great upgrade.
Kick ass 1080p and 1440p gaming performance: You've got solid 60FPS+ at each of these resolutions in AAA titles, and well over 120FPS (and in some cases 200+ even 300+ and sometimes 400FPS+) in esports and competitive games at both 1080p and 1440p on the Radeon RX 6700 XT.
Mainstream Big Navi power: AMD has great amounts of GPU power at every level now with the Radeon RX 6700 XT with its Navi 22 GPU through to the Radeon RX 6900 XT. There's enough Big Navi lovin' to go around, if you can find the cards that is.

$479 starting price: AMD starts pricing off at $479 but we know that's never going to be the price you'll buy the card for, if you can even buy it. The new Radeon RX 6700 XT has been seen for upwards of $1000 before it was even made available at retail.
12GB of GDDR6 memory: 12GB of GDDR6 memory is very generous, as AMD has been with across all of the Big Navi GPU offerings. 12GB of GDDR6 is the least of them all so far, with the Radeon RX 6800, Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6900 XT all packing 16GB of GDDR6.

What's Not

Insane prices already, hovering over $1250: In the lead up to the review I wrote some news that the custom Radeon RX 6700 XT from PowerColor was being sold for $1250 in Chechia, with the PowerColor RX 6700 XT HELLHOUND listed for $1250.
Nowhere to be found: You are going to find it near impossible to buy these, although AMD is promising more stock this time around. We should hopefully see this situation improve over the coming months, hopefully.

Final Thoughts

In a perfect world AMD just launched the mid-range Radeon RX 6700 XT for $479 and it would kick ass, a truly awesome graphics card for the money that would battle the GeForce RTX 3070 that was launched at $499.

In this perfect world AMD would have a damn freaking good graphics card on its hands that truly battles the GeForce RTX 3070 in the more popular mid-range side of the market. At the sub $500 category AMD is now actually smashing it in 1080p and 1440p gaming and offering a great GPU technology wise at the same time.

We have HDMI 2.1, a 7nm GPU with Infinity Cache and 12GB of GDDR6 memory -- it has ray tracing support which I'm not going to even bother going into until ray tracing is more widespread and there are more graphics cards available for it to begin to matter. But AMD has it all there, ready to go.

In this perfect world the Radeon RX 6700 XT would be praised for it is a great graphics card for the sub $500 market, if it were to ever stay at sub $500. Even if that were to happen the card wouldn't be available in big enough nummbers for AMD to begin to hurt NVIDIA where it needs to be hurt: discrete GPU market share.

AMD will not be able to do that with this release, or any release until the GPU shortage is out of sight which is not going away anytime soon (spoiler alert: probably not until at least sometime in 2022).

Wrapping up, the Radeon RX 6700 XT is a great graphics card if it's priced at $479 -- and in the stack of Big Navi cards it ticks all the right boxes to sit under the Radeon RX 6800. But I would be grabbing a custom card, which I have reviews of MSI, XFX, SAPPHIRE, and ASUS custom Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card reviews coming in the next few days.

AMD -- well done on the Radeon RX 6700 XT.

Gamers -- sorry that it will be so hard (and expensive) to buy the Radeon RX 6700 XT.

Performance	95%
Quality	80%
Features	100%
Value	N/A
Overall	92%

The Bottom Line

AMD's kick ass RDNA 2 architecture is shining bright in the Radeon RX 6700 XT, offering GeForce RTX 3070 levels of performance with 12GB of GDDR6. Perfect for high-end 1440p and UltraWide gaming.

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