Tag: radeon

  • Radeon RX 7900 XTX review: AMD returns to attack

    Radeon RX 7900 XTX review: AMD returns to attack

    GAMING SUPPORT – AMD is obviously keeping a slower pace than a few years ago, with the release of a new generation of graphics cards every two years. The brand is not the only one, Nvidia having also adopted this tempo for a few generations of cards. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is launched at the same time as the Radeon RX 7900 XT and represents the top of the range of the series – pending the hypothetical release of an RX 7950 version.

    The technical point

    This series of Radeon RX 7000 obviously rhymes with the release of a new graphics architecture, the RDNA 3 which brings a radical change in the design of AMD’s graphics circuits. Exit the monolithic design and make way for a design in the form of a “chiplet”, an approach similar to that which has now been used for several years on Ryzen processors.

    Simply speaking, the chip no longer has a single circuit (die), but up to 7 dies. This allows more modularity, starting with the use of different etching processes — to reduce manufacturing costs and ensure better production efficiency (a small die is easier to manufacture than a large die).

    This is obviously not the only novelty of the RDNA 3 architecture here. The different calculation blocks have been reviewed and optimized. There are thus blocks dedicated to second-generation raytracing, which AMD announces up to 1.8x faster than the previous ones. This requires the management of new systems (Geometry Flags, ray flags and nod pointer) and optimized instruction scheduling. 

    The cache system has also been revised, the second generation Infinity Cache being faster than the previous one and accompanied by much larger L0, L1 and L2 caches. Finally, units dedicated to accelerating AI are now present (AI Matrix Accelerator), AMD thus following Nvidia’s approach with its Tensor Cores.

    The Radeon RX 7900 XTX in detail

    On the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, AMD has chosen to integrate 96 Compute Units. It thus embeds as many units dedicated to raytracing, 192 units dedicated to AI and 6144 conventional calculation units – against 5120 on the Radeon RX 6950 XT. The maximum GPU frequency is given for 2500 MHz and 2300 MHz in game. 384 bit. All this allows a memory bandwidth of 960 GB / s all the same.

    The energy envelope is set at 355 watts, a value quite close to that of the GeForce RTX 4080 (320 watts). The card’s power supply passes through a stage of 20 phases and, above all, through two 8-pin PCIe connectors, AMD having decided to ignore the recent – and maligned – 12HPWR connector found in particular on the GeForce RTX 40.

    Consumption

    Power consumption is unsurprising and consistent with what AMD indicates in its technical characteristics. It does not exceed 355 watts, as advertised, while the average is more around 335 watts, depending on the games, the definition and the graphic effects activated.

    Note: the note in the consumption section corresponds to the ratio between performance and power consumption.

    Performance in games

    The average operating frequency turned out to be higher than expected. On average, when games are running at 4K, this comes in at 2570 MHz on our gaming panel. A frequency that also changes only slightly depending on the games.

    Cut for 4K, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX offers a high-level gaming experience in this definition. However, it is necessary to analyze in detail the results obtained on our test panel to fully understand the positive and negative points.

    The AMD ecosystem

    AMD is also evolving its software ecosystem. For the time being, we have not been able to take control of all these developments which will arrive in dribs and drabs during 2023. We are thinking in particular of Hypr-RX, a “one-click” type system which will make it possible to optimize simply its graphics card to gain latency and performance. In fact, the option will automatically activate FSR, Radeon Boost (to optimize frequency) and Radeon Anti-Lag (to reduce latency) technologies. Coming in the first half of 2023.

    Conclusion

    The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a very good solution for gaming in 4K. Games display at a high frame rate, including raytracing when FSR is active. Nevertheless, if AMD manages to offer a card as fast as its direct competitor (the GeForce RTX 4080 ), we remain a little disappointed by its raytracing performance. The gap with the opponent is then high and the situation will not get better as the games use more effects of this kind. Shame.

     

     

  • AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Test, software, manual guide

    AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT test: a graphics card that ticks on raytracing

    The Radeon RX 6600 XT is positioned by AMD as an ideal graphics card for gaming in good conditions on a Full HD monitor. A model which therefore aims to overshadow its direct rival, the GeForce RTX 3060.

    The Radeon RX 6600 XT is the fifth generation Navi / RDNA2 graphics card from AMD. Displayed at a starting public price of € 380, it is positioned as an entry-level, even mid-range solution. The manufacturer is targeting here players wishing to equip themselves with a graphics card capable of correctly supplying a Full HD monitor.

    The technical point

    As for the entire Radeon RX 6000 family, we find under the heatsink of the Radeon RX 6600 XT a GPU using the RDNA2 graphics architecture. We will not go into detail on this architecture that we discussed in our full test of the Radeon RX 6800 XT.

    See Also : Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Driver  Update

    If the architecture is identical to the rest of the series, the chip is for its part unique. It is a Navi 23 GPU with 32 execution blocks (CU) for 2,048 compute units. For the other units, there are 128 units dedicated to textures, 64 rendering units or even 32 units dedicated to accelerating effects rendered in raytracing.

    Chace System

    The Infinity Cache system is renewed, but it is limited to 32 MB, thus making it possible to reduce the size of the chip (237 mm²) – and therefore its cost. The 11.1 billion transistors are etched in 7 nm by TSMC, like the entire series.

    The operating frequency of the GPU is, as with all Radeon RX 6000s, quite high. AMD announces a base frequency of 1968 MHz, for an average frequency in games at 2589 MHz.

    Memory

    For memory, the 128-bit bus and aggressive pricing positioning desired by AMD left no other choice than an orientation towards 8 GB of GDDR6 at 2000 MHz. As a result, memory bandwidth is limited to 256 GB / s.

    In return, the energy envelope is rather contained, with 160 watts announced by AMD, compared to the 230 watts of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or to the 170 watts of the GeForce RTX 3060, its direct competitor in the Nvidia catalog.

    Construction

    Unlike the Radeon RX 6700 XT and higher models, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is not offered as a reference model. In other words, only the so-called ” custom ” models will be marketed by the GPU manufacturer’s partners. For our tests, AMD provided us with an MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X. This model is slightly overclocked at the GPU level (+18 MHz).

    Consumption

    The power envelope of the MSI graphics card we tested was pushed to 180 watts, compared to 160 watts recommended by AMD. One way to achieve higher operating frequencies.

    In practice, we have actually measured this power consumption, with peaks of 190 watts. This nonetheless remains good energy efficiency, which is common to the entire Radeon RX 6000 range.

    Performance in games

    The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X that we used in our test posted an average effective frequency of 2640MHz in most games at 1440p rendering.

    With this GPU, AMD clearly has its sights set on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060. The latter is outstripped in classic rendering games. This is valid for both Full HD and 1440p.

    RDNA2 Architecture

    However, the RDNA2 architecture has shortcomings in games that exploit raytracing effects. This is true once again here, where the Radeon is clearly positioned behind its signed rival Nvidia.

    We hoped that the FSR would give this model a performance boost, but it is clear that we will have to wait several more months before this upscaling technology is implemented in a significant number of games.

    Nvidia still keeps a lead here with DLSS, more adopted by developers at the time of this writing.

    Higher Definition

    The Radeon RX 6600 XT does its job in that it offers enough resources to play properly in Full HD. The higher definition (1440p) is also possible, although it will probably be necessary to go down some levels of graphic detail to maintain fluidity in the busiest scenes of the latest games.

    Faster than the GeForce RTX 3060 in classic games, it also comes at a high price, or € 379 recommended starting price.

    More Complicated

    But now, the graphics card scene is now much more complicated than that. First of all, there is raytracing, which largely reshuffles the cards. On this, AMD is no match for Nvidia, which systematically keeps a step ahead at this level.

    By activating this type of effects, the performance of the Radeon RX 6600 XT collapses in such a way that it rarely becomes possible to maintain a satisfactory fluidity.

    Problem

    This problem is all the more important as raytracing compatible games are becoming commonplace, just as DLSS support tends to be generalized on most large video game productions.

    Conversely, the AMD FSR upscaling technique is currently quite confidential. Worse still, it is only of interest in higher definitions (ideally in 4K), the graphics rendering in Full HD being particularly degraded, whatever the level of quality selected.

    A sum that seems too high for a model that does not allow us to take advantage of the refinements of raytracing .

    Radeon RX 6600 XT Software And Manual

    Software Driver and Manual > Download

    Conclusion

    The Radeon RX 6600 XT is a very good graphics card for gamers who want to play on a Full HD monitor and have no desire to enable raytracing in compatible games.

    For them, this model offers performance at a very good level and the controlled power consumption leaves the possibility for manufacturers to offer models with discrete cooling. For others, it is better to turn to a GeForce RTX 3060 or a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.