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AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT

AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT

The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is a high-end desktop GPU based on the RDNA2 architecture and uses the Navi 21 chip which is manufactured in 7nm at TSMC. The GPU has 80 compute units (CUs) / 5,120 shader units, as well as 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM with a 256-bit interface (16 Gbps, 512 GB/s). The GPU supports hardware accelerated raytracing thanks to the RDNA2 architecture.

Features
RDNA2 serves as the basis for the Navi 21 graphics chip, which is the successor to the Navi 10 graphics chip from the previous RX 5700 series. A number of new features like SAM (Smart Access Memory) and the Infinity Cache make the RX 6800 series very interesting. PCI Express 4.0 and RIS (Radeon Image Sharpening) are still available. The new Media Engine lets you decode video at up to 8K resolution, and the new Display Engine supports screens up to 8K at 60Hz including HDR or 4K HDR at 144Hz.

Performance
The performance of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is between a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 (when Raytracing is not used). Using Raytracing, the performance falls back a bit (depending on the game) as the RTX cards offer a faster Raytracing rendering. Still, the RX 6900XT is one of the fastest desktop cards in 2021 and well suited for 4K gaming. Read our full review on the RX 6900 XT for more details.

Power consumption

The power consumption of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is quantified by the manufacturer at 300 Watts (TGP) and is thus somewhat less power-hungry than the GeForce RTX 3080 (320 Watts).

ArchitectureNavi / RDNA2
Pipelines5120 - unified
Core Speed1825 - 2250 (Boost) MHz
Memory Speed16000 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR6
Max. Amount of Memory16 GB
Shared Memoryno
APIDirectX 12_2, Shader 6.5, OpenGL 4.6
Power Consumption300 Watt
Transistor Count26.8 Billion
technology7 nm
FeaturesDisplayPort 1.4 w/DFSC, HDMI 2.1 VRR, PCIe 4.0, Radeon Media Engine (H.264 4K150 decode, 4K90 encode / H.265 4K90 decode, 8K24, 4K60 encode / VP9 4K90. 8K24 decode)
Date of Announcement08.12.2020
Link to Manufacturer Pagewww.amd.com

Benchmarks

SPECviewperf 12
specvp12 sw-03 +
specvp12 snx-02 +
specvp12 showcase-01 +
specvp12 mediacal-01 +
specvp12 maya-04 +
specvp12 energy-01 +
specvp12 creo-01 +
specvp12 catia-04 +
specvp12 3dsmax-05 +
SPECviewperf 13 specvp13 sw-04 +
specvp13 snx-03 +
specvp13 showcase-02 +
specvp13 medical-02 +
specvp13 maya-05 +
specvp13 energy-02 +
specvp13 creo-02 +
specvp13 catia-05 +
specvp13 3dsmax-06 +
SPECviewperf 2020 specvp2020 solidworks-05 4k +
specvp2020 snx-04 4k +
specvp2020 medical-03 4k +
specvp2020 maya-06 4k +
specvp2020 energy-03 4k +
specvp2020 creo-03 4k +
specvp2020 catia-06 4k +