# AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Reference Design



## W1zzard (May 18, 2022)

The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Reference Design card not only looks great, but also achieves excellent performance, matching the GeForce RTX 3090, but at much better pricing. Because of good optimization and surprisingly good energy efficiency, AMD's thermal solution works very well, too.

*Show full review*


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## progste (May 18, 2022)

I actually expected worse pwoer consumption, kinda impressive in some ways.
Still, these prices are too crazy to consider any of these cards (both AMD and Nvidia).


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## mechtech (May 18, 2022)

Nice review as always.

I see v-sync can an obviously make a big difference on power consumption.

Out of curiosity, if there a power draw difference running ray tracing vs. not running ray tracing?


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## Daven (May 18, 2022)

Will testing the reference design change the current relative percentage value in the TPU GPU database? Currently the database shows only 3% over the 6900xt.


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## kapone32 (May 18, 2022)

Wow I looked up AMD's website and us Canadians are not being served properly. My cousin lives in Boston and was telling me that he could everything from CPUs to GPUs at MSRP. In Canada the only listings that are available are the 6750XT and the 6950XT.


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## ModEl4 (May 18, 2022)

I don't know about 3090Ti difference, it seems correct though, the odd number is the 3090 efficiency, it seems wrong, it must be close to 3080Ti, @W1zzard should check it out:


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## Fourstaff (May 19, 2022)

We can draw the power/perf chart for Navi 21 between 6900 and the various custom 6950 designs.


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## ModEl4 (May 19, 2022)

3090 is just -8% on average at 4K and -5% at QHD vs 3090Ti and the TDP is 350W vs 450W (355W vs 445W measured or whatever), doesn't find it alarming that 3090Ti is 3% more power efficient than 3090?


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## Oberon (May 19, 2022)

ModEl4 said:


> I don't know about 3090Ti difference, it seems correct though, the odd number is the 3090 efficiency, it seems wrong, it must be close to 3080Ti, @W1zzard should check it out:


I mean, they also keep reposting the 600W+ power spike number for the 6900 XT, which was clearly an erroneous measurement.


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## Crackong (May 19, 2022)

TBH I hope AMD could untie the artificial power limit in the Driver.
There are clearly many headroom for 6800 series for overclocking 
The only thing in between is just the +15% power limit set by AMD


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## Oberon (May 19, 2022)

Crackong said:


> TBH I hope AMD could untie the artificial power limit in the Driver.
> There are clearly many headroom for 6800 series for overclocking
> The only thing in between is just the +15% power limit set by AMD


This is easy enough bypass with MPT, but it doesn't really give you much without exotic cooling. Most benchmark world record holders with Navi 21 cards struggle to break 2800 MHz, which is achievable within the power limits with the right card.


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## InVasMani (May 19, 2022)

Really impressed with this chart with what AMD did on RX 6950 XT vs the RX6900 XT and the thing of it is a AIB could improve that further if they saw fit to do so. It would be interesting if a AIB kept a good cooler on it like Sapphire utilizes and then also dials down the power limit to like 325w a bit below reference if they can do that on good chips reliably and stably at the same time they would have something quite nice on energy efficiency. These power consumption 20ms spikes can get really extreme and power hungry. 

Something I wouldn't mind seeing on GPU's is a bypass fan header on the fan cooling power so that the MB or fan controller could power it instead. It's fine if the GPU still regulates the RPM's, but if they can offload the actual fan power being generated by the GPU itself in such way it would be better for the PCB and VRM temps. I haven't noticed a design like that yet, but seems very much within the realm of possibilities and offloading it externally would free up the power limit a bit. The fans themselves and at higher RPM's can consume a chunk of the power limit if I'm not mistaken.


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## Makaveli (May 19, 2022)

kapone32 said:


> Wow I looked up AMD's website and us Canadians are not being served properly. My cousin lives in Boston and was telling me that he could everything from CPUs to GPUs at MSRP. In Canada the only listings that are available are the 6750XT and the 6950XT.


This has always been the case even back when it was Ati Radeons built in canada. The US always get it cheaper than we do and their dollar is worth abit more so its a win win for them.


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## ARF (May 19, 2022)

Daven said:


> Will testing the reference design change the current relative percentage value in the TPU GPU database? Currently the database shows only 3% over the 6900xt.



Should be...

*Old:*



AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

*New:*



AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Reference Design Review - Relative Performance | TechPowerUp


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## W1zzard (May 19, 2022)

Daven said:


> Will testing the reference design change the current relative percentage value in the TPU GPU database? Currently the database shows only 3% over the 6900xt.


Yup, that's part of the reason why I was so interested in getting my hands on the reference card. The GPU Database performance numbers for RX 6950 XT have been updated.



Oberon said:


> I mean, they also keep reposting the 600W+ power spike number for the 6900 XT, which was clearly an erroneous measurement.


Just woke up and retested this for you on the RX 6900 XT


http://imgur.com/oyWZKbi

(ignore the multi-monitor numbers, I was too lazy to plug in an out the 2nd cable)


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## WhateverAnotherFreakingID (May 19, 2022)

if you want to talk about the "_6950XT being more efficient than_" then you must go beyond addition and subtraction and use multiplication and division too, for now you must assume that 3090ti is at 100% efficiency scale in the chart and then multiply that 100% by the ratio between the previous 6950XT 100% and the previous 3090ti 81%, so

100 * ( 100 / 81 ) = 123,46%

so

the _6950XT is 23.46% more energy efficient than _the 3090ti

---
Ref Table from the article:


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## Kirederf (May 19, 2022)

It is very nice to see all the tested AIB cards together in the chart with the ref card. The only thing I am missing is the XTXH card.


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## ARF (May 19, 2022)

The "multi-monitor" power consumption is terrible. AMD's engineers failed to find a way NOT to overclock the memory chips so heavily during this function:




AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Reference Design Review - Efficiency & Clock Speeds | TechPowerUp




AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Reference Design Review - Power Consumption | TechPowerUp


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## W1zzard (May 19, 2022)

ARF said:


> The "multi-monitor" power consumption is terrible. AMD's engineers failed to find a way NOT to overclock the memory chips so heavily during this function:


Yeah, this is pretty normal for AMD, has been like that for like a decade


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## mb194dc (May 19, 2022)

Conclusion for me, fast card but way too expensive still.


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## Jism (May 19, 2022)

@Wizzard, why is it you guys dont recieve directly from AMD anymore?


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## W1zzard (May 19, 2022)

Jism said:


> @Wizzard, why is it you guys dont recieve directly from AMD anymore?


For this launch AMD has only coordinated the launch with board partner cards. They haven't seeded their own reference designs, to anyone

I have Ryzen 5600 and 5700X here for review from AMD


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## ARF (May 19, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> They haven't seeded their own reference designs, to anyone



Then, if so, you can safely assume that the fastest representation of the card (*MSI Gaming X Trio*) should be included in TPU performance table, rather than the slowest which virtually no one would be interested in to purchase, anyways.


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## W1zzard (May 19, 2022)

ARF said:


> which virtually no one would be interested in to purchase, anyways.


Huh? They are not sending out samples so they can sell the cards


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## ARF (May 19, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> Huh? They are not sending out samples so they can sell the cards



Really? How low can AMD fall? I mean they have to send no more than 5 cards for the whole world for the largest reviewers. And then, ask you and the other four reviewers to return the cards, if the supply is so pathetic.


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## 80-watt Hamster (May 19, 2022)

I found myself wondering how the RX 6600 fell so far down the P/P charts, then noticed that it's listed at the same price as the 6600 XT ($380).  6600 is USD300 if going by the lowest on Newegg.


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## HD64G (May 19, 2022)

Kudos to both @W1zzard and the viewer that provided you with this monster to review. AMD did a good job improving their top GPU without losing efficiency. AIBs almost always are lazy and just turn the notch to 11-12 to get as much performance as possible. I would prefer the BIOS of this ref model in a better cooler as Sapphire's. I wonder why the AIB's don't all have BIOs switches with one of those having the ref one installed.


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## TheEndIsNear (May 19, 2022)

The borderlands 3 results can't be right unless there is a huge difference between dx 11 and 12.  I've used 12 since it came out.  I get 130fps on badass settings at 2k on average on a 6900xt.  It never dips as low as it is in the chart.  I wonder what could be the difference.  Oh I have a 12900k but that shouldn't make a difference like that.


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## rusTORK (May 19, 2022)

@W1zzard, are there any chance to see veeery tiny comparison\review of Navi 21 XTX*H* vs Navi 21 *K*XTX especially after new "preview" driver from AMD will be WHQL? It's look's like boost few DX11 games.
I just saw Hardware Unboxed video 








Also, interesting to see them with Ryzen 7 5800X3D in Test system.


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## Oberon (May 19, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> Just woke up and retested this for you on the RX 6900 XT
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/oyWZKbi
> ...


You must have a bum card, then. Other outlets with similar testing (mainly igor's lab) don't find the same results even at smaller time scales and no other cards you have tested demonstrate the same behavior.


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## jesdals (May 20, 2022)

Great test  

Love to se the comparison to the AIB models clearly the better choise if one have the space for a 3-4 slot 32cm long card.

Would like to see the actual backplate taken of because that on my reference card i did find that adding termal pads did lower the temps 3-7c 





Not my card (I used Thermal Grissly pads) but a reference with pads


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## R-T-B (May 20, 2022)

Oberon said:


> You must have a bum card, then. Other outlets with similar testing (mainly igor's lab) don't find the same results even at smaller time scales and no other cards you have tested demonstrate the same behavior.


Cards vary.  We still have to report what we find.


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## Oasis (May 22, 2022)

WhateverAnotherFreakingID said:


> ...kinda, you're just confused about who's who and what...
> 
> so 19% yes, assuming you base your math on the chart in the table which I pasted below for reference, but that says that it is the _the 3090ti being _19% _less efficient than_ the 6950XT, not the other way around.
> 
> ...


Yeah I mixed it up

the 3090ti is 19% less efficient than the 6950XT and the 6950XT is 1.234567901 (1.23) 23% more efficient than the base 3090 ti 

I would be interesting to see how low  of a PSU power spec you can get in a modern gaming pc with the 3090 ti/6950XT without tripping the PSU or shutdowns 

Like a 5800x/i7 12th gen and the GPUs


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## Agent_D (May 24, 2022)

I'm curious to know which game test you're using when you do the temperature/fan noise charts.

My 6950XT reference fans hit 1800-1950rpm with a steady 1150-1200mv during BL3, Time Spy, and Cold War. Your chart shows ~1031mv on this card you tested, so I'm just curious as to what the testing conditions are.


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## kapone32 (May 24, 2022)

Oasis said:


> Yeah I mixed it up
> 
> the 3090ti is 19% less efficient than the 6950XT and the 6950XT is 1.234567901 (1.23) 23% more efficient than the base 3090 ti
> 
> ...


MSI did a live stream using a 12900KS and 3090TI. In some benchmarks the power draw was 900+ watts. It even went over 1000 for a few seconds. They were using a 1000W PSU.


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## KatyaKassin (Jun 3, 2022)

Yesterday i recieved my 6950XT from AMD and i am very happy with it. It has an incredible performance, is quiet and the heat output ist not as much as everywhere said. Hope to have it working in my pc for the next two years.


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