# XFX Radeon RX 7900 XTX Merc 310 OC



## W1zzard (Dec 13, 2022)

With the Speedster Merc 310, XFX has engineered an excellent custom-design Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Thanks to an upgraded cooler, the card can easily handle the additional heat output from the three 8-pin power inputs. The additional power is put to good use, to extend the performance lead against GeForce RTX 4080.

*Show full review*


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## Fouquin (Dec 13, 2022)

50-70W increase to achieve 1-4% at best in realized performance gains, however that overclocking headroom provided by the extra power is certainly something. Too bad XFX bodged the cooler design again and it's yet another heat trap that needs to blast the fans to compensate. They're getting better though! It's still cool to see GPUs that can push up to 3.2GHz on air.


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## the54thvoid (Dec 13, 2022)

It's a bad price point. Simple as that. If you're going to spend this much, just get a 4080.


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## Neo_Morpheus (Dec 13, 2022)

I really like how these XFX cards look.


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## dir_d (Dec 13, 2022)

the54thvoid said:


> It's a bad price point. Simple as that. If you're going to spend this much, just get a 4080.


It really depends on if you want the Raster or the RT. The RT is not bad on these cards if its just RT shadows, full RT not even Nvidia cards can keep up. I think the price of the 4080 and 7900XTX is too much but I think this at least gives an end user the option of Raster/high power OC or RT. If i was looking for a card i would choose the Raster/High power OC route because RT is just not there yet.


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## Emboldi (Dec 13, 2022)

Epic work as always. How come one of the biggest titles Warzone II / DMZ is not in there?


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## Upgrayedd (Dec 13, 2022)

@Emboldi there's not even a formal overall performance review of the game on this site. 
They were using an outdated rig for performance reviews anyways (5800X for the CPU). They've just finally updated the platform. So MAYBE one will come eventually. 

There's just an upscaling tech review right now.


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## TRIPTEX_CAN (Dec 13, 2022)

@W1zzard  I doubt it matters that much but on the OC charts you have the GPU listed as the 7900 XT not XTX.


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## aigarius (Dec 13, 2022)

Comparing the PCB this looks to be very similar to the reference design apart from the extra power hardware for the additional plug. Hopefully that means that it will fit waterblocks that are intended for the reference board or for Sapphire Nitro+ (also very similar three plug design). Quite a few PCB designs look to be almost identical to the left of the power delivery line, hoping that will be a good sign for waterblocks in the near future.

Alphacool confirmed that waterblock for the reference design is coming very soon, but it is not ready for ordering yet.

P.S. I just realised what Alphacool did - they made a flexible design where the cooling core matches with the AMD spec for chip and memory placement and then there is just enough space to cover the power stages, but all the structural fixings are outside of that, made as simple threaded holes and posts in non-vapor-chamber parts or in acrylic. This allows Alphacool to very easily produce various card-specific variants by just adjusting the position of the holes and posts or using slightly different acrylic parts - the base block can be pre-produced in volume and then just adjusted for each card on demand. Genius.


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## LFaWolf (Dec 13, 2022)

Great review! Typo in the second paragraph of the conclusion - RDNA3 not RNDA3, although NDA is probably in your mind a lot.


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## AsRock (Dec 13, 2022)

the54thvoid said:


> It's a bad price point. Simple as that. If you're going to spend this much, just get a 4080.



Totally agree but if your like my self and been wanting a new v card for years it's a hell lot better than it was.

And no 4080 i do not trust that power delivery how ever much people say it's ok.


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## W1zzard (Dec 13, 2022)

LFaWolf said:


> Great review! Typo in the second paragraph of the conclusion - RDNA3 not RNDA3, although NDA is probably in your mind a lot.


Fixed, thanks!



TRIPTEX_CAN said:


> @W1zzard  I doubt it matters that much but on the OC charts you have the GPU listed as the 7900 XT not XTX.


Whoops .. fixing


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## Rogge99 (Dec 13, 2022)

XFX Radeon RX 7900 XTX Merc 310 OC Review ​I think correct name is: 
RX-79XMERCB9
XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 310 AMD Radeon™ RX 7900 XTX Black Edition

Regards

Roger


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## GamerGuy (Dec 13, 2022)

I'd said I'd sit by idly twiddling my thumbs till I get back in February to snag the XTX, but darn the net, online sites especially, I'd ended ordering the MERC310. Not sure if there's enough supply, if not, no worries as I'd get a full refund in three days' time. I'd included my bud's address as, well, obviously I'd not be around to receive it, but just in case delivery can't be done, I'll have to impose on my bud to pick it up for me at the shop. Dangit, this dang lack of self-control will be my undoing!

IF I do get it, I will edit my System Specs to reflect the new status....tho obviously I'd need to get back and make the swap. My Nitro+ RX 6900 XT won't be wasted, it'd be going into a new X570S and 3900X build, got all the parts, just need to assemble when I get back. The 3900X is my spare CPU after upgrading my main rig to a 5900X (in preparation for the XTX I knew I was gonna get).


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## Meyus (Dec 14, 2022)

GamerGuy said:


> I'd said I'd sit by idly twiddling my thumbs till I get back in February to snag the XTX, but darn the net, online sites especially, I'd ended ordering the MERC310. Not sure if there's enough supply, if not, no worries as I'd get a full refund in three days' time. I'd included my bud's address as, well, obviously I'd not be around to receive it, but just in case delivery can't be done, I'll have to impose on my bud to pick it up for me at the shop. Dangit, this dang lack of self-control will be my undoing!
> 
> IF I do get it, I will edit my System Specs to reflect the new status....tho obviously I'd need to get back and make the swap. My Nitro+ RX 6900 XT won't be wasted, it'd be going into a new X570S and 3900X build, got all the parts, just need to assemble when I get back. The 3900X is my spare CPU after upgrading my main rig to a 5900X (in preparation for the XTX I knew I was gonna get).


I just ordered this card, I am so hyped!
I had to pay 1300€, buuut ehhhh, I had to wait for so so so long, I couldnt resist anymore either..!


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## GamerGuy (Dec 14, 2022)

Upon payment, discovered I'd gotten a small discount, so I'd paid a final price of about 1297USD in all. If I were back home, I could pick up the cards after 6pm (it's a little past 12pm now). I gotta wait a little under two months before I can mess with it. 

I actually would have preferred the Sapphire Nitro+ Vapor-X version, but it's gonna be prohibitively expensive in my neck of the woods. Regardless, this card is pretty darn bada$$ enough as is.


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## Pure_Raver (Dec 14, 2022)

the54thvoid said:


> It's a bad price point. Simple as that. If you're going to spend this much, just get a 4080.


Why?
It's faster and cheaper and it will age better than Nvidia, why would I get 4080? Give me something...


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## W1zzard (Dec 14, 2022)

Rogge99 said:


> XFX Radeon RX 7900 XTX Merc 310 OC Review ​I think correct name is:
> RX-79XMERCB9
> XFX SPEEDSTER MERC 310 AMD Radeon™ RX 7900 XTX Black Edition
> 
> ...


Correct, and it's way too long and complicated, so I'm just shortening all cards to <mfgr name> <radeon|geforce> <series> <most distinguishing part of the name>

Surprising that they're not including "Gaming" in the name, too


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## the54thvoid (Dec 14, 2022)

Pure_Raver said:


> Why?
> It's faster and cheaper and it will age better than Nvidia, why would I get 4080? Give me something...


Noisier, less efficient. Faster in many titles, yes. But not enough to justify the price difference. I don't like the 4080 pricing but the XTX pricing isn't good either.


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## GamerGuy (Dec 14, 2022)

Meyus said:


> I just ordered this card, I am so hyped!
> I had to pay 1300€, buuut ehhhh, I had to wait for so so so long, I couldnt resist anymore either..!


Thanks dude, I'd paid 80+ USD less than you, makes me feel a little better now. My bud is gonna collect the card for me on Thursday, will ask him to take some pics as proof of purchase.


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## GhostRyder (Dec 14, 2022)

So with these cards I am curious about the overclocks from the AIB's versus overclocking the cards in general.  I do like these aftermarket improvements as with the extra power this card (And the Asus) seem to really add some decent performance improvements and overlock further.  I would like to see what happens on the regular XT model.


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## rvalencia (Dec 15, 2022)

Fouquin said:


> 50-70W increase to achieve 1-4% at best in realized performance gains, however that overclocking headroom provided by the extra power is certainly something. Too bad XFX bodged the cooler design again and it's yet another heat trap that needs to blast the fans to compensate. They're getting better though! It's still cool to see GPUs that can push up to 3.2GHz on air.


Needs faster memory modules with higher clock speed.


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## shovenose (Dec 15, 2022)

GhostRyder said:


> So with these cards I am curious about the overclocks from the AIB's versus overclocking the cards in general.  I do like these aftermarket improvements as with the extra power this card (And the Asus) seem to really add some decent performance improvements and overlock further.  I would like to see what happens on the regular XT model.


That’s what I’m wondering, the reference XT should, in theory, OC better than a reference XTX?


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## sLowEnd (Dec 15, 2022)

Pure_Raver said:


> Why?
> It's faster and cheaper and it will age better than Nvidia, why would I get 4080? Give me something...


If you plan to use the card for something that specifically runs better with Nvidia cards, it may be worthwhile if you happen to be in the niche that needs high performance but cannot afford a 4090 or don't have time to go hunting for a 4090 (availability is currently pretty bad). For most regular gaming though, I can see why one would not want to pay the premium. As was the case before the 7900 XTX launched, the RTX 4080 isn't exactly a great bang for the buck card.


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## GhostRyder (Dec 15, 2022)

shovenose said:


> That’s what I’m wondering, the reference XT should, in theory, OC better than a reference XTX?


Well it so far seems to be hampered in the review on the reference design.  But aftermarket ones seem to be pushing higher, but I will be curious if any really unlock crazy power on it.


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## Lightning_Touge (Dec 16, 2022)

Hi, 

I'm a new guy here. In the teardown it's mentions the XFX logo is ARGB illuminated but I can't see any software in XFX's website. It's not controllable correct ?


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## Cey074 (Dec 16, 2022)

The VRM stage is exactly the same as with the reference card. So the only difference is another 8-pin-connector. Is this really so important? When using a proper power cable, 180-200W over one 8-pin-connector should be okay, or not? Meaning: Shouldn't you be able to get the same OC results (proper cooling given) when MorePowerTool will allow to crank up the TDP on the reference card?


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## Nkd (Dec 28, 2022)

Fouquin said:


> 50-70W increase to achieve 1-4% at best in realized performance gains, however that overclocking headroom provided by the extra power is certainly something. Too bad XFX bodged the cooler design again and it's yet another heat trap that needs to blast the fans to compensate. They're getting better though! It's still cool to see GPUs that can push up to 3.2GHz on air.


I got this card. XFX profile is just agreesive. I have custom fan curve and literally you can set the card to max 40% and it never gets there. IDK why they went so agressive may be due to time constraint. But this cooler doesn't have to be as loud as it is. My temps are cool as well core in the 60s and junction in the 90s with custom fan and nearly silent.


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