ASRock Radeon RX 7800 XT Steel Legend

[W1zzard]

The ASRock RX 7800 XT Steel Legend offers a great-looking white color theme that's paired with nice RGB illumination, a triple-slot, triple-fan cooling solution, and a medium-sized factory overclock. Temperatures and noise levels are good, and pricing is reasonable with $520.

Show full review

 

[ARF]

This is a 7700 XT rebranded.
RX 5700 XT was 399$ at launch, RX 6700 XT was 479$ at launch, at the peak of the mining craze and inflation/demand pressure.

This should cost no more than 399$, not 520$.

 

[HD64G]

Thanks @W1zzard! Nice review as usual. The one thing strange to me is why $20 more than %500 (4% price increase) for the ref model is a con since it offers much better cooling.

 

[ARF]

The one thing strange to me is why $20 more than %500 (4% price increase) for the ref model is a con since it offers much better cooling.

Because "better" doesn't mean "more expensive".
Actually, you need to compare the bill of materials, maybe the RM is more expensive to make / has more material in it?

 

[ViperXZ]

"

• +$20 over MSRP
• Only small gen-over-gen performance improvement"

20$ is nothing for a better cooler than ref, this isn't a con, it looks like you're fishing.
"Gen over gen", the real predecessor to this is the 6700 XT (full chip of Navi 22 vs this, Navi 32, not 31 which is the 6800 XT's successor, bigger chip), the improvement is actually huge, price is only 70$ higher (well post covid, post mining way lower), and 100$ less than 6800 XT msrp. You can maybe blame AMD for the naming of their cards which was made awkward by the 7900 "XTX" which moved everything up one notch.

Seeing this is probably the best AMD card of this gen (best selling by far), highly competitive against nvidias offerings (4070 Ti, 4070 and 4060 Ti), this should get more than this "highly recommended" (2nd place award). To be honest I don't even know what "Editor's Choice" means here, the ROG MATRIX gets it, is this in a dream world where the author will buy it? While actually using a 4080, which is a cheap card compared to a 3200$ card. Editor's Choice actually means it is something which the author would buy. But it's also something which the best cards get. So this kinda should get it. But whatever, perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

 

[Mr. Perfect]

Interesting, but with the 7800 XTs being largely out of stock since launch it'll be impossible to buy one. There's plenty of stock on the 7700XTs, but the 7800s go out about 20 minutes after a restock. Any word from manufacturers on availability?

 

[Chrispy_]

This being a late addition to the 7800XT review cycle makes the performance/$ charts with the 4070's new $550 cost (pseudo-official price cut)

It's now close enough that I would be looking at the specific games I play the most now and buying the card that performs best, because a 10% difference is close enough to mean that the 4070 could actually be the better buy for a specific set of games.

 

[Space Lynx]

Thanks @W1zzard! Nice review as usual. The one thing strange to me is why $20 more than %500 (4% price increase) for the ref model is a con since it offers much better cooling.

this came to my mind as well. @W1zzard I don't really agree that a $20 premium for a white thematic + Steel Legend quality improvement deserves to be a con. I would actually put that in plus side, cause most companies are like oh yeah, you want white, here pay $60 more, oh you want better components too? add another $100 if your name is Strix.

$20 is extremely fair, considering Steel Legend is always slightly better quality + the white theme usually generates a premium

 

[BetrayerX]

I bought one on day one. (1st time in my life I early adopt something). Card works fine, overclocks well and runs cool. All I can say is so far so good.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

This is a 7700 XT rebranded.
RX 5700 XT was 399$ at launch, RX 6700 XT was 479$ at launch, at the peak of the mining craze and inflation/demand pressure.

This should cost no more than 399$, not 520$.

You're right....makes you wonder if AMD decided to do this when they saw what Nvidia was doing with their product stack...makes me wonder what things would be like competitively if AMD had made this the 7700XT and adjusted the product stack correctly....If this was the 7700XT and was $399, it'd be a value king right? but I'd be willing to bet people still wouldn't buy it.

 

[ViperXZ]

If this was the 7700XT and was $399, it'd be a value king right? but I'd be willing to bet people still wouldn't buy it.

I would bet the 7700 XT gets slashed to 450$/400$ (country dependant) soonish. For now they want to keep it high so people rather spring for the 7800. Also this is the value king in the entirety of the mid range (from mid range to upper mid range, which includes the 4070 Ti wannabe high end card).

 

[Space Lynx]

You're right....makes you wonder if AMD decided to do this when they saw what Nvidia was doing with their product stack...makes me wonder what things would be like competitively if AMD had made this the 7700XT and adjusted the product stack correctly....If this was the 7700XT and was $399, it'd be a value king right? but I'd be willing to bet people still wouldn't buy it.

UPS drivers now make 170k a year delivering items. What the fuck about inflation do you people not understand? everything is more expensive, wages are going up, unions striking for more money.

UPS says drivers to make $170,000 in pay and benefits following union deal

The carrier's new labor contract will increase full-time drivers' compensation roughly 17% over five years, UPS' CEO said in an earnings call.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

UPS drivers now make 170k a year delivering items. What the fuck about inflation do you people not understand? everything is more expensive, wages are going up, unions striking for more money.

UPS says drivers to make $170,000 in pay and benefits following union deal

The carrier's new labor contract will increase full-time drivers' compensation roughly 17% over five years, UPS' CEO said in an earnings call.

www.cbsnews.com

Great for UPS drivers (the ones who are working 60+ hour weeks that are actually making that $170k that is). Most people do NOT make $170k per year and most have not had their wages keep up with Greedflation. What part of that is so hard for you to understand that you get upset over it?

 

[Space Lynx]

Great for UPS drivers (the ones who are working 60+ hour weeks that are actually making that $170k that is). Most people do NOT make $170k per year and most have not had their wages keep up with Greedflation. What part of that is so hard for you to understand that you get upset over it?

not upset, i just find it to be flawed logic. if the guy who is delivering you your graphics card is getting paid 170k a year... if cost of living is gone up in Taiwan where the chips are made... I mean its only logical the cost is going to be raised some. I mean even my underwear costs more now, you should fully expect gpu's to be priced a bit higher.

that being said, Nvidia is making astronomical profit margins off AI, which they could easily subsidize and bring down costs of their gpu's. AMD has no such luxury.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

... Nvidia is making astronomical profit margins off AI, which they could easily subsidize and bring down costs of their gpu's. AMD has no such luxury.

Nvidia could do exactly that, but why would they? They still have 80% market share IIRC, so what incentive is there to take lesser profits? None. I feel like NV keeps consumer graphics around simply because the business unit is too large to just shutter all at once. Let's be real; graphics chips were undervalued relative to their compute power for most of their history. The amount of raw compute available per $ compared to a general-purpose CPU was insane. There just wasn't a broadly-enough deployed use case besides graphics that took advantage of that style of processing power to absorb the manufacturing capacity, so that silicon was essentially dumped on the consumer graphics market at what was essentially a pretty hefty discount. Now those other use cases exist, and we're seeing the market adjust accordingly.

From one angle, I hate it. Prices rising out of step with capability (or, alternatively, not falling for the same capability) harms the PC gaming hobby as a whole. BUT. I also feel like we're due for a reckoning. Graphics requirements keep going up without a commensurate quality increase, requiring this ever-more-expensive hardware (A 4070 ti for USD900? Really!?) to simply run well. Maybe if the bottom falls out, we can see a shift to making games good first, and pretty second. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Space Lynx]

Nvidia could do exactly that, but why would they? They still have 80% market share IIRC, so what incentive is there to take lesser profits? None. I feel like NV keeps consumer graphics around simply because the business unit is too large to just shutter all at once. Let's be real; graphics chips were undervalued relative to their compute power for most of their history. The amount of raw compute available per $ compared to a general-purpose CPU was insane. There just wasn't a broadly-enough deployed use case besides graphics that took advantage of that style of processing power to absorb the manufacturing capacity, so that silicon was essentially dumped on the consumer graphics market at what was essentially a pretty hefty discount. Now those other use cases exist, and we're seeing the market adjust accordingly.

From one angle, I hate it. Prices rising out of step with capability (or, alternatively, not falling for the same capability) harms the PC gaming hobby as a whole. BUT. I also feel like we're due for a reckoning. Graphics requirements keep going up without a commensurate quality increase, requiring this ever-more-expensive hardware (A 4070 ti for USD900? Really!?) to simply run well. Maybe if the bottom falls out, we can see a shift to making games good first, and pretty second. But I'm not holding my breath.

Yeah, but they could have 90-95% market share, AMD would never recover. Maybe they don't want that though because it would classify them as a monopoly and then they would be subject to new monopoly laws... so my guess is they need AMD to do somewhat ok, but I am unsure.

 

[Anymal]

Meanwhile the cheapest in Germany 605 eur. 520 usd my ass.

 

[W1zzard]

Thanks @W1zzard! Nice review as usual. The one thing strange to me is why $20 more than %500 (4% price increase) for the ref model is a con since it offers much better cooling.

Because the PowerColor Hellhound comes at $500 MSRP and has better cooling, better heat, better noise, better perf

 

[Space Lynx]

this is fair, I didn't read all the reviews of the 7800 xt variants

 

[ARF]

You're right....makes you wonder if AMD decided to do this when they saw what Nvidia was doing with their product stack...makes me wonder what things would be like competitively if AMD had made this the 7700XT and adjusted the product stack correctly....If this was the 7700XT and was $399, it'd be a value king right? but I'd be willing to bet people still wouldn't buy it.

I would buy the card if it was 399$... It is much easier to swallow. Now, it's a no-go, DOA as is.
RX 6800 XT is a better buy.

 

[las]

Damn I hate RGB

All cards should really have physical RGB off switch or at least ARGB connector

 

[lowrider_05]

Meanwhile the cheapest in Germany 605 eur. 520 usd my ass.

The Dollar Prices do not include VAT! So in Dollar and without VAT the 605€ convert to ~538$ and that´s pretty close to the 520$ of the review.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

UPS drivers now make 170k a year delivering items. What the fuck about inflation do you people not understand? everything is more expensive, wages are going up, unions striking for more money.

UPS says drivers to make $170,000 in pay and benefits following union deal

The carrier's new labor contract will increase full-time drivers' compensation roughly 17% over five years, UPS' CEO said in an earnings call.

www.cbsnews.com

Dude, Chill out, where in any of my comment did you see ANYTHING complaining about prices....I've read it several times and have absolutely zero idea why my comment elicited such an aggressive reaction in you. It was merely a thought experiment hypothesizing that maybe AMD would have gotten much more aggressive with the offerings had Nvidia been more initially aggressive, that's all, just a fun thought, but somehow it inspires cursing and an angry reaction over inflation? I'm genuinely confused.

On another note, I'm going to assume none of us are millionaires or billionaires? Well, shouldn't we be HAPPY when fellow working people just like us are able to join together and improve their lives by improving their working conditions? It made me happy. Just throwing this out there, why is it that we feel like a ups worker is getting overpaid for "delivering items" (it's not an easy job if you know one, it's physically demanding, they work exceptionally long hours...the one I know starts around 6:30 AM and doesn't get home till around 8:00pm every night), which implies it is undeserved, but we don't feel the same way about a person making $40 million per year who pushes around some papers? Just trying to suggest we should have more good will toward other people struggling just like us and be happy for them when they manage to accomplish something, I suggest that instead of looking at it like a bad thing that someone makes $170K "just for delivering things", we look at it in a good way, a rising tide that will lift all boats because now other workers who deliver packages, or even in other industries can say "Hey, they're getting paid 170K to deliver packages, we deserve the same from our jobs". All I'm trying to say is I think we should be happy for each other when we manage to make things better for ourselves, just trying to spread some good will around, that's all.

 

[ARF]

Damn I hate RGB

All cards should really have physical RGB off switch or at least ARGB connector

You can simply hide those lights if you have a non-transparent case...
The point of seeing the contents of a PC is quite moot, anyways, what's inside - an ugly motherobard, a large tower, an even larger graphics card and that's it. It's silly, if you ask me...

 

[las]

You can simply hide those lights if you have a non-transparent case...
The point of seeing the contents of a PC is quite moot, anyways, what's inside - an ugly motherobard, a large tower, an even larger graphics card and that's it. It's silly, if you ask me...

Not really, the light from RGB components will leak in a dark room in pretty much any case.

I don't have window but a proper built PC using high end and quality components is beautiful inside.

Luckily a proper video card can disable RGB with the flip of a switch or by ARGB, instead of using crappy software that have to run in the background at all time.