Sapphire Radeon RX 7800 XT Nitro+

[Chrispy_]

The only reason I bought one to sidegrade a 6800XT is because I want another Starfield Steam Key. If I can sell my 6800XT for £450 I'm breaking even. More likely I'll get £400 for it which means I've payed £50 to get a new 2-year warranty, AV1 encoding, and lower power draw, which I'm okay with.

Undervolting update:

This is my first RDNA3 card and I must have missed it if it was mentioned in earlier RDNA3 reviews, but it sure is nice to have a sensor for total board power draw listed, instead of just the GPU without VRAM or fan power.

Currently stability testing ~2916MHz average at 860mv; adding at least one more sample to @W1zzard 's evidence that the Nitro+ is a good overclocker/undervolter, possibly binned silicon. I had my first lockup at 830mv where it was pushing 3GHz when the driver reset. The overclock is just for science; I intend to keep the undervolt and limit the clocks to stock levels to take advantage of the massive efficiency improvements.

Update 2:
Yeah, that's all she's got. ~2945MHz at 850mv stopped responding for me, it needs 860mv for stability.

Update 3:
No matter the clocks or what is set in the driver, 825mv is the lowest the core will go. Currently 2650MHz at 825mv for around a 185W total board power draw at 100% load. Next goal is to find out what the max stable clocks are at that minimum voltage.

Update 4:
Dropping clocks all the way to 2.2GHz it will actually draw less than 825mv, but it seems to be a minimum value for many of the boost bins, presumably in the GPU BIOS.
Focusing on GPU-Z's voltage readout, 2715MHz is the best I can get stable at 825mv for a 300-second test, using around 189W.

Anyway, that's enough tuning for now, I'm going to swap out the 6800XT this evening, set the sliders to 2675MHz, 850mv, and call it a day; That should be a stable 10% overclock of the reference model, and all running at under 200W, which makes it very comparable to an RTX4070 for efficiency.

 

[ARF]

Where are all the people claiming that the 7800XT would be slower than the 6800XT?

The performance is all over the place.
In some instances, it is very much slower.

I don't know what's wrong - maybe they need to work on the drivers several months more to fix the issues.

Some games are ok - where there is a slight increase, but not worth to call this a generational improvement, and in no way it warrants the **80 XT tier.
This is in the worst case, if viewed from AMD's side, a tier between the old RX 6700 XT and what should the real RX 7800 XT be.
Something like Radeon RX 7750 XT.

 

[Macro Device]

Dropping clocks all the way to 2.2GHz

How much does it eat at these settings?

 

[Chrispy_]

How much does it eat at these settings?

It wasn't a lot less, off the top of my head I think GPU-Z was saying 808mv at 172W, but it's definitely lower performance/Watt as the clocks are so low. I can check it later but I'm about to head out...

 

[Macro Device]

It wasn't a lot less, off the top of my head I think GPU-Z was saying 808mv at 172W, but it's definitely lower performance/Watt as the clocks are so low. I can check it later but I'm about to head out...

No need to, thanks. Congrats on your purchase!

 

[ARF]

Update 4:
Dropping clocks all the way to 2.2GHz it will actually draw less than 825mv, but it seems to be a minimum value for many of the boost bins, presumably in the GPU BIOS.
Focusing on GPU-Z's voltage readout, 2715MHz is the best I can get stable at 825mv for a 300-second test, using around 189W.

How much does it eat at these settings?

It wasn't a lot less, off the top of my head I think GPU-Z was saying 808mv at 172W, but it's definitely lower performance/Watt as the clocks are so low. I can check it later but I'm about to head out...

The voltage can go further down, if necessary, edit the BIOS and enter there new values.
825 mV or 808 mV looks too much for 2200 MHz.

 

[Macro Device]

edit the BIOS

How?

 

[ARF]

How?

With a software/tool that can edit VBIOSes.

Maybe ask @R0land for support.

Here is a thread about another type of a Radeon where they flash with edited BIOSes.

Unlock the shaders - AMD Radeon RX 560D

Hi, I have unlocked the 1024 shaders on this card: ASUS 4GB RX560 ROG Strix OC EVO Gaming with Micron memory Maybe it is possible to unlock other cards with the RX560D. Upload the VBIOS of your RX560D . I will try to unlock :).

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Macro Device]

With a software/tool that can edit VBIOSes.

As of early 2023, there was no such tool for RDNA3. Will check it out since it's half a year passed...

 

[ZoneDymo]

Where are all the people claiming that the 7800XT would be slower than the 6800XT?

have you seen GN's review? it is often enough actually slower...hence GN says its competing with the RX6800 (non XT) while the name claims otherwise... its basically the same bs Nvidia did with the 4060ti.....

 

[Kapone33]

have you seen GN's review? it is often enough actually slower...hence GN says its competing with the RX6800 (non XT) while the name claims otherwise... its basically the same bs Nvidia did with the 4060ti.....

I don't watch Gamers Nexus

 

[Chrispy_]

With a software/tool that can edit VBIOSes.

Maybe ask @R0land for support.

Here is a thread about another type of a Radeon where they flash with edited BIOSes.

Unlock the shaders - AMD Radeon RX 560D

Hi, I have unlocked the 1024 shaders on this card: ASUS 4GB RX560 ROG Strix OC EVO Gaming with Micron memory Maybe it is possible to unlock other cards with the RX560D. Upload the VBIOS of your RX560D . I will try to unlock :).

www.techpowerup.com

You're about three years behind the curve there, Arf

I'm sure there's a way to edit BIOSes still, but the ease of reflashing ended with the 5000-series. I used various tools to edit my mining rig BIOSes for all the 5700 cards, and have written my own custom BIOSes for a few personal cards (an RX480, Vega56, and 5700AE). They are now locked for software reflashing and I'm not interested in invalidating my warranty or purchasing EEPROM flashing hardware.

I'm also curious why you think ~800mv is too high for 2.2GHz? The chart you linked doesn't back up your claim in the slightest; The two closest data points are 735mv at 1.85GHz and 911mv at 2.3GHz. If you interpolate the curve between those two points, 808mv is comfortably below the curve - though you shouldn't really interpolate between those data points anyway, because they're not representing the same load.

I use OCCT Pro for stability testing at a specific voltage and Superposition for generic DX12 synthetic testing with power draw that's closer to actual game loads. Even then, different games will pull different power draw even if the GPU coincidentally happens to be running at the same clock speeds - not all workloads are equal.

As of early 2023, there was no such tool for RDNA3. Will check it out since it's half a year passed...

None of the popular tools added support beyond the 5000-series. They've been getting updates throughout 2021 and 2022, but support stops at the 5000-series.

Igor's lab and their forums are where I learned most of what I know about AMD BIOS editing, it's all going very quiet over there since the 5000-series cards are falling out of use and there's no software workaround for the locked BIOSes.

have you seen GN's review? it is often enough actually slower...hence GN says its competing with the RX6800 (non XT) while the name claims otherwise... its basically the same bs Nvidia did with the 4060ti.....

Looks similar to the 6800XT with a very slight margin going to the 6800XT, but there are a couple of caveats here:

1. Steve specifically said he's reduced the number of games tested, focusing on the more interesting outliers because he needs sleep and it's been a busy week with Starfield launching and needing a boatload of CPU and GPU testing at the same time as the 7700XT and 7800XT reviews.
2. He's comparing his bone-stock MBAMD reference 7800XT to a 6800XT Nitro+ which is significantly faster than the reference 6800XT.

Given those caveats, and given that they're still pretty damn close, I'm inclined to just keep treating the 7800XT as a 6800XT with lower power draw. They're not the same cards and game-to-game there will be differences, but in the grand scheme of things the general consensus of all the reviews I've seen so far point towards the performance being about the same when averaging multiple games, raytracing getting a marginal boost on the 7800XT, and the power draw being 40-50W lower. Unless (like me) you have a specific reason to sidegrade from a 6800XT, you shouldn't be looking at the 7800XT as an upgrade in any way.

 

[Macro Device]

None of the popular tools added support beyond the 5000-series. They've been getting updates throughout 2021 and 2022, but support stops at the 5000-series.

Yeah. Huge shame. My 6700 XT feels extremely handicapped on VRAM clocks. I run VRAM slider at max with fast timings, and yet to see any issues. I guess this VRAM can do at least one GHz more.

 

[Chrispy_]

Well, that's the 7800XT Nitro+ sold already, LOL. 9 hours might be a record...
Guess I'm buying another one, though I see the Pulse from scan.co.uk at £399 ex VAT, I might give that a punt just to see what the other end of the price spectrum has to offer. Either way I have my Starfield key....

 

[ValenOne]

The performance is all over the place.
In some instances, it is very much slower.

I don't know what's wrong - maybe they need to work on the drivers several months more to fix the issues.

Some games are ok - where there is a slight increase, but not worth to call this a generational improvement, and in no way it warrants the **80 XT tier.
This is in the worst case, if viewed from AMD's side, a tier between the old RX 6700 XT and what should the real RX 7800 XT be.
Something like Radeon RX 7750 XT.

View attachment 312547

For higher resolution.

 

[Athlonite]

This is cheaper than what I paid for my Sapphire Nitro + OC RX6800 which cost me $1441 2 years ago the Nitro+ RX7800XT is only $$1,149.00 here in Gougelandastan so might be just about time to upgrade I think

 

[Jeager]

I've just purchased this one based on @W1zzard's teardown. The build quality of this one is top-notch and well worth the small 6% price premium over here.

You are lucky, here the card cost 670€ (everything took +20/30€ since last week)

 

[Kapone33]

For me these cards are still too expensive. I can appreciate the improvements but this card is almost $800 CAD and in some cases more. There is plenty of choice but unfortunately I see this card going to $999 CAD once the 6000 cards are sold out and in some cases they will be more expensive than the 7800 cards due to if the Retailer purchased the GPU outright when the batch was released at time a 6800XT would cost them over $1000. In Canada you have to add another 13% for tax but as long as I don't have to pay to go to the hospital or have a Baby I am ok with that. The kicker for me is if this gets within $200 of a 7900XT you would be foolish to not stretch your budget to get hat instead. It might only have 4GB more of VRAM but a much wider bus and since PCs are about math the more wires you have the better.I only see this being viable at these prices if it maintains a $650 and under street price.

 

[Dwarden]

i was really impressed with your lineup of tested 7800XT cards, good job on the lot, great reviews
but i want to ask, will you add more of the models

e.g. 2 fans one
Sapphire PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT 16GB

and if time allows
Sapphire PURE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT 16GB

 

[kumar@Gamer]

Hello Friends, I am clubbing this card with AMD Ryzen 7 5700G + 32GB 3600Mhz RAM. Will there be any bottlenecks or the experience will be smoother?

 

[Chrispy_]

Hello Friends, I am clubbing this card with AMD Ryzen 7 5700G + 32GB 3600Mhz RAM. Will there be any bottlenecks or the experience will be smoother?

It depends on the game. The 5700G is a relatively weak CPU for AM4 since it lacks most of the cache that non-APU parts like the 5700X have, and many games are SUPER sensitive to cache - it's why the X3D chips are so much faster than the regular versions despite running at significantly lower clock speeds!

Since you now have a dedicated graphics card, there's no reason to keep the APU, and it's still worth a fair bit of money. If I were in your situation I would definitely sell the 5700G and use it to subsidise a 5800X3D which will be the fastest thing you can put in your AM4 platform and should be a noticeable upgrade in many games - typically 15-20% faster with the same GPU. If you are patient, the 5700X3D is slated to launch in about 6 weeks and should offer nearly identical gaming performance for a $50-100 cost saving over the 5800X3D.

Your 5700G will be fine for a lot of titles, but (depending on game and resolution) you could be wasting more than 30% of your 7800XT's potential by using the slower 5700G in CPU-intensive games. (high-framerate, competitive titles and several of the newer AAA titles that tax the CPU more than the many PS4/XB1-era games that are still often used in reviews and testing)

edit
I couldn't find a chart with both the 5700G and 5800X3D on it, but the closest match in games to a 5700G is the R9 3900X, so you can use those as a reference point. Or, if you prefer, the 10600K is always faster than a 5700G, sometimes significantly - so the difference between a 5800X3D and the 10600K shows the worst-case, absolute minimum performance increase you should expect to get with a 5800X3D.
(from the TPU 5800X3D review)