AMD Radeon RX 6800 Review 112

AMD Radeon RX 6800 Review

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W1zzard
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Manufacturer: AMD
Cooler Performance Comparison »

Temperatures

Graphics Card Temperatures


Temperature & Noise Comparison
IdleGaming
GPUNoiseGPUHotspotNoiseRPM
AMD RX 680048°CFan Stop70°C83°C34 dBA1613 RPM
AMD RX 6800 XT49°CFan Stop77°C98°C31 dBA1305 RPM

Testing notes & interpretation
  • GPU temperatures listed here are based on GPU-Z measurements of the on-chip temperature sensor.
  • We report these GPU temperatures under a constant load for ease of comparison, as well as an idle state most end users will experience often. This combination helps dictate cooling needs and provides context for how well the thermal solution performs.
  • Please note that GPU temperature is contingent on a variety of factors. Some, including clock speed, voltage settings, cooler design, and production variances, are beyond the control of the end user. Others, such as ambient temperature, case design, and airflow pathway affecting the GPU, can be mitigated to certain extents.
  • The data in the table above shows results for similar cards, achieved in identical conditions during previous TechPowerUp reviews.

Fan Noise

Noise Testing Details

In past years, gamers would accept everything for a little bit more performance. Nowadays, users are more aware of their graphics card's fan noise and power consumption.

In order to properly test how much noise a card's fan emits, we use a Bruel & Kjaer 2236 sound-level meter (~$4,000). It has the measurement range and accuracy we are looking for.

Fan Noise Measurement Setup

The tested graphics card is installed in a system that does not emit any noise on its own, using a passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, passive cooling on the motherboard, and a solid state drive. Noise results of other cards on this page are measurements of the respective reference design.

This setup allows us to eliminate secondary noise sources and test only the video card. To be more compliant with standards like DIN 45635 (we are not claiming to be fully DIN 45635 certified), the measurement is conducted at a distance of 100 cm and 160 cm off the floor. Ambient background noise inside the room was well below 20 dBA for all measurements. Please note that the dBA scale is not linear but logarithmic. 40 dBA is not twice as loud as 20 dBA since a 6 dBA increase results in double the sound pressure. The human hearing perception is a bit different, and it is generally accepted that a 10 dBA increase doubles the perceived sound level. 3D load noise levels are tested with a stressful game, not with Furmark.

NVIDIA made idle fan-stop a standard feature on their Founders Edition, which not only put the pressure on NVIDIA's board partners to include that feature, but also AMD. Both the Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 have the fan-stop capability, which is ideal for keeping system noise levels low outside of gaming as the fans shut down completely.

Gaming noise levels on the Radeon RX 6800 are not as good as with its XT brother because the non-XT uses just a dual-slot cooler. Still, with 34 dBA, the cooler is quieter than the RTX 3080, but the RTX 3070 defeats the RX 6800 in noise levels because it has the better fan profile.

While 70°C gaming temperature is sure nice for the RX 6800, noise levels would have been much better had AMD allowed 77°C, for example, like on the 6800 XT. The data on the next page confirms that compared to the RTX 3070, the RX 6800 has the physically better cooler.

Fan Noise Idle
Fan Noise Gaming
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Nov 23rd, 2024 01:48 EST change timezone

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