AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Review and Benchmark

TSPhillipT

The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, the most powerful Big Navi GPU, should be the last release of the year, and AMD’s target with this card is to compete with the Nvidia RTX 3090.  Priced around $999.99, the RX 6900 XT is a bit cheaper than the 3090, but you can expect performance to be similar outside of RTX titles.  This GPU is the highest end of Radeon GPUs at this moment, targeting big spenders and ideally aiming at high frame rates at 4K resolution; however, we will still see how it performs at 1080p and 1440p.

TSPhillipT

Recommendation and Test Bench

The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is a high-end GPU and is ideally paired with a high-ish end processor.  My recommendations would be any 9th or 10th gen i7-i9 Intel Processor or a Zen 2 or Zen 3 Ryzen R7-R9 processor. This GPU has some cool features when paired with the Zen 3/5000 series Ryzen processors called Smart Access Memory (SAM) that offer increased performance. Those features lean the favor towards Zen 3 Ryzen as being the ideal recommendation.

We will be using the same setup we used for the 3060 Ti Review and Benchmark.  We used an AMD Ryzen 5950X alongside 16GB of G.Skill RAM set to 3200Mhz.  The model of the RX 6900 XT we used was the PowerColor RX 6900.  All of our benchmarks were performed on an open-air test bench.  Here is the build we used, with a recommended case to complete the build.

TSPhillipT

Benchmarks

Benchmarks were done with the GPU right out of the box with no overclocking performed on the GPU.  We wanted to test the out-of-the-box experience with this GPU, using the launch day drivers as well.  All games tested were at the highest graphical settings (excluding motion blur), with some games tested both with SAM on and off.  

Hitman 2 showed pretty expected results.  The consistent 1% Low at all resolutions shows up here again as with previous benchmarks of this game.  Looking at a CPU bottleneck, however, at the 1080p and 1440p resolution, and a nice 91 FPS average at 4K. 

Frametimes are as follow, 1080p; 7.26ms | 1440p; 7.38ms | 4k; 10.98ms 

Next up is Grand Theft Auto V, and this game is always weird to bench at lower resolutions.  Although we got really high FPS, the number of stutters I saw at the 1080p resolution was worrying.  There are, however, a few known issues with this benchmark, and I didn’t see any issues at 1440p and 4K, the target audience for this GPU.  

Frametimes are as follow, 1080p; 6.12ms | 1440p; 8.31ms | 4k; 13.63ms 

Horizon Zero Dawn showed more standard results for a benchmark.  With higher resolution, the lower your FPS is on both Average and 1% Low. We still see very high numbers at all resolution, especially since this is one of our most demanding games.  Due to seeing this game as a pretty standard benchmark, it was also tested with SAM on. 

Frametimes are as follow, 1080p; 6.06ms | 1440p; 7.47ms | 4k; 13.41ms 

We saw no significant difference in performance gained with SAM turned on, but I've heard that you wouldn’t see results at higher resolutions. Still, at lower resolutions, I assumed maybe Horizon was taxing our RX 6900 even to have SAM active, which is why we tested SAM in Civilization VI, a game that isn’t nearly as taxing on the GPU.  

Frametimes are as follow, 1080p; 6.30ms | 1440p; 7.45ms | 4k; 13.31ms 

The RX 6900 XT just performed like a monster in this game.  Seeing a CPU bottleneck at the 1080p and 1440p and getting great frame rates at both is good, but 108FPS at 4K is excellent.  Even an 83.7FPS 1% Low means the RX 6900 XT is a great pair with 4k60FPS gaming.  Now with a lower demanding game, let’s see how well SAM has improved this game!  

Frametimes are as follow, 1080p; 8.11ms | 1440p; 8.16ms | 4k; 9.22ms 

Strange again!  Not setting any performance gains here on a less demanding benchmark for the RX 6900 XT.  I am unsure why our benchmarks have not shown any performance increases when SAM is on. Our only answer is possible driver issues or the processor being too powerful as it is the Ryzen 5950X.  

Frametimes are as follow, 1080p; 8.23ms | 1440p; 8.25ms | 4k; 9.32ms 

TSPhillipT

Conclusion

If you are looking for a GPU that will run games at 4K 60FPS with max settings and not have to worry about dropping frames, I highly recommend giving the Radeon RX 6900 XT a shot.  All games performed above 4K 60FPS at max settings and performed at higher frame rates at 1440p.  With this likely being the last GPU release of the year, AMD really set up a perfect GPU for higher-end gaming.  Especially with stock being low and with demand being high, this GPU is a solid replacement for those trying to secure an Nvidia RTX 3080 or 3090 or an AMD Radeon RX 6800.  

reyncoat

Thank you for the benchmarks!

JS_MC

You're quite welcome! @TSPhillipT Did a great job with this one, didn't he? 😁

Guthreee

Wow! What an in depth review! I totally want to buy one now.
-Checks Microcenter for stock-

Oh. Well.....

JS_MC

I know... It is tough right now! Trust me, I want one too. Hopefully what AMD has said about more stock being sent out at the beginning of the new year is true and we'll see inventory arrive in our stores! Sadly, it's a waiting game in the meantime.