Write at the beginning
In December last year, the much-anticipated AMD RX 7900 series graphics card was launched, and at that time we also brought you the performance test of two new graphics cards for the first time, in terms of performance, the two graphics cards can be said to live up to expectations, many projects are far beyond the RTX 4080, but let players look at its price, the public version of the RX 7900 XT price is also as high as 7399 yuan. Now after such a long time, the price has gradually fallen back to a reasonable range, which also makes this sub-flagship card have more competition space, close to the performance of RTX 4080, but the price of RTX 4070 Ti, anyone who looks at it has to say a real fragrance!
This time we received the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition, although it is a sub-flagship positioning, but the author believes that it is a more balanced existence in performance and price, so how does this graphics card perform? Let's take a look and see what new black technologies Su Ma brings to the RDNA3 architecture!
Upgrade point
Before we begin, let's take a look at the main sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition, which uses the same Navi 31 core as the RX 7900 XTX.
Although the same Navi31 core, but there are still some differences, RX 7900 XTX uses Navi 31 XTX core, and sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition uses Navi 31 XT core, both using TSMC 5nm + TSMC 6nm process, transistor density is 58 billion, but the chip area is 522mm² and 485mm², the number of transistors compared to the previous generation of products has increased significantly, almost doubling the existence. And the core of this generation also further increases the frequency, so it can lead to better performance.
In terms of other parameters, the RX 7900 XT is equipped with 20GB GDDR6 video memory, the core hardware part, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is equipped with 5376 stream processors, 84 computing units, 336 texture units and 192 rasterization processing units, which is also a huge improvement compared to the RX 6950 XT.
Chiplets design
After talking about the specifications, let's talk about what other upgrade points there are for this generation of graphics cards. The biggest feature of the RDNA 3 architecture is of course its Chiplets glue design. AMD has previously used similar technology on Ryzen™ and EPYC™ processors, and now finally applies this technology to the core of the RX 7900 XTX/XT.
The larger GCD (Graphics Processing Unit) in Navi31 uses an advanced 5nm process to provide the best performance and energy efficiency; The smaller MCD (Memory Cache Chip) uses a proven 6nm process and has built-in second-generation infinite cache and GDDR6 memory controller. Although it is built by a different process, the connection speed between the chips still reaches 5.3 TB/s, and there is no need to worry about latency.
Second generation InfinityCache
As we all know, AMD first introduced Inifinity Cache in the RX 6000 series graphics card of RDNA 2, the main purpose is to make up for the memory bandwidth, improve the number of game frames, now RDNA 3 continues to use this game weapon, and after a new upgrade, the second generation of Infinity Cache, although the original 128MB in the RDNA 3 architecture dropped from the original 128MB to 96MB and 80MB, but further optimized the combination of unlimited cache and L2 cache, The memory width is optimally balanced with the capacity of unlimited cache for more efficient operation, and in terms of the final equivalent memory bandwidth, the RX 7900 XTX is up to 3494.4 GB/s and the RX 7900 XT is up to 2912 GB/s, which is a huge improvement over the previous generation.
Second-generation light accelerator
On the RDNA 2 architecture, AMD first added ray tracing characteristics, but the light tracing characteristics at that time were far from enough to compete with Lao Huang, and now the RDNA 3 computing unit is equipped with a further enhanced second-generation ray accelerator, through various hardware and software optimizations, to meet the needs of the latest ray tracing games and applications. The ray tracing performance of RDNA 3 graphics cards can now be increased by up to 1.8 times that of the previous generation. Together with other improvements to the RDNA 3 architecture, the RX 7900 series graphics cards deliver up to twice the ray tracing performance compared to the previous generation RX 6950 XT.
Boost massive AI acceleration performance
AMD finally introduced AI units in the RDNA 3 architecture, which greatly improved the AI capabilities of this generation of graphics cards. Each CU computing unit is equipped with two AI accelerators, effectively improving the throughput of commonly used AI instructions, and the new RX 7900 XTX/XT has more than 2.7 times the AI performance improvement compared to the previous generation graphics card, so that the RDNA 3 architecture can also use current hardware units to achieve future AI requirements.
Higher performance per watt
In terms of power consumption, although the RX 7900 XTX is a 3*8Pin interface, its TDP is 355W, and the RX 7900 XT is 300W, which is lower energy consumption and stronger performance than the 330W of the previous generation RX 6950 XT. Compared with the 450W power consumption of the RTX 40 series graphics card next door, this can be said to be very conscientious. In terms of power supply recommendations, the official recommendation RX 7900 XTX with 850W power supply, if it is a top-level non-public RX 7900 XTX, then it is recommended that a 1000W power supply will be more appropriate, and the RX 7900 XT's 300W power consumption is much easier, and the official recommendation is to match a 750W power supply.
However, thanks to the blessing of the new architecture, the two graphics cards have also improved their performance per watt, and the official claims that RDNA 3's energy consumption is 54% higher than RDNA 2, and more than 50% that AMD originally expected. Given that RDNA 2 graphics cards have been quite good in energy consumption in previous reviews, the performance improvement is a more exciting part.
Supports higher resolutions and refresh rates
Another feature of RX 7900 series graphics cards is that it supports DP2.1 interface, which can provide 54Gbps bandwidth, support 12-bit color depth picture output, and support 8K resolution, 165Hz refresh rate or 4K resolution, 480Hz refresh rate picture output to meet the needs of next-generation display devices.
In order to support the latest media formats, AMD has also added a new Dual Media Engine to these two graphics cards, which supports AVC and HEVC 2 synchronous decoding or synchronous encoding of live broadcasts. Compared with the previous generation of RDNA2 architecture graphics cards, this generation is 1.8 times more efficient than the previous generation in terms of encoding and decoding, which can save almost half the time.
Increased memory rate
RX 7900 series also has an improvement in video memory, equipped with 20Gbps rate GDDR6 memory particles, compared to the previous generation of 18Gbps further, we got this graphics card is from hynix memory particles, number H56G42AS8DX014, memory density of 512M x 32Bit, converted to a single grain of 2GB memory capacity.
The most intuitive manifestation of the increase in memory rate is the significant increase in memory bandwidth, and because the memory bit width has also increased from 256bit to 384bit and 320bit, the memory bandwidth of the RX 7900 XTX has reached a staggering 960GB/s, and even the memory bandwidth of the RX 7900 XT has 800GB/s.
Upcoming FSR3
Unlike the old Huang's DLSS, AMD's own FSR supports all brands of graphics cards, there are currently more than 216 games that support FSR technology, and 85 have supported or will support FSR 2 technology, the latest version of FSR 2.2 technology has also been launched, players only need to experience in Forza Horizon 5.
Because FSR is a completely open source technology, for game developers, the cost of investment is lower, but the improvement effect is extremely obvious, so more and more game manufacturers began to add FSR technology, I believe that it will not be long before players can enjoy the refreshing experience brought by high game frame rates in popular games.
In addition, this year AMD will also launch a new FSR 3 technology, FSR 3 combines the excellent FSR 2 technology with the new AMD Fluid Motion Frames, which is a complement technology that can generate additional frames to double the number of frames, simply put, the AMD version of DLSS 3, which is expected.
Outside viewing
Unlike the Big Brother RX 7900 XTX, the box of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is sky blue, which is more youthful with black and red, and in the middle is the iconic PULSE heartbeat, just looking at the outer packaging gives me an urge to wait to open it.
In the lower right corner of the box is a striking logo that reads "AMD RADEON RX 7900 XT", white on a red background, and at a glance you can tell that this is the latest RX 7900 series graphics card.
The lower left corner marks the memory capacity of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition, which is 20GB, which makes me quite curious about its performance.
On the back of the box is a general graphics card information introduction, which is written on the characteristics of this generation of RX 7900 series graphics cards and RDNA3 architecture.
Open the box, in addition to the graphics card itself, there is also a graphics card bracket that can be used to support the graphics card and share the pressure on the motherboard, while the pure black design also makes the appearance of this graphics card go further.
Look at the graphics card body, this generation of graphics cards is similar to the previous generation, pure black color matching, plus a touch of red line embellishment, simple but elegant, quite friendly to non-light pollution users, three giant black fans look very sharp, the whole graphics card looks like a dark night warrior from a distance.
After talking about the appearance, look at the three flying wing axial fans on the front, this design has the advantage of providing greater downpressure capacity, greater air volume, and better noise control, so many high-end graphics cards have similar fan designs.
And these three cooling fans all use intelligent control speed, and precise control can allow this graphics card to find an excellent balance between heat dissipation performance and fan noise.
The back is a one-piece metal backplate, which is conducive to heat dissipation, and the heartbeat line of the sapphire PULSE platinum graphics card is added to the decoration, the red lines coincide with RADEON, and the black backplate is reflected for a more outstanding visual effect.
The most attractive thing on this backplate is naturally the Navi31 core under the X-shaped cooling fin holder, which is the soul of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition.
In addition to a full row of heat dissipation fins at the top to accelerate heat dissipation, Sapphire has a little bit of thought in design, arranging a nameplate with a metal brushed process, which proudly reads "SAPPHIRE", and when it is mounted on the motherboard, it is full of recognition.
Next to the nameplate is the power supply interface of this graphics card, different from the old yellow 16Pin next door, Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition continues the traditional 8Pin interface, double 8Pin to carry this graphics card is completely sufficient, and there is no need to replace the new power supply, the installation cost is lower.
At the bottom is PCIe Goldfinger, with a rate of PCIe 4.0 x 16, and it is also worth noting that the Resizable BAR function of the motherboard must be turned on before use, so that you can run the full bandwidth and fully exert the performance of the graphics card.
The IO interface is also full of configuration, with 2 DP2.1 and 2 HDMI 2.1 ports as standard, of which the DP2.1 interface has a significant increase in the upper limit of the refresh rate, and the maximum support 8K@165Hz display output.
Graphics card teardown
After reading the appearance, it is indispensable to the disassembly of the graphics card, the disassembly of this graphics card is still quite simple, as long as the screws on the metal backplane are removed, the PCB and the heatsink can be completely separated.
The PCB on the front of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT Platinum Edition OC adopts a small over-the-shoulder design, 14 layers of multi-fold copper PCB board, the power supply module of the graphics card on both sides, and a core and 10 GDDR6 memory particles in the middle.
The back PCB is also densely packed with electronic components, but the overall is relatively regular, the workmanship is also relatively solid, and the PCB scheme is actually slightly modified on the basis of the public version of the scheme, and other AIB graphics card PCBs also adopt a close layout.
The protagonist of PCB has to be the Navi31 core, the suffix is Navi31 XT, built by TSMC technology, built-in one GCD (graphics) core and six MCD (cache) cores, which is also the first time AMD applies the "glue" design of the CPU processor on the graphics card product, the configuration of this core has 5376 stream processors and 80MB unlimited cache, which can inject surging performance into the graphics card.
The core is surrounded by 10 GDDR6 video memory, which is two less than the RX 7900 XTX, so its memory capacity is 20GB, the model is H56G42AS8DX014 from Hynix, the memory bit width is 320bit, and the maximum memory bandwidth can go to 800GB/s.
Although it is a sub-flagship, the power supply scale is not ambiguous at all, the power supply is arranged on the left and right sides of the PCB, using a 17-phase power supply scheme, the right side is 10-phase power supply, and the left side is 7-phase power supply.
Each phase is equipped with a DrMos chip, MP87997 from MPS, but we have not yet found the corresponding parameters of this chip.
The PWM main control chip is arranged on the back of the PCB, where the power supply for the memory is the MP2856 chip, and the core power supply is a PWM master control, located under the memory power supply chip, the model is MP2857.
In addition, there is an MP2856 chip in the upper right corner of the PCB, and the author guesses that it should also be for collaborative management of video memory power supply, after all, this is a big guy with 20GB of video memory.
As for the power supply interface of the graphics card, it is common dual 8Pin, and the Sapphire RX 7900 XT Platinum Edition OC with this 300W TDP is completely sufficient.
Behind the power supply interface, there is also a high-quality capacitive inductor, and the output is full of blood.
Let's dive into the teardown and reveal the cooling system of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT Platinum OC!
First of all, the most eye-catching thing on the radiator is naturally the large-area pure copper base, the mirror-like plane directly touches the GPU core and the memory core, and it is also covered with thick heat dissipation grease and thermal pad, the core and video memory are both dissipated, and the performance of the graphics card is fully released.
The radiator is a two-stage structure, the front and back sides are covered with a large area of heat dissipation fins, and the fins are staggered in high and low arrangement, which is not only conducive to ventilation, but also reduces noise and wind resistance. With the hollow design on the metal backplane, it can accelerate the air flow and quickly export the internal heat of the graphics card.
Six 6mm thick optimized composite heat pipes are wrapped under the thick heat dissipation fins, all of which use buckle FIN and reflow soldering technology to enhance the heat dissipation efficiency of the entire heat dissipation module.
From this perspective, you can also see that there are 3 heat pipes that are U-tubes, directly back to the main heat dissipation module, which can increase the heat dissipation efficiency and release the graphics card with full blood.
The active cooling part is three 100mm cooling fans, each with 13 fan blades, built-in high-precision ball bearings, which can improve the service life of the cooling fan.
The three active cooling fans are all DC brushless fans from NTK, with PWM function, and the noise control of intelligent start-stop technology of the graphics card is believed to be better.
Introduction to the test platform
The test platform naturally uses the current flagship platform, the processor is a combination of Intel i9-13900K and ROG Z790 HERO, and the memory is four Kingston FURY Renegade running in DDR5-6000 C32 mode, so that the platform has better performance and stability is also guaranteed.
The top of the hardware is not enough, the monitor must be qualified, we also moved out of the top display of the evaluation room - iAttack & Porsche co-branded PD32M gaming monitor, 32-inch 4K@144Hz mini LED backlit display, but also support DP1.4a and HDMI 2.1, this configuration allows you to enjoy the thrill of gaming.
Finally, talking about the test driver this time, this time using AMD-Software-Adrenalin-Edition-22.40.43.01-230315a-389794C, which is not the same as when it was first released, I don't know if there will be some chicken blood effect after so long?
Theoretical performance testing
International practice, we first have a brief understanding of the sapphire RX 7900 XT Platinum Edition OC in GPU-Z, as you can see from the figure, the base frequency of this graphics card is 2075MHz, and the Boost frequency can reach 2449MHz. In addition, in the GPU-Z, you can also see that the Resizable BAR function of the motherboard is turned on at this time, and the graphics card can maximize its full performance.
From the perspective of paper parameters alone, the improvement of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT Platinum Edition OC graphics card is also more satisfactory, so whether this is the case, let's test a round directly.
The following theoretical performance test of 3DMark, the test items include: Fire Strike, Fire Strike Extreme, Fire Strike Ultra, Time Spy, Time Spy Extreme, Port Royal and Speed Way seven projects, which can better reflect the DX11, DX12 and ray tracing theoretical performance of the graphics card.
From the test results, it can be seen that this sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition performance is quite good, in the Fire Strike test represented by DX11, ran a super high score of 60945 points, to know that this result is the level that RTX 4080 can do, even the more stressed Fire Strike Extreme, this graphics card is also overwhelming, with 34616 points ahead of the RTX 4080 about 3%.
In addition, through the above introduction, we also learned that the RDNA3 architecture has made achievements in ray tracing, so we also tested it, the measured sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition score of 13709, which is about 35% higher than the previous generation, and this result can be compared with the RTX 3090 Ti.
In the test of another project, the performance of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is even better, more than 7% ahead of the previous generation, and it is even stronger than the RTX 4090 next door in terms of hash computing power, it can be said that if you can still mine now, then this card is definitely the top computing power.
Game performance testing
The much-anticipated game performance test is coming, first of all, let's take a look at the popular racing game "Forza Horizon 5", without turning on FSR, the frame rate of this graphics card has been able to go to 2K resolution 141 FPS, 4K resolution 124 FPS, this performance can be said to live up to the name of the flagship, after turning on FSR, game performance can continue to climb, 4K resolution also has 134 FPS, reduce some special effects, 4K@144Hz racing is no longer a dream, Paired with our test AGON PD32M monitor, the miniLED offers a panoramic view of South America.
Look at the more ruthless game, known as the graphics card killer "Cyberpunk 2077", open super light tracing, without FSR technology, the frame rate of this graphics card is only 18 FPS and 37 FPS, completely unable to play, but fortunately, this game has supported FSR technology, when we adjust the FSR gear to the performance level, there is already a performance of close to 90 FPS at 2K resolution, and it is not far from 60 FPS at 4K resolution, which can run smoothly, If you want a higher frame rate, you can reduce the quality appropriately or open it to the Super Performance file. It can be said that with the stronger hardware blessing and the intervention of a smarter FSR algorithm, even poorly optimized games can run smoothly with the addition of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition.
Many players may be worried that the picture quality will decrease after turning on FSR, and here we have also captured the game screen in different gears, from the naked eye, in fact, the picture quality is almost exactly the same. In scenarios such as text and patterns, FSR renders low-resolution pictures into high-resolution images through AI, so there is a bonus in terms of clarity, sometimes even clearer than the original image quality.
In addition to the above two games, we also tested several other triple-A masterpieces, in general, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition can run most games smoothly at 2K resolution, and many games can run above 100+ FPS, such as "F1 22" with FSR blessing can achieve more than 160 FPS, which can already meet the 2K@144Hz esports experience. Compared to the competition, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition can be said to be ahead of the RTX 4070 Ti across the board, and some performance is even close to the level of the RTX 4080!
At 4K resolution, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition also has an absolute advantage over the previous generation RX 6950 XT, and many games are ahead of 20-30 FPS. If you want to compare the RTX 4070 Ti, then this graphics card is also properly crushed, it can be said that the sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is the price of the RTX 4070 Ti, but it is comparable to the performance of the RTX 4080. Like in Red Dead Redemption 2, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is more than 40% ahead of the competition under the same image quality!
Of course, AMD will also launch FSR 3 against DLSS 3 this year, and the future Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition game performance will go to a higher level, let's wait and see!
Authoring performance tests
After watching the game performance test, the next thing to look at the hardcore, creative productivity is also the focus of most users. First of all, we used UL Procyon to conduct a basic test of this graphics card, and from the test results, it can be seen that the leading place of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is mainly in photo editing, which shows that there is still a lot of advantage in batch photos, which is more than 5% ahead of RTX 4080!
This phenomenon is also reflected in the more professional PugetBench, the sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition rode in the Photoshop test, ranking first with 1834 points, about 120 points ahead of the RTX 4080 next door, and also has a lot of advantages in Premiere Pro, with a score of 1498 points ahead of the previous generation by nearly 300 points, and this generation of graphics cards also supports the latest AV1 codec. It can be said that the gap in video will become more and more obvious in the future, which is also one of its advantages in fighting the future.
In terms of industrial software, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is also a no-brainer, which can be said to show its high-end strength! Many projects are about 10% ahead of the RTX 4080, and even on the SNX-04 project, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is 14 times the performance of the RTX 4080! Overall, whether you're a video creator or an industrial software-focused productivity user, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is the best choice for your price-performance ratio, which can greatly improve your creative efficiency.
Comprehensive performance testing
We chose PCMark 10 Extended for testing, which includes four parts: common basic functions, productivity, digital content creation, and gaming, and measures PC performance based on real-world application and activity tests.
Measured down, the performance of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is comparable to the RTX 4080, and it surpasses the latter in terms of common basic functions and digital content creation, it can be said that this graphics card is quite excellent from theory to games, from games to daily use, and can definitely satisfy the picky you.
Power consumption & temperature test
Finally, the power consumption and temperature test, at room temperature of 20°, the Furmark doughnut is set to 1280 x 720 resolution. After 15 minutes in the oven, the full load power consumption of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition is only 318W, which is basically the same level as the RTX 4070 Ti of the old Huang family next door, but the performance is an order of magnitude higher than it.
In addition, thanks to the heat dissipation system of this graphics card, in the oven, the core full load temperature is stable at 65 °C, the junction temperature is 75 °C, coupled with the intelligent control of the graphics card speed, the presence of fan noise is almost not felt during the entire test, and it has to be said that the new architecture and new process make this sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition have a better experience.
Summary of the review
The review has come to an end here, and I have to say that the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition with RDNA3 architecture is a surprise inside and out. The chiplet design, dual-engine stream processor, unlimited cache, and newly introduced AI accelerator all provide more powerful performance for this new graphics card.
Starting from RDNA2, AMD has begun to transform, and then to today's RDNA3 architecture, it can be seen that AMD is really committed to providing players with products with stronger performance and lower energy consumption. In terms of theoretical performance, the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition has been greatly improved compared with the previous generation, and even stronger than the RTX 4080 in some projects, achieving a leapfrog experience, coupled with 20GB of large video memory, so that productivity and gaming can achieve a significant leap, perfectly demonstrating the hard power as a flagship.
In addition, this graphics card is the first-line level in terms of workmanship, materials, and design level, and the latest DP2.1 interface, AV1 codec and other future technologies have added to it, making it have a unique advantage in the face of competing products. At the same time, thanks to AMD's leading process technology, the sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition achieves the performance of RTX 4080 with 300W power consumption, which is really surprising, coupled with the use of dual 8Pin interfaces, players can quickly upgrade without updating the power supply and chassis, and the installation cost is lower and more close to the people.
Looking forward to the upcoming FSR3 technology, when with the addition of frame generation technology, the game performance can bring more surprises, and in the future, even if you turn on light tracing, you can wrestle with the old Huang's RTX 40 series. Players familiar with AMD should know that the ancestral chicken blood drive will be updated in the future, with the luxury hardware of the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition, the performance improvement is unimaginable!
Finally, the price, the current price of the sapphire RX 7900 XT OC platinum version is 6399 yuan, to know that the RTX 4070 Ti of the old Huang family next door also starts at 6499 yuan, in the face of such a graphics card close to RTX 4080 performance, but has the price of RTX 4070 Ti, what reason is there to refuse? If you also want to experience the extreme performance of high-end graphics cards, you may wish to pay attention to the Sapphire RX 7900 XT OC Platinum Edition, I believe it will be your performance weapon for gaming!