It also means that AMD can afford to offer 16GB of VRAM on both models, something that will no doubt salve the nerves of gamers worried about running out of video memory with a raft of next-generation games in the pipeline. It's a clever move that means that Nvidia's advantage from its early adoption of (expensive) GDDR6X memory on the RTX 3080 is at least partially ameliorated. This boost in memory bandwidth helps offset the greater compute unit (CU) count and higher clock frequencies, while keeping power consumption under control.
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By pairing the 16GB of GDDR6 video memory with a 128MB cache, similar in design to the 元 cache found on AMD's Ryzen processors, AMD are able to achieve some blistering results from the card's relatively pedestrian 256-bit bus - in their slides, the system provides 2.17x the bandwidth you'd expect from a standard 256-bit interface. These compute improvements are backed with an innovative new memory solution.
Amd radeon rx 6800 xt software#
There's also dedicated ray tracing hardware backed into each CU, which is ten times faster at calculating ray intersections than a purely software approach - and it'll be fascinating to see how it compares with Nvidia's second-generation RT hardware. This is driven by substantially higher clock speeds across the board and a larger complement of more individually performant compute units. While AMD are operating with the same 7nm TSMC process as the original 'Little' Navi design, their new architecture manages to wring out a whole lot more performance. While specs sheets can be a bit boring, looking at this one tells you quite a lot this time around. And speaking of performance boosting, AMD's engineers have also added features like 'Smart Memory Access', 'Rage Mode' overclocking and an 'Infinity Cache' that should all conspire to push these cards to their limits.įrom this bewildering description alone you can see that there's plenty to cover here, so let's get started with a closer look at each of these cards - how are they built, how does the hardware stack up and how does it tie into the new features on offer here?
Amd radeon rx 6800 xt plus#
Like those next-gen machines, the RX 6000 series supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, finally ending Nvidia's RT monopoly, plus a raft of other DirectX 12 Ultimate features like DirectStorage, variable rate shading and mesh shaders that can boost performance in myriad ways.
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Amd radeon rx 6800 xt Pc#
More importantly, it also means that AMD is finally competing at the high end of the graphics market once again, something the company hasn't done since the ill-fated Radeon 7 almost two years ago - and something it hasn't done successfully for many more years than that.ĪMD's Big Navi graphics cards are in short supply, but here's where you'll be able to pre-order the Radeon RX 68 XT in the UK and US once stock arrives.Īs well as much improved out-and-out performance, these Big Navi cards also mark the PC debut of AMD's RDNA2 architecture, which also forms the basis of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. That suggests we'll see an RTX 3070-beating performance out of the RX 6800, while the RX 6800 will do well to draw with the higher-priced Nvidia card. Thankfully, all of that positive, memeable energy has found a worthy target in the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT, two of the strongest creations by AMD's Radeon graphics team in some time.īefore we discuss how well these cards perform in a wide selection of games - and don't worry, there will be plenty of that - let's briefly set some expectations. That's the message that first greets you when you lift the lid on one of AMD's new Radeon 6000 series graphics cards, and it's fitting - after all, AMD's fans are some of the most die-hard in gaming, and these 'Big Navi' GPUs have been anticipated with almost messianic fervour by the community at large.