AMD RX 6800 XT Review

1. Introduction2. RDNA 2 Architecture3. AMD RX 6800 XT4. Testing Methodology5. 3DMark Fire Strike & Time Spy6. 3DMark DirectX Raytracing7. Borderlands 38. Control9. Death Stranding10. The Division 211. F1 202012. Far Cry New Dawn13. Gears 514. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint15. Metro Exodus16. Middle Earth: Shadow of War17. Red Dead Redemption 218. Shadow of the Tomb Raider19. Total War Saga: Troy20. Watch Dogs: Legion21. Performance Summary (14 Game Average)22. Cost Per Frame Analysis23. Ray Tracing - Control24. Ray Tracing - Shadow of the Tomb Raider25. Productivity Benchmarks26. Clock Speed27. Temperatures28. Acoustics29. Noise-Normalised Temperatures30. Power Consumption31. Performance Per Watt32. Overclocking33. Closing Thoughts34. View All Pages

Following on from our stock thermal and acoustic testing, here we re-test the operating temperature of the GPU, but with noise levels normalised to 40dBa. This allows us to measure the efficiency of the overall cooling solution as varying noise levels as a result of more aggressive fan curves are no longer a factor.

As the 6800 XT is so quiet in its out of the box state, we re-tested its thermal performance but with noise levels fixed at 40dBa. This meant increasing the fan speed from 1350rpm up to 1720rpm, resulting in a 10C reduction to the peak edge temperature. Meanwhile, the junction temperature dropped from 98C to 85C.

As mentioned, AMD was clearly trying to tune this reference design for the lowest possible noise levels, but if you are happy to tweak the stock fan curve, this cooler can deliver some highly impressive thermal results.

Become a Patron!