Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Gaming OC Review

1. Introduction2. Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Gaming OC3. Testing Methodology4. 3DMark Fire Strike & Time Spy5. 3DMark DirectX Raytracing6. Assassin's Creed Valhalla7. Control8. Cyberpunk 20779. Dirt 510. The Division 211. F1 202012. Gears 513. Hitman 314. Metro Exodus15. Red Dead Redemption 216. Total War Saga: Troy17. Watch Dogs: Legion18. Performance Summary (12 Game Average)19. Clock Speed20. Temperatures21. Acoustics22. Noise-Normalised Temperatures23. Power Consumption24. Overclocking25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

Today we have assessed the Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Gaming OC, following in the footsteps of AMD's reference RX 6700 XT, and also the premium Sapphire Nitro+. The Gaming OC strikes a pretty neat balance between those two other cards, in that it is a clear improvement over the reference cooler, but lacks some of the additional features of the Nitro+, including dual-BIOS and a flashier RGB implementation.

In terms of gaming performance however, all three RX 6700 XTs we have tested perform near enough identically. Averaged across our 12-game test suite, the Gaming OC is just 1% faster than the reference card at 1080p and 1440p, while it is an exact match for the Nitro+ at the latter resolution.

We made note in our Nitro+ review that this is a bit unusual, as factory overclocked cards are usually a few percent faster than the reference designs, as was the case with the Gigabyte RX 6900 XT Gaming OC, for instance. It's not really a bad thing though, as at the end of the day even the best factory overclock won't deliver more than 5% extra performance, but just be aware you won't get much (if any) more gaming performance from this card compared to the AMD reference.

Gigabyte's Windforce 3X cooler is a big improvement on AMD's design however. Out of the box, GPU temperatures came in 14C lower than the reference card, and the Gaming OC even ran 5C cooler than the Nitro+, albeit with higher fan speed. Even then, we recorded noise at 37dBa, down from 38dBa for AMD's reference.

When testing noise-normalised thermals, at 40dBa, the Gaming OC proved 15C cooler than the reference card, which clearly shows how much more efficient Gigabyte's heatsink design is. The Sapphire Nitro+ was another 6C cooler still, though, so the Gaming OC couldn't quite match it there.

Just like the Nitro+, overclocking didn't yield spectacular results with the Gaming OC, as I managed to push the core to 2880MHz, and the memory to 2120MHz. This delivered performance gains of between 4-6%, which is fine, but certainly nothing to get excited over.

My final gripe with this card comes down to the lack of dual-BIOS functionality. This is something we have seen from other Gigabyte Gaming OC cards, like the RTX 3070, so it's disappointing not to have the feature included here. It's likely a cost-cutting measure, but for the peace of mind it offers, dual-BIOS is always something I like to see.

All told, this is certainly a solid graphics card. Objectively speaking, the Nitro+ does have the better cooler, but the differences aren't huge. As with the Nitro+ though, Gigabyte is asking a lot more than AMD's reference MSRP, with the Gaming OC set at $599.99. Converting to GBP, plus 20% VAT, suggests pricing around the £520 mark, though as we know, real world pricing is far higher.

For me, the Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Gaming OC can justify a premium over the reference design as it is a superior card, but putting into into RTX 3070 territory with the MSRP makes it a tough sell.

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Pros

• Much better cooler than the reference card.
• Colour-neutral design.

Cons

• Not really any faster than the reference card.
• MSRP is significantly higher than AMD’s baseline.
• Lack of dual-BIOS is a shame.

KitGuru says: Gigabyte can certainly build a better cooler than AMD's reference card, but the MSRP needs to be lower than RTX 3070.

 

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