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Considering what graphics cards have to offer today, it wouldn’t be terrible to look to previous generations to see what deals can be found there. Now we look to what RDNA 2 has to offer in our RX 6800 review and how it holds up today.
The generation that brought the best AMD GPUs to the range provided everyone with a strong alternative when choosing their next best GPU. Released back in November 2020 it was of course during the time of a great graphics card shortage and getting any of them let alone at the right price was rather difficult. But now could be the perfect time to grab it.
Bringing you a potential 4K option for gaming, the reference model from XFX we have is a lot harder to come by these days. But other models available have gotten a lot cheaper since the release of the card all those years ago. It came out with a recommended price of $579, whilst now custom models like the XFX SWFT319 at the time of writing are available for $389.99 on Amazon. That makes it a rather appealing choice for current choices if it still provides a good performance.
XFX AMD Radeon RX 6800
1,815MHz game, 2,105MHz boost
Pros
- Very cheap following release of RDNA 3
- Great value choice for 4K gaming
- Slim yet heavy for the performance it has to offer
- Very effective cooling design
Cons
- Ray tracing and rendering still behind Nvidia
Design and specs of the 6800
One great factor of the RX 6800 reference model is the size, it keeps things slim and not too long. But there is a lot condensed in there, with the hardware and cooling condensed in the package. With the 267 x 120 x 40mm GPU coming in with a 250W TDP, it still manages to keep things cool and is a lot easier to include inside of your build.
As the reference model, the AMD Radeon card is limited in design and might be a bit more divisive in what it looks like. With a silver stripe down its face and back, it’s bordered around the edges. A lot more enclosed, the card seems very airflow-limited. But the side and back are left open for the heatsink to do its job. But it does feature a red border inline makes it a bit more appealing.
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XFX AMD Radeon RX 6800 reference model, source: BGFG
With the three fans on the front, there is plenty of airflow for the card, and neither does it get too loud when running under full load. It also keeps your power connector requirement down to just two 8-pins, meaning you don’t have to mess around with any adapters or the like.
The mostly metal card is a great way to cool your card but of course, the design is not for everyone. But there are plenty of other custom AIBs to consider. Another feature though to consider is the IO on it. It comes with a harder-to-find choice of USB Type-C that makes it a bit more adaptable to any display. Whilst also featuring one HDMI 2.1 now only one DisplayPort 1.4a port.
RX 6800 performance
Benchmarking the RX 6800, we get to see how well it performs compared to the other options around its level. As we saw in our previous RX 6800 XT review, we see how it fairs against the RTX 3070, 6800 XT, and 4070 for a good comparison.
There we see the RX 6800 hold up well, even against the newer 4070 in Cyberpunk on pure rasterization. It reaches even over 60 FPS at 1440p, but at 4K it drops down to under 30 with the rest of the cards. But that doesn’t make it a bad 4k GPU as in other benchmarks we have seen it average around that 60 sweet spot and not when looking at just the modern Crysis. But once again the ray tracing solution is tougher, as even 1080p drops it below by a lot so it can be a tougher choice for the job.
Whilst looking at 3DMark there we see the AMD cards hold up strong to Nvidia GPUs. It is very close between all of the options as gaming shows, but once again the Port Royal and ray tracing don’t hold up as we see the 4070 hold strong. The 6800s benefit from having 16GB of GDDR6 with a decent amount of memory compared to 12 and 8GB of the 4070 and 3070 respectively that don’t reach the same bandwidth.
RX 6800 alternatives
XFX SPEEDSTER MERC319 Radeon RX 7800 XT
2,254MHz game, 2,565MHz boost
Pros
- Ridged backplate provides 33% more surface area for heat dissipation
Cons
- Much more expensive than the base price
Of course, the first choice for an alternative to the RX 6800, is an RX 7800 XT, the card that is on the same tier but in the newer generation. It still somehow manages to provide a strong value proposition as part of the RDNA 3 lineup, coming in with a $499 MSRP makes it a strong choice for even 4K gaming as it improves on what the 6800 can do.
Although the TDP of the card does get higher as the card needs a bit more power to achieve the performance, it does bring a lot to the table. Including a dressing of its processor through its MCM design with multiple chips instead of one. But that still holds strong even up against Nvidai selections.
ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 Super OC Edition
Pros
- Sold at MSRP and gives a great value choice
- Small compact build for the GPU
- Great energy efficiency
Cons
- No DisplayPort 2.0 support
Now from Team Green, there is a strong choice with the RTX 4070 Super. Coming out later in the Ada range as an upgrade choice it does provide a bit more value to the 70 model. Although it still costs a bit more, as the price starts at $599, but its one of the better lower-tier cards in the range and gives you the effectiveness of Nvidia architecture across the board.
We got hands-on with the card in our RTX 4070 Super review and found it to be a top pick for getting 1440p and above performance. But the price is the biggest deterrent and as it has a more limited memory setup than even the 6800 XT it is a bit surprising to pick up overall.
FAQs
What is the RX 6800 equivalent to?
The RX 6800 is equivalent to the RTX 3070 or RTX 3080 as on its release sat in between the two in terms of performance. For a more recent equivalent choice, the 6800 is comparable to the RX 7700 XT and RTX 4070.
Is the RX 6800 enough for 4K?
The RX 6800 is just on the precipice of being a strong 4K card, it is capable of running 4K games you just might have to turn down the settings a bit and maybe use some upscaling. But it can achieve 60FPS at 4k in plenty of games for the most part.
