The AMD Radeon RX 6000 family has a new member: The Radeon RX 6700 XT, so we tell you its specs, price and release date.
This is a graphics card that allows access to the advantages of the RDNA2 architecture and brings them closer thanks to the fact that it is the most affordable model in the family. So, while its big sisters focused on enabling 4K gaming -especially the beastly RX 6900 XT-, here AMD lowers the bar a bit and directs these graphics cards to gamers who want to play at 1440p and the highest level of detail.
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT technical specifications
The new Radeon RX 6700 XT is a step below the other members of this family but still has remarkable specifications.
It has 40 Compute Units that can operate at 2,424MHz, a striking frequency for being the highest of the whole family, and also have 12GB GDDR6 memory, a figure that is still very striking and that even being below the 16GB available in their older sisters is remarkable.
AMD’s reference design once again features Dual Axial fans, which AMD claims reduce the perceived noise generated by the graphics card by 50%. They can operate in fact with a “Zero RPM” mode like their sisters when there is low activity in our equipment, thanks in part to the passive dissipation system based on Heatpipe and small “fins” that relieve the heat dissipated by the components of the graphics card.
| AMD RADEON RX 6700 XT | AMD RADEON RX 6800 | AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| STREAM PROCESSORS | 2,560 | 3,840 | 4,608 |
| CUs | 40 | 60 | 72 |
| ROPs | 64 | 96 | 128 |
| NATIVE FREQUENCY | 2,424MHz | 1,815MHz | 2,015MHz |
| MAXIMUM FREQUENCY | Unspecified | 2,105MHz | 2,250MHz |
| THROUGHPUT (FP32) | 12.4TFLOPS | 13.9TFLOPS | 18.6TFLOPS |
| MEMORY FREQUENCY | Na | 16Gbps | 16Gbps |
| MEMORY BUS WIDTH | 192 bits | 256 bits | 256 bits |
| VRAM MEMORY | 12GB GDDR6 | 16GB GDDR6 | 1GB GDDR6 |
| CACHE | 96MB | 128MB | 128MB |
| POWER | 230W | 250W | 300W |
| PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC PROCESS | 7nm | 7nm | 7nm |
| NUMBER OF TRANSISTORS | Unspecified | 26.8 billion | 26.8 billion |
| ARCHITECTURE | RDNA2 | RDNA2 | RDNA2 |
| GPU | Navi 22 | Navi 21 | Navi 21 |
| RELEASE DATE | 3/18/2021 | 11/18/2020 | 11/18/2020 |
| LAUNCH PRICE | $479 | $579 | $649 |
These graphics cards also offer good connectivity options: they make use of a PCIe 4.0 connection and are powered through a combination of two 8-pin and 6-pin connectors. On the back we find DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 connectors, allowing computers with these graphics cards to benefit from connection to TVs and future monitors that support this specification.
Gaming at 1440p and high refresh rates makes a lot of sense
AMD’s new graphics cards are interesting because of their somewhat less ambitious orientation: the balance between price and performance is adjusted and makes it possible for gamers to have a solution specifically designed for gaming at 1440p resolutions (2K, or 2,560 x 1,440 pixels) at the highest level of detail without losing fluidity.
Company officials explained how the industry is seeing more and more users buying monitors that are no longer 1080p, but 1440p. Also, a high proportion of these are panels that support refresh rates above 100Hz.
It is an interesting strategy: the demands of 4K resolution make it unfeasible for current graphics cards to support high FPS rates at the highest level of detail: only the most powerful graphics cards can achieve this, and precisely this solution is aimed at those users who do not need to play at 4K and who have 1440p gaming with excellent FPS rates as their target.
The performance that can be expected on this graphics card is yet to be determined in independent tests. AMD’s preliminary data was certainly debatable in their first benchmark because they pitted it against the older GTX 1070 Ti and 8GB RTX 2080 Super.
The performance of the Radeon RX 6700 XT outperformed those models in tests conducted by AMD, but according to AMD they also outperformed much more appropriate graphics cards for comparison such as the RTX 3060 Ti or even the RTX 3070 in several games, at least at 1440p resolution.
Radeon RX 6000 XT price and release date
The new AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT will be available starting March 18 for a suggested retail price of $479.
AMD has indicated that there will be both cards with AMD’s reference design and cards from various manufacturers that will offer their variants.
We will see if AMD can cope with the strong demand for this card and its big sisters, although it seems clear that a priori it will be difficult to get one of these graphics cards in the short term, as is also happening in the case of NVIDIA’s rivals.
