AMD announces RDNA 3 GPUs: all the details on the RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT

 The new RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, two Navi 31 generation GPUs based on RDNA 3 architecture, have finally been made public by AMD, allowing its newest generation high-end proposals to enter the dance. Therefore, AMD throws down the gauntlet to Nvidia, which recently unveiled the RTX 40 series GPUs, even though it appears that the announcements of the last few hours are only directly competing with the RTX 4080 and that the ultra-premium market covered by the RTX 4090 - which we tested in our tests - is still a ways off.

RX 7900 XTX 

 

But let's stop talking and find out what the first RDNA 3-based GPUs bring to the market since there are so many new developments under the hood, both in terms of power and architecture, that they could herald the start of a very specific generation.

 

ARRIVES RDNA 3 AND THE FIRST CHIPLET GPUs

 

So let's start from the RDNA 3 architecture, the heart not only of the new RX 7900 XTX and XT, but also of all the next GPUs of the Sunnyvale house. The most important news concerns the arrival of the chiplet architecture also in the world of graphics cards, thus going to inherit the new way of making and integrating the chips that we have already seen on Ryzen CPUs.

 

By using the chiplet model, the manufacturer is able to separate a single chip into all of its component parts and connect them using a very high speed bus, ensuring that there are no bottlenecks at all. It is more than twice as fast as the UltraFusion connection found inside the Apple M1 Ultra SoC, which enables the two chips to communicate at 2.5 TB/s, in the case of RDNA 3.

 

The benefit of this strategy is that each component can be produced using the best production method currently available for that category. For example, the graphics chip is made using a 5 nm process, whereas AMD has opted to use a more established solution. the memory chips are produced at a 6 nm scale. As stated, this new method of manufacturing the GPU will also bring additional performance advantages that can be tapped in the future with the update of the drivers, but right away you will be able to access top-level performance.

 

And specifically in terms of performance, RDNA 3 appears to live up to expectations despite recent rumors, given that the architecture can achieve up to 61 TFLOPS of power, compared to the 23 maximum of RDNA 2. Regularly, there is It should be noted that it can be challenging to compare the TFLOPS of various architectures, so we are not actually talking about a 3x increase in performance, but the difference is still sizable.

 

AMD has made changes to every single aspect of the architecture to achieve these levels of power, beginning with the second generation Infinity Cache, which increases bandwidth by 2.7 times. In terms of AI performance, we also observe a 2.7x increase, while ray tracing performance sees a good + 50% improvement.

 

All of this is contained in a GPU with up to 24 GB of GDDR6 video memory and up to 58 billion transistors. The focus of the new architecture is to maximize performance per watt, so the higher consumption of the GDDR6X would have had a negative impact without bringing significant advantages. AMD has specifically chosen not to adopt the GDDR6X. This results in the flagship GPU of the 7000 series having two conventional 8-pin connectors and a maximum draw of 350W.

 

With frequencies for shaders now reaching 2.3 GHz, the new RDNA 3 architecture enables a 53% increase in performance per watt compared to the RDNA 2 generation. The 7000 series GPUs are also equipped with a DisplayPort 2.1 connector, which can provide a bandwidth of up to 53 GB/s and manage 4K and 8K screens at up to 480 and 165 Hz, respectively, and with a 12-bit color profile.

 

The new architecture doesn't just concentrate on gaming power; RDNA 3 also brings with it some news regarding content creation, particularly during streaming. Then there is the new AMD SmartAccess Video, a system that improves performance multi-stream 4K transcoding by dividing the workload between Ryzen CPUs and Radeon 7000 series GPUs, and the new RDNA 3 Media Engine for the simultaneous encoding and decoding of the AV1 format (we are talking about a 7-fold increase in transcoding performance in 8K FFmpeg).

These are the general characteristics of the new architecture, but now let's see in detail how AMD's proposal is articulated.

 

AMD RX 7900 XTX - FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE

 

The RX 7900 XTX, the most expensive model in the 7000 series, shares the same dimensions, shape, and form factor as the 6950 XT but offers a much more effective and powerful package. Being the best option, a GPU with 58 billion transistors, 96 CU operating at 2.3 GHz, 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, a 384-bit memory interface, and up to 61 TFLOPS is being discussed.

 

The two 8-pin connectors mentioned earlier are in charge of the power supply, and the card's length is 287 mm, or roughly 2.5 slots. The graphics shared by AMD show that the GPU offers up to 1.7 times the performance of the RX 6950 XT in 4K while having a 350 watt TDP.

 

In terms of the raw numbers, the Sunnyvale company reported that the new GPU achieves 833, 600, and 300 frames per second in 1440p on Valorant, Overwatch 2, and Apex Legends, three of the most well-known e-sports games. However, if you choose to switch to 4K, the same titles appear at 704, 355 and 295 fps, respectively. The results are very similar to those in 1440p because in that case, the maximum value permitted by each individual game was reached. Naturally, none of this should disturb FSR.

 

Moving on to heavier titles instead, the RX 7900 XTX brings home 275 fps on Hitman 3 , 306 fps on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and 353 fps in F1 22 , all played in 4K with FSR active . If you enter 8K territory - again thanks to FSR - Modern Warfare 2 goes to 190 fps, Assassin's Creed Valhalla hits 96 fps, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves reaches 73 fps and Death Stranding Director's Cut reaches 148 fps .
Finally, we also find clear improvements in performance in 4K at 60 fps with active ray tracing , where the RX 7900 XTX brings with it an important leap in performance compared to the RX 6950 XT. Cyberpunk 2077 goes from 42 to 62 fps, Dying Light 2 from 39 to 72 fps and Hitman 3 from 57 to 89 fps, results that could further increase with the optimization of the drivers coming in the coming months.

The new top-of-the-range GPU is flanked by a slightly less powerful variant, which keeps all the main features of the XTX version unchanged, but with some slight differences. The RX 7900 XT, in fact, features 84 CUs at 2 GHz , 20 GB of GDDR6 memory with 320-bit bus and a TDP of 300 W.

 

We therefore expect slightly lower performance that could be decisive only in the 8K area, while in 4K and 1440p there should not be such differences as to establish a clear gap between the two GPUs.