After the test of the RX 7900 XTX Red Devil Limited Edition from PowerColor, the brand had told us that they wanted us to review the RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil version as well. So we were eager to get our hands on this version equipped with an integral waterblock designed by EKWB to keep all the PCB components cool.
Last week, we presented it to you but without giving you any results because the card was still under NDA. Now it’s time to show you its performance and give you information about this famous “unleash” BIOS.
Thanks to PowerColor for giving us the opportunity to review this exceptional card, the RX 7900 XTX in its “Liquid Devil” version. We also had the chance to review the RX 6950 XT Liquid Devil.
[nextpage title=”RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil:”]
Architecture:
This Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil benefits from the brand new RDNA3architecture. This new architecture succeeds RDNA2 which was represented by the last high-end model, the RX 6950 XT. We had reviewed the Powercolor RX 6950 XT Liquid Devil a few months ago.
The novelty of this architecture is the design based on the addition of MCD (Memory Cache Die), also called memory chiplets. This design with its two distinct parts reminds us of the AMD processors. We find the GCD (Graphic Compute Die) engraved in 5 nm with a size of 300 mm ² and then five or six MCD (Memory Cache Die) also called memory chiplets that are engraved in 6 nm. Each one occupies a surface of 37 mm².
The bundle :
The card arrived in a beautiful box with the usual color code of this series combining black and blue. Once the top part is removed, we find the graphics card perfectly protected and a box containing the bundle .
There is a 6 mm Allen key to adjust the plugs already pre-installed on the waterblock. The waterblock has 4 possibilities of connection, and needing only one entry and one exit, it will be necessary to lock two of them. We will come back to this point in detail during the installation of the liquid cooling loop.
PowerColor and EKWB also provide the newly revised EK-Loop Leak Tester Flex. It is a pressure gauge and a small air pump that you will place in place of your waterblock to test the tightness of your cooling loop. Put the loop under pressure, if this one does not decrease, it is that your system is perfectly tight.
A custom card with an original waterblock:
This “Liquid Devil” version has an original waterblock in charge of keeping the GPU, the memory chips as well as the power stage cool. The waterblock is a model of the brand EK and customized for the occasion by Powercolor. A large part of the internal maze is hidden by the “Devil” logo and we can see the EK logo on the bottom right.
The PCB of this PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil is similar to the “Red Devil” version with the presence of a dual BIOS. A switch on the top of the board allows you to choose either the “OC” BIOS or the ” unleash” BIOS! Does this one have no limits? The answer will be revealed during our tests.
In the case of this “Liquid Devil” version, it is the buyer who will have to design it. As we had already done for the test of the waterblock Alphacool Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-N RTX 3090 HOF, we opted for the AIO Alphacool Eisbaer Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler 280.
Powercolor has also equipped its model with a backplate whose role is to stiffen the PCB and prevent it from twisting. This one is black and stamped with a mini “Devil” logo as well as the two inscriptions concerning the BIOS.
The RGB backlight :
This one benefits from an RGB backlight that can be configured via the Devil Zone RGB software. By default, the card will be illuminated in red but the software offers a range of different settings.
Connections :
To power this card, and this is great news, AMD made the choice to keep the 8-pin power connectors, that is to say with 8 pins, and our sample has three of them.
AMD has opted for DisplayPort 2.1 support on the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT. This means higher refresh rate support in 4K and 8K compared to the DisplayPort 1.4 port that NVIDIA uses on its latest RTX 4000 series cards. AMD offers simultaneous encode or decode for AV1, which will be of interest to content creators. So we have three DisplayPort 2.1 and one HDMI 2.1. Finally, the use of a waterblock allows this model to take the thickness of only one slot, which is becoming increasingly rare on high-end models today.
[nextpage title=”Specifications and PCB:”]
Technical specifications:
In terms of frequency, the base frequency is announced at 2526 MHz while the Boost is at 2680 MHz. The 24 GB of G-DDR6 memory runs at 2500 MHz (980 GB/s) on a 384 bit bus. Our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil benefits from a very good factory overclocking, since the reference card, the RX 7900 XTX benefits from a Boost frequency of 2500 MHz.
A small passage through GPU-Z to check that the information read is correct. The information is correct with, as you can see, very cool temperatures. The power limit can still be adjusted to +15%, so we should still have some room for overclocking.
Let’s unpack the PCB:
The novelty of this architecture is the design based on the addition of MCD (Memory Cache Die), also called memory chiplets. This design with its two distinct parts reminds us of the AMD processors. The PCB of our Liquid Devil version is unsurprisingly identical to that of the RX 7900 XTX Red Devil Limited Edition.
We find the GCD (Graphic Compute Die) engraved in 5 nm with a size of 300 mm ² and then five or six MCD (Memory Cache Die) also called memory chiplets that are engraved in 6 nm. Each one occupies a surface of 37 mm². The PCB consists of 21 phases, 12 + 3 + 2 for the GPU and 2 + 2 for the memory.
[nextpage title=”The test configuration: “]
Lately, we have once again updated all our graphics using the latest drivers from NVIDIA, AMD and of course Intel. We also took the opportunity to slightly modify our test configuration. So here we go again for a new series of tests and therefore of graphics on this slightly modified configuration:
- Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z690 APEX
- Processor: Intel Alder Lake i9-12900K
- Memory: 32 GB Corsair Vengeance 5200 CL38 DDR5
- Graphics Card: Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil
- Cooling system : ROG Ryujin II 360
- SSD : Western Digital Black SN750 2 TB + EKWB radiator
- Power supply : Corsair AX1600i + 12VHPWR 600W adapter
- Operating system: Windows 11 64 bits
For this test, we used a high-end configuration using an i9-12900K processor and DDR5. The use of a 144 Hz 4K display is also a prerequisite. For our tests we use a copy of the ROG PG27UQ.
Our test protocol:
All cards are tested at stock frequencies and without any optimization. For the various benchmarks, whether synthetic or gaming, we will opt for 1080p, 1440p and 2160p resolutions depending on the performance of the card. Here, with this ultra high-end model, we will only use the 2160p definition since we will be comparing it mainly to NVIDIA’s RTX 4080 FE.
As you have seen, we have switched to Windows 11 and we have enabled in the BIOS, the ” ReSize BAR ” visible in GPU-Z. Now that you know everything about our test configuration, it’s time to start!
[nextpage title=”Synthetic benchmarks: “]
Our first series of tests will be dedicated to synthetic benchmarks. These are often used for overclocking competitions but are also very interesting to compare different GPUs. So we will focus on the 3DMark benchmarks.
We will test the following benchmarks:
- Fire Strike (1080p)
- Fire Strike Ultra (2160p)
- Time Spy (1440p)
- Time Spy Extreme (2160p)
- 3DMark Speed Way
- DirectX Raytracing
- Intel XeSS
- Mesh Shader
3DMark Fire Strike and Fire Strike Ultra :
Let’s start with 3DMark Fire Strike, which is one of the most used benchmarks today. It consists of two graphics tests, a CPU test and a fourth test that combines GPU and CPU. Don’t forget to deactivate the demo which doesn’t bring anything in the final score and prolongs the benchmark duration (unnecessarily). The version used for these tests is of course the latest one.
The first benchmark that we carry out with this Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil and the least we can say is that it starts very strong! It takes the lead over the NVIDIA RTX 4080 with 1436 points. This is the only benchmark where our score seems to be a bit low.
Same observation under Fire Strike Ultra where our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil is in second position but widens this time the gap with the NVIDIA RTX 4080 since the score obtained is 21019 points!
3DMark Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme:
The second test is 3DMark Time Spy. Although this one is done in 1440p, it has the particularity of using DirectX 12. It consists of two graphical tests and a CPU test. As for Fire Strike, don’t forget to disable the demo. These two first benchmarks are proposed by UL Benchmark.
The performance obtained in Time Spy is often representative of what we will get in games. The first five cards from the new generation stand out against the previous generations. If the performance of our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil is confirmed, we may have excellent performance in games.
Under 3DMark Time Spy Extreme, same observation even if the RX 7900 XT is more behind the RXT 4080. On the other hand, the Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil Limited Edition keeps its second place. As we can also see, the RTX 4090 is untouchable.
3DMark Speed Way
The latest benchmark from Ulbenchmark and it’s nice to be able to say that we’re going to have a good time on this Speed Way. It uses DirectX 12 and is by default in a 1440p definition. We have not modified anything and we use the original benchmark.
Here our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil is in third place. The benchmark uses Ray Tracing and seems to make our card suffer. We’ll see what happens in games when we enable Ray Tracing.
3DMark DirectX Raytracing:
UL Benchmarks has added a new test to its series of benchmarks to measure Ray Tracing performance. The idea will be to use the 3DMark DirectX Ray Tracing test to compare the performance of Ray Tracing hardware dedicated to AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards but now also to Intel!
The 3DMark DirectX Raytracing test is designed to make Ray Tracing the limiting factor. Instead of relying on traditional rendering, the entire scene is traced and drawn in one pass. The test result will depend entirely on the performance of the Ray Tracing. It will be easy to measure and compare the performance of the different cards between them.
This benchmark has always been dominated by NVIDIA cards and we know that AMD cards will have more difficulties. However, we can see the progress of this new generation since the Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil is almost at the level of the RTX 3080 Ti but very far from the RTX 4080. We can really judge the impact of Ray Tracing during our gaming benchmarks.
3DMark Intel XeSS
UL Benchmarks in collaboration with Intel will add this new benchmark to the 3DMark suite. We had early access to this new test for our testing. This Intel XeSS test is designed to evaluate and compare the performance and image quality of XeSS(Xe Super Sampling). There are four XeSS modes to choose from: Ultra Quality, Quality, Balanced and Performance. The 3DMark inspection tool helps you compare image quality with a side-by-side view of XeSS rendering and native resolution rendering. You need a graphics card that supports Intel XeSS to run this test.
So we’ll have two scores, a FPS number with XeSS disabled and then on the right with XeSS enabled. The mode chosen is “Ultra Quality” which is actually the default mode for the benchmark.
In this new benchmark, the good news is that the two cards of the day seem to take advantage of the Xe Super Sampling technology which allows to boost the performance.
As we conclude this first round of synthetic testing, we are pleasantly surprised by the performance. The Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil is well ahead in benchmarks not using Ray Tracing but lags behind when it is active. We should have a good card for gaming and we will see how it will perform with Ray Tracing combined with FSR or XeSS.
[nextpage title=”Gaming performance in 2160p: “]
We decided to select six games because they seem to be representative enough. We have opted for DirectX12 and Vulkan with the following games:
- The Division 2 (DirectX 12)
- Borderlands 3 (DirectX 12)
- Red Dead Redemption II (Vulkan)
- Far Cry 6 (DirectX 12)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DirectX 12)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DirectX12)
We have chosen to use the benchmarks integrated in these different games.
Why do we do this? Simply to allow you to compare your results with ours if you also have a copy of one of these games. It’s a thought that seemed relevant to us and that will allow you to compare your results with ours.
As we mentioned on page 4 of this article, we have activated the Resizable Bar in the BIOS, which is now supported by all (recent) GPUs. Finally, we have opted only for 2160p definition and selected the cards that are able to compete at this level. Unfortunately, we don’t have any RTX 3080’s available at the moment to add performance to our graphics.
We also decided to harden the graphics quality of some games since the next generations should be more powerful, both from NVIDIA and from the next AMD graphics cards.
The Division 2:
The Division 2 game will be tested under DirectX 12. As far as graphics settings are concerned, they will be set to ” ultra ” mode with vertical synchronization disabled.
Let’s go for the gaming part . First game of our series and it is rather beneficial to NVIDIA cards. Our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil manages to stick to the RTX 4080 while our RX 7900 XT gets close to the RTX 3090.
Borderlands 3:
For the second game, we switch to Borderlands 3. The graphic options are set to ” Brutal “. It is important to know that Borderlands 3 is quite greedy and that this choice of settings has a strong impact on the FPS. It is a game that is often praised in the announcements of new graphics cards and precisely in this Brutal mode.
Well, the trend changes here in Borderlands 3. We find a graph close to what we had under 3DMark Time Spy with our RTX 4080 sandwiched between the two AMD cards. The Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil performs 5% better than the AMD version. After the synthetic benchmarks, this is the kind of performance we expected. It remains to be seen if this will continue.
Red Dead Redemption 2:
Third game and not the least, Red Dead Redemption II on PC. The advantage of this opus is to offer the possibility to test the integrated benchmark under Vulkan. We opt for the graphics options in ” ultra “.
Third game and not the least, RDR2 offers the possibility to test the integrated benchmark under Vulkan. It is clear that we are on the same type of graphics as in the previous game. Our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil manages to take the lead over the RTX 4080 and we are also here on a 5% increase in performance compared to the reference model of AMD.
Far Cry 6:
The latest game we are adding to this section is Far Cry 6, since it supports DXR as well as FSR offered by AMD. We will also find it on the next page. For our benchmarks, we opted for ” ultra ” graphics quality.
Even if our article dedicated to this game has highlighted an advantage to AMD cards, our graphics remain identical in its construction. An RX 7900 XTX that performs better than the RTX 4080 and an RX 7900 XT that remains neck and neck with the green model. Note that the RTX 4090 remains untouchable.
Watch Dogs Legion:
Last but not least, Watch Dogs Legion which will also be used for our tests with Ray Tracing and DLSS. For our benchmarks, we have opted for an “ultra” graphic quality.
The trend is confirmed with the Watch Dogs Legion benchmark since the RX 7900 XT is still neck and neck with the RTX 4080, while the Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil largely secures its second place in our graph.
Cyberpunk 2077:
This is a game that we have been wanting to add for a while and now it is done since it now has an integrated benchmark. We will also use this game for our tests with Ray Tracing. For our benchmarks, we have opted for an ” ultra ” graphic quality.
New and last benchmark of this panel of games. This is the one that shows the strongest performance with our graphics cards since few cards pass the 60 FPS mark. Once again, the Liquid Devil model shows excellent performance.
The average game:
For the average of the games, it is the NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti for lack of having in the lab an RTX 3080 that acts as a reference card in 2160p. The other cards get a score either higher or lower depending on their performance against this model.
Our eyes will of course turn to the performance of our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil against the NVIDIA RTX 4080. There is no doubt that it performs much better than its direct competitor and takes a clear lead in rasterization. The RTX 4090 remains a UFO and has not, at any time, been worried. We will wait for the conclusion and the Ray Tracing tests to give you our opinion on this new generation. Compared to the Red Devil version, the gain varies between 3 and 4% depending on the game tested.
[nextpage title=”Ray tracing and DLSS/FSR performances:”]
Let’s now take a look at the five games we have selected which support Ray Tracing and DLSS as well as for some the FSR from AMD and the new XeSS technology from Intel which is supported by Shadow Tomb Raider and Hitman 3. As we have already reminded you, if the DLSS remains the property of NVIDIA, the FSR and the XeSS can be used with all cards from AMD, Intel and even NVIDIA. This is an important notion to remember before starting the tests.
The six DirectX 12 games that we will test with Ray Tracing and DLSS, FSR or XeSS are :
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DLSS)
- Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DLSS)
- Far Cry 6 (DLSS – FSR)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS – FSR)
- Hitman 3 (DLSS – XeSS)
No change for this new series of games since we remain in the 2160p definition. Depending on the card, we will use DLSS for NVIDIA and either FSR or XeSS for AMD models. If FSR is not available in a game, then we will use XeSS on our AMD card.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider:
First we add to this comparison and it supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game (medium – high – ultra) and the four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ” ultra ” graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and ” performance ” DLSS or XeSS.
With Ray Tracing enabled in ultra, our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil easily gets by with an average of 89 FPS. There is no FSR technology in Shadow of The Tomb Raider, but XeSS has recently been introduced. Even if this technology is aimed at Intel cards, our RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX can take advantage of it to boost performance. This game is therefore a formality for our two AMD cards.
Watch Dogs Legion:
Second game, Watch Dogs Legion supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. It is one of the most demanding games of the moment. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game (medium – high – ultra) and four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ultra graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and ” performance ” DLSS.
The Ray Tracing in Watch Dogs Legion makes all cards suffer except for our model of the day. This is the test par excellence that will highlight the difficulties of AMD cards. The activation of Ray Tracing will not allow us to play in good conditions since the average FPS is far too low. So, yes, we could also have opted for a ” lighter ” Ray Tracing but that’s not the idea here. Without the presence of FSR or XeSS technologies, most 2160p games with active Ray Tracing will be unplayable for our RX 7900 XT or RX 7900 XTX. The only solution will be to go down to a lower definition.
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition:
Third game and supports DLSS 2.0. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game and four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance).
For our benchmarks, we opted for ultra graphics quality, ” high ” Ray Tracing and DLSS in ” performance ” mode.
The same case here in Metro Exodus PC as for Watch Dogs Legion. The conclusions are the same and without appeal.
Far Cry 6:
The latest game we add to this section since it supports DXR as well as FSR offered by AMD.
For our benchmarks, we have opted for Ultra graphics quality, we have enabled both DRX options as well as FSR in ” performance ” mode.
In Far Cry 6, FSR is the only choice available to boost FPS after enabling Ray Tracing. All our cards can benefit from it, regardless of the manufacturer. So this is a case where even NVIDIA graphics cards will benefit from a performance boost.
The FSR is still to the advantage of AMD cards and our graphic uses the same construction as in our 2160p games with the RTX 4080 sandwiched between the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX.
Cyberpunk 2077:
New game we added that offers in its settings the activation of DLSS but also FSR.
For our benchmarks, we chose a “high” graphic quality, an ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and a ” balanced ” DLSS/FSR.
This is the most demanding game where our cards have a hard time keeping up. Here, it’s violent for our AMD models that struggle to keep up. We also had a hard time testing the previous generation (RX 6000). Cyberpunk 2077 benefits from FSR 2.1 and allows our RX 7900 XTX to get closer to the symbolic 60 FPS mark. It will be necessary to be less greedy in terms of graphic parameters so that the RX 7900 XT can also reach the average of 61.2 FPS.
Note that FRS 2.1 boosts our performance by 177% and DLSS 2.0 by 171%. The two technologies are therefore quite close in terms of gains.
Hitman 3:
Last game also added since this one is now compatible with DLSS, FSR and XeSS technology. Depending on the model of the tested card, we opt for one of these three technologies.
For our benchmarks, we chose “high” graphics quality, ” enabled ” Ray Tracing and ” performance ” DLSS/Xess.
We find a situation close to the previous game with both our cards suffering when Ray Tracing is enabled. Fortunately Hitman 3 also benefits from FSR 2.0 and allows our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Red Devil Limited Edition to easily pass the 60 FPS mark with an average of 86.8 FPS.
So Ray Tracing with these Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX :
The conclusion is pretty simple. It will be very complicated to enjoy 2160p definition with active Ray Tracing if the game does not have XeSS or FSR technologies. If this is the case, even if our two cards suffer, it will be possible to reach the 60 FPS mark quite easily.
This new generation improves and manages to handle Ray Tracing better. AMD must make sure that the next big games will be able to integrate their own technology, i.e. FidelityFX Super Resolution. We also notice that overall the DLSS is more efficient than the two other technologies proposed by AMD and Intel. Let’s also remember that we are here on DLSS 2 and that we could realize that DLSS 3 still allows superior gains in terms of FPS.
[nextpage title=”Temperature and power consumption: “]
Temperature :
In order to measure the temperatures, we opted for the Superposition stress test in Extreme mode. We opted for three 5 minutes runs with 10 minutes interval between each test. We took advantage of this benchmark in order to measure the power consumption of the graphics card for the table above.
In order to know the temperature in Idle, after having finished the three loops of the stress test, we let the card rest for 20 minutes before reading the temperature. It should be taken into account that most of the cards have the “0 dBa” technology and therefore, the fans turn off below a certain temperature, often between 50 and 55°C. This means that it takes longer to dissipate the heat after a period of stress testing or gaming. A card without this technology will be noisier than the others at rest. Small reminder: our temperature readings are taken in Open-Air. In a closed case, the cards will necessarily be hotter.
As we expected, the temperatures are excellent thanks to the choice of a liquid cooling system. Our measurements are taken outside the case for all the cards. However, you will have to be careful to have a good air circulation inside your case since the heat will be evacuated inside the case.
Consumption (full configuration) :
We use a power meter by reading the power consumption on the outlet of our power supply. Our modular power supply is a CORSAIR AX1600i. The result we propose is the average of the total consumption of our configuration. Only the graphics card changes between each reading. It is therefore easy to calculate the difference between each graphics card.
The least good surprise of our test of this new generation is the power consumption of our Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil explodes. Even if it remains just slightly lower than the RX 6950 XT, we are almost at 545 watts. So yes, in pure gaming, the RX 7900 XTX performed better than the RTX 4080 but we would have liked to have a much more controlled power consumption as it was the case for the NVIDIA card.
[nextpage title=”Overclocking: “]
As I have hinted during this article, I can’t wait to start overclocking and see how far this RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil version can go. The performance is already very interesting in benchmarks and in games, but you start to know us, we can’t get enough of it. In addition, the card benefits from a liquid cooling system that will ensure very cool temperatures and the presence of the ” unleash” BIOS makes us dream of a card without limits.
Step 1: Benchmark scores
Of course, it is important to already know the scores we have obtained on the Time Spy benchmark as well as on the maximum boost frequency reached. This will allow us to have a reference score and thus to judge the gains in overclocking . We get a global score of 28519 points from 31792 points if we isolate only the one obtained by the GPU.
Oops, this benchmark score obtained with this “Liquid Devil” version is already almost identical to the one we obtained by overclocking the PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Red Devil Limited Edition. As a reminder, we obtained a Time Spy score of 28633 points. This suggests good things are to come if the unleash BIOS allows it!
Step 2: we push the power limit to 15%
Within the AMD drivers, we will perform the overclocking of this PowerColor. If you want to know more about the modification of the parameters via the AMD drivers, we advise you to have a look here. We are going to increase the power consumption limit by 15% in order to give ourselves more margin.
We get a global score of 29090 points and 32550 points for the GPU. We will also notice that the Boost max frequency goes from 2800 to 2880 MHz.
Step 3: increase the GPU frequency
As expected, I decided to push the GPU frequency a little bit to see the consequences. Even if the maximum frequency announced by GPU-Z is not reached, the performances are crushed. We can see the GPU score which has just gone from 32550 points to 29868 points. We are exceeding the power limit and the card automatically clamps itself. The only way to continue to improve our score is to decrease the GPU voltage in order to lower the power consumption. Let’s see the impact on the results. 
So we are going to be on a different concept of overclocking since on the one hand we are going to increase the frequency of the GPU and on the other hand decrease the voltage of the GPU in order to stay within the margin of maneuver that we have. So it’s going to be a balance to be found.
Step 4: we push the frequency of the memory
Even if we haven’t found the max frequency of the GPU yet, we have already decided to push the memory so that we won’t be limited by it later on. We will have to be in balance between the GPU frequency, the memory frequency and the voltage.
Here is the best score we could get at the moment. The overall score is 30329 points (+6.3%) and the GPU score is 34386 points (+8.1%). The card still has some under the elbow but we would need a less restricted BIOS to go up again when we know that I lowered the voltage from 1.15 volt to 1.05 volt.
Step 5: 13900KS OC + DDR5 8000 CL34 + Liquid Devil
We had the idea when changing platforms to take some first places on Hwbot with this PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil. We pushed the i9-13900KS to 5.8 GHz on P-cores and 4.7 GHz on E-cores, but we could have gone much higher. The Teamgroup memory kit is at 8000 MT/s CL34 and the Liquid Devil has the same parameters as above.
We were able to easily take the first place in these 5 benchmarks before a switch to LN2 planned as soon as it will be possible.
Please note that our article dedicated to the Intel i9-13900KS processor will also be available soon.
[nextpage title=”The last word: “]
AMD back in the race?
Yes, clearly. But to be honest, I had some doubts during the presentation of the RX 7900 XT(X) because AMD had presented very few graphics showing the performance of its cards against the competition. However, AMD is there and manages to impose itself largely thanks to its RX 7900 XTX which shows itself more powerful than its main competitor. As we have seen, in 2160p definition, there is nothing to debate.
Now yes, once we activate Ray Tracing in 2160p, our two samples of the day suffer and if the game doesn’t have FSR or XeSS technologies, it will be a waste to be able to enjoy this definition. You’ll have to do without Ray Tracing or go back down to 1440p. Now, in the opposite case, it will be possible to reach 60 FPS by making sometimes a little compromise and sometimes none in order to enjoy the best graphic quality! However, we also noticed that DLSS is the most interesting in terms of performance when Ray Tracing is activated.
AMD still has a card to play in the next few weeks when its “Ryzen 7000X3D” processor will be available, which should bring a gain in performance when combined with an AMD GPU. We will make a series of comparative tests when it will be available in all logic for early 2023.
The PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil:
Here we are at the end of this article dedicated to the PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil. The least we can say is that we had a lot of fun reviewing it. It will also get an LN2 upgrade as soon as we get the chance. This “Liquid Devil” version is generally 4% more powerful than the “Red Devil Limited Edition” version but it has a better potential in overclocking thanks to its liquid cooling system.
The collaboration between PowerColor and EKWB works once again perfectly. The waterblock, without being extravagant, is very nice and the default red backlighting is simply sublime. Regarding the price, we couldn’t find it in the US yet, but should hit the stores soon. In Europe, we found one for 1629.99 euros. This price is too high but the waterblock alone is already sold at 265 euros and the Red Devil version is at 1 350 euros. We would have liked to have a tighter price and close to 1,450 euros. Currently, the first RTX 4090 is priced at 1 869 euros. Don’t forget that a liquid cooling loop will also have to be bought, but this is a logical thing when you opt for a graphics card with a waterblock as standard.
We liked:
- A card to take full advantage of 2160p
- An RX 7900 XTX that performs better than the RTX 4080 without Ray Tracing
- A perfectly designed power supply with quality components
- The use of classic 8-pin connectors
- The very reliable noise levels
- The quality of finish of the card and the waterblock
- The return of AMD to a level close to that of NVIDIA
- The possibility to design the loop according to your wishes
- The potential for overclocking by lowering the voltage
- The presence of a dual BIOS
We would have liked :
- Not to find ourselves once again with an overclocked card!
- A better control of the power consumption on this model
- A lower price
Powercolor offers here an excellent alternative to its already very efficient aircooling systems, such as the Red Devil. We are once again under the spell of this Powercolor RX 7900 XT Liquid Devil whose frequencies soar and remain stable thanks to the liquid cooling. So yes, the consumption explodes, yes the price is too high, but we are here on a particular model which is addressed to the fans of the brand and who are able to set up a liquid cooling loop. Thanks to Powercolor for giving us the opportunity to test this top of the line model!