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.
