[UNBOXING] AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX

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The NDA on the unboxing of the next AMD graphics cards ends today. We have the possibility to present you the cards we received but not yet to reveal their performances. For that, you will have to wait a little longer. We have received two cards from AMD, a copy of the Radeon RX 7900 XT and an RX 7900 XTX. These are two models offered by AMD and which benefit from a reference design, like the Founders Edition from NVIDIA. Partners will also be offering their own models in the coming days.

At the beginning of November, AMD unveiled its two new cards and provided us with some information about these two models. We had already given you a summary in this brief. The two cards are announced for December 13th with a price of $899 for the XT and $999 for the XTX.

These prices are those announced in the USA, for Europe, it will be necessary to bend to the very unfavorable exchange rate these last months. As a reminder, in December 2020, the RX 6900 XT was launched at $999 and the 6950 XT appeared in May 2022 for $1099.

 

The architecture :

This AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX are the first two cards we will be testing that benefit from the brand new RDNA3architecture. This new architecture is the successor to RDNA2, which was represented in particular by the last high-end model, the RX 6950 XT. We also reviewed the Powercolor RX 6950 XT Liquid Devil.

The novelty of this architecture is the design based on the addition of MCDs (Memory Cache Die), also called memory chiplets. This design with its two distinct parts reminds us of the AMD processors. The GCD (Graphic Compute Die) is etched in 5 nm with a size of 300 mm² and then five or six MCDs (Memory Cache Die), also called memory chiplets, which are etched in 6 nm. Each one occupies a surface area of 37 mm².

 

The bundle :

As you can see from the photos below, the two boxes are almost identical. The more attentive will notice a slightly different visual that highlights the RGB backlight for the RX 7900 XTX version. The model number can be found on the top left of the box, whose dimensions are 350 x 185 x 80 mm.

On the back, no technical information but information about the Adrenaline Edition software. We are here on two rather compact boxes which play on sobriety. The box is opened from the front and reveals the cards directly. We can also discover for both models the annotation: « Welcome to the red team ».

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX version has a little extra in that the card pops up when the box is opened. By visually comparing the two cards, it is easy to see where the RGB backlight inserts will be located on the RX 7900 XTX.

 

Cooling :

Our two reference cards have a cooling system consisting of three 92mm fans. The design of both reference cards is visually very pleasing with a touch of RGB backlighting, only on the RX 7900 XTX version. The RADEON logo will light up in red when the graphics card is switched on as well as two areas around the central fan. Aesthetically, the two cards look very similar, with a slight difference in the color of the casing.

These three fans are responsible for keeping the heatsink in contact with the graphics chip and the various PCB components cool. These fans have 9 blades and will remain idle when the card is not in use and conversely, become active again when the temperature requires it. As can be seen, the hot air only escapes through the top edge of the board. The bracket is not perforated.

The back of both cards is protected by a thick black backplate. It is the same on both models. Its role is to prevent the PCB from twisting but it also plays a role of heat dissipation with probably the presence of pads between it and the PCB. As you can see, the backplate is joined to the fan shroud, which gives the impression that the PCB is enclosed in a shell.

As far as thickness is concerned, both our samples are on 2.5 slot. The dimensions are slightly different with 276 x 113 mm for the RX 7900 XT and 287 x 123 mm for the RX 7900 XTX. No disassembly of the card as this information is still under NDA. We will have to wait a few more days to discover the radiator and the PCB of these Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX.

 

Connectors :

To power these two cards, and this is excellent news, AMD has chosen to keep two 8-pin power connectors. AMD announces a consumption of 300 watts for the RX 7900 XT and 355 watts for the RX 7900 XTX. We also know that AMD uses GDDR6 instead of GDDR6X for both cards, mainly because it consumes less power and is incidentally less expensive.

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 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 two DisplayPort 2.1, one HDMI 2.1 and one USB Type-C port.

 

Technical specifications :

In terms of frequency, let’s start with the Radeon RX 7900 XT. The frequency is announced at 2000 MHz and the 20 GB of G-DDR6 memory is on a 320-bit bus. As for the RDNA3 computing units, we have 84 of them.

On the more powerful version, the RX 7900 XTX, the frequency is announced at 2300 MHz and the 24 GB of G-DDR6 memory is on a 384-bit bus. On this version, the number of computing units increases from 84 to 96 units.

Of course, on both models, the boost frequency will be higher and will depend on the cooling system. We should be close to 2400 MHz for the Radeon RX 7900 XT and 2500 MHz for the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. We are of course eager to judge the overclocking potential of these two cards.

Thanks to AMD for making these two samples available and see you in a few days to discover the performance of these Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX. Until then, let’s hope that stocks will be sufficient for the launch. The euro seems to be gaining some strength against the dollar, let’s hope that this will have a positive impact on the prices of these two cards in europe!