6900xt - Sapphire Toxic Extreme

[LtMatt]

FR33THY just swapped from a 3090 to a 6900 XT Toxic Extreme so he can get 150 extra FPS in Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Vanguard.

 

[rodac]

I own this card I purchased back in June 2021, I paid the same price as @LtMatt .
(1900) I also mounted the GPU in the same way , radiator on top and the CPU cooler on the front. My AIO is a NZXT kraken 7? 360 rad. all AMD as well.
Motherboard ASU’s Dark Hero x570; CPU 5950 Ryzen.
Putting aside this list of components, the Sapphire is really an amazing graphics card in spite of its stratospheric price.
I have no doubts that it matches an Nvidia 3090 for about everything other than ray tracing. I wanted to buy the nvidia at first and it is by chance that I ended up buying this card. I do not feel short changed by the ray tracing as I understand by now that this is not a feature that is ready and it is difficult to see ray tracing at work although I did look closely with and without in cyberpunk 2077.
I am surprised to see the similar specced Asus sold at 400 pounds more in today’s market, i still feel like the Sapphire is a better card, the resolution upscaling Trixx is proprietary of Sapphire and seems to work just as well as AMD superX resolution, AMD,s competition with Nvidia DLSS. I prefer Sapphire solution because it works with all games.
I am too sure how much better Nvidia upscaling is, not having both cards.
It is currently sold at 1500, much better value now, and I would not hesitate if you are in the market for high end, still 900 cheaper than a 3090 in today’s market.
I have not manually Overclocked it, but I have the sapphire boost always on which takes the speed up to 1700, although the average is in line with the advertised speed of 2530.

 

[LtMatt]

I own this card I purchased back in June 2021, I paid the same price as @LtMatt .
(1900) I also mounted the GPU in the same way , radiator on top and the CPU cooler on the front. My AIO is a NZXT kraken 7? 360 rad. all AMD as well.
Motherboard ASU’s Dark Hero x570; CPU 5950 Ryzen.
Putting aside this list of components, the Sapphire is really an amazing graphics card in spite of its stratospheric price.
I have no doubts that it matches an Nvidia 3090 for about everything other than ray tracing. I wanted to buy the nvidia at first and it is by chance that I ended up buying this card. I do not feel short changed by the ray tracing as I understand by now that this is not a feature that is ready and it is difficult to see ray tracing at work although I did look closely with and without in cyberpunk 2077.
I am surprised to see the similar specced Asus sold at 400 pounds more in today’s market, i still feel like the Sapphire is a better card, the resolution upscaling Trixx is proprietary of Sapphire and seems to work just as well as AMD superX resolution, AMD,s competition with Nvidia DLSS. I prefer Sapphire solution because it works with all games.
I am too sure how much better Nvidia upscaling is, not having both cards.
It is currently sold at 1500, much better value now, and I would not hesitate if you are in the market for high end, still 900 cheaper than a 3090 in today’s market.
I have not manually Overclocked it, but I have the sapphire boost always on which takes the speed up to 1700, although the average is in line with the advertised speed of 2530.

Couldn’t have put it better myself with what you posted and I agree entirely with all of your post tbh.

 

[~bones~]

Having got the 6900xt red devil ultimate now set up I'm pretty happy with it but have to admit the sapphire is a much better looking card visually and seems better built.

Having to return a cpu aio pump because it's noisey does make me feel like down the line if anything goes wrong with the pump on the sapphire it's going to be a pita to rma it especially if you don't have a spare gpu to keep you going.

If they were both the same price I'd still probably go for the toxic and make it work in my case but I got the red devil for a few hundred cheaper.

 

[LtMatt]

Having got the 6900xt red devil ultimate now set up I'm pretty happy with it but have to admit the sapphire is a much better looking card visually and seems better built.

Having to return a cpu aio pump because it's noisey does make me feel like down the line if anything goes wrong with the pump on the sapphire it's going to be a pita to rma it especially if you don't have a spare gpu to keep you going.

If they were both the same price I'd still probably go for the toxic and make it work in my case but I got the red devil for a few hundred cheaper.

Yes, it's always the risk you take with an AIO. However, that is what warranty is for and hopefully its okay and not needed.

I've been using AIOs for 10 years and have yet to have one fail on me, so hoping that tradition continues for a while yet.

 

[Azrael1]

Having got the 6900xt red devil ultimate now set up I'm pretty happy with it but have to admit the sapphire is a much better looking card visually and seems better built.

Having to return a cpu aio pump because it's noisey does make me feel like down the line if anything goes wrong with the pump on the sapphire it's going to be a pita to rma it especially if you don't have a spare gpu to keep you going.

If they were both the same price I'd still probably go for the toxic and make it work in my case but I got the red devil for a few hundred cheaper.

Yeah - I always get put off buying any used cards that use an AIO. Prefer to pay more for a decent air cooling solution. Plus I am lazy and its less work to swap out an air cooled card compared to a water AIO one

 

[Azrael1]

Yes, it's always the risk you take with an AIO. However, that is what warranty is for and hopefully its okay and not needed.

I've been using AIOs for 10 years and have yet to have one fail on me, so hoping that tradition continues for a while yet.

I know you seem to swap and sell cards quite frequently though. I guess if any AIO watercooled cards that do develop issues - they are long gone from your possession to notice ?

 

[LtMatt]

I know you seem to swap and sell cards quite frequently though. I guess if any AIO watercooled cards that do develop issues - they are long gone from your possession to notice ?

Well, that's probably fair. I will likely only keep this GPU for just over a year or so.

I have however, had a lot of them. 1x7970 cooled with an Arctic AIO, 4x Fury X AIO, 2x Radeon Pro Duo AIO, 4x Vega 64 Liquid AIO. Some used for 6 months, some a couple of years. 0 failures in that time.

 

[Azrael1]

Well, that's probably fair. I will likely only keep this GPU for just over a year or so.

I have however, had a lot of them. 1x7970 cooled with an Arctic AIO, 4x Fury X AIO, 2x Radeon Pro Duo AIO, 4x Vega 64 Liquid AIO. Some used for 6 months, some a couple of years. 0 failures in that time.

True but some users keep them for like 5 - 10 years etc. Air would just give them an extra degree of less worry. ( People on OCUK are different ofc hehe 5 weeks to 10 months on here before people change hehe )

 

[gpuerrilla]

@LtMatt you AIO Guerrilla!

 

[LtMatt]

True but some users keep them for like 5 - 10 years etc. Air would just give them an extra degree of less worry. ( People on OCUK are different ofc hehe 5 weeks to 10 months on here before people change hehe )

Yeah not denying that air is better for long term reliability, but a good AIO should easily surpass the GPUs warranty period IMO.

@LtMatt you AIO Guerrilla!

I'm a AIO

 

[rodac]

Couldn’t have put it better myself with what you posted and I agree entirely with all of your post tbh.

Thanks, good to know that I am not the only one

 

[rodac]

Having got the 6900xt red devil ultimate now set up I'm pretty happy with it but have to admit the sapphire is a much better looking card visually and seems better built.
Having to return a cpu aio pump because it's noisey does make me feel like down the line if anything goes wrong with the pump on the sapphire it's going to be a pita to rma it especially if you don't have a spare gpu to keep you going.
If they were both the same price I'd still probably go for the toxic and make it work in my case but I got the red devil for a few hundred cheaper.

Actually, this is the red devil ultimate card that I first purchased, it is well built and felt very nice, I ended up returning it by error because the AMD bug led me to believe it was the card that was faulty. There was a bug in the adrenaline software that reports that the minimum compatibility for all those EMD GPUs is not met, I don’t think the bug was fixed.
So I returned it although it was a pretty good card, and the only choice that could match this kind of performance was at the time the sapphire toxic extreme, and that’s how I ended up getting this water called feast. But those cards That use the Navi 21 XTXH are all very powerful and in the same league. The Red Devil cost 2200 at the time, more than the toxic

 

[nashathedog]

Ferrari's don't buy themselves.

Ferrari? Have you been buying yourself matchbox cars again Matt?

 

[LtMatt]

Ferrari? Have you been buying yourself matchbox cars again Matt?

As If I could afford one of those.

 

[Lytic]

I was looking at buying this, and I'm little concerned by the pump, how loud is it? Is it noticeable at idle?

 

[LtMatt]

I was looking at buying this, and I'm little concerned by the pump, how loud is it? Is it noticeable at idle?

I can't hear it in my system, using a Phanteks P600s.

 

[rodac]

I was looking at buying this, and I'm little concerned by the pump, how loud is it? Is it noticeable at idle?

Here is what I know about the operating noise of the Sapphire Extreme 6900 XT.
That is both what I have read and my opinion with my own gear.

First of all, you have 2 sources of noise, the Astek branded pump noise fitted to this GPU, that is a static variable and constant at whatever speed the card runs at, even at idle.
Admittedly that did worry me a lot when I searched this info, I recall that I went as far as opening a support ticket to check this , is it always on query, and yes it is always on.
I can definitely hear this noise because my case in on my desk at the height of my ears, so at idle, if you pay attention, this can be heard, but that is a very small noise, it may worry some users.

In my opinion, this is negligible because that faint noise will be masked by other fan noise, typically the CPU fans, or else if the case is under your desk.

Deauer, when testing an earlier version of this gpu noted that he was surprised by that pump operating noise (he is a YouTuber from Germany who does extreme over locking with liquid nitrogen) and that he would not like to have it next to his ear.

The second source of noise and by very far, the most significant is the fan noise coming from the 3 fans mounted on the 360 ml radiator.
I have exchanged a few posts with 2 other users of the same card and most reported that they could not bear the noise from those 3 fans and purchased alternative fans and seemed happier with those after market fans.

At this stage, you may ask but then what is the point of buying a water cooled GPU if this actually makes more or as much noise as a standard air cooled GPU.
That is because of the additional power of course.

Well , we are discussing this in a community of overclockers, aren’t we ?
The issue with the 3 radiator fans is probably caused by manual over clocking, I read the same comment from a professional and very good reviewer, that he did not like the fan noise.

In my opinion, that is simply because those fans make expected noise running at 100% of their capacity. Some may disagree but I will take the risk of saying that there is no need to change those fans at the risk of decreasing their efficiency, just do not run the card using software to override the manufacturer safety margin unless you are willing to accept the additional noise, more power means more noise.

From my limited experience, by only using the Sapphire software, and setting the max settings out of the box, Trixx over overboost at 2730 Ghz, the fans do not run at 100 % and the noise is normal.

So this card is for a boy tuner racer who do not mind the noise or else for an extreme enthusiast like myself who chose not to push it beyond and who is willing to put up with the pump hum at idle because all the other fans required to cool an equally powerful CPU will anyway hide this pump noise completely.
To be avoided for those who preach silent computing.

 

[LtMatt]

Just a couple of things to mention in regards to Rodac's post here as I agree on some of his points but not all. I have a lot of experience with this GPU so I think I can talk to it well.

1) Derbauer tested a different GPU the Strix not the Toxic, the Strix does have a louder pump (with louder idle whine) and is not the same GPU. The Toxic is superior is every way to the Strix, from PCB to cooler used. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWXGJZ59rd8
2) If you have an open case you may hear the pump, but for me at least it's not an unpleasant high pitched whine. I have my case on my desk, next to my keyboard and I cannot hear the pump at all. I use a P600S and I operate a silent system with all fans running at low RPM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6RDlHueKuU
3) If you flick the BIOS switch you can lower the fan speeds of the Toxic to 25%. This is like 750RPM, it is completely silent even with an open case and remains this way until 35% fan speed which is about 991RPM.
4) Once you go higher than 36% fan speed, fans become audible. Over 40% they become clearly audible. 35% or lower, silent can't hear them at all. 36% is around 1050 RPM.
5) 35% is enough to run the GPU at the fastest possible clock speeds, voltages and power limits for gaming.
6) Proof of 5 here, see I am running only 991RPM fan speed which is about 35%. Far Cry 6 Fun- 6900 XT | 2160P + Ultra Settings + Ray Tracing + CAS - YouTube
7) If you use the performance BIOS like Rodac, you cannot lower the fan speed below 38%, which is why his opinion is that the fans are loud. This is why you flick the BIOS switch and tune it yourself for silent fan operation.
8. The performance BIOS is for someone who wants plug and play 2700Mhz clock speed, without doing any power, fan or clock speed tuning themselves. There are compromises on fan noise using this BIOS so I do not recommend it.
9) People who change the fans lose performance and they don't realise that switching the BIOS allows proper fan tuning control. Not sure why Sapphire won't let you lower fan speed below 38% on the performance BIOS, its daft.
10) My system is completely silent and my GPU runs at 2725Mhz+ when gaming.
11) Here is a picture of the GPU in my system. Note, i changed the front CPU AIO to intake after this picture was taken for better airflow and temperatures.

Spoiler

Spoiler

11) If you have any other questions, let me know.

 

[naefeart]

I've just picked up one of these cards, so appreciate you guys sharing this sort of info.

One question - I understand one of the options on the card is to physically toggle the bios to be software switchable... Isn't this the preferred option? That you I wouldn't need to keep opening up my case.