The Radeon RX 6900/6950 XT Owners Thread.

[Chud_Jenny]

Breached 71K earlier.

Would need to reinstall Windows to get a valid score though as I've disabled some HPET timers to reduce mouse latency.

Very nice, what power limit did you use to get up there?

 

[LtMatt]

Very nice, what power limit did you use to get up there?

I had 400W set in MPT, but it didn't get reach it. It was weird seeing over 400 FPS in the first test.

 

[Chud_Jenny]

I had 400W set in MPT, but it didn't get reach it. It was weird seeing over 400 FPS in the first test.

Just goes to show how power starved the 6900xt is. My son's 6700xt will play Fortnite happily with a 2900mhz max clock set and hit 2865mhz in game. Not a whole lot less power to run half the cores!

 

[BHS1975]

I got my min gpu voltage set to 650mv in MPT and it will sit around 700mv on light loads.

 

[Illuminist]

Just goes to show how power starved the 6900xt is. My son's 6700xt will play Fortnite happily with a 2900mhz max clock set and hit 2865mhz in game. Not a whole lot less power to run half the cores!

I thought they were limited to 2800mhz?

 

[Chud_Jenny]

I thought they were limited to 2800mhz?

Sapphire RX 6700 XT NITRO GAMING OC, allows upto 2950MHz.

 

[Chud_Jenny]

I got my min gpu voltage set to 650mv in MPT and it will sit around 700mv on light loads.

Nice! My best Firestrike number comes from a 970mv (1000mv before adding a water block)
It's all about finding the settings you're happy with, weather that's lowest wattage possible or max numbers.

 

[Nero Augustus]

Hi guys

I'm sorry for bursting in as a new member, but I have a few questions on my overclock and would like to know how good it is and how much further I could push it with your advice.

My 6900XT is a MERC Black, on the stock cooler so air. Used Morepowertool to reach 330W power limit, I then add +15% in wattman. 2720/2500 clock range, 1120 memory, 1175mv.

In Time Spy, I've managed 21 687 graphics score (says invalid score because of tessellation for some reason, I have no idea why.) Here's an earlier score, a bit lower at 21 400 but valid

In Firestrike Ultra same story, says invalid despite me not changing a thing so my best graphics score of 15 566 isn't valid but here's once again an earlier valid score of 15334

The settings for the slightly lower scores are gaming stable, hours on end on Horizon Zero Dawn which is great stability test in my experience, found instabilities in my 3090 (coming back to that later) that even Cyberpunk didn't find, hours in Outriders, and a bit of cyberpunk play. For the highest scores I had vram at 2150 and I'm not seeing much of an uplift in gaming so I'm not sure it's actually stable, and not just correcting itself negating the gain. I haven't tried pushing the card to the absolute max for benchmark, I just went for gaming stable. So Maybe I can break 22k on air in TS?

So then comes the tricky thing. I also have a 3090. I'm super torn on which card to run daily. My 3090 while not a terrible OCer is nothing special but still it overall beats my 6900XT in games. However, if that 6900XT is indeed a golden sample, I might be able to tweak it more and maybe reach my 3090 (I'm at 3840x1600, ultrawide resolution that is 30% less pixels than 4k). If I can match the 3090, then I'll probably run the 6900XT. Such a fun card pushing what were CPU clocks not too long ago on a GPU! I've learned reading this thread that I should run 2112 for the memory so thanks, I've yet to try and see if it nets me an uplift though because I have the 3090 in the case atm.

Anyways! Apologies for the rambling, I have 3 questions :

1) Is my card a golden sample? I think my scores are really good even the slightly lower ones, especially considering I'm on air!
2) What settings can I tweak to get even more out of it? Both in benchies but also in games? I'd like to reach my 3090
3) Is it worth tweaking the voltage in MPT? If yes, what would you suggest?
4) bonus question: any idea why these latest scores say invalid despite me not touching a thing in the settings?

 

[JediFragger]

1) Is my card a golden sample? I think my scores are really good even the slightly lower ones, especially considering I'm on air!

I'd say almost yes, it's certainly not a bad one. @LtMatt has the same card as you and his is a proper golden boy, think he can run a sustained 2700 in-game clock and still has it fairly quiet running. He might be able to offer some tips

 

[LtMatt]

Hi guys

I'm sorry for bursting in as a new member, but I have a few questions on my overclock and would like to know how good it is and how much further I could push it with your advice.

My 6900XT is a MERC Black, on the stock cooler so air. Used Morepowertool to reach 330W power limit, I then add +15% in wattman. 2720/2500 clock range, 1120 memory, 1175mv.

In Time Spy, I've managed 21 687 graphics score (says invalid score because of tessellation for some reason, I have no idea why.) Here's an earlier score, a bit lower at 21 400 but valid

In Firestrike Ultra same story, says invalid despite me not changing a thing so my best graphics score of 15 566 isn't valid but here's once again an earlier valid score of 15334

The settings for the slightly lower scores are gaming stable, hours on end on Horizon Zero Dawn which is great stability test in my experience, found instabilities in my 3090 (coming back to that later) that even Cyberpunk didn't find, hours in Outriders, and a bit of cyberpunk play. For the highest scores I had vram at 2150 and I'm not seeing much of an uplift in gaming so I'm not sure it's actually stable, and not just correcting itself negating the gain. I haven't tried pushing the card to the absolute max for benchmark, I just went for gaming stable. So Maybe I can break 22k on air in TS?

So then comes the tricky thing. I also have a 3090. I'm super torn on which card to run daily. My 3090 while not a terrible OCer is nothing special but still it overall beats my 6900XT in games. However, if that 6900XT is indeed a golden sample, I might be able to tweak it more and maybe reach my 3090 (I'm at 3840x1600, ultrawide resolution that is 30% less pixels than 4k). If I can match the 3090, then I'll probably run the 6900XT. Such a fun card pushing what were CPU clocks not too long ago on a GPU! I've learned reading this thread that I should run 2112 for the memory so thanks, I've yet to try and see if it nets me an uplift though because I have the 3090 in the case atm.

Anyways! Apologies for the rambling, I have 3 questions :

1) Is my card a golden sample? I think my scores are really good even the slightly lower ones, especially considering I'm on air!
2) What settings can I tweak to get even more out of it? Both in benchies but also in games? I'd like to reach my 3090
3) Is it worth tweaking the voltage in MPT? If yes, what would you suggest?
4) bonus question: any idea why these latest scores say invalid despite me not touching a thing in the settings?

Welcome.

Those scores are decent, so your sample looks good to me for air. I have a Merc also and can achieve similar clocks and scores. If you increase the power limit a bit in MPT, you might achieve slightly higher scores in synthetics, if you can keep the temps in check. 22K graphics score is possible, but you might need proper water cooling to reach that or anything higher.

The 3090 and the 6900 XT are pretty similar overall. 3090 is obviously much better for Ray Tracing, so if that's your thing you should sell the 6900 XT and keep the 3090. However if you are not bothered about Ray Tracing, then depending on which games you play the 6900 XT can be faster, and chug out less heat and power too. Timespy favours Nvidia, so the 3090 is faster than the 6900 XT, but in all the Firestrike benches the 6900 XT destroys the 3090 - particularly in Standard and Extreme Firestrike.

Here are my best Firestrike Ultra and Extreme scores for comparison. What does your 3090 get in comparison in those two tests?

With regards to the message about invalid scores I've had this before. Have you changed anything with regard to timers on your PC like HPET? This stuff can improve mouse latency/lagg but can sometimes mess up 3Dmark. I've had it before where nothing was disabled or altered with regards to Tessellation but you have to reinstall Windows to fix it.

In the games i play, the 6900 XT is faster than the 3090 for the most part but YMMV depending on the games. I am currently playing COD Black Ops, COD Modern Warfare, Godfall, Dirt 5, Valhalla and Forza. In some cases my overclocked Merc is 30% faster than 3090's on YouTube at the same settings.

However if you dial up Ray Tracing (in the few games that support it) and use DLSS then the 3090 would win comfortably in any games that support those technologies.

So it really comes down to what games you play, what technologies are important to you, and which software you prefer. Can't go wrong with either I am sure though.

I'd say almost yes, it's certainly not a bad one. @LtMatt has the same card as you and his is a proper golden boy, think he can run a sustained 2700 in-game clock and still has it fairly quiet running. He might be able to offer some tips

Yep. Here she is chugging out silly FPS in COD Black Ops at Ultra Settings at 4K/1440P.

 

[Nero Augustus]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply @JediFragger and @LtMatt

@LtMatt what would you say is a safe max power limit in mpt for the MERC? I know its PCB is very good but I was a bit weary of pushing it too hard.
Also, could you share your settings (Wattman and mpt) for the scores you achieved? Your card is super good as well it seems!

Ok good to know for the invalid scores, I think I'll just have to make a windows install for benchmarking specifically.

Yeah it seems RDNA2/Ampere shine in different games/engines. I currently play a lot of Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk, both games that favour Nvidia especially CP. Still I know in a month I'll have moved on to new games, so that doesn't bother me. The lack of DLSS is the number one thing that makes me question using the 6900XT though. I know AMD is working on their alternative, and I think it'll be the overall winner because adoption should be better than DLSS, but they only said they hope they'll be able to release it in 2021, which to me screams "we might get it out in december of 2021, early 2022 is a safe bet"... I swear if AMD had a working DLSS alternative right now things would be so much better.

Whelp I think the best thing I can do is see just how far I can push this 6900XT, and then compare with the 3090. I'd love to see your wattman and MPT settings!

 

[JediFragger]

I swear if AMD had a working DLSS alternative right now things would be so much better.

Agreed, but I guess AMD are playing for the long game and want to get it right. I'm fine with that atm

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply @JediFragger and @LtMatt

@LtMatt what would you say is a safe max power limit in mpt for the MERC? I know its PCB is very good but I was a bit weary of pushing it too hard.
Also, could you share your settings (Wattman and mpt) for the scores you achieved? Your card is super good as well it seems!

Ok good to know for the invalid scores, I think I'll just have to make a windows install for benchmarking specifically.

Yeah it seems RDNA2/Ampere shine in different games/engines. I currently play a lot of Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk, both games that favour Nvidia especially CP. Still I know in a month I'll have moved on to new games, so that doesn't bother me. The lack of DLSS is the number one thing that makes me question using the 6900XT though. I know AMD is working on their alternative, and I think it'll be the overall winner because adoption should be better than DLSS, but they only said they hope they'll be able to release it in 2021, which to me screams "we might get it out in december of 2021, early 2022 is a safe bet"... I swear if AMD had a working DLSS alternative right now things would be so much better.

Whelp I think the best thing I can do is see just how far I can push this 6900XT, and then compare with the 3090. I'd love to see your wattman and MPT settings!

The only safe value is whatever the default is tbh. I could give you a value but I'd be pulling it from my arse.

For the scores i achieved MPT was set to 400W and the clocks used are mentioned in the score links i posted.

Two games i don't play. I gave Cyberpunk a go around launch time but it was too buggy and i could not edit the controls properly for being left handed so those two things put me off it and never looked back.

If you are not using Ray Tracing you really don't need DLSS with the 6900 XT. It has the power to just use native resolution. I see 3090's using DLSS in Cod Black Ops to get FPS over 100+ at 4K, but it's just not needed with the 6900 XT as you can see above.

I'm unlikely to use any form of DLSS regardless of which version (AMDs or Nvidias) if it makes the image blurry. I'd rather use native and Radeon Image Sharpening as it just looks better IMO. You can always fine tune other image quality settings if you need a few more frames.

I don't use Ray Tracing (even on games where it performs well on the 6900 XT such as WOW, Godfall, Dirt 5 etc) as it's not worth the little improvements to image quality vs the FPS hit. Also, Ray Tracing makes the GPU kick out a lot more heat if you've ever tested GPU power draw with it on vs off. I tried it in Cyberpunk and Dirt 5 and noticed higher power draw for very little improvement to image quality.

 

[Nero Augustus]

Oh yeah of course when I said "safe" I meant "shouldn't blow up in your face", as soon as we're playing with MPT we're definitely outside of the realm of what AMD envisioned.

Got it, will try with 400W for fun it will be a perfect comparison with the 400W I run the 3090 at. Will report back with numbers!

I suspect that now that we have a new generation of consoles, games will once again start being much more demanding, and we'll see Cyberpunk-like situations more often: even without RT achieving 4k 144FPS (or even ultrawide 144FPS like I aim for) will be hard without resolution scaling. And even right now I can't reach 144FPS locked on my ultrawide (even with the 3090) in demanding games so there is room for improvement still, and DLSS/AMD's alternative would be perfect to reach that cap. A locked 144FPS is sooooo damn good.
I do agree that it's not absolutely necessary, but it is nice to have!

I agree with you on Ray tracing. It's a bit of a mixed bag, it can make some scenes better but not always, the only thing it always does is destroy your FPS. But we're still early. Once again I think consoles will change things, just look at Miles Morales on PS5 it has some of the best ray tracing, on a GPU that's basically a 6700.

Anyways thanks for the replies! It's so hard finding GOOD info on 6900XT ocing and morepowertool when the big youtubers seem completely ignorant as to how to get the most out of these GPUS. Looking at you Jayztwocent, that video was shameful.

 

[heartburnron]

My 6900XT is a MERC Black, on the stock cooler so air. Used Morepowertool to reach 330W power limit, I then add +15% in wattman. 2720/2500 clock range, 1120 memory, 1175mv.

I'm not sure how using MPT to increase power limit directly affects the voltage, however certainly at stock values and with the +15% in wattman, you can likely knock up to 100mv off this and get a boost to your scores. Having mine set at around 1080 mv has produced my best benchmark scores in Timespy and Firestrike.

 

[BHS1975]

I use MPT to set max voltage which is around 1060mV for my sample, like Igor said and I get the best scores and lower temps and power draw vs setting it at 1110mV in WattMan. If I set it to 1060mV in WattMan it will crash.

 

[Kaapstad]

https://www.techpowerup.com/281585/sapphire-announces-nitro-amd-rx-6900-xt-special-edition-gpu

 

[Bomberh]

Availability

The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Special Edition Graphics Card is shipping now, and will be available from selected SAPPHIRE e-tailers and retailers worldwide.



Of course it will

 

[Gerard]

Availability

The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Special Edition Graphics Card is shipping now, and will be available from selected SAPPHIRE e-tailers and retailers worldwide.



Of course it will

At this point any card in stock could be branded "special edition", it is baffling why they're supposedly launching these cards when the stock versions are impossible to buy. Are they having a competition to see what partner can have the most unavailable card line?

 

[Illuminist]

At this point any card in stock could be branded "special edition", it is baffling why they're supposedly launching these cards when the stock versions are impossible to buy. Are they having a competition to see what partner can have the most unavailable card line?

They,AMD, wanted something to compete with the 3080ti, then binned the best chips and gave them to the aibs to make 6900xt ti,s in effect