ASUS Radeon RX 6800 XT

Nach dem erfolgreichen Start der Radeon-RX-6800-Serie vor wenigen Tagen folgt heute das erste Custom-Modell. In Form der ASUS ROG Strix LC Radeon RX 6800 XT OC Edition schauen wir uns zum Start gleich einen echten High-End-Ableger an, der ab Werk mit einer All-in-One-Kühlung daherkommt. Bis auf eine Custom-Wasserkühlung dürfte es damit hinsichtlich des Leistungspotenzials nicht mehr viel besser werden, aber zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt schauen wir uns sicher auch noch weitere Custom-Modelle an.

Oh yes, that's the stuff. When we reviewed the RX 6900 XT we were left feeling slightly disappointed at the performance difference, or relative lack of, between it and a good RX 6800 XT, and we postulated that perhaps a truly brilliant RX 6800 XT would be the match for the biggest of the RDNA2 cards. There just isn't enough extra architecture on the 6900 XT that a high clock speed couldn't make the difference. With the ASUS Strix RX 6800 XT LC this idea we had is born out. Not only is the clock speed insanely high - pretty much 2.5 GHz average - but as you saw in our testing this heightened the performance enough that it often matched the more expensive Radeon offering. One of the slight negatives to AMDs first attempt at producing a card which supports Ray Tracing is the actual performance of that RT hardware. It is, if anything, closer to Nvidia's first attempt with their RTX 20x0 cards. However, clearly if you can get the card running hard enough there is some gains to be found as in Port Royal the ASUS Strix RX 6800 XT LC managed to outperform the RX 6900 XT. Elsewhere the story remained the same too, as the RX 6800 XT LC managed to match the 6900 XT, and in titles such as Monster Hunter World, Microsoft Flight Simulator or The Witcher 3 the ASUS card proved to be capable of out-performing the 6900 XT. We're not sure what more needs to be said. The performance is a match for the 6900 XT but you're gaining many other things beyond the simple price difference between the two cards. As an ASUS Strix product you're getting the build quality we've come to expect from the ROG brand. As you can see from the image that's graced the top of this review you're also getting loads of RGB lighting either on the card on the fans themselves. Additionally as a liquid cooled card the temperatures are frosty indeed and this means the Strix is basically silent in operation. The only negative is the fact that with a double wide radiator to fit into your case you'll need to do some careful planning on your build and/or case purchase, particularly if you already have a large AIO cooling your CPU. The air coming out of the radiator is sufficiently warm we'd be loath to use this at the front of our case. It's certainly pumping hotter air than that which comes out of our CPU AIO. The only other thing is that with the AIO the Strix naturally costs a little more than most RX 6800 XTs, although we feel the extra expense comes with a lot of performance and usability benefits which outweigh this. If the AMD RX 6800 XT is the sweetest of the new Radeon range then the ASUS ROG Strix RX 6800 XT LC is the ultimate expression of all that GPU can be, and wins our OC3D Enthusiast Award. Fantastic. The ASUS ROG Strix RX 6800 XT LC is available with an MSRP of £899.

ASUS also submitted a Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card for review, this one is a bit more special though as it has been fitted with hybrid cooling. Yes, you'll see Liquid cooling applied on the primary GPU area, and then a fan can cool down some of the additional components. The end result is a graphics card that looks stunning and is very silent as well.

The ASUS Radeon RX 6800 XT STRIX OC Liquid Cooled is a truly impressive beast. Thanks to its integrated watercooler it runs cooler than any air-cooled graphics card ever could. ASUS has given the card a large factory overclock, to 2360 MHz rated boost, or +110 MHz over the AMD reference. In real-life, when measuring clocks over our whole test suite at 4K, the average GPU frequency is 2416 MHz, which is 160 MHz higher than the 2257 MHz we measured on the AMD reference. Pretty impressive. ASUS also increased the power limit significantly. At 4K resolution those improvements result in a 4% performance uplift over the Radeon RX 6800 XT reference. These numbers make the ASUS STRIX the fastest RX 6800 XT tested today, but the differences are small. The air-cooled cards are just 1-2 % behind. Compared to the Radeon RX 6800, the STRIX is almost 20% faster, the RTX 3080 is only 1% ahead. The much more expensive GeForce RTX 3090 is 11% faster, but the RX 6900 XT will deal with that next month. Almost twice as fast as the RX 5700 XT and more than three times as fast as the RX 590—performance uplifts compared to older cards are impressive, too.

The price of this card is high, but lets break it down a little first. The higher the boost clock on a card, the higher the price. That’s a given, as the cards go through a binning process and finding the absolute best of the best is pretty much like looking for a legendary reward in an EA loot box. So not only are they the best example of that chipset, they’re rare; both of which increase the price.