The AMD Radeon RX 6000 series rolls in the test lab

After a very successful rollout of the Ryzen 5000 series processors two weeks ago, it is soon time for AMD to resume the battle for the top segment graphics card. On Wednesday, November 18, the company launches the Radeon RX 6000 series with the fresh architecture RDNA 2 under the hood, where it will offer full support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, including hardware accelerated ray tracing.

Right now, two of the newcomers are rolling in SweClocker’s test lab, more specifically the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800. Both models are based around the “Big Navi” circuit Navi 21, which has been cut down differently depending on the model. For the Radeon RX 6800 XT, this has 72 activated calculation units, while the Radeon RX 6800 has to make do with 60 such.

Other specifications are very similar between the cards, including that they are both equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, which runs at a speed of 16,000 MHz over a 256 bit wide memory bus – something that gives the cards a memory bandwidth of 512 GB / s. To compensate for the relatively low memory bandwidth in high resolutions, both models are also equipped with additional cache memory in the form of 128 MB Infinity Cache.

Both graphics cards use newly molded cooling solutions with three axial fans, which act according to a semi-passive fan curve and stand still at rest. The difference between the Radeon RX 6800 XT and the Radeon RX 6800 is that the former uses a much thicker heat sink, which takes up 2.5 card slots. This means that the Radeon RX 6800 can be seen as a more suitable choice for more compact constructions, as this only takes up two card slots and measures in at 267 mm in length.

Extra power is supplied via dual 8-pin PCI Express connectors, while both models offer equivalent picture connections. The latter consist of an HDMI 2.1 port, two full-size Display ports and a USB Type-C that can be used as a picture connection or Virtuallink port for VR headsets.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 will be launched on November 18 at 15:00. The graphics cards will then be followed up on December 8 by the flagship in the series, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which offers the full-fledged Navi 21 circuit with 80 calculation units.

How tagged is AMD’s new graphics card in the Radeon RX 6000 series? Share your thoughts in the comment thread!