AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Review

Introduction

Choosing a new graphics card is always a complicated business. On the one hand we all want the fastest, shiniest, most capable graphics card around, but on the other we’ve all got fiscal limitations that make buying the one you want a rare occurance.

The primary deciding factor, beyond money, is what you actually plan to do with it. It behoves you to be honest with yourself in this department, as it can not only save you money in the long run, but also leave you more fulfilled. The big two manufacturers have always produced cards which target a particular segment of the audience, and the latest two additions to the AMD Radeon 7000 range are no exception. There is the RX 7700 XT which is aimed at those of you who game at 1440 or 1080, and the RX 7800 XT which is also 1440/1080 based, but with a little more oomph for only a little extra cash.

Whilst AMD themselves don’t do a version of the RX 7700 XT – check our XFX review also going live today – both cards are so similarly featured and priced that their target audience is the same. What really separates them, and is perhaps key to thinking of them as a concept, is the extra architecture going on under the hood. We follow the market closely and we’re aware that many people have chosen to invest, even now, in a 6000 series Radeon card as a way of trying to maximise their price per performance reward.

With a price point below £500 for both cards, the inclusion of AI Accelerators, and much higher fill-rates than the 6000 cards, you owe it to yourself to get on board the RDNA 3 train. More than almost any other hardware, the architectural changes of the most recent graphic card generations bring benefits that raw horsepower cannot match, and you should always own the newest version if you’re looking for an upgrade. All of which is fine, but we all know the real acid test is how well they perform in games. Worry not, we’ll come to our test results soon, and we’re sure that those of you who have been keen on a RX 6800 will be pleasantly surprised.

Technical Specifications

Although AMD are only producing their own RX 7800 XT cards, and you need to go to the vendors to get a RX 7700 XT, we thought it was interesting how closely matched the two cards are, and certainly how much extra hardware horsepower they have in comparison to those that have come before. It might be tempting to save a few pounds and go for an older card, but much like the step from the GTX to RTX Nvidia cards, the step from RDNA 2 to RDNA 3 is significant and utterly worthy of your investment.

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