AMD’s latest Radeon RX 7800 XT is now under scrutiny, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to consider it as a new release. Despite this being our initial opportunity to showcase it, the first AMD RDNA 3-based GPUs were actually launched in December 2022, with the arrival of the 7900 XT and XTX.
It is quite remarkable, as there has never been a previous instance where AMD or Nvidia took 9 months to launch the majority of their product lineup within the same series. Typically, after 9 months, we would expect to see refreshed or upgraded products, rather than a continuation of the original release cycle.
It is rather astonishing, as there has never been a prior occurrence where AMD or Nvidia took 9 months to unveil the majority of their product range within the same series. Usually, after 9 months, we would anticipate refreshed or enhanced products, not a continuation of the initial release cycle.
AMD has now unveiled the long-awaited successor to the 3-year-old 6800 XT. The specifications of the new 7800 XT appear to be quite similar on paper, leading one to question whether it will truly be a significant advancement.
The number of cores has decreased by 17%, but the cores are now running 8% faster. With these changes, one could anticipate the 7800 XT to perform slower. Fortunately, enhancements have been implemented in the memory system. The Infinity Cache size has been cut in half, yet the bandwidth has been boosted by 63%. Additionally, despite utilizing the same 256-bit wide memory bus, the updated version is equipped with quicker 19.5 Gbps memory, resulting in a 22% increase in memory bandwidth.
The 7800 XT’s increased cache and memory bandwidth allow its fewer cores to operate more efficiently. Nevertheless, surpassing the 6800 XT in terms of speed in most games remains a difficult feat to envision.
We are particularly intrigued by the 7800 XT’s price point of, significantly lower than our anticipated. This pricing also sets it apart from the rest of the RDNA 3 lineup. For instance, the 7900 XTX is priced at per Cluster Unit, while the XT version is slightly higher at. In contrast, the 7800 XT is priced at per CU, representing a 20% discount compared to the XTX.
Essentially, AMD faced a decision between pricing the 7800 XT similarly to the 7900 series, which would lead to negative reviews and low sales, ultimately prompting them to lower prices – a scenario reminiscent of the 7900 XT. This was the expected result, considering AMD’s history of responding to market trends.
AMD essentially had two choices: either align the price of the 7800 XT with the 7900 series, resulting in negative reviews and poor sales, leading them to reduce prices – a situation reminiscent of what happened with the 7900 XT. This was the anticipated outcome, given AMD’s track record in responding to market trends.
The alternative was to assess the market demand, acknowledge the actual situation, and set the price of the 7800 XT accordingly – a scenario we considered to be less probable. In this case, they would have priced the 7800 XT significantly lower than the anticipated tag, to a more reasonable figure such as. As it turned out, that is exactly what they decided to do.
In our latest monthly GPU pricing update, we highlighted that the 7800 XT should ideally be priced at if it were to offer performance similar to the 6800 XT. Although we have not conducted a thorough performance analysis yet, the pricing of the 7800 XT is much more aligned with our expectations, particularly when compared to other GPUs currently available from AMD and Nvidia.
In our most recent monthly GPU pricing update, we pointed out that the 7800 XT should be priced no higher than if it is to match the performance of the 6800 XT. While we have not delved into the performance details yet, the pricing of the 7800 XT is much closer to our desired range, especially when compared to other GPUs from AMD and Nvidia in the current generation.
We will utilize our Ryzen 7 7800X3D test system equipped with 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory and the most recent display drivers for the testing purposes. All data has been verified and refreshed specifically for this review. The AMD reference version of the 7800 XT will be employed for the testing.
Altogether, 16 games have been tested, however, we will only delve into the specific outcomes of around twelve of them, with and without ray tracing. Subsequently, we will evaluate the average performance and, naturally, the cost per frame data.