Man alive, I used to be a bit apprehensive about AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 XT for a minute there. Not from a pricing perspective, you perceive. Even earlier than AMD did their sudden Navi price cut on Friday, I used to be at all times semi-confident that this supposed RTX 2070 rival would have the ability to maintain its personal towards Nvidia’s RTX Super competitor just by advantage of already being a tiny bit cheaper. Then when AMD introduced their new Navi GPU would abruptly value £380 / $399 as a substitute of $449, I used to be flabbergasted. What a triumph, I assumed to myself. This will go down because the comeback to finish all comebacks.
But then my PC began crashing half means by my benchmarks. At first I put it all the way down to the ludicrous summer season warmth. It does, in spite of everything, get fairly toasty in my workplace. But then it stored crashing, and crashing once more, and after I checked out MSI Afterburner’s temperature readings, my abdomen did a horrible type of flip-flop. 94 levels, it mentioned. No surprise it was throwing its palms up and turning itself off. My coronary heart sank. Had AMD gone and shot themselves within the foot in spite of everything? What a horrible disgrace! Honestly, the subtitle of this assessment was virtually going to be ‘Too hot to handle’. But then AMD launched a brand new driver yesterday morning and all the things was proper with the world once more. Phew! Talk a couple of final minute save.
Since yesterday, then, I’ve been furiously retesting the RX 5700 XT to ensure all the things’s wonderful and dandy. And up to now, it appears as if AMD’s new driver has certainly fastened that terrible temperature drawback. It nonetheless runs between a fairly toasty 75-80 levels lots of the time, rising to a peak of 87 levels sometimes, however at no level have I seen it stray over that dreaded 90 mark. Thank the best graphics card gods.
I’m not kidding – I didn’t initially pay a lot consideration to its design after I first put it in my PC, and after I opened it up once more in spite of everything these crashes I initially thought that the bizarre dip in its thermal shroud was the place it had legit melted from operating at such loopy excessive temperatures. Thankfully, after a frantic checking of AMD’s E3 livestream I realised that, no, it hadn’t melted, it was simply at all times like that. Cue wiping an immense quantity of sweat off my forehead.
Either means, it in all probability goes with out saying that the RX 5700 XT and I didn’t get off to the best of begins. Now, although, I assume all the things’s wonderful – which is simply as properly, actually, contemplating this $399 graphics card successfully goes toe to toe with Nvidia’s equally priced RTX 2060 Super GPU whereas additionally taking up the common RTX 2070. It’s not fairly an RTX 2070 Super killer sadly, however if you happen to’re after a stonking 1440p card that may additionally do some little bit of 4K whereas giving Nvidia’s lot a run for his or her cash, then the RX 5700 XT does that in spades.
I gained’t waste time yammering on about its 1080p efficiency. In quick, it could possibly do all the things at 60fps+ on max settings at this decision, with lots of games going even increased than that, providing you with a minimal of not less than 70fps and even 80fps relying on the title. I’ll be doing extra detailed comparability graphs within the coming week, however evidently, this card can run games at 1080p completely wonderful.
Instead, you’re more likely to be contemplating the RX 5700 XT as a card for enjoying games at 1440p and above – very similar to its non-XT Radeon RX 5700 cousin. Again, I’ll be placing each RX playing cards towards one another in a separate piece over the subsequent couple of days, however at present I wish to give attention to how the 5700 XT stacks up towards its Nvidia rivals – mainly, the RTX 2060 Super, which at present prices precisely the identical sum of money because the RX 5700 XT, and the RTX 2070, which is $100 extra.
In some ways, the RX 5700 XT is simply an ever so barely extra highly effective model of its non-XT sibling. It’s nonetheless received 8GB of GDDR6 reminiscence, for instance – the identical as Nvidia’s two playing cards, however its base clock velocity’s been bumped from 1465MHz as much as 1605MHz. It additionally has the next ‘game clock’ of 1755MHz (the velocity AMD say you’re extra more likely to see when enjoying games), in addition to a sooner max increase clock of 1905MHz (up from 1725MHz). It’s additionally received 4 extra compute models than the common RX 5700, giving it a bit extra oomph in the case of hitting these beautiful excessive body charges.
At 1440p, then, it’s just about neck and neck with the RTX 2060 Super, posting similar common speeds in Total War: Three Kingdoms (50fps on Ultra), Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (54fps on Ultra High), Final Fantasy XV (59fps on Highest with all the flowery Nvidia results turned off) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (52fps on Highest with its prime SMAA x4 anti-aliasing enabled).
The different half of my testing outcomes, nevertheless, was way more carefully aligned with the common RTX 2070, displaying the RX 5700 XT pushing previous the RTX 2060 Super to face shoulder to shoulder with the quite nippy Zotac GeForce RTX 2070 Amp Extreme card I received in to check towards the RTX 2070 Super.
In Monster Hunter: World, for instance, the RX 5700 XT managed a easy vary of 53-66fps on Highest after I was rummaging by the Ancient Forest on the lookout for new dinosaur hats, which is definitely a fraction sooner than what Zotac’s RTX 2070 managed on the identical settings (51-63fps) and solely a smidge behind the RTX 2070 Super (56-68fps).
The RX 5700 XT additionally edged forward of the RTX 2070 in Metro Exodus, averaging 56fps on Ultra in its robust devoted benchmarking instrument, which as soon as once more places it on an equal footing with Nvidia’s RTX 2070 Super card. The Zotac, in the meantime, solely managed 53fps, whereas the RTX 2060 Super was all the best way down at 49fps. The RX 5700 XT was streets forward of all three Nvidia GPUs in Forza Horizon 4, too, averaging 125fps on Ultra in comparison with the RTX 2070’s 100fps common, and even the RTX 2070 Super’s rating of 112fps.
As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t say the RX 5700 XT is an out and out RTX 2070 Super killer, as there are nonetheless one too many situations the place it’s merely no higher than Nvidia’s RTX 2060 Super card. However, there are sufficient glimpses of RTX 2070 Super brilliance right here to place it in critical competitors with Nvidia’s center tier Super GPU – which for $100 much less is fairly darn spectacular.
At 4K, the RX 5700 XT will get much more up within the RTX 2070 and RTX 2070 Super’s grill. It’s probably not able to enjoying games easily on something greater than Medium settings at this decision, however as an entry-level 4K card, it’s nonetheless a fairly engaging prospect. In Monster Hunter World, for instance, the RX 5700 XT managed a really playable vary of 43-50fps on Mid at this decision, nestling proper in between the RTX 2070’s rating of 38-50fps and the Super’s 46-53fps.
The identical goes for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. On High with its fundamental SMAA anti-aliasing enabled, the RX 5700 XT produced a easy 51-57fps as I wandered by the busy Dead of the Day competition in Cozumel’s city sq., nudging it simply in entrance of the RTX 2070’s 49-55fps and simply behind the Super’s 54-59fps. And after all, it’s nonetheless miles in entrance in Forza Horizon Four as properly, averaging 81fps on Ultra in comparison with the RTX 2070’s 69fps common, and it even pips the RTX 2070 Super to the submit as properly, which averaged 79fps.
Alas, it as soon as once more fell again all the way down to extra RTX 2060 Super ranges of energy in the remainder of my 4K benchmarking outcomes, coming in with similar averages in Total War: Three Kingdoms (50fps on Medium), Final Fantasy XV (43fps on Average) and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (56fps on Medium). The solely game the place it was really worse than the RTX 2060 Super was Metro Exodus, averaging a mere 33fps on Medium in contrast with the Super’s 43fps.
Two nice graphics playing cards with two very noisy blower followers…
Ultimately, although, you’re nonetheless one thing that’s a bit extra highly effective than the RTX 2060 Super right here, which, if you happen to’re not faffed about all this actual time ray tracing malarkey, is fairly compelling for a similar sum of money. It’s additionally an effective way of getting sometimes RTX 2070 tier efficiency on a budget, too.
However, as I mentioned in my RX 5700 review, I do have issues about this explicit model’s noise ranges. Compared to the RTX 2060 Super, it’s like apples and oranges. One appears like a rocket’s about to take off. The different is nearly silent. Plus, the RX 5700 XT nonetheless runs fairly sizzling in comparison with its Nvidia rival (about ten levels increased, give or take), even after AMD’s newest driver replace.
Of course, that is solely AMD’s model of the RX 5700 XT, and there’ll virtually definitely be extra third celebration playing cards obtainable quickly with a lot better cooling choices which might be (hopefully) a heck of loads quieter, too. I’ll do my finest to get not less than considered one of these in for testing once they’re obtainable to see in the event that they’re any higher on this division, however for now my recommendation is to attend.
Noise quibbles apart, although, AMD could be very a lot again within the game right here – particularly with that unimaginable value lower. If it had stayed at $449, it virtually definitely would have pale into irrelevance. Sitting proper subsequent to the RTX 2060 Super at £380 / $399, although? Genius. Personally, I feel you’d in all probability nonetheless be completely pleased with the common RX 5700 if all you’re after is a best graphics card tier GPU for enjoying games at 1440p (particularly if you happen to solely have an everyday 60Hz monitor), however if you happen to’ve received the finances and wish one thing that may nudge itself up into the 4K bracket as properly, then the RX 5700 XT is nearly definitely the cardboard to go for if you happen to’ve determined to offer ray tracing a miss this technology.
