RDNA2 RX6000 Series Owners Thread, Tests, Mods, BIOS & Tweaks !

What do you use to overclock 6800 xt with? msi ab doesn't seem be working.

 

@SpajdrEX have you heard anything from AMD regarding the apparent driver issue occuring with the 3dMark mesh shader test when mesh shaders aren't on?

 

I'm currently on latest Windows 10 preview + latest vanguard driver and with underclocked/undervolted GPU to 1900/2000Mhz I have

 

it should still be doing more with the mesh shaders off, it looks like its being caught up in the cpu

 

Could be, but I would expect at least some difference between 6800 and 6900XT with Mesh Shaders OFF, something is not right there.

 

I use only Radeon Wattman in addition to MPT for moding GPU power and TDC.
I have my settings saved into a profile.
If for some reason Wattman resets, I can load the settings back.

 

Depends really, the 30 series results don't change all that much either, so those are hitting cpu limits but at a higher framerate.
for what mesh shaders sets out to achieve (dynamic mesh rate and early culling) with the same cpu i expect the 6x00's to be on par with the 30 series.

 

Yo boys just got the 6900 XT Red Devil and it's a MONSTER. Max power is 525 watts on 3x8 pins plus 75 for the pci-e slot. GPU core is set to 420 watts in MPT allowing 105 watts for other components. Results? NUTS. over my reference card, the Red Devil overclocked and watt modded beats it in preliminary benchmarks by 8%, and beats a 3090 in Firestrike Ultra by 18.4%!!!! Flipping nuts.

By the way, the reference 6900 xt was already modded in MPT at 320 watts core alone, max wattage is 375 watts with the 2x8 pins and the pci e slot.

The second image shows my reference GPU score vs the RTX 3090. And the first image shows my Red Devil beating my reference 6900XT that was already maxed out by over 8% and the 3090 by again over 18%. Unfreaking real. And I have yet to dial in the clocks yet. More tinkering will continue!

 

Part One: The Red Devil 6900 XT


Gentlemen: I give you the absolute most bonkers ass Big Navi GPU on the planet. So after a couple of days of testing I have truly done some crazy mad scientist stuff on the Red Devil 6900 XT. First, lets talk about limits. These GPU's tend to fall into a very small window of core clock variance on air. Water? Not sure but even then power is the name of the game in sustained boost clocks and higher benchmarks. Lets talk about power draw. To make the most out of this GPU I would recommend running it with no less than a 1000 watt PSU if you intend to crank these things to the limit. Even in Wattman as I tried to get GPU core power to increase, I had once where the PC shut off due to the limits being reached on the PSU (lol). No fear, as I have done this:





As you can see I set the absolute MAX you can draw off of GPU core leaving 50 watts for additional components for a potential total board power draw of that's right, 525 watts. 3x8 pin power connectors at 150 watts each + 75 watts off of the PCI-E slot. Results? I'll give you a hint. It BEATS the 3090 Strix OC edition! Before I get into that, I also lowered the TDC limit GFX by 5 watts for better junction temp stability. Ironically, the limit you will reach is NOT power. NOT clock speeds (until you get into 2.7 GHZ territory), but junction temps. That's right. This thing gets so freaking hot you can exceed the max junction temp of 110C in Time Spy. I was seeing brief temp spikes of 113C which lead me to the adjustment and a nice comfortable max of 107C for junction temps at 506 watts total board power draw. (FYI I never went over 456 watts of GPU core power draw even in the heaviest of bench tests so there was more overall headroom for other components). Nuts isn't it? It gets much better...

See the magic of 7nm and Big Navi I have learned isn't necessarily higher clocks which we would all assume higher clocks would equal better performance? Not true. Higher sustained stable clocks is what actually matters. The 6900 XT should be an unlocked beast. But I think AMD knew that going into this to trade blows with a stock 3090 at stock wattage was a very good accomplishment. But to slaughter even AIB specialty models? Now that takes something truly crazy.... Hence the Red Devil.

Part Two: Unlimited Power

Let's talk AMD settings:



This is my current overall OC setup in Wattman. For fickle benchmarks like Time Spy, expect to drop the clocks by about 70 mhz for a total max of 2650. Wattman has a horrible way of allowing boost over the max clocks leading to instability, so walking that tight rope requires a lot of trial and error. Also my display settings are totally cranked. Image Sharpening 80%, Textures set to High, AA set to x8 EQ, Tesselation x64, etc. Every visual setting I could max I did. Once you get everything dialed in the results are truly nuts:




Don't ask me how a MSI Gaming X Trio beat a Strix 3090 in Time Spy but okay we'll go with it. But aside from that, our Strix 3090 OC Edition scored 20,465 in Time Spy. Impressive right?



Not so fast. The Red Devil takes the crown by 197 points. Also, this is with SAM enabled and a 5950x. Take that with a grain of salt. But the results are insane. Btw curious what a 6900 XT scores on a custom loop and modified in MPT? https://hardforum.com/threads/6800-6900-overclock-results.2006009/post-1044890700

20,765 in Time Spy per another tester. So as you can see, just that bit of power and thermal limit really is the hard ceiling when pushing these cards. I'd assume that the only way (aside from LN2 of course) to beat that score would be to well put a Red Devil 6900 XT on water. The Red Devils score of 20,662 is nothing to scoff at when a custom water cooled 6900 XT only beats it by 103 points!

As for the reference 3090? We beat it by a healthy 518 points. Here is where crap gets impressive and ties this all together. I've posted prior scores with my maxed out reference 6900 XT modified in MPT to take a max of 375 watts total board power draw. 2x8 Pins and the PCI-E slot. Mind you, this is already a MAXED reference card. The clocks would hit almost 2790 mhz before hard crashes, even sustained clocks of around 2700 mhz. But the limit is always power draw for that little extra squeeze.

Cue the results: 14300 in Fire Strike Ultra. In steps the Red Devil:




A hefty improvement of 1285 points! An uplift of 8.25% over the already modified and maxed reference 6900 XT. How are regular temps? I never saw temps over 78C, and in gaming it's extremely cool. 70C and below, and low 70's in heavy titles such as Cyberpunk.

Conclusion:

Unless you strap one of these bad boys onto a water block, this is the absolute limit you can achieve with Big Navi. The key in their performance is maximum sustained clocks, which this card smashes at 2673+ MHZ even in Cyberpunk 2077, and even in the most brutal of tests like Time Spy. So what is the difference in price versus a 3090 Strix OC Edition?

Retail for one is now $2109 USD on ASUS's website. I paid $1460 MSRP for the Red Devil 6900 XT post tariff hike. Pre tariff if you were lucky to get one is where it's at. However, beating a card that costs $649 more is nothing to scoff at. Tweaked right the Red Devil 6900 XT can outmatch and outperform even the craziest of AIB 3090 models. Overclocked, the 3090 Strix OC only saw an uplift of around 1.9% FPS wise, so again these cards are neck and neck even when pushed to their absolute limits in pure rasterization. If you can get your hands on one and have a beefy enough PSU go hog wild: this thing is an absolute monster. I plan on keeping this GPU and having it be my main until RDNA 3. We'll see what AMD has up their sleeve. Until then? This is the craziest Big Navi GPU you can get.

 

Good stuff @TaraRead , well done and you have a very nice 6900xt. My non-reference 3x8 power pin ASRock 6900xt Phantom Gaming OC would like to say hi to your Red devil with a Timespy Graphics score of 20,894

https://www.3dmark.com/spy/16799332

 

Nice! I'm sure i can do little things, but this thing is about maxed lol. Maybe a stable undervolt. Time Spy is so finnicky to run as well which is why I dropped the boost clock 70 mhz. These 3x8 pin cards are ridiculous lol.

 

MPT works wonders and low temperatures too , you are also correct , the way to go for this monster cards is 3x8 pin as they will pull upwards of 600+watts if you lift the power limits on mpt and using evc2 hardware , only limit is the cooling then. Great stuff and nice post of your Speed Demon Red Devil 6900xt !

Here is a very useful link ( thread of mine ) to a study of tweaks and tricks we did at hwbot , it might help you get higher clocks - https://community.hwbot.org/topic/2...0xt-6800-overclocking-tweaks-tricks-and-mods/

Give it a try and good luck !

 

Dang! Is there a way to get the card to actually pull that much with evc2? Nvm I should have read "hardware" mod lol. The highest I saw was 453 watts for GPU core only in Time Spy using only MPT, but it sounds like you found the craziest hard limit for power.

What would you deem a "safe" limit assuming 3x8 + pci -e for a total of 525 watts? I don't plan on hardware modding my Red Devil, but for just using MPT on air and no hardware mods? I'd call that a win win for my scores. I'd still say a "max" of 475 watts gpu core only for power but wanted your opinion.

I know there is some more headroom, but I can't get the card to pull an actual max wattage of 475 on gpu core due to I'm assuming the hard limits put in place. Gotta watch that junction temp though. Now I understand how you got that Time Spy score : ) crazy man.

 

3x8 pin power connectors = 150x3 = 450w + pcix power 75w = Theorically 525w should be safe even on air cooling , it is up to your cooler if it can handle it , try with an open window for negative temperature cooling if you live in a cold place. i'm on water cooling using a water chiller at -21c for benchmarks , and with added voltage thru hardware mod with Elmor's evc2 and mpt to 1.25v and power limit lift to 750w in mpt and evc2 tricks i saw it pulling over 600+w during Timespy extreme 2nd test is the hardest one so far.

Temps , power limit and voltage those you need to find a good balanced of each one for good gpu clocks scaling. Sometimes clocking this card balls to the walls does not work , instead try a gentle method and work your way up little by little. I can get best scores at 2650/2130Mhz fast timings than going all out and punch 3000/2150Mhz , efficiency goes out the windows once something it's unstable. Key word is stability.

 

Ohhhhh man beat my score again! Look at that! I'm only 159 points off of the custom water cooled 6900 XT. : D

 

WTFFFF I was able to hit 2.8 GHZ in Star Wars Battlefront 2 with a stable undervolt!! Holy crap.

 

Looking forward to trying out the 6800 XT, finally got an order to go through albeit on backorder... hopefully won't be too long now... have a feeling it will outperform my GT 710 ]-)

 

Loving that ultrawide madness and ofc the gpu.