AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT desktop GPU in review: AMD’s top model challenges the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti

Following Nvidia’s unveiling of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti , it was only a matter of time before AMD followed suit and gave its current top model, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT , a refresh. And in May 2022, AMD presented the new flagship model based on RDNA2 in the form of the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT. The general specifications of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT have remained largely intact, and only minor improvements are intended to put the competition under pressure again.

We received a corresponding model of the graphics card from our board partner Sapphire. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure offers even more performance improvements. With a higher chip clock rate and faster VRAM, the older top model is slightly outperformed.

However, power consumption has also increased to 335 watts. This makes the AMD model even more frugal than the competition from Nvidia. But we’ll find out later if performance is suitable as well.

There’s a fundamental difference between our review card from Sapphire and AMD’s reference design. The custom design, including the powerful cooling system, works very well to keep temperatures in check. A whole 3.

5 slots are taken up by the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure. It’ clear that this card won’t fit into every case. You should definitely take a look at compatibility before buying.

With a length of 32 centimeters, the card isn’t much longer than other high-end models. The bulky card doesn’t draw negative attention in terms of weight, either. We expected a considerably higher weight due to the size.

Our scale ultimately displays a value of just under 1. 6 kilograms. The reason for this is the choice of high-quality materials like magnesium, which is very light.

This is used for the cooler, and it also looks more premium than simple plastic. An optional graphics card holder is still included to stabilize the graphics card in the slot. There are no surprises regarding the available ports.

These include 3x DisplayPort and 1x HDMI, which can be seen as standard in this performance class nowadays. For the power supply, the triple-slot graphics card requires two 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector. A modern AMD platform based on the Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi serves as test system.

The CPU ( AMD Ryzen 9 5900X ) provides good CPU performance, and we use an AiO solution (Alphacool Aurora 360) for cooling. The 32 GB of RAM comes from G. Skill, and it was also provided to us as well as the AiO.

We use the Gigabyte M32UC as monitor. It doesn’t limit us thanks to its UHD suitability. Quick overview of our test system: All performance tests are performed with our GPU test system.

There’s a particularity with the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure in that two different BIOS versions can be used. All tests were performed with the OC BIOS mode in order to show the graphics card’s best possible performance. As a result, the GPU reaches a maximum clock speed of 2,435 MHz when boosted, something we were able to observe repeatedly during our tests.

The standard BIOS only provides 2,368 MHz during boost. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure really puts Nvidia under pressure, as you can see in the synthetic benchmarks. It often takes first place, even though the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT is behind the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB at times, depending on the test.

Overall, though, the results aren’t entirely sufficient to push the AMD GPU ahead of Nvidia in the performance rating. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti delivers about 6% better performance here. The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT can be outperformed by about 11%.

The same applies to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 with 12 GB of VRAM. There is no doubt that the gaming performance of the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure is very good. However, the fastest AMD card also ranks behind Nvidia’s flagship here.

Nevertheless, the gap of only about 9% in the games that were compared is relatively small. In relation to the older AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT , the newer model can also distance itself by 9%. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure also does very well when it comes to frame rates; as always, we use The Witcher 3 (Ultra Preset) to measure this.

Frame rates remain stable over a period of one hour, so nothing prevents long gaming sessions. Our review sample is capable of unlimited 4K gaming, even though games like Anno 1800 or the new F1 2022 really bring the graphics card to its knees. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure’s compute performance is at a very good level due to the RDNA 2 architecture.

It can beat the in-house competition. Nonetheless, Nvidia often pulls ahead. Once again, it always depends on the rendered scene, because AMD is at the lead at times, while Nvidia benefits from it at others.

In the end, it has to be said that the performance provided by consumer graphics cards is good, even though professional cards can deliver much better rates due to their driver customizations. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure shows a performance increase of almost 10% compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT. However, the power consumption of the high-end model increases by a good 20%, surpassing even the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, which we also reviewed.

This means that the AMD card needs more energy despite its lower TGP compared to the Nvidia card. In numbers, this means that an average of 589 watts is consumed during gaming. It’s necessary for this high power consumption to be dissipated well.

So it quickly becomes clear why Sapphire has developed this huge cooling system. The massive 3. 5-slot cooler with its three axial fans is able to control the temperatures well during the stress test.

Nevertheless, we register a maximum GPU hotspot temperature (a part of the GPU chip) of 94 °C (~201 °F), which still isn’t critical. On the other hand, the GPU chip temperature is 68 °C (~154 °F) during the load test. Most of the time, the TGP limit of 325 watts is completely utilized, so you can count on the graphics card’s full performance here as well.

We recommend using a good case with a lot of airflow for optimal cooling, so that enough fresh air can be drawn into the case. The noise level of the three fans is kept within limits, even though they become noticeable with a quiet hissing under load. However, they can be heard through a closed case.

Just under 3,000 revolutions are reached during the stress test. If you push the power target even further and increase it by 20%, you’ll certainly get a bit more performance, but also a much hotter and louder graphics card. In our opinion, the small performance increase achieved due to the higher power consumption is not recommendable.

To avoid leaving the high-end graphics card segment to Nvidia without a fight again, AMD had to follow suit after the release of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti . The deficit of the fastest AMD GPU to that date would have been too big to exert pressure on Nvidia. Nevertheless, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT isn’t a completely updated graphics card, which means that the old RDNA 2 architecture is still used.

More significant upgrades are to be expected with the RDNA 3 graphics cards, aka the RX 7000. Nevertheless, AMD succeeds in catching up with Nvidia thanks to slightly higher clock rates, but also with higher power consumption. However, it doesn’t manage to outperform its contender.

As a result, it has to settle for second place, but this is acceptable considering the small gap. There’s no doubt that the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure is one of the fastest graphics cards currently available for the consumer market. With 16 GB of VRAM, you get a bit more than with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 , but also considerably less than what an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti offers.

Both flagship models from Nvidia and AMD are currently on par. This is no easy position for the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure. This means that Nvidia is currently the clear price-performance winner.

But this won’t deter loyal AMD fans from getting the high-end model. In addition, there’s competition coming from their own ranks, because the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6900 XT SE costs almost 500 Euros (~$509) less while offering almost the same performance. Ultimately, each user has to answer the question whether the fastest GPU model is always necessary or not.

The information presented here allows you to form your own opinion. The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6950 XT Pure is available on Amazon and newegg for around $1,100. .