AMD Radeon RX 6800 test: More affordable “Big Navi”

AMD Radeon RX 6800 in detail

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

After the duel between the RX 6800 XT and RTX 3080, we will focus on a number of cheaper cards in the following graphics card tests. Now it’s going to be the RX 6800, next time the RTX 3070.

Compared to the RX 6800 XT, the RX 6800 has “only” 60 CUs, which is 12 less. From the point of view of shaders, it is minus 768. Compared to the model with the final designation XT, the card is also short for 48 texture mapping units and 32 render output units. However, the GPU still uses the 256-bit bus and fast 16 Gb of GDDR6X memory. The stated TDP (or more precisely TBP – Total Board Power) is 250 W. Those interested in other specs should not skip the second chapter, where a clear table goes into the most detailed specs. More important, of course, are our own findings and measurements, which we will guide you through in this 50-chapter article with hundreds of measurements.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 details

The design of the RX 6800 does not differ much from the RX 6800 XT from the previous test. In two axes (length and depth) this card has the same dimensions, the difference is only in height.

There are also three 80 mm fans with embedded blade ends into a round frame. That rotates together with the rest of the impeller. Such a connection is very popular in recent times and promises higher efficiency, i.e. higher cooling performance at lower noise. This is due to the suppression of the undesired turbulent flow, which should be more laminar, which should (also, for example, due to the higher static pressure) lead to a more efficient flow around the fins. These have larger spacings (1.45 mm) than measured on the heatsinks of most graphics cards.

However, the finned radiator is above the entire surface of the PCB and the absorption surface is thus large here. This is also evidenced by the higher total weight. An equal of 1.4 kg (3 lb) is enough for a two-slot card. To a certain extent, the massive metal cover on the front and back contributes to this. The cooler is basically open only along its length, from the sides. Otherwise, its construction is closed (including the back).

You most probably won’t struggle with the length of the graphics card in the case, with 267 mm it will fit almost everywhere. However, in rare cases, incompatibility may be caused by a slightly greater depth than is usual with reference designs. The side plate with video outputs outgrows the card’s body by 14 mm, which you should pay special attention to with smaller cases, which have a dual-chamber interior with a vertical partition. For example, such as the Riotoro CR1088 or similar Chieftec UK-02B-OP, in which the AMD Radeon RX 6800 would already collide with the side panel.

The connector selection includes two DisplayPorts 1.4a, which are complemented by one HDMI 2.1 and USB-C designed primarily for connecting a VR headset. And for the sake of completeness, it should be added that all four video outputs can be used simultaneously.

You might have noticed that the card has a dual-slot cooler design. This will be appreciated by some for better compatibility with cards in the computer. Although it is worth considering whether to “clog” the fans with the card in the slot immediately below the graphics card. It will definitely not improve the cooling, but if there is no other option… in any case, it will be interesting to see how the reduced cooler profile performs under load. Of course, you can find out from our detailed analyses of noise measurements and sound frequency response.

We have already tested the graphics card with the new Adrenalin 21.2.2 drivers, which, in addition to minor changes, also speed up mesh shaders, which are not yet used in games, but can be tested in the new 3DMark extension. But that’s just out of curiosity, important are practical tests in games, applications and multimedia. You can find such tests with the RX 6800 in the following chapters of the article.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Gaming tests

The largest sample of tests is from games. Given that GeForce and Radeon, i.e. cards primarily intended for gaming use, will mostly be tested, this is quite natural.

We chose the test games primarily considering the balance between the titles better optimized for the GPU of one manufacturer (AMD) or the other one (Nvidia). But we also took into account the popularity of the titles so that you could find your favored results in the charts. Emphasis was also placed on genre diversity. Games such as RTS, FPS, TPS, car racing as well as a flight simulator, traditional RPG and the most played football game. You can find a list of test games in the library of chapters (9–32), each game having its own, sometimes two (chapters) for the best possible clarity, but this is for a good reason, which we will share with you in the following text.

Before we start the game tests, each graphics card will be tested in 3DMark to warm up to the operating temperature. That’s good synthetics for the beginning.

We’re testing performance in games across three resolutions with an aspect ratio of 16:9 – FHD (1920 × 1080 px), QHD (2560 × 1440 px) and UHD (3840 × 2160 px) and always with the highest graphic settings, which can be set the same on all current GeForce and Radeon graphics cards. We turned off proprietary settings for the objectivity of the conclusions, and the settings with ray-tracing graphics are tested separately, as lower class GPUs do not support them. You will find their results in the complementary chapters. In addition to native ray-tracing, also after deploying Nvidia DLSS (2.0) and AMD FidelityFX CAS.

If the game has a built-in benchmark, we use that one (the only exception is Forza Horizon 4, where due to its instability – it used to crash here and there – we drive on our track), in other cases the measurements take place on the games’ own scenes. From those we capture the times of consecutive frames in tables (CSV) via OCAT, which FLAT interprets into intelligible fps speech. Both of these applications are from the workshop of colleagues from the gpureport.cz magazine. In addition to the average frame rate, we also write the minimum in the graphs. That contributes significantly to the overall gaming experience. For the highest possible accuracy, all measurements are repeated three times and the final results form their average value.

Tests with active AMD Smart Access Memory will not be part of the standard methodology yet. Of course, we will focus on SAM, but for better orientation, we will include these tests in a separate article. But we’re doing this just temporarily, until GeForce graphics supports it as well. Then we switch to the opposite model and all cards will be tested with SAM turned on. Until then, however, SAM will be turned off in standard tests, and we will publish the performance increase under its influence separately. No one will be cut short by anything (neither those who have pure AMDs in their cases, nor the owners of Intel platforms) and the clarity of the results will be nicely preserved. Still, putting multiple modes of one card into the same chart (or having 500 charts per article instead of 300) would no longer do any good.

We plan to do one more thing – once a quarter to measure the impact of various updates (drivers, OS, games, BIOS) on performance. This will result in percentage increases or drops in performance that you can work with when studying older tests. It’s a bit of a compromise, but it’s definitely a better option than releasing new tests with out-of-date software. Of course, it would be ideal to test all previous cards before doing every new test, but this is unrealistic. But we believe that you will also appreciate the continuous measurement with one GeForce graphics card and one Radeon and the inclusion of the appropriate coefficient in the criteria of interactive graphs.

Computing tests

Testing the graphics card comprehensively, even in terms of computing power, is more difficult than drawing conclusions from the gaming environment. Just because such tests are usually associated with expensive software that you don’t just buy for the editorial office. On the other hand, we’ve found ways to bring the available computing performance to you. On the one hand, thanks to well-built benchmarks, on the other hand, there are also some freely available and at the same time relevant applications, and thirdly, we have invested something in the paid ones.

The tests begin with ComputeBench, which computes various simulations (including game graphics). Then we move on to the popular SPECviewperf benchmark (2020), which integrates partial operations from popular 2D and 3D applications, including 3Ds max and SolidWorks. Details on this test package can be found at spec.org. From the same team also comes SPECworkstation 3, where GPU acceleration is in the Caffe and Folding@Home tests. You can also find the results of the LuxMark 3.1 3D render in the graphs, and the remarkable GPGPU theoretical test also includes AIDA64 with FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed measurements.

For obvious reasons, 3D rendering makes the largest portion of the tests. This is also the case, for example, in the Blender practical tests (2.91). In addition to Cycles, we will also test the cards in Eevee and radeon ProRender renderers (let AMD have a related test, as most are optimized for Nvidia cards with proprietary CUDA and OptiX frameworks). Of course, an add-on for V-ray would also be interesting, but at the moment the editorial office can’t afford it, we may manage to get a “press” license in time, though, we’ll see. We want to expand application tests in the future. Definitely with some advanced AI testing (we haven’t come up with a reasonable way yet), including noise reduction (there would be some ideas already, but we haven’t incorporated those due to time constraints).

Graphics cards can also be tested well with photo editing. There is already a large number of various filters with GPU acceleration support, but the possibility of convenient repeated measurements is important. This quite well allows blur in Photoshop and in the cheaper Affinity. We implement it on a large photo with a resolution of 62 Mpx, to which we apply a script via Macro Recorder with a high frequency of steps there (250 px) and back (0 px), while recording average fps. In Lightroom, there are notable color corrections (Enhance Details) of raw uncompressed photos. We apply these in batches to a 1 GB archive. All of these tasks can be accelerated by both GeForce and Radeon.

From another perspective, there are decryption tests in Hashcat with a selection of AES, MD5, NTLMv2, SHA1, SHA2-256/512 and WPA-EAPOL-PBKDF2 ciphers. Finally, in the OBS and XSplit broadcast applications, we measure how much the game performance will be reduced while recording. It is no longer provided by shaders, but by coders (AMD VCE and Nvidia NVENC). These tests show how much spare performance each card has for typical online streaming.

There are, of course, more hardware acceleration options, typically for video editing and conversion. However, this is purely in the hands of encoders, which are always the same within one generation of cards from one manufacturer, so there is no point in testing them on every graphics card. It is different across generations and tests of this type will sooner or later appear. Just fine-tuning the metric is left, where the output will always have the same bitrate and pixel match. This is important for objective comparisons, because the encoder of one company/card may be faster in a particular profile with the same settings, but at the expense of the lower quality that another encoder has (but may not have, it’s just an example).

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Methodology: how we measure power draw

We have been tuning the method of measuring power draw for quite a long time and we will also be tuning it for some time. But we already have gimmicks that we can work with happily.

To get the exact value of the total power draw of the graphics card, it is necessary to map the internal power draw on the PCI Express slot and the external one on the additional power supply. For the analysis of the PCIe slot, it was necessary to construct an in-between card on which the power draw measurement takes place. Its basis is resistors calibrated to the exact value (0.1 Ω) and according to the amount of their voltage drop we can calculate the current. We then substitute it into the formula for the corresponding value of the output voltage ~ 12 V and ~ 3.3 V. The voltage drop is so low that it doesn’t make the VRM of the graphics card unstable and the output is still more than 12/3.3 V.

We are also working on a similar device for external power supply. However, significantly higher currents are achieved there, longer cabling and more passages between connectors are necessary, which means that the voltage drop will have to be read on an even smaller resistance of 0.01 Ω, the current state (with 0.1 Ω) is unstable for now. Until we fine-tune it, we will use Prova 15 current clamp for cable measurements, which also measures with good accuracy, they just have a range of up to 30 A. But that is also enough for the OC version of the RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio. If a card is over the range, it is always possible to split the consumption measurement (first into one half and then into the other half of the 12 V conductors).

And why bother with such devices at all when Nvidia has a PCAT power draw analyzer? For complete control over the measurements. While our devices are transparent, the Nvidia’s tool uses the processor that can (but of course does not have to) affect the measurements. After testing the AMD graphics card on the Nvidia’s tool, we probably wouldn’t sleep well.

To read and record measurements, we use a properly calibrated multimeter UNI-T UT71E, which exports samples to XLS. From it we obtain the average value and by substituting into the formula with the exact value of the subcircuit output voltages we obtain the data for the graphs.

We will analyze the line graphs with the waveforms for each part of the power supply separately. Although the 3.3 V value is usually negligible, it needs to be monitored. It is difficult to say what exactly this subcircuit powers, but usually the consumption on it is constant and when it changes only with regard to whether a static or dynamic image is rendered. We measure consumption in two sort of demanding games (F1 2020 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider) and one less demanding one (CS:GO) with the highest graphic details preset and UHD resolution (3840 × 2560 px). Then in 3D rendering in Blender using the Cycles renderer on the famous Classroom scene. However, in addition to high-load tests, it’s important to know your web browser consumption (which, in our case, is accelerated Google Chrome), where we also spend a lot of time when watching videos or browsing the web. The usual average load of this type is represented by the FishIE Tank (HTML5) website with 20 fish and the web video in our power draw tests is represented by a sample with the VP9 codec, data rate of 17.4 mb/s and 60 fps. In contrast, we also test offline video consumption, in VLC player on a 45 HEVC sample (45.7 mb/s, 50 fps). Finally, we also record the power consumption of the graphics card on the desktop of idle Windows 10 with one or two active UHD@60 Hz monitors.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Noise measurement…

Noise, as well as other operating characteristics, which we will focus on, we’re measuring in the same modes as consumption, so that the individual values overlap nicely. In addition to the level of noise produced, we also record the frequency response of the sound, the course of the GPU frequencies and its heating.

In this part of the methodology description, we will present something about the method of noise measurement. We use a Reed R8080 sound level meter, which we continuously calibrate with a calibrated Voltcraft SLC-100 sound level meter. A small addition to the sound level meter is a parabola-shaped collar, which has two functions. Increases the sensitivity to distinguish the sound produced even at very low speeds. It is thus possible to better compare even very quiet cards with the largest possible ratio difference. Otherwise (without this adjustment) it could simply happen that we measured the same noise level across several graphics cards, even though would actually be a little different. This parabolic shield also makes sense because, from the outer convex side (from the back), it reflects all the parasitic sounds that everyone who really aims for accuracy of the measurements struggles with during the test. These are various cracks of the body or objects in the room during normal human activity.

To ensure the same conditions when measuring the noise level (and later also the sound), we use acoustic panels with a foam surface around the bench-wall. This is so that the sound is always reflected to the sound level meter sensor in the same way, regardless of the current situation of the objects in the test room. These panels are from three sides (top, right and left) and their purpose is to soundproof the space in which we measure the noise of graphics cards. Soundproofing means preventing different reflections of sound and oscillations of waves between flat walls. Don’t confuse it with sound-absorbing, we’ve had that solved well in the test lab for a long time.

During the measurements, the sound level meter sensor is always placed on a tripod at the same angle and at the same distance (35 cm) from the PCI Express slot in which the graphics card is installed. Of course, it’s always closer to the card itself, depending on its depth. The indicated reference point and the sensor angles are fixed. In addition to the “aerodynamic noise” of the coolers, we also measure the noise level of whining coils. Then we stop the fans for a moment. And for the sake of completeness, it should be added that during sound measurements, we also switch off the power supply fan as well as the CPU cooler fan. Thus, purely the graphics card is always measured without any distortion by other components.

… and the frequency response of the sound

From the same place, we also measure the frequency of the sound produced. One thing is the noise level (or sound pressure level in decibels) and the other thing is its frequency response, coloration.

According to the data on the noise level, you can quickly find out whether the graphics card is quieter or noisier, or where it is on the scale, but it is still a mix of different frequencies. Thus, it does not say whether the sound produced is more booming (with a lower frequency) or squeaking (with a high frequency). The same 35 dBA can be pleasant but also unpleasant for you under certain circumstances – it depends on each individual how they perceive different frequencies. For this reason, we will also measure the frequency response of the sound graphics card in addition to the noise level, via the TrueRTA application. The results will be interpreted in the form of a spectrograph with a resolution of 1/24 octave and for better comparison with other graphics cards we will include the dominant frequency of lower (20 – 200 Hz), medium (201 – 2000 Hz) and higher (2001 – 20 000 Hz) sound spectrum into standard bar graphs. For measurements, we’re using a calibrated miniDSP UMIK-1 microphone, which accurately copies the position of the sound level meter, but also has a collar, even with the same focal length.

At the end of this chapter, it should be noted that measurements of noise and frequency response of sound will be performed on most cards only in load tests, as out of load and at lower load (including video decoding) operation is usually passive with fans turned off. On the other hand, we must also be prepared for exceptions with active operation in idle or graphics cards with dual BIOS setup, from which the more powerful one never turns off the fans and they run at least at minimum speed. Finally, as with measuring the noise level in one of the tests, we also record the frequency response of whining coils. But don’t expect any dramatic differences here. It will usually be one frequency, and the goal is rather to detect any potential anomalies. The sound of the whining coils is of course variable, depending on the scene, but we always measure in the same scene (in CS:GO@1080p).

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Methodology: heat tests

We will also bring you heat tests, too. You are at HWCooling after all. However, in order to make it sensible at all to monitor temperatures on critical components not only of the graphics card, but anything in the computer, it is important to simulate a real computer case environment with healthy air circulation. The overall behavior of the graphics card as such then follows from this. In many cases, an open bench-table is inappropriate and results can be distorted. Therefore, during all, not only heat tests, but also measurement of consumption or course of graphics core frequencies, we use a wind tunnel with equilibrium flow.

Two Noctua NF-S12A fans are at the inlet and the same number is on the exhaust. When testing various system cooling configurations , this proved to be the most effective solution. The fans are always set to 5 V and the speed corresponds to approx. 550 rpm. The stability of the inlet air is properly controlled during the tests, the temperature being between 21 and 21.3 °C at a humidity of ±40%.

We read the heat from the internal sensors via GPU-Z. This small, single-purpose application also allows you to record samples from sensors in a table. From the table, it is then easy to create line graphs with waveforms or the average value into bar graphs. We will not use the thermal camera very much here, as most graphics cards have a backplate, which makes it impossible to measure the PCB heating. The key for the heating graphs will be the temperature reading by internal sensors, according to which, after all, the GPU frequency control also takes place. It will always be the heating of the graphics core, and if the sensors are also on VRAM and VRM, we will extract these values into the article as well.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Test rig

Note.: At the time of testing, graphics drivers AMD Adrenalin 20.12.2 are used, and the OS Windows 10 Enterprise build is 19042.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

3DMark

For the tests we use 3DMark Professional and the Night Raid (DirectX12) is suitable for comparing weaker GPUs, for more powerful ones there is Fire Strike (DirectX11) and Time Spy (DirectX12).

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Age of Empires II: DE

Test platform benchmark, API DirectX 11; graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12; graphics settings preset Ultra High; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Battlefield V

Test platform custom scene (War stories/Under no flag); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA high; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Battlefield V with DXR

Test platform custom scene (War stories/Under no flag); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA high; extra settings DXR.

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Note: This game also supports DLSS, but considering it is an older title and there are already more than enough tests, we will no longer test this setting. But we can test it if you ask for it.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Borderlands 3

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Control

Test platform custom scene (chapter Polaris); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset High; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Control with DXR

Test platform custom scene (chapter Polaris); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset High; extra settings DXR and DXR.

DXR (native)

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Counter Strike: GO

Test platform benchmark (Dust 2 map tour); API DirectX 9, graphics settings preset High; 4× MSAA; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Cyberpunk 2077

Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Cyberpunk 2077 with FidelityFX CAS

Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; extra settings FidelityFX CAS.

FidelityFX CAS (50 %)

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

DOOM Eternal

Test platform custom scene; API Vulkan, graphics settings preset Ultra Nightmare; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

F1 2020

Test platform benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra High; TAA; extra settings Skidmarks blending off*.

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**on GeForce graphics cards, the Skidmarks blending option is disabled. This option is missing on AMD graphics cards. However, the overall quality of Skidmarks is otherwise set to High on both GeForce and AMD.
Note: The game also supports DLSS 2.0 and FidelityFX for upscaling and sharpening, but due to the relatively low hardware requirements in the native settings, we will not address them in standard tests. However, some measurement on request is possible if you ask for it.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

FIFA 21

Test platform custom scene (Autumn/Fall, Overcast, 9pm, Old Trafford); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Forza Horizon 4

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; 2× MSAA; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Mafia: DE

Test platform custom scene (from the Salieri’s Bar parking lot to the elevated railway gate); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset High; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Metro Exodus

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Extreme; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Metro Exodus with DXR

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; extra settings DXR and DXR.

DXR (native)

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Test platform custom scene (Paris Charles de Gaulle); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)

Test platform custom scene; API Vulkan, graphics settings preset Favor Quality; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Dx12)

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Favor Quality; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Highest; TAA; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider with DXR

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Highest; extra settings DXR.

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Note: This game also supports DLSS and FidelityFX CAS, but since this is an older title and there are more than enough tests, we will not address this setting in standard tests. However, some testing on request is possible if you ask for it.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Total War Saga: Troy

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Ultra; 4× AA, no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Wasteland 3

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Overall game performance

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Výkon za euro

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

CompuBench 2.0 (OpenCL)

Test platform benchmark; API OpenCL; no extra settings.

Game Effects

Advanced Compute

High Quality Computer Generated Imagery and Rendering

Computer Vision

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

SPECviewperf 2020

Test platform benchmark; API OpenGL and DirectX; no extra settings.

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SPECworkstation 3

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed tests

Test platform benchmark; app version 6.32.5600; no extra settings.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

LuxMark

Test platform benchmark; API OpenCL; no extra settings.

Blender@Cycles

Test platform render BMW and Classroom; renderer Cycles, 12 tiles; extra settings OpenCL.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Blender@Radeon ProRender

Test platform render BMW and Classroom; renderer Radeon ProRender, 1024 samples; no extra settings. Extra settings OpenCL.

Blender@Eevee

Test platform animation renderEmber Forest; renderer Eevee, 350 images; extra settings OpenCL.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Photo editing

Adobe Photoshop: Test platform PugetBench; no extra settings.

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Affinity Photo: Test platform default benchmark; no extra settings.

Adobe Lightroom: Test platform custom1-gigabyte archive of 42 raw photos (CR2) from DSLR; no extra settings.

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Broadcasting

OBS Studio and XSplit: Test platform benchmark from F1 2020; extra settings – encoders enabled AMD VCE/Nvidia NVENC (AVC/H.264), output resolution 2560 × 1440 px (60 fps), target bitrate 19,700 kbps.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Password cracking

Test platform Hashcat; no extra settings. You can easily try the tests yourself. Just download the binary and enter the cipher you are interested in using the numeric code on the command line.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

GPU clock speed

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

GPU heating

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Net graphics power draw

Výkon na jednotku wattu

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (higher load)

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (lower load)

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Analysis of 3.3 V subcircuit power supply

The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Noise level

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Frequency response of sound

Measurements are performed in the TrueRTA application, which records sound in a range of 240 frequencies in the recorded range of 20–20,000 Hz. For the possibility of comparison across articles, we export the dominant frequency from the low (20–200 Hz), medium (201–2000 Hz) and high (2001–20,000 Hz) range to standard bar graphs. However, for an even more detailed analysis of the sound expression, it is important to perceive the overall shape of the graph and the intensity of all frequencies/tones.

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The Radeon RX 6800 is the cheapest graphics card equipped with a Navi 21 graphics chip. That is naturally slower in this card than in the RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, but the RX 6800 clearly offers the most attractive price/performance ratio of the three. And the power draw is also not bad, the efficiency is remarkably very decent here, despite the large, partially deactivated core. However, some flaws can be found on the AMD reference card.

Conclusion

In gaming, the RX 6800 is slower than the RX 6800 XT by 15% on averageand RTX 3080 by18%, however, GeForce’s lead will be reduced to some extent by AMD SAM (we will definitely release tests with it later this week). In Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, the RX 6800 beats RTX 3080 in lower FHD and QHD resolutions even without SAM (that is, regardless of the platform, including Intel processors). In UHD, the RX 6800 is already clearly losing. Not only in AC:V, but also for example in Battlefield V, where the significantly cheaper Radeon plays a balanced game with the RTX 3080 only in Full HD resolution. This is of course without ray tracing, with it the difference to the detriment of the RX 6800 is already quite significant across all resolutions.

Mostly (including Cyberpunk), the RX 6800 keeps its position, which in percentage corresponds approximately to the average performance drop (i.e. 10–17%). However, if the RX 6800 performance decrease deviates from the average somewhere, it is Counter-Strike, where it loses by 30–40% against the RX 6800 XT.Therefore, we do not recommend this card for CS:GO. However, there are also such titles for which it is definitely not worth paying extra for the more powerful XT version. The performance difference in a few percent is, for example, in MS Flight Simulátore (in high resolution, we actually measured a hair better performance on the RX 6800), which also applies to hardware-undemanding games such as FIFA 21 or Wasteland 3.

From the point of view of computational tests, the average loss of the RX 6800 to 6800 XT is 20%. However, this is not always the case, in photo editing we’re talking about a few percent. Balanced performance is also in the case of rendering in Eevee in Blender, where the RX 6800 in our charts has a paradoxically 2% lead over the RX 6800 XT. This is due to the use of newer/current drivers that have noted some adjustments in the context of Eevee. Otherwise (with the same drivers) the performance is balanced, in other words the RX 6800 is one percent slower, so one way or another it is a negligible difference and there’s no reason to further discuss it.

The graphics core clock speed, depending on the load, ranges from 2210 to 2276 MHz, in other words, far beyond the guaranteed boost (2105 MHz), which is commendable. The heating of the GPU in a well-cooled case will be up to 66 °C, which is up to 10 degrees Celsius less than the RX 6800 XT with a more massive heatsink. Despite the temperatures on the RX 6800 being always lower, the RX 6800 is always louder. Even in CS:GO, where it delivers significantly lower performance with significantly lower power consumption. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we measured an almost 4-decibel increase.

The RX 6800 is quieter (even just by a hair) only in Blender@Cycles (Classroom). It does not use so much VRAM, which clearly indicates weaker cooling of the GDDR6 memory, which is probably the reason why the fans run at higher speeds. These clearly form a sound component in the spectrum of 1045–1175 Hz, with which they will drown out even louder coils, which, like the reference RX 6800 XT, this card has as well.

In any case, apart from these imperfections like higher noise and ray-tracing graphics performance, at a price of around 700 euros, the RX 6800 has a very attractive price/performance ratio (for which this graphics card earns the editorial award Smart buy!). That is, at least for graphics cards suitable for playing at maximum visual details at higher resolutions. The RX 6800 runs the vast majority of games above 60 fps even in UHD resolution (3840 × 2160 px).

Thank you to Spacebar for providing us with games for our tests

• Contents
• AMD Radeon RX 6800 in detail
• Table of specifications
• Methodology: performance tests
• Methodology: how we measure power draw
• Methodology: noise and sound measurement
• Methodology: heat tests
• Test rig
• 3DMark
• Age of Empires II: DE
• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
• Battlefield V
• Battlefield V with DXR
• Borderlands 3
• Control
• Control with DXR
• Counter Strike: GO
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Cyberpunk 2077 with FidelityFX CAS
• DOOM Eternal
• F1 2020
• FIFA 21
• Forza Horizon 4
• Mafia: DE
• Metro Exodus
• Metro Exodus with DXR
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Dx12)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider with DXR
• Total War Saga: Troy
• Wasteland 3
• Overall game performance and performance per euro
• CompuBench (OpenCL)
• SPECviewperf 2020 and SPECworkstation 3
• FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed tests
• 3D rendering 1/2 (LuxMark and Blender@Cycles)
• 3D rendering 2/2 (Blender@Radeon ProRender and Eevee)
• Photo editing (Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo)
• Broadcasting (OBS and Xsplit)
• Password cracking
• GPU clock speed
• GPU heating
• Net graphics power draw and performance per watt
• Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (higher load)
• Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (lower load)
• Analysis of 3.3 V subcircuit power supply
• Noise level
• Frequency response of sound
• Conclusion