Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+: Radeon can be quiet too

Table of parameters

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

After the AMD Navi 31 (in the Radeon RX 7900 XT and the XTX) and AMD Navi 33 (Radeon RX 7600) GPUs, now AMD Navi 32 has gotten into practice. That’s through the Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT. The former, the RX 7800 XT, is equipped with everything that it could be, namely four functional MCDs (Memory Cache Die).

In total, the RX 7800 XT has 60 compute units and therefore provides 3840 shaders. Compared to the RX 7900 XT this is more than a third less, but compared to the RX 7600 it’s still almost double. The Radeon RX 7800 XTs are fitted with 16GB of GDDR6 memory and have a 256-bit memory bus width. The Sapphire Nitro+ variant tested is specific in that with 2565 MHz, it exceeds the GPU’s reference boost (2430 MHz) by 135 MHz. As usual, a complete overview of the parameters can be found in the detailed table in Chapter 2.

Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+ in detail

This is the most feature-rich and expensive of the four Sapphire designs. In addition to the “Nitro+” variant, there is also (in order of price and equipment) the “Pure, the “two-fan” “Pulse“ and the basic card with a reference cooler.

The RX 7800 XT Nitro+ is a hefty piece of hardware, weighing in at over 1.6kg. We can note that this is a no-compromise solution from Sapphire, but it always comes with worse compatibility with the computer case or with expansion cards on the motherboard.

In length, this graphics card takes up to 320 mm in the case. With those, it’s still shorter than most alternative GeForces from the RTX 4070 Ti upwards, but it clearly outgrows (and those are the ones it competes with) many RTX 4070s already. And it does so in height (or thickness) as well. On that axis, it’s 61.57mm, with which the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ safely blocks three PCI Express slots underneath.

The fans used are 95 mm in diameter and the shape of their rotor is remarkable. The pronounced curve of the leading edges, the hoop connecting the blade tips (to reduce vibration) and the central kink. This stiffens the blades to some extent, but mainly ensures a more even distribution of the aerodynamic load, which should also increase cooling efficiency to some extent.

On the opposite side is naturally the backplate (metal), which is where Sapphire played around with cooling vents. Not only by cutting a window in the back where the heatsink overhangs the PCB, but also in areas behind the VRM where hot air can escape faster.

External power supply is provided by two 6+2-pins, next to which there is even, perhaps a bit unconventionally, an ARGB connector. The latter is used to connect lighted accessories that can be conveniently synchronized with the LEDs on the graphics card itself. And it is also worth mentioning the three-position switch between the two BIOSes is in the first position, which allows software configuration, or BIOS selection (Primary/Secondary) via the application TriXX. We test with the “Primary” BIOS.

Due to the higher weight (approx. 1608 g) and greater length, the accessories also include a PCI Express slot support bracket and, in addition to it, an extension cable with ARGB connectors, which, as mentioned above, can be connected to the PCB of the graphics card (next to the external power connectors).

Below is a gallery of details of the built-in lighting. Most noticeable is the light-emitting strip on the side that runs the entire length of the graphics card. From the top, on the backplate, the Sapphire text logo is then also symbolically lit.

Note: The article continues in the following chapters.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Gaming tests

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

We chose the test games primarily to ensure 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 own 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 sports games are represented by the most played football game. You can find a list of test games in the library of chapters (9–32), with each game having its own chapter, sometimes even two (chapters) for the best possible clarity, but this has its good reason, which we will share with you in the following text.

Before we start the gaming tests, each graphics card will pass the tests in 3D Mark to warm up to operating temperature. That’s good synthetics to start with.

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.

Computational 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 in photo editing. To get an idea of the performance in the popular Photoshop, we’re using a script in PugetBench, which simulates real work with various filters. Among them are those that use GPU acceleration. A comprehensive benchmark suggesting the performance of raster and vector graphics is then also used in alternative Affinity Photo. In Lightroom, there are remarkable 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).

Update: As of November 18, 2022, we are testing all graphics cards only in Resizable BAR active mode. There are three reasons why we will not continue with measurements without ReBAR.

The main reason is that new motherboards starting with Intel Z790 and AMD X670(E) chipset models already have it enabled, which wasn’t the case before, and the PCIe settings required ReBAR to be enabled manually. So those who don’t turn it off will be running with ReBAR active, which is a good thing from a gaming perspective where it adds performance. This is perhaps to some extent because Intel graphics cards without ReBAR don’t seem to behave correctly, and there will probably be more and more graphics cards that count on it in the future. You already know the number two reason for ReBAR-only tests.

Finally, it is also true that testing all tests twice (with and without ReBAR) with triple repeatability is extremely time consuming. However, it is still true what we have argued many times – a platform with ReBAR is less stable when it comes to measurement results. Over time, some things may change in the debugging process (from driver to driver) and may not “make sense” when compared to each other. So when you see somewhere that in other tests a slower card outperforms a more powerful one in some particular case, remember these words.
The disadvantage of measurements with active ReBAR is, in short, that all comparison tests may not always be perfectly consistent. And it is possible that there will continue to be cases where ReBAR reduces performance rather than adding to it. These are things to be reckoned with when studying results. This applies not only to our tests, but to the tests of all the others who do not retest all the older models in comparison with every new graphics card tested.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

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 Keysight U1231A, 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 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.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

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 clock speed and its temperature.

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 digital 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 it 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 sound frequency response

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.

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 (201–2,000 Hz) and higher (2,001–20,000 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).

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Methodology: temperature tests

We’re also bringing you temperature tests. 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 temperature 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.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Test setup

Note: At the time of testing, graphics drivers are AMD Adrenalin 23.9.2 and the OS Windows 10 Enterprise build is 19043.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

3DMark

For the tests we’re using 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).

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Age of Empires II: DE

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Battlefield V

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Battlefield V with DXR

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

Note: The game also supports DLSS, but as it’s an older title and there are many tests, we will not address it in standard tests. However, measurements on request are possible if you ask for it.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Borderlands 3

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Control

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Control with DXR

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

DXR (native)

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Counter-Strike: GO

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Cyberpunk 2077

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Cyberpunk 2077 with DXR

Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics setting preset Ultra; extra settings Ray Tracing on (Ultra).

DXR

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

DOOM Eternal

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

F1 2020

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

*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, measurements on request are possible if you ask for it.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

FIFA 21

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Forza Horizon 4

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Mafia: DE

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Metro Exodus

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Metro Exodus with DXR

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

DXR (native)

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Disclaimer: We do not use the results from this game to calculate average game performance. This is because updates often change the game’s performance and when they do, we start building the results database from scratch. To check the consistency of the MFS results, we run a test scene with the MSI RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio before testing each new graphics card.

Test platform custom scene (Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Air Traffic: AI, February 14, 9:00) autopilot:from 1000 until hitting the terrain; API DirectX 11, graphics setting preset Ultra; TAA; no extra settings.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Dx12)

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider with DXR

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

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, testing on request is possible if you ask for it.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Total War Saga: Troy

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Wasteland 3

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Overall gaming performance

We calculate the average performance so that each game has an equal weight on the result. You can find out exactly how we arrive at the result in this article.

Výkon za euro

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

SPECviewperf 2020

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

SPECworkstation 3

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed tests

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

LuxMark

Test platform benchmark; API OpenCL; no extra settings.

Blender@Cycles

Test platform render BMW and Classroom; renderer Cycles, 12 tiles; extra settings OpenCL for Radeon graphics cards and CUDA for GeForce. The way most people will use it. OpenCL with GeForce is always slow because path tracing doesn’t support GPU acceleration and is computed by the CPU. Nvidia OptiX is tested separately on supported cards (GeForce RTX) and we put the results in a separate chart.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Blender@Radeon ProRender

Test platform render BMW and Classroom; renderer Radeon ProRender, 1024 samples; no extra settings. Extra settings are OpenCL for Radeon graphics cards and CUDA for GeForce. Nvidia OptiX is tested separately on supported cards (GeForce RTX) and we put the results in a separate chart.

Blender@Eevee

Test platform animation render Ember Forest; renderer Eevee, 350 images; no extra settings, API OpenGL

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Photo editing

Adobe Photoshop: Test platform PugetBench; no extra settings.

Affinity Photo: Test platform built-in benchmark; no extra settings.

Adobe Lightroom: Test platform: custom 1-gigabyte archive of 42 RAW photos (CR2) from a DSLR; no extra settings.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Broadcasting

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

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

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.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

GPU clock speed

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

GPU temperatures

VRAM temperature

Note: If the measured value is missing for a selected graphics card, it means that it cannot be detected by the internal sensor.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Net graphics card power draw

Performance per watt

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Analysis of 12 V branch power supply (higher load)

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Analysis of 12 V branch power supply (lower load)

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Analysis of 3.3 V branch power supply

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Noise level

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

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 (201–2,000 Hz) and high (2,001–20,000 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. If you don’t understand something in the graphs or tables below, you’ll find the answers to all your questions in this article. This explains how to read the measured data below correctly.

*The Sapphire RX 6900 XT Toxic LE is the only tested graphics card whose spectral analysis also includes the sound of the water pump.

We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all.

Conclusion

Speed-wise, the RX 7800 XT is about on par with the RX 6900 XT from last generation for gaming. In a comparison of the Sapphire Nitro+ (RX 7800 XT) and Sapphire Toxic LE (RX 6900 XT) models, the newer of the Radeons has a slight advantage (up to 5%) in the lower resolutions in a cross-section of all games (without ray tracing graphics), but in higher, UHD resolution, it lags behind a little (about 3%). But that’s always with significantly lower power draw and around 32% more efficiency.

A more important comparison than that with outgoing graphics cards is against the GeForce RTX 4070. Radeon’s average non-RT gaming performance is about 5–10% higher, with the fact that the higher the resolution, the more the RX 7800 XT’s lead grows. But this is true in the case of a non-RT setup. With the use of ray tracing, the RTX 4070 already has the upper hand virtually in every case, and it’s just a question of by how much.

In games with undemanding RT graphics, which include Shadow of the Tomb Raider, for example, the difference can be quite small and the frame rate is still comparable, although Radeon lags behind slightly.In the original Metro Exodus, even results are achieved, but only in 2160p. But that’s at a level that in both cases (with both the RX 7800 XT and RTX 4070) is already outside the comfortable limit (with averages of about 42 fps and drops to 27–29 fps). At 1080p, where the RTX 4070 is closer to the 7800 XT with pure rasterization as well, the difference is already 21%. And in the RT-heavy Cyberpunk 2077 for example, it’s as much as 35% to the disadvantage of the RX 7800 XT. In Control it’s around 15% in terms of average fps, but with a significant drop in minimums. Those are roughly 30% larger with the RX 7800 XT. Radeon noticeably lags behind even in Battlefield V. The ray-tracing gaming experience is noticeably better on the RTX 4070. But the RX 7800 XT can be quite a bit more attractive speed-wise where RT graphics aren’t counted on. In terms of pure gaming performance, Radeon RX 7800 XT has a significant edge in titles such asBorderlands 3, Control, Red Dead Redemption 2 or Total War Saga: Troy. In most games, the results are remarkably even, whether it is Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Battlefield V, DOOM Eternal, FIFA (21), F1 2020, Forza Horizon 4, Mafia: DE, Metro Exodus, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Shadow of the Tomb Raider or Wasteland 3.

The clear disadvantage of the RX 7800 XT is always that it has significantly higher power draw. The difference for comparable gaming performance is up to around 100W compared to the RTX 4070. While the efficiency (gaming performance per watt) of the RTX 4070 is top notch, the RX 7800 XT is only average or maybe even below average, judge by the efficiency coefficient yourself. Sure, there’s an improvement over the previous RDNA 2 generation, but the difference behind Ada Lovelace with similar gaming performance is really significant. Even The RTX 4080 is better in that regard, and only the RTX 4090 worse. But that’s a whole other performance class that pushes the limit of Nvidia’s GPUs’ technical capabilities.

In idle (even with multiple monitors or a monitor combining high resolution with a high refresh rate), the Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+ is a lower power card than the Asus RTX 4070. On the web with GPU-accelerated browsing or video playback, the situation is reversed and the RX 7800 XT can draw twice as much power (approx. 40 vs. 20 W).

What about compute performance in a work environment? In CUDA-optimized applications, the RTX 4070 usually has the edge, and for example, in Blender (with the Cycles renderer) the RX 7800 XT with OpenCL only reaches half the speed. After taking into account the possibility of acceleration by tensor cores (under the OptiX API), you can’t compare the Radeon at all anymore, it’s dramatically slower. When both cards are under OpenCL, the results are already closer together and the difference is in the range of single digits of percent, though the RX 7800 XT is usually still the weaker option. Also comparable is GPU acceleration in Photoshop, where for most filters Radeon even takes the initiative and is more nimble. However, the RX 7800 XT isn’t really suited to the alternative Affinity Photo for a change. But then again, it collects plus points under OpenGL (and DirectX) in engineering applications for 3D modelling, such as CATIA, Creo, and on top, though less so, in SolidWorks. It depends on what one works in.

In terms of noise, the Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+ is a super-quiet graphics card for a Radeon in this performance class, and overall it ranks among the quietest we’ve tested in recent years. Even the coils don’t spoil the acoustic performance of the solid cooler too much. They may not be difficult to overhear for demanding users, but it’s nothing terrible, and the tonal peaks are quite low. Quieter operation of the cooler does not mean higher temperatures. They are, on the contrary, quite low and GPU clock speeds are still high. In games under load between 2463–2567 MHz, which is far above the value Sapphire declares for gaming boost (2254 MHz).

Due to the first-class design with the really efficient cooler and with the favourable price/performance ratio, we give the Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+ the editorial award „Smart buy!“. Naturally, given some of the aspects we have already covered in the evaluation, it may not be the right choice for everyone. But those who can live with the weaker RT performance, worse power efficiency and no support for Nvidia DLSS or CUDA at the expense of a lower price will be satisfied. That is, assuming they can fit such a large graphics card into the case and it won’t interfere with anything.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

For cooperation in providing the tested hardware, we would like to give special thanks to the Datacomp e-shop

• Contents
• Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+ in detail
• Table of parameters
• Methodology: performance tests
• Methodology: how we measure power draw
• Methodology: noise and sound measurement
• Methodology: temperature tests
• Test setup
• 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 DXR
• 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 gaming 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 and VRAM temperatures
• Net graphics card power draw and performance per watt
• Analysis of 12 V branch power supply (higher load)
• Analysis of 12 V branch power supply (lower load)
• Analysis of 3.3 V branch power supply
• Noise level
• Frequency response of sound
• Conclusion