AMD just announced its latest graphics card, the RX 6700 XT. Expanding upon its Radeon RX 6000-series, this GPU sits firmly in the 1440p gaming range, while the initial trio was geared toward higher-fidelity with 4K in mind. Featuring 12GB of GDDR6 memory, 40 “powerful enhanced” Computer Units, and standardized power connections, this could be the graphics card for the masses…if AMD can keep up with production.
Geared toward 1440p gaming, the RX 6700 XT could rule the roost in both price and features
The Radeon RX 6700 XT is AMD’s latest launch for graphics cards, further expanding its RX 6000-series lineup of GPUs. Slated for a March 18 release at $479, it’s also the most budget-focused in AMD’s lineup, though the $329 RTX 3060 and slightly higher-priced $499 RTX 3070 give it a good run for its money. AMD really looks to be taking on NVIDIA’s mid-tier card, the RTX 3060 Ti this time around, however, which comes in at $399, a full $80 below the RX 6700 XT.
Where AMD’s card shines is in that it provides 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, which is pretty high when compared to the likes of the 3070, coming in at only 8GB, which AMD promptly pointed out in its presentation isn’t enough for some of the latest AAA titles.
Ray tracing is fully supported out of the box with enough power to run the latest titles at high framerates
AMD didn’t want to let ray tracing slip through the cracks here, fully supporting it out of the box on the RX 6700 XT. You’ll find that it’ll handle anything you throw at it, for the most part.
That’s not where the RX 6700 XT stops shining, though. Being a 1440p-geared GPU, AMD gave us a taste as to what we can expect for performance from this card. Playing on a 1440p 165Hz monitor, AMD was able to achieve 438 FPS in CS:GO, 360FPS in Rainbow Six Seige, 452FPS in Valorant, 272FPS in League of Legends, 212 FPS in Overwatch, and even 180FPS in Hyper Scape. This is pretty beastly for a card in this price point and could add some extra competition to NVIDIA on the lower-end of things.
Production and supply are key here
The biggest question here is: can AMD keep up with production this time around. We all know about the supply shortage with graphics cards currently on the market, and sadly, I don’t think the RX 6700 XT will be the exception here. AMD will have to work hard to fight scalpers and bots to get these cards into the hands of gamers, but can they do it right this time?
Ryzen 3000-series CPUs gain Smart Access Memory
A feature announced during the original RX 6000-series release was Smart Access Memory, where your GPU and system would share RAM in times of need. That was a feature limited to Ryzen 5000-series CPUs, until today. AMD wanted to ensure that more people than ever could have access to this game-changing feature and is releasing it as an update to Ryzen 3000-series processors. So, if you haven’t been able to score the latest-and-greatest from AMD yet, this will be a great update for you.
Pricing and availability
As mentioned above, the AMD RX 6700 XT will retail for $479 and be available on March 18.
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