PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review – is it overclocked?

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PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review – is it overclocked?

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How fast is this PowerColor Red Dragon? The PowerColor Radeon RX 6800 lineup consists of three SKUs at this time: Red Devil, Red Dragon, and Fighter. The RX 6800 Red Dragon 2% faster than the RX 6800 reference card at 4K resolution. Performance uplifts compared to older cards are impressive as well, as it is almost twice as fast as the RX 5700 and nearly three times as fast as the RX 590. Get details in PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review.





Pros & Cons

Pros

      • 3 Cooling Fans

      • 16GB of VRAM

      • A good card for higher quality VR gameplay

      • A capable 1440p/4K card on High/Very High settings on gaming

    Cons

        • Card weight is a little bit heavy and long

      Specs – PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

          • Graphics Engine AXRX 6800 XT 16GBD6-3DHR/OC

          • Engine Clock(OC) up to 2065MHz(Game)

          • up to 2310MHz(Boost)

          • Video Memory 16GB GDDR6

          • Stream Processor 4608 Units

          • Memory Interface 256-bit

          • DirectX® Support 12

          • Engine Clock(STD/Silent) up to 2015MHz(Game)

          • up to 2250MHz(Boost)

          • Memory Clock 16.0 Gbps

          • Bus Standard PCIE 4.0

          • Standard Display Connectors 1 x HDMI 2.1 , 3 x DisplayPort 1.4

          • Customized Specifications

          • Product Remark ‘Game Clock’ is the expected GPU clock when running typical gaming applications, set to typical TGP (Total Graphics Power). Actual individual game clock results may vary.

          • ‘Boost Clock’ is the maximum frequency achievable on the GPU running a burstyworkload. Boost clock achievability, frequency, and sustainability will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to:thermal conditions and variation in applications and workloads.

          • AMD Stream Technology Support

          • AMD Eyefinity Technology Support

          • Feature Support

          • OpenGL Support

          • CrossFireX™ Technology support (DirectX® 12/Vulkan™)

          • AMD Hypermemory

          • Maximum Resolution

          • VGA

          • DVI

          • DisplayPort 7680×4320

          • HDMI 7680×4320

          • Power Specs + Board Dimensions

          • Board Dimensions 310mm135mm54 mm

          • Minimum System Power requirement (W) 750W

          • Extension Power Connector Two 8-pin PCI Express Power connectors

        Compare PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

         PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon™ RX 6800 XT Gaming Graphics CardXFX Speedster QICK319 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Black Gaming Graphics Card
        Graphics Card InterfacePCI-EPCI-Express x16
        Graphics CoprocessorAMD FirePro 2270AMD RX 6700 XT
        Graphics Ram Size16 GB12 GB
        Graphics RamGDDR6GDDR6
        Hardware InterfacePCI Express x16PCI Express x16
        Included ComponentsGraphics CardGraphics Card, Driver CD
        Item Dimensions12.2 x 6.06 x 1.38 inches12.72 x 5.2 x 2.01 inches
        Memory Bus Width256 bits192 bits
        Memory Clock Speed16 GHz16 GHz

        PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review

        Design & Ports

        Dimensions of the card are 31 x 13.5 cm, and it weighs 1449 g. The display outputs on the Red Dragon Radeon RX 6800 XT differ from AMD’s reference design and the Red Devil. The latter two provide one HDMI 2.1 port, two DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, and a single USB Type-C port. On the Red Dragon, PowerColor decided to dispose of the USB Type-C port in favor of another DisplayPort 1.4 output, bringing the total to three.

        Frame rates

        The Radeon RX 6800 is the perfect choice for 1440p gaming at well above 60 FPS. It can also be your gateway to 4K gaming. While it’s not fast enough to get 60 FPS in every title at the highest settings, it’s pretty close. If you reduce some detail settings, you should hit 60 FPS easily. 

        Memory

        You get 16 GB of memory using the fastest JEDEC-standard 16 Gbps memory chips across a 256-bit wide memory bus—the same configuration as the RX 6900 XT. This is faster than the 14 Gbps GDDR6 setup on the RTX 3070, and AMD takes things a step further by deploying a fast on-die L3 cache it calls Infinity Cache. This is a 128 MB scratchpad for the GPU that operates at 2 TB/s in concert with the GDDR6 memory.

        Temperature

        There is a dual-BIOS feature on the PowerColor card. You can easily adjust the fan settings to a fan curve that’s less aggressive—31 dBA and 72°C, which is still perfectly fine. I’d recommend you use the quiet BIOS at all times because there’s effectively no difference between 62°C and 72°C, but you’ll notice lower noise levels all the time when gaming. 

        Cooling

        PowerColor’s heatsink uses seven heatpipes and a large copper base that provides cooling for the GPU and memory chips. Thermal pads are installed as additional cooling surfaces to soak up heat from the VRM circuitry.

        Power consumption

        Idle power consumption of the RX 6800 Red Dragon is surprisingly high even though the design isn’t that radically different from the AMD reference. But with 4–6 W, the increase shouldn’t be a deal-breaker. When it comes to gaming, the card is actually quite efficient.

        Overclocking

        While the highest factory overclocks on RX 6800 reach 2190 MHz, the Red Dragon is clocked at 2170 MHz, so slightly lower, at least if you want to believe AMD’s boost clock rating. ASUS RX 6800 STRIX OC last week, which is clocked at 2190 MHz—it ran 2200 MHz on average in our 23-game strong test suite. The Red Dragon actually ran 2217 MHz, 20 MHz higher despite a 20 MHz lower rating. 

        Alternative of PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

        Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

        Specs:

            • VRAM: 8GB GDDR6

            • GPU Power: 200W

            • Recommended PSU: 600W

            • Price: From £370 / $400

          Playing games on max settings at 2560×1440 requires a lot more horsepower than it does at 1920×1080, but Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is currently the card to beat for 60fps speeds on maximum settings. Like all graphics cards at the moment, it’s sold out pretty much everywhere right now, but if you’re looking for flawless, 1440p perfection, this card should definitely be at the top of your list once prices and stock levels start to settle down.

          There’s simply nothing else like it in its price range right now, as AMD are yet to announce their next-gen successor to the RX 5600 XT. We might see a new competitor from AMD before the end of June, but until then, the RTX 3060 Ti is the one to put on your wish list. Not only is it capable of hitting 60fps speeds on max settings in today’s latest games, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but it’s also capable of delivering frame rates upwards of 70-80fps in slightly older blockbusters as well.

          The RTX 3060 Ti also has significantly improved ray tracing performance compared to Nvidia’s previous generation of RTX cards, meaning you can actually play today’s crop of ray tracing games at 1440p instead of having to settle for 1080p. If ray tracing is particularly important to you and you’ve got the budget, you may want to think about the RTX 3070 instead, though, especially if you’ve got a high refresh rate monitor.

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            Abu Saleh Rizvee
            Abu Saleh Rizvee

            I love to write content and contribute for my society. I invest my days in creating content for products those I love and brands who need online presence

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