LABS TEST / GRAPHICS CARDS
T
he Radeon RX 5700 XT represents
the current pinnacle of AMD’s
graphics card line-up, so it seems a
natural place to wrap up our comparison of the
more affordable end of the graphics card
spectrum. If you want greater performance
than this you’ll have to splash out considerably
more and your choices are limited to just three
Nvidia cards. Step up to an RTX 2070 Super
and it will set you back an extra £100 or so,
while the rest of Nvidia’s top-tier cards add
several hundred pounds on top of that.
The one caveat to that opening statement
is the remaining stock of the vanilla RTX 2070.
You can pick those cards up for as little as £350
while stocks last, at least at the time of writing,
and they offer similar performance to the RX
5700 XT but with ray-tracing support. We can’t
guarantee stock will be around for long but if they
are available, they’re a great buy at that price.
But back to the RX 5700 XT and it uses the
fully enabled Navi 10 GPU, with its 40 computeAMD RADEON RX
5700 XT /£349 inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukunits, 2,560 stream processors and 64 ROPs.
It’s also clocked higher than the RX 5700, with
a 1605MHz base clock, 1755MHz game clock
and 1905MHz max boost. In comparison,
the RX 5700 ticks along at 1465MHz base
clock, 1625MHz game clock and 1725MHz
max boost clock, so the XT is roughly 10 per
cent faster at each level. The game clock
is the speed that AMD proposes the card
can realistically sustain during gaming, as
compared with the boost clock, which may
only be achievable in very short bursts.
Based on AMD’s new RDNA architecture,
the RX 5700 XT again shows just how
much progress AMD has made on its latest
graphics cards, even if much of it is down to
its leadership in 7nm manufacturing, while
Nvidia still uses a 12nm process. Regardless,
the RX 5700 XT delivers seriously impressive
performance, topping our charts by a
comfortable margin. On average, it’s 11 per cent
faster than the second-placed card, which
is either the RX 5700 or RTX 2060 Super,
depending on the test. Considering the RX
5700 XT costs around the same as the RTX
2060 Super, that’s a decent lead.
However, the issue of ray-tracing support,
or lack thereof, has bubbled up throughout this
group test, and perhaps where it’s felt most
acutely is at this higher end of the performancecharts. The likes of the RTX 2060 Super and RX
5700 XT have the horsepower to run games that
support ray tracing at playable frame rates, so
the lack of this feature hurts all the more. Again,
though, this is still something of a niche feature
and a personal preference, so it’s not a clear-cut
choice, even if the most anticipated game of the
year – Cyberpunk 2077 – is set to support it.
Also, one final black mark against this
particular reference version of the RX 5700 XT
is that its blower cooler is horrendously noisy
when gaming, so we’d recommend a card
with a different style of cooler instead.Conclusion
Other than dwindling discounted stock of
the RTX 2070, the RX 5700 XT is the clear
pure gaming performance champion for its
price. It comfortably outpaces the RTX 2060
Super while costing the same. However, the
lack of ray tracing is a problem. How big a
problem will depend on the sort of games
you want to play and just how much future
support we get for the feature.SPEC
Graphics processor AMD Radeon RX
5700 XT, 1605MHz base clock, 1755MHz
game clock, 1905MHz max boost clock
Pipeline 40 compute units, 2,560
stream processors, 64 ROPs
Interface PCI-E 4
RT Cores 0
Tensor Cores 0
Memory 8GB GDDR6, 14GHz effective
Memory interface 256-bit
Bandwidth 448GB/sec
Outputs/inputs 3 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2b
Power connections 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pinVERDICT
Powerful, power-frugal and competitively
priced. This is a top-tier graphics card, if ray
tracing isn’t a concern.IBM XT
+ Excellent gaming
performance
+ Surprisingly
power-efficient
+ Competitively pricedSINCLAIR ZX80- Lacks ray tracing
support - Very noisy fan on
AMD cooler
PERFORMANCE
49 / 50RAY TRACING
0 / 10OVERALL SCORE
83 %
EFFICIENCY
7 / 10VALUE
27 / 30c
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LABS TEST / GRAPHICS CARDS
T
heRadeonRX 5700 XTrepresents
thecurrentpinnacleofAMD’s
graphicscardline-up,soit seemsa
naturalplacetowrapupourcomparisonofthe
moreaffordableendofthegraphicscard
spectrum.If youwantgreaterperformance
thanthisyou’llhavetosplashoutconsiderably
moreandyourchoicesarelimitedtojustthree
Nvidiacards.StepuptoanRTX 2070 Super
andit willsetyoubackanextra£100orso,
whiletherestofNvidia’stop-tiercardsadd
severalhundredpoundsontopofthat.
Theonecaveattothatopeningstatement
is theremainingstockofthevanillaRTX2070.
Youcanpickthosecardsupforaslittleas£350
whilestockslast,atleastatthetimeofwriting,
andtheyoffersimilarperformancetotheRX
5700 XTbutwithray-tracingsupport.Wecan’t
guaranteestockwillbearoundforlongbutif they
areavailable,they’rea greatbuyatthatprice.
ButbacktotheRX 5700 XTandit usesthe
fullyenabledNavi 10 GPU,withits 40 compute
AMD RADEON RX
5700 XT/£349inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukunits, 2,560 stream processors and 64 ROPs.
It’s also clocked higher than the RX 5700, with
a 1605MHz base clock, 1755MHz game clock
and 1905MHz max boost. In comparison,
the RX 5700 ticks along at 1465MHz base
clock, 1625MHz game clock and 1725MHz
max boost clock, so the XT is roughly 10 per
cent faster at each level. The game clock
is the speed that AMD proposes the card
can realistically sustain during gaming, as
compared with the boost clock, which may
only be achievable in very short bursts.
Based on AMD’s new RDNA architecture,
the RX 5700 XT again shows just how
much progress AMD has made on its latest
graphics cards, even if much of it is down to
its leadership in 7nm manufacturing, while
Nvidia still uses a 12nm process. Regardless,
the RX 5700 XT delivers seriously impressive
performance, topping our charts by a
comfortable margin. On average, it’s 11 per cent
faster than the second-placed card, which
is either the RX 5700 or RTX 2060 Super,
depending on the test. Considering the RX
5700 XT costs around the same as the RTX
2060 Super, that’s a decent lead.
However, the issue of ray-tracing support,
or lack thereof, has bubbled up throughout this
group test, and perhaps where it’s felt most
acutely is at this higher end of the performancecharts. The likes of the RTX 2060 Super and RX
5700 XT have the horsepower to run games that
support ray tracing at playable frame rates, so
the lack of this feature hurts all the more. Again,
though, this is still something of a niche feature
and a personal preference, so it’s not a clear-cut
choice, even if the most anticipated game of the
year – Cyberpunk 2077 – is set to support it.
Also, one final black mark against this
particular reference version of the RX 5700 XT
is that its blower cooler is horrendously noisy
when gaming, so we’d recommend a card
with a different style of cooler instead.Conclusion
Other than dwindling discounted stock of
the RTX 2070, the RX 5700 XT is the clear
pure gaming performance champion for its
price. It comfortably outpaces the RTX 2060
Super while costing the same. However, the
lack of ray tracing is a problem. How big a
problem will depend on the sort of games
you want to play and just how much future
support we get for the feature.SPEC
Graphics processor AMD Radeon RX
5700 XT, 1605MHz base clock, 1755MHz
game clock, 1905MHz max boost clock
Pipeline 40 compute units, 2,560
stream processors, 64 ROPs
Interface PCI-E 4
RT Cores 0
Tensor Cores 0
Memory 8GB GDDR6, 14GHz effective
Memory interface 256-bit
Bandwidth 448GB/sec
Outputs/inputs 3 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2b
Power connections 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pinVERDICT
Powerful, power-frugal and competitively
priced. This is a top-tier graphics card, if ray
racing isn’t a concern.IBM XT
Excellent gaming
performance
Surprisingly
power-efficient
Competitively priced
SINCLAIR ZX80- Lacks ray tracing
support - Very noisy fan on
AMD cooler
PERFORMANCE
49 / 50RAY TRACING
0 / 10OVERALLSCORE
83 %
EFFICIENCY
7 / 10VALUE
27 / 30p
trcc
uu
sstommPP
CCA
P
PROVED