GPU Clock – Power – Temp
One of the interesting things about a video card, GPU, or architecture is finding out what the actual real-world in-game GPU frequency is while gaming. AMD has a set Game Clock and Boost Clock for the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800. What we need to find out is if the video cards run at this frequency (which one), or under, or even above.
Radeon RX 6800 XT
The Radeon RX 6800 XT has a Game Clock of 2015MHz and the Boost Clock up to 2250MHz. So, let’s see below what it actually runs at while playing a game.
Well, this graph is very interesting isn’t it. The blue line shows us the real-time GPU frequency while playing this game. Note, we tested two different resolutions, and at 4K the frequency was more consistent than 1440p. This graph represents 4K. The green line we have drawn is the quoted Game Clock at 2015MHz, and the white line is the Boost Clock at 2250MHz.
According to this graph, the actual frequency is running closer to the cards Boost Clock, and even above it while gaming. It’s boosting way above the Game Clock. The frequency is around 2250-2290MHz while gaming and even hits a maximum that is around 2300MHz. The average clock speed as shown above is 2265MHz. Wow, 2265MHz, at that frequency it is boosting very high by default, way above the Game Clock already.
Radeon RX 6800
The Radeon RX 6800 has a Game Clock of 1815MHz and a Boost Clock up to 2105MHz. So let’s see below what it actually runs at while playing a game.
Similar to the Radeon RX 6800 XT, the Radeon RX 6800 boosts well over its Game Clock, and even well above the Boost Clock! It’s boosting to around 2175MHz-2215MHz. The average clock speed as shown above is 2196MHz. Again Wow, this is boosting way above the Game Clock and well above the Boost Clock already.
On the one hand, it’s great that the video cards boost so high so we get better performance. On the other hand, the question is will there be enough headroom for Add-in-Board partner video cards for factory overclocks? Will there be a lot of headroom for manual overclocking?
Power and Temp
We have the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 outlined in white. In terms of power draw at the wall, total system power in Wattage, the Radeon RX 6800 XT is more power-efficient than the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition, and even the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FE. But, it’s not a drastic or large difference. It’s a 14-Watt difference between it and the RTX 3080 FE. That’s pretty close, to be honest. Something like an overclock or factory overclock will offset that difference very quickly. So yes, the Radeon RX 6800 XT draws less power technically, but it isn’t a night and day difference, it is rather small in the scheme of things.
The Radeon RX 6800 though, compared to the GeForce RTX 3080 FE is a big difference, but its performance is nowhere close to the RTX 3080 FE. The Radeon RX 6800 draws as much power as the Radeon VII did, which is impressive considering the performance boost over the Radeon VII. This shows a drastic performance per Watt increase for the Radeon RX 6800 when you compare it to the Radeon VII. The Radeon RX 6800 also does draw more power than the GeForce RTX 3070 FE, but it also performs faster.
Temperature is also well managed on the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800. The Radeon RX 6800 XT got up to 75c at its hottest, and Radeon RX 6800 got up to only 70c. The Radeon RX 6800 XT runs cooler than the GeForce RTX 3080 FE. The Radeon RX 6800 runs cooler than pretty much everything on the board here, it runs nearly as much as the Radeon VII on temps.
The fans are also silent on the Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800. We did not hear them at all during full-load testing or gaming. The fan speed on the Radeon RX 6800 XT got up to 44% on automatic, and GPU voltage was 1.150V, GPU Chip Power Draw according to GPUz was 296W.
The fan speed on the Radeon RX 6800 got up to 51% on automatic, and GPU voltage was 1.025V, GPU Chip Power Draw according to GPUz was 213W.