Conclusion
During our time with the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6700 XT OC Edition, we tested gaming performance, thermals, overclocking, and power draw in order to get a better idea of where our recommendation would lie. Starting off with the physical, the card is large but rather attractive looking in our view, this is subjective and your mileage may vary here. ASUS maintains its gamer aesthetic here, but in a toned-down manner that looks very understated when juxtaposed with their ROG STRIX lineup of cards. Even then you still get a small section of RGB here for those that may want to indulge in matching the color theme of their case or cables, you get some of that flashy RGB still if you want it.
Performance and Features
When it came to maintaining its specified speeds, ASUS did a great job here as usual with their higher-end product lines. The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6700 XT was able to maintain an average clock speed of 2552 MHz which is 1.5% higher than the specified game clock of 2514 MHz. Its minimum clock speed was 2521 MHz which is 4% higher than the minimum specified clock speed of 2418 MHz.
When it comes to features this card comes with several ASUS implementations such as 0db fan technology, the MaxContact heat spreader, Axial-tech fans alongside a decent 3-year warranty support program. All of those additions do lend to a premium feel from a midrange video card but the price reflects this. Of course, all the AMD-centric features are present, such as CACAO, CAS, Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Chill, and Radeon Image Sharpening. There are also features like AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution which is set to be coming out June 22nd, 2021.
While the video card’s design features are welcome here, the lack of a feature set as rich as the competition may leave some buyers with some regret. To put it simply it’s hard to overstate how compelling features like DLSS, Shadowplay, and RTX Voice are to many interested buyers on the market.
When it comes to game performance, we have a slightly mixed bag here. We saw tremendous rasterization performance with the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6700 XT OC Edition typically leading the pack. Yet when flipping on Ray Tracing features we would often see performance crater. The one outlier being Dirt 5, which is optimized very well but also uses a simple integration and usage of Ray Tracing. So, it’s possible that in future titles games will be more optimized.
Final Points
The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6700 XT OC Edition in game performance is a potent video card, reaching beyond GeForce RTX 3060 Ti levels. It’s only after we enable Ray Tracing that we see its position falter somewhat. If Ray Tracing is important to you, NVIDIA GeForce RTX is where you should be looking anyway.
If you are interested in gaming at 1440p, and you want a little AMD under your step, you won’t be disappointed by the build quality, performance, and look of the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6700 XT OC Edition video card. From ASUS’s 144-hour validation program, MaxContact heat spreader, axial-tech fan design, dual-ball bearing triple fans, all-aluminum shroud industrial design, reinforced frame, metal ventilated backplate, grayscale color scheme, and customizable RGB, this is one appealing video card.