Fully Unlocked AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Nearly Matches NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 with 3.46 GHz Overclock and 696-Watt Power Draw

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Image: jedi95

An r/AMD poster is claiming to have successfully achieved the highest sustained overclock on an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX by unlocking its power limits, bringing the flagship RDNA 3 graphics card from its reference boost clock of 2,500 MHz to 3,467 MHz. According to a list of 3DMark scores that the poster shared, the overclocked Radeon GPU was able to reach a graphics score of 19,137 in the Time Spy Extreme test, which, as some publications have pointed out, would suggest performance that’s nearly on par with NVIDIA’s own gaming flagship, the GeForce RTX 4090. This test provides a peek at what the Radeon RX 7900 XTX might be capable of delivering if AMD “didn’t handicap it with highly restrictive power limits,” but the power draw, which is listed as being 696 watts, provides some clear insight into why.

From an r/AMD post:

As far as I know, this is the highest sustained overclock on an RX 7900 XTX. I’m using the Asus TUF RX 7900 XTX with the EK Quantum Vector waterblock. I used the Elmor Labs EVC2SE and a small hardware mod to completely eliminate the power limit. The GPU was tested using my water chiller loop with a coolant temp of 10C.

The 7900 XTX is fun to overclock without the limits. RDNA3 is capable of very impressive clockspeeds when power isn’t a limitation. It’s just a shame that AMD didn’t allow more headroom on the power limit slider. The stock cooler on the Asus TUF 7900 XTX is certainly capable of handling a lot more than the 430W limit. It’s basically the same size as the cooler on the RTX 4090 Strix, which has a 600W max power limit without modifications.

From a PC Gamer post:

After the mod, with no more pesky power limits to worry about, the card was able to achieve a peak GPU clock of 3,467MHz, or more importantly, an average of 3,333MHz. Not bad, not bad at all. That meant the card was able to deliver a graphics score of 19,137(opens in new tab) in 3DMark’s Time Spy Extreme test. For reference, my RTX 4090 Founders Edition scores 19,540 in the same test, meaning the unlocked RX 7900 XTX is very nearly a match for Nvidia’s best.

Of course, the RTX 4090 can be overclocked too. What jedi95’s results really show is that AMD could have increased the TDP of the card from its base 355W if it really wanted to.

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Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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