Conclusion
In today’s review, we took a look at the new ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition 12GB GDDR6 video card. The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is ASUS’s Radeon RX 7700 XT entry, with a robust TUF build with exceptional cooling and durability. This enthusiast-focused 1440p video card has a factory overclock, and probably the best cooling we’ve seen so far on a Radeon RX 7700 XT. It matches the same cooling and form factor and size of the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7800 XT OC Edition. Therefore you get that excellent build, also on the Radeon RX 7700 XT.
The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition has a factory overclock of up to 2599MHz Boost Clock and 2276MHz Game Clock, as well as a software OC mode for a one-button stop for an instant overclock, though you can certainly manually overclock it via ASUS GPU Tweak III. The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition has an ASUS estore pricing of $469.99, but check out our pricing widget for the latest pricing online. This puts it at a slight premium, over the reference MSRP, but you do get a lot for that price.
Performance
To put the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition to the test we focused on the 1440p gameplay experience with and without Ray Tracing and Upscaling. In Returnal the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition performed at the top of its game offering a playable experience at 88 FPS. It was 19% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. In Forspoken the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition was again at the top at 73 FPS and 43% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. In The Callisto Protocol, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition offered a playable gameplay experience at 80.6 FPS and was 18% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB.
In Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition smashed the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB at 39% faster and offered 115 FPS gameplay. In Chernobylite Enhanced Edition the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB got a slight edge on the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition by a small 3%. In Dying Light 2 the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition was playable at 104.2 FPS and was 15% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB. In Cyberpunk 2077 the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition was playable at 81.2 FPS and was 289% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB.
The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition held up very well with Ray Tracing enabled at 1440p as well. It was actually on par with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB performance in Returnal with Ray Tracing. In Forspoken, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition beat the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB by 32% with Ray Tracing enabled. We did need to utilize FSR though, to be playable. We also saw that in The Callisto Protocol the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition was 14% faster than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB with Ray Tracing.
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition showed the advantages of Global Illumination Ray Tracing on the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, with a 13% advantage over the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition. However, once we enabled FSR upscaling on the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition the video card was more playable. The same is also true for Dying Light 2, where the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition was playable once we enabled FSR upscaling. Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 was slow on all cards, but even with upscaling still struggled with Ultra Ray Tracing.
Power and Temp Summary
The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is a factory overclocked video card, but even with this fact the overall power demand while gaming remained below the AMD reference spec for maximum board power. This is good news, and shows that the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is not wildly out of control on power. When overclocked, power increases but stays below 300W by quite a bit. The only factor is that you won’t see a relative performance increase to coincide with the power increase. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB video card uses a lot less power, but it is also a lot slower.
In terms of temperatures, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is the coolest running Radeon RX 7700 XT we have tested. It has an incredibly low GPU package temperature, and Hot Spot temperature. What’s more, you do not have to raise the fan speed when overclocking, it’s built so well that it can handle it with no problem and still stay quiet even when overclocked.
Final Points
The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is exactly what ASUS claims, it’s optimized for lower temps and durability. The TUF brand is standing true today, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition had incredibly good GPU temps and maintained that while overclocking. This keeps the overall noise level to a minimum. The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition runs quiet, and fast. ASUS has given it a hefty factory overclock, maximizing the GPU’s performance potential, but does so in a cool and quiet format. We can truly see the TUF DNA in this video card. It follows the same format as the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7800 XT OC Edition we have also reviewed.
In our performance testing, we found that in native rendering the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition beats the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB FE flat out in performance. When using upscaling, FSR can help improve the gameplay experience, but even without FSR at 1440p the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition offered a playable gameplay experience in every game with great performance. When Ray Tracing is used, it’s more of a mixed back, but holds its own and really can beat the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB in performance depending on the game. It is pretty amazing that even with Ray Tracing, it can match or beat the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB at 1440p.
The ASUS estore pricing for the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is at a premium of $469.99, compared to the MSRP for the Radeon RX 7700 XT at $449. However, we feel that this price difference is warranted for what the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is providing out of the box. You are getting a factory overclocked Radeon RX 7700 XT that just really performs really fast, and even has some headroom in it for overclocking. The cooling on the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is incredible, and the noise levels are really low. Compared to the competition, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition is more expensive, but again that price buys you a much better gaming experience at 1440p, even with Ray Tracing.
If you are in the market for a new video card, give our pricing widget a whirl below for the latest pricing online, and check out the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition for your next gaming video card.
