XFX's Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 Pictured
2.5-wide triple-fan designs seem to become standard with Big Navi.
Since AMD does not want its add-in-board (AIB) partners to publish actual specifications of their custom Radeon RX 6800-series graphics cards (see our Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT review), but it allows select media to do unpacking videos of these products. XFX was not exactly the first company to start teasing its proprietary Big Navi design, but its Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 (an interesting name, isn't it?) is among the first one to be examined by video bloggers, including those at VideoCardz.
In a bid to comply with the 'Big Navi' moniker, the XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 is indeed big. The board comes with a triple-fan, 2.5-wide (which essentially means you need three spare slots to install it) cooling system featuring several heat pipes and a backplate. The middle fan is smaller than the other two, something we have already seen on graphics cards from other makers. In fact, a triple-fan cooling system seems to be a de-factor standard for the Radeon RX 6800-series.
The rather huge cooling system makes the XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 bigger than previous-generation products from XFX, so customers planning to purchase this card should ensure that they have enough space inside their chassis. Meanwhile, the PCB of the board is shorter than the cooling system. Meanwhile, the card has two 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power connectors, just like reference designs.
In the I/O department, the XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 includes two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, one HDMI 2.1, and one USB Type-C connector.
Now that we know what the XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 looks like, we still have to find out the exact clocks of its GPU and memory as well as how much faster this graphics card is when compared to AMD's reference design. The good news is that the wait is almost over as the product is expected to hit the market on November 25, 2020, just several days from now. If you're looking for a Radeon 6000 series card, be sure to check out our story on how and where to buy a Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT.
Meanwhile, the author of the Tech of Tomorrow channel mentioned that the board could cost in the ballpark of $749 (i.e., about $50 more expensive when compared to reference adapters). Whether or not the $50 premium will actually bring significant performance benefits is something that is to be seen, but it definitely buys a very sophisticated cooling system.
Source: Tech of Tomorrow (via VideoCardz)
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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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digitalgriffin Admin said:XFX's Radeon RX 6800 XT is bigger than you thought.
XFX's Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster Merc 319 Pictured : Read more
To me, due to lackluster rt performance and slightly slower 4k the 6800XT should have been $600. Absolutely no more than $625.
The top vent pathway also looks obstructed. $750 is a joke.
Hard fail even if you are desperate for a new card. -
Makaveli RT performance is irrelevant right now until 50% of games on the market have it.Reply
And with both Consoles using it those games will be coming so just need to wait.
I hope you guys review this card I want to see what core and memory clocks will be like for these 3rd party cards. -
2Be_or_Not2Be digitalgriffin said:To me due to lackluster rt performance anf slightly slower 4k the 6800XT should have been $600. Absolutely no more than $625.
The top vent pathway also looks obstructed. $750 is a joke.
Hard fail even if you are desperate for a new card.
Yeah, if you want better RT and 4K performance, go with the 3080. However, if you run 1080/1440p, the 6800XT is great. Not at sure about that $750 price, unless somehow it has significantly better cooling.
For me, the performance gains at 1080/1440p vs the cost of 4K is worth it. I don't want to invest in 4K gaming right now; 1440p is gives me more usable real estate at a low perf hit. I'd have to buy a 32-40" monitor before I could use 4K comfortably, so 1440p works for me on 27"-32" (~92ppi on 32", 109ppi on 27"). Also, not everything handles DPI scaling well. Of course, YMMV, so perhaps your eyes can take 4K on a smaller screen. -
PapaCrazy 319 as in mm? The 300w TDP pushed card sizes out of control this generation. It's bad enough they're encroaching width-wise on other PCI slots, now they're assuming we all have giant cases. I feel like my FT02's 310mm should be more than enough. Not buying a new case just to house an over-sized GPU.Reply -
clsmithj I'm only interested in the reference design at this point.Reply
Sucks that AIB partners are going to overprice Big NAVI when they were more than willing to stay the MSRP pricing last year with Lil Navi.