Last week, AMD launched their new graphics card, the RX 7900 XT. While AMD has done a great job in creating a high-end graphics card that brings some much-needed competition to the market, there are still several things that need to be addressed to improve it. In this article, we will share some issues that have been reported online.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Problems: Confusing Naming
Before proceeding, we want to address the naming of the RX 7900 XT, which sounds similar to the 7900 XTX. However, these two cards are significantly different, with the RX 7900 XT having more cores, a higher clock speed, a larger memory bus, and more video memory. This can be confusing for less informed consumers, as removing one “X” changes the designation from a higher to lower tier product.
There is a risk that consumers may think they are purchasing very similar products for a hundred dollars less, which is not the case with the RX 7900 XT. Companies like NVIDIA have already faced criticism for their 4086 16GB and 4080 12GB cards, and now AMD is doing something similar. In terms of performance, the RX 7900 XT is approximately 15% slower than the XTX. It is our belief that AMD should consider renaming the product as the 7800 XT or 7900 without a suffix to make it more clear to consumers.
Performance
The pricing of the AMD RX 7900 XT is quite similar to the RX 7900 XTX, but the performance of the two cards does not match. As previously mentioned, there is a significant gap of 15% between the two. Therefore, if you are willing to spend an additional $100, you will get 16% better performance. If you have already made the decision to spend $900 on a GPU, upgrading to the XTX seems like a logical choice.
Upon examination, the Paper XT appears to be a highly powerful graphics card, capable of delivering an exceptional high-refresh rate experience at 1440p resolution. When playing games at 4K with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, such as CS: GO, the AMD FidelityFX super resolution feature adds to the immersive gaming experience. There are also numerous other games that support this feature.
One major concern with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the inconsistency in its performance. According to numerous reports on the internet, while playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare, the card exhibits inconsistent results. Without changing any system settings, updates, or throttling the CPU, the card will sometimes perform better with higher FPS after rebooting the PC, and other times it will perform worse without any apparent reason.
So AMD decided to release Navi31 A0 silicon, which is known to have a non-working shader prefetch HW 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️https://t.co/cQTRKynN0B pic.twitter.com/CIdv6GUcYW
— Kepler (@Kepler_L2) December 14, 2022
The company is aware of this issue and has been working to resolve it. However, no official press statement or updates have been released yet. It is hoped that the card will receive a driver update to improve its performance stability
Coil Whine
Coil whine is typically specific to certain samples or games, or may occur during super high FPS gameplay. However, the RX 7900 XT has consistently exhibited a noticeable amount of coil whine since its launch. Both reviewers and people who have purchased the card have frequently reported similar experiences with both reference and third-party cards.
The RX 7900 XT is capable of delivering excellent performance without going over 50°C and is equipped with a well-designed cooler that is quiet most of the time. However, there have been widespread reports of excessive coil whine, and it is clear that AMD needs to address this issue in future cards.
Power Consumptions
When the RX 7900 XT is connected to multiple monitors, its power consumption increases significantly, going from 92W to 112W. However, when connected to a single monitor, its power consumption is normal. It is hoped that AMD will release a driver update to address this issue.
Supply and Pricing
The availability of the RX 7900 XT appears to be inconsistent, varying by region. It has been difficult to find these cards as they have not been listed on many e-commerce sites. In addition, local stores do not have clear information on stock levels for any Radeon cards at this time. The few stores that have listed the RX 7900 XT have had very limited stock and are selling the cards at a high price.
If you have the option to choose the XTX model, it would likely be a better choice as it has stronger ray tracing performance and is more power efficient. Most of the issues mentioned in this article can be resolved with a simple driver update. However, to truly improve the relative performance of the RX 7900 XT, the price may need to be lowered.
While it may be more difficult to fix the coil whine issue for cards that have already been manufactured and distributed to consumers, it is certainly possible to address it in future batches. The CPU market is highly competitive, and issues like coil whine can make a significant difference in the overall performance and consumer satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to address these issues in order to maintain a competitive edge.
