AMD RX 6800 GPU Review vs. RTX 3070: Gaming, Ray Tracing, Thermals, & Smart Access Memory

Our review of the AMD RX 6800 video card compares it vs. the NVIDIA RTX 3070, where the 3070 struggles in rasterization, but pulls way ahead in ray tracing. SAM testing, power, & OC included.

This review includes a lot of benchmarking. The complexity of adding Smart Access Memory (SAM), the variability of RTX or RT features like DLSS, and the differing behavior at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K means we had to balloon the testing matrix to almost impossible levels. Either way, we're now benchmarking the AMD RX 6800 vs. the RTX 3070, joining our existing benchmarks of the RX 6800 XT vs. the RTX 3080 and 3090. Additional testing includes power consumption of the new RDNA GPUs and Ampere GPUs, overclocking performance, thermals, fan RPM response, frequency behavior, and more. This will help you determine the best GPU for your gaming PC in 2020.



TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - AMD RX 6800 vs. RTX 3070
02:29 - RX 6800 GPU Frequency vs. 6800 XT
03:19 - RX 6800 Fan RPM vs. Thermal Response
04:31 - Acoustic Behavior of RX 6800 & 6800 XT
05:24 - Smart Access Memory Benchmarks
06:10 - SAM: Shadow of the Tomb Raider (RX 6800)
07:09 - SAM: Red Dead Redemption 2 (RX 6800)
07:39 - SAM: Total War: Three Kingdoms (RX 6800)
08:30 - SAM: Rainbow Six Siege (RX 6800)
09:31 - SAM: Hitman 2
10:10 - Normal Game Benchmarks - Tomb Raider
12:46 - Total War: Three Kingdoms (4K, 1440p, 1080p)
15:36 - Horizon Zero Dawn (RX 6800 4K, 1440p, 1080p)
16:40 - Hitman 2 RX 6800 vs. RTX 3070 Best GPUs for Gaming
17:34 - Red Dead Redemption 2 GPU Benchmarks
18:27 - RT Games - Tomb Raider RX 6800 vs. RTX 3070
19:51 - RT Games - Control RX 6800 vs. RTX 3070
21:51 - RT Games - Minecraft 6800 vs. RTX 3070
24:13 - Power Consumption - FurMark
24:53 - Power Consumption - TWTK
25:31 - Power - PCIe Slot Draw
26:10 - Overclock Stepping
28:04 - Conclusion

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Editorial, Testing: Steve Burke
Testing: Patrick Lathan
Video: Keegan Gallick, Andrew Coleman

[Personal_Comp]

Every time new GPU line is released, Steve lose a year of his life in a week.

[TheJupiteL]

I just refunded order when he said no Rage Mode. I'm not stupid.

[TheInverseGentleman]

I feel like NVIDIA is going to have marketing issues if they don't introduce some sort of HULK mode to fight for mindspace in this team red RAGE future. Its what I think the modern PC space needs - more pointless marketing terms that mean nothing to confuse issues as much as possible.

[uncivil_engineer]

Steve currently benchmarking how well a brain can do RTRT during REM sleep.

[KontroldKaos]

This lack of sleep is going to make for a good mountain biking video later.

[TheDesperatesearch]

"Being a Techtuber is easy they said, you just talk about products they said."

I don't want to imagine how much work, how many hours/day you guys spend every day. BIG KUDOS for getting us the infos!

[JetskiSlumpt]

Shoutout to the techtubers like gamers nexus and hardware unboxed who put in so much effort every launch. Always have the most trustworthy and reliable data as well. Make sure you're still getting enough you-time man.

[mmcion]

"TLDR: Don't do TLDR, watch the video"
😂 Fair enough.

[Ryzard]

This card is aging incredibly well, especially used, with the power and vram it has. I just grabbed one for a friend at 300 dollars.

[SaturnusDK]

Basically, the card to buy if you're gaming at 1440p and don't care about RT features in general. Close enough to the 3080 to make that look ridiculously priced.

[Juurus]

AMD: *implements RAGEMODE*
Gamers Nexus: "lmao"

[Dant]

"47 FPS average, not a pleasant level of performance to play at"
*cries in 30 FPS*

[highlanderknight]

Started watching this and was thinking, Steve sounds like he might be a little tired or drunk and he's talking slower and somehow I am following it better, then realized my playback speed was set to .75. Ugh.

[kombatres]

I think Steve probably says "stock" more times in this video than the number of cards actually will be in stock ....

[odizzido]

the rage mode isn't there :((( Now we won't get to see those RAGE MODE animations which makes me sad. This is a major problem, AMD.

[macindog]

In australia the 6800 is actually cheaper than the 3070, so it's an incredibly easy choice.

[jonathanellis]

MSRP means nothing at this point in time. I can't imagine that getting any better anytime soon, rabid consumerism has gotten a bit out of hand.

[josephomoyajowo]

A year later, I had the RTX 3070 in my cart for a few days and was doing research on which AIB to choose from, with many of them having a difference of up to $100 between them, then I watched comparison videos between the Rx 6800 Vs Rtx 3070 (and some forums too), after watching so many youtubers and benchmarks, i ordered the RX 6800 tonight. It was about $150-$200 cheaper and beats the 3070 considerable, for someone who doesn't care about RT. The games I play don't support it.

[simpson]

again, the ray tracing results make me sad, but damn those rasterized results look tempting.

[hovant]

'Rage M'ode' feels like marketing ectoplasm left behind by the ghost of Raja Koduri