AMD is Pushing hard to be the top choice for GPUs this season. The newly released RX 7700 XT (and its companion, the RX 7800 XT) are hot off the press and ready to take on NVIDIA’s RTX 4060Ti and 4070, respectively. Packed with the latest AMD technology, the Radeon RX 7700 XT is prepared to go toe to toe with the competition and offers a powerhouse for 1440p gamers and enthusiasts alike.
Aesthetic and Build Quality
The XFX Radeon RX 7700 XT footprint is something to behold. Measuring 13.2 inches long, you’ll need to make sure there is lots of clearance in your system when seating the Radeon 7700 XT in the PCIe 4.0 slot. Likewise, with a depth of 2 inches, expect the card to essentially take up two and a half slots on your motherboard.
This, of course, is to accommodate the included 3x 13-blade fans used to cool the Radeon RX 7700 XT. These fans have been designed from the ground up to reduce friction and operate much quieter than previous fan designs. The result is an exceptionally quiet gaming experience.
Along with the aforementioned triple fan design, the Radeon RX 7700 XT also includes a fully vented aluminum backplate to help push heat away from the card. Unlike a traditional solid backplate, the added venting does help reduce overall temperatures during gameplay.
During testing, while running DOOM Eternal, New World and Diablo 4, the GPU never peaked over 60℃. At max settings with ray tracing on (DOOM Eternal) at 1080p, this is a pretty impressive feat. While I’m sure there will be instances, such as rendering 8K video, that you’ll see these numbers go up, the overall cooling of the Radeon RX 7700 XT is more than enough to handle any games that are thrown at it.
As for power consumption, the Radeon RX 7700 XT requires a minimum 700W PSU and pulls 245W of total board power to run. This is a slightly higher requirement than the RTX 4060Ti. Interestingly though, AMD’s Adrenalin software allows you to fine-tune power usage along with many more settings on the GPU (more on this later).
Minimalism is the theme of design with the Radeon RX 7700 XT. While no RGB lighting or fancy esthetics adorn the GPU’s casing, what you will be met with is a sturdy and smart design. The card feels solid to hold, with the fan casings specifically feeling solid and sturdy to support the card. Despite the card’s length, it didn’t seem to sag at all when installed in the system, which is impressive considering its 3.7 lbs weight. This, in part, can be attributed to the solid fan casing as well as the vented aluminum backplate holding it all together.
“…the overall cooling of the Radeon RX 7700 XT is more than enough to handle any games that are thrown at it.”
The design speaks to a focused purpose, and that purpose is longevity. Much like the aforementioned fan design, everything here is built to work over the long term. In a world where GPUs have been a hard commodity to come by, it’s a welcome design choice. It’s simple, sleek and smart.
In regards to getting connected, the Radeon RX 7700 XT also has plenty of inputs for gamers to work with, supporting up to a four-monitor setup. You can expect full support for one HDMI 2.1a monitor as well as three DisplayPort 2.1 with UHBR13.5 (Ultra High Bit Rate) support. In testing, the 7700 XT has no problem supporting four monitors while still easily handling all of the 1440p gaming.
Technical Specifications
Targeting the aforementioned 1440p weight class, this 12GB GDDR6 card boasts 192-bit memory bus speeds and is PCI-e 4.0 ready. This latest mid-range GPU contains a warehouse full of features and functions. Chief among them is the AMD RDNA 3 architecture. This version of AMD RDNA comes equipped with new AI accelerators as well as improved raytracing acceleration to handle the latest games and settings.
With full DisplayPort 2.1 support thanks to the AMD Radiance Display Engine, the 7700 XT boasts some impressive colour depth and accuracy not seen in previous cards. Additionally, with the new 2nd generation AMD Infinity Cache, gamers can expect to find a higher performance boost while still managing power requirements efficiently.
This is accomplished by balancing for an ideal blend of Infinity and L2 Cache afforded by the new Infinity Cache, which in turn allows for a higher data bandwidth passthrough. In the case of the RX 7700 XT, it translates into 1995.3 GB/s of data passthrough.
In real-world applications, it means that at 1440p resolutions, the Radeon RX 7700 XT has no problem pushing games to their limit in regards to quality. The result is a beautifully rendered gaming experience. Even at 4K, many modern titles still looked incredible while maintaining respectable frame rates.
With 12GB of GDDR6 memory on board, the Radeon RX 7700 XT has no problem handling any modern titles thrown its way. Even with new console ports making their way to PC, the RX 7700 XT should have no problem handling them at 1440p and 1080p.
“In real-world applications, it means that at 1440p resolutions, the Radeon RX 7700 XT has no problem pushing games to their limit in regards to quality.”
While there is more to highlight on the Radeon RX 7700 XT, it’s important to take some time to review benchmark results, as this is where the rubber meets the road. All of the major benchmarks were tested on our bench rig using an Intel Core i9 13900K, 32 GB of DDDR4 RAM and NZXT N7 Z690 mainboard, all running off a be quiet! Dark Power 13 PSU.
Performance Benchmarks
The bottom line is that the Radeon RX 7700 XT is an exceptional 1440p card. It comfortably handled any title we threw at it with a few interesting notes. With most titles, the Radeon 7700 XT can easily maintain 60 FPS or more. At 1080p, You’ll be basking in FPS glory as everything runs exceptionally well, often exceeding 100 FPS.
| 1080P Benchmarks | Radeon 7900 XTX | GeForce RTX 4070 | RTX 4060 Ti | RX 7700XT | RX 7800 XT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 155 | 146.52 | 102.21 | 109.62 | 139.81 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 RT | 75 | 59.32 | 42.4 | 30.02 | 40.2 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 247 | 216 | 200 | 138 | 141 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 209 | 148 | 121 | 117 | 137 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | 236 | 145.1 | 121 | 172 | 195 |
Titles such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Shadow of the Tome Raider and even Cyberpunk 2077 performed admirably at 1440p with no issue. The 1080p results, likewise, were a sight to behold. This, of course, is with all the settings cranked up and pushing the games to their limits. Even the 4K results were respectable, considering that the Radeon RX 7700 XT was swinging above its weight class during the tests.
| 1440P Benchmarks | Radeon 7900 XTX | GeForce RTX 4070 | RTX 4060 Ti | RX 7700XT | RX 7800 XT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 128 | 80 | 63.55 | 87.86 | 104 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 RT | 55 | 36.81 | 27.26 | 22.69 | 25.85 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 224 | 162 | 132 | 127 | 132 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 170 | 113 | 89 | 94 | 109 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | 171 | 105.5 | 84 | 132 | 147 |
When compared to the 4060 Ti, the benchmark in-house showed the cards to be neck in neck for performance. However, over on YouTube, the Mark PC channel did a nice comparison video that actually showed the Radeon RX 7700 XT pulling ahead ever so slightly in most cases. The bottom line is that AMD seems to have accomplished its goal of creating a GPU that can take on the RTX 4060 Ti in the Radeon RX 7700 XT.
Ray Tracing Capabilities
Running our tests with ray tracing enabled told a bit of a different story, however. On the bench machine, most titles took a fairly significant FPS hit when running with ray tracing. While some titles are definitely playable, it will be a process of tweaking settings to make this happen. While all the tests on the chart are performed under a controlled environment with consistent hardware, I dropped the Radeon RX 7700 XT in my home rig and started adjusting the GPU’s graphics settings, all handled from AMD’s Adrenalin software.
Interestingly I was able to run DOOM Eternal and Halo Infinite, both of which support ray tracing, exceptionally well. DOOM Eternal at Ultra settings at 1440p easily produced an average of 85 FPS, with 1080p pushing an average of 121 FPS. Likewise, Halo Infinite, with Ultra settings and ray tracing enabled, maintained an average of 116 FPS at 1080p without issue.
The point here is that while the Radeon RX 7700 XT can handle ray tracing in some settings, they still have a bit of a way to go to be on par with NVIDIA However, the gap between the two brands is becoming smaller and smaller, with the Radeon RX 7700 XT really pushing to reduce that gap as a midrange card.
Software Features
On the note of Adjusting graphics settings, AMD’s Adrenalin software further helps push the Radeon RX 7700 XT to the next level in performance. The software is a treasure trove of support for the Radeon 7700 XT. From here, driver updates can easily be managed, assuring that you’re always running the latest updates. Additionally, the Global Graphics page allows for a serious amount of tweaking to the card itself. Three presets are available out of the box, each individual setting fully customizable to fit your needs.
System and performance monitoring are also captured in real-time through Adrenalin. Each game has a summary page to help you further adjust in-game settings to maximize performance. Adrenalin also comes with a built-in game overlay that allows you to display performance information while playing for those refining their game settings.
Built for Content Creators
Additionally, Adrenalin has full support for video capture and streaming built-in. An in-house Scene Editor is also available to help create some impressive overlays for your streaming and capturing setup. While capture and streaming are capped at 60 FPS, the overall quality of the capture is exceptional. A quick capture test using Adrenalin and OBS clearly demonstrated how well the former handles capture.
In regards to streaming, all of the settings and many of the features you’ve come to expect are present in Adrenalin, along with account support for several of the streaming platforms, including Twitch and YouTube. Even a chat window is supported, allowing you to host your streams completely from within Adrenalin. It really is an all-in-one package for content creators.
If OBS is your preferred software for streaming, you’ll find that OBS 29.0 now supports AMD’s RDNA 3 Media Engine AV1 Encoder. This encoder is designed to leverage the full power of the AMD GPU to help produce a much cleaner and richer image for streaming. This new AV1 encoder, when paired with the RX 7000 series GPU, will allow recording up to 8k60 video streams. Additionally, AMD has introduced a host of new features for OBS to help further create the best-looking stream that can be produced.
“Priced at $449.99, the Radeon RX 7700 XT is a card worth considering.”
Furthermore, the Media Engine AV1 Encoder is also available for DaVinci Resolve 18.5 and Adobe Premiere Pro, with more support coming soon. AMD is working hard to make a name for itself in the content creation space, and the Radeon RX 7700 XT is built specifically to help push that goal forward. Overall, the direction that Adrenalin and the AMD Media Engine are moving is exciting.
The Radeon RX 7700 XT is an incredible mid-range card and holds its own against the competition. It offers a host of features and customization and has no problem producing a quality 1440p gaming experience. While ray tracing support is still a bit behind NVIDIA, the ability to adjust settings on the card helps close that gap and the intentional support for content creators both with the new AMD RDNA 3 Media Engine as well as Adrenalin’s built-in content creation suite help offset any shortcomings. Priced at $449.99, the Radeon RX 7700 XT is a card worth considering.
