Today, we are checking out Asus’ ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC Edition 12GB Gaming graphics card. Yes, it’s the RX 6700 XT! Not (yet) the refresh one. If you have been keeping tabs on the latest news about (AMD) graphics cards, you might have heard or read the news about the upcoming AMD RX 6000 refresh graphics cards. According to reports, AMD will release the RX 6×50 XT refresh cards. But before that, let’s take a look, or refresh ourselves, at how the RX 6700 XT performs. Next week, it will be its successor’s turn. So for now, please continue reading our Asus Strix RX 6700 XT OC review below.
Asus ROG Strix RX 6700 XT O12G Gaming Review
The ROG Strix version is Asus’ top-of-the-line variant of AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 XT. Asus also has the TUF Gaming and Dual graphics card variants of this GPU. Built with all the bells and whistles that Asus can think of slapping onto this graphics card, this is the more premium and fully-featured variant of the RX 6700 XT.
The ROG Strix 6700 XT O12G Gaming comes with a factory overclock settings, which are faster than the clock speeds on reference-based cards. AMD’s reference RX 6700 XT has a game clock speed of 2424MHz and a boost frequency of up to 2581MHz. Meanwhile, the ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC offers a game clock speed of 2548MHz and a boost frequency of up to 2622MHz.
However, if you use OC mode via GPU Tweak, you can squeeze a little bit more. With OC mode, the game clock speed can reach up to 2568 MHz. Yes, not a lot. And I usually just run these graphics cards at their default settings, since they will eventually boost higher when the graphics card runs cooler.
Speaking of the cooler, the ROG Strix RX 6700 XT features a 2.9-slot design to accommodate the huge aluminum fin stack underneath the cooler shroud. The heatsink is cooled by three Axial-tech fans, of which the center fan rotates in the opposite direction. Not only does it rotate in the opposite direction, but the center fan also has 13 blades while the auxiliary fans have 11 blades. Let’s see how cool this card runs later.
More Features of AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card is built on 7nm process technology and AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, designed to deliver the optimal combination of performance and power efficiency. Additional features and capabilities include:
- AMD Infinity Cache – 96MB of last-level data cache on the GPU die provides up to 2.5X higher bandwidth at the same power level as traditional architectures to provide higher gaming performance.
- AMD Smart Access Memory – Unlocks higher performance when pairing AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards with AMD Ryzen 5000 or select Ryzen 3000 Series Desktop Processors and AMD 500-series motherboards. Providing AMD Ryzen processors with access to high-speed GDDR6 graphics memory can deliver a performance uplift of up to 16 percent.
- 12GB High-Speed GDDR6 VRAM – Designed to handle the increasing texture loads and greater visual demands of today’s modern games at higher resolutions and max settings, the new graphics card with 12GB of GDDR6 of memory allows gamers to easily power through today and tomorrow’s demanding AAA titles.
- AMD FidelityFX – Integrated into more than 40 games and counting, AMD FidelityFX is an open-source toolkit of visual enhancement effects for game developers available at AMD GPUOpen. Optimized for AMD Radeon graphics, it includes a robust collection of rasterized lighting, shadow and reflection effects that can be integrated into the latest games with minimal performance overhead.
- DirectX Raytracing (DXR) – AMD RDNA 2 architecture-based graphics cards are optimized to deliver real-time lighting, shadow and reflection realism with DXR, providing a stunning gaming experience. When paired with AMD FidelityFX, developers can combine rasterized and ray-traced effects to provide an ideal balance of image quality and gaming performance.
- AMD Radeon Anti-Lag – Now with support for the DirectX 12 API, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag decreases input-to-display response times, making games more responsive and offering a competitive edge in gameplay.
- AMD Radeon Boost – Now with support for Variable Rate Shading, AMD Radeon Boost delivers up to a 27 percent performance increase during fast-motion gaming scenarios by dynamically reducing image resolution or by varying shading rates for different regions of a frame, increasing framerates and fluidity, and bolstering responsiveness with virtually no perceptual impact on image quality.
Below is a table comparing the specs of the reference RX 6700 XT and the Asus Strix RX 6700 XT OC card.
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Specifications
| Model name | Asus Strix RX 6700 XT | AMD RX 6700 XT |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | AMD Navi 22 | AMD Navi 22 |
| Fab Process | 7nm TSMC | 7nm TSMC |
| Interface | PCIE Gen4 | PCIE Gen4 |
| Compute units | 40 | 40 |
| Ray Accelerators | 40 | 40 |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 |
| Texture Units | 160 | 160 |
| Stream Processors | 2560 | 2560 |
| Base Clock Speed | --- | 2321 MHz |
| Game Clock Speed | up to 2548 MHz | 2424 MHz |
| Boost Clock Speed | up to 2622 MHz | up to 2581 MHz |
| Inifnity Cache | 96MB | 96MB |
| Memory Size | 12GB | 12GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 192-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | up to 384 GB/s | up to 384 GB/s |
| Memory Speed | 16 Gbps (effective) | 16 Gbps (effective) |
| Typical GPU Power | 230 W | 230 W |
| Recommended PSU | 650 W | 650 W |
| Power connectors | 8-pin x 1 | 8-pin x 1 |
For the latest pricing and availability of Asus’ Radeon RX 6700 XT cards, check the links below: (#ad)
ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC is available on Amazon.com here
TUF Gaming RX 6700 XT OC is available on Amazon.com here
Dual Edition RX 6700 XT is available on Amazon.com here
Packaging and Closer Look
The ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC’s packaging is similar to the other ROG Strix’s packaging. You can see a photo of the graphics card at the front of the box and some of its features are highlighted at the back. A glaring red accent can be seen with AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 XT logo. Additional features and minimum system requirements are also printed on the back.
Compared to the previous generation’s design, like the ROG Strix RX 5000 series or the RTX 20 series, I prefer the aesthetics and design of this generation. Asus is using the same ROG Strix design on both its RX 6000 series and RTX 30 series graphics cards. I think it looks and feels more premium with better attention to detail. It has that gamer vibe to it, without being “trying hard” or absurd.
You can see the three Axial-tech fans on the front cooler shroud. Based on my testing and playing with this graphics card, I find the fans to run silently even at full load. Notice that the center fan has more blades, 13 to be exact, and it spins in the opposite direction. At the back, there is a small cut-out near the rear-end side of the graphics card. The backplate is all-metal, including the support bracket (reinforced frame) in between the cooler shroud and the card’s PCB.
Asus is using stainless steel for the card’s I/O bracket. This ensures that the bracket will not rust or corrode in time, unlike in other (cheaper) graphics cards. It has three DisplayPort 1.4a ports and a single HDMI 2.1 port, with support for HDCP 2.3.
The ROG Strix RX 6700 XT requires at least a 650W PSU and draws power from two PCIe 8-pin power connectors. We recommend that you use two individual 8-pin power connectors and not a single 8-pin power connector that splits into two 8-pin connectors. There are also LED indicators on each of the power ports. The LED indicator will turn red if there is no power source connected or if there’s something wrong with the power source.
Near the output ports, on the front-side area, there is a dual BIOS switch. I guess P mode means Performance and Q for Quite. Personally, I just let it run in P mode since it still runs silently even in this mode. Setting it to Q mode may result in a few FPS less due to the fans running less aggressively.
You can install Asus’ GPU Tweak II to force the card to run in OC mode and customize the fan curve/profile further. But I prefer not to install additional bloatware to the system. There are two PWN FanConnect II located at the rear end of the card. It’s hidden underneath the backplate. With this, you can directly connect additional fans directly to the graphics card.
Finally, for those who are wondering what are the numbers engraved on the front cooler shroud. These are coordinates to Asus’ HQ located in Taiwan. Simply look up, Google, the coordinates 25.124839 121.471145 and it will show you the exact location.
Time to see how this graphics card performs.
Test Setup for RX 6700 XT
In testing the Asus ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC, I’m using Intel’s latest platform. I used Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard powered with an Intel Core i7-12700K. The CPU is paired with a 32GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 memory clocked at 5200MHz. Below are the rest of the specifications of the system:
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64bit |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-12700K |
| Motherboard | Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO |
| Memory | Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-5200MHz |
| Graphics Card | Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 6700 XT OC |
| OS Drive | MSI Spatium M470 1TB Gen4 SSD |
| Game Drive | SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 and Extreme Portable SSD V2 |
| Power Supply | Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W |
| Chassis | Thermaltake Core P5 |
The graphics card was tested at 1920×1080 FHD, 2560×1440 WQHD, and 3840×2160 UHD resolutions. For synthetic benchmarks, I used 3DMark’s benchmark suite. I also used the following games to test the graphics card: Cyberpunk 2077, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Gears 5, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Horizon Zero Dawn, Monster Hunter World, Red Dead Redemption 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Division 2, The Witcher 3 and Watch Dogs Legion.
Note: I am using a new system for this review. I previously used an AMD system powered with a Ryzen 7 5800X and DDR4 memory. However, due to time constraints, I haven’t updated and re-tested all the graphics cards yet, except for this one and another. The Core i7-12700K may offer a little bit more FPS compared to the 5800X. But it’s not really a huge difference in general. With that in mind, let’s check out the results below.
ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC Temperature
Below you can see the idle to light load temperature of the graphics card. The card’s fans were not spinning at this point and the temperature is just hovering around 41°C. That’s pretty good for a passively cooled GPU.
Running FurMark for around 15 minutes or more, the card’s temperature settled at around 61°C for the GPU and 72°C for the GPU hotspot. Again, I am using P mode for this review.
I don’t have an accurate sound meter tool, but even at full load, the graphics card was relatively running silent. Even with an open chassis, the fans were almost inaudible.
Asus ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC Benchmarks
Below are the results that I got with 3D Mark’s benchmark suite. On the left-hand side are graphics scores, while on the right-hand side are the average frames per second (FPS).
The Radeon RX 6700 XT has been in the market for more than a year now. So, I already have an idea of how this graphics card performs. As expected, the ROG Strix 6700 XT sits somewhere in between the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 (Ti).
However, when it comes to ray tracing performance, the RX 6700 XT falls behind the RTX 3060 Ti and is just slightly faster than the RTX 3060. I don’t have a big expectation for ray tracing with the RX 6000 series GPUs. It is, after all, AMD’s first attempt. Meanwhile, NVIDIA is a generation ahead since they started ray tracing and DLSS with the RTX 20 series GPUs.
1080p Game Benchmark Results
The Radeon RX 6700 XT is primarily designed for 1440p gaming. According to AMD, the 6700 XT offers “Exceptional 1440p Performance, Stunning Visuals, and Unmatched Gaming Experiences”. It performs exceptionally well on 1920×1080 resolution too. Below are the results:
The ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC graphics card performed competently at 1080p. I don’t see any bottlenecking issues as well due to the lower resolution, unlike with other higher-end GPUs. For example, the RX 6900 XT performed underwhelmingly on some games at 1080p, even the RTX 3080 or RTX 3080 Ti.
1440p Game Benchmark Results
1440p is the target resolution of the Radeon RX 6700 XT. Let’s see how it performs at 2560x1440p. Below are the results:
At 1440p, we see a similar pattern, where the RX 6700 XT performs faster than the RTX 3060 Ti. However, this time, it’s only slightly on par with the RTX 3070 and falls behind the RTX 3070 Ti. Later, in the conclusion part, I will discuss why this matters.
2160p Game Benchmark Results
The Radeon RX 6700 XT isn’t designed for 4K UHD gaming. AMD has the RX 6900 XT for that. But let’s see how it performs at this resolution. Below are the results:
At 3840×2160, the ROG Strix RX 6700 XT performed a bit underwhelming at this resolution. You can still push the frame rates higher by adjusting and lowering the graphics settings and/or with the help of AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution. But generally speaking, I wouldn’t buy an RX 6700 XT for 4K gaming.
Now that we have seen the results, let’s conclude this review.
Pricing and Availability
The Radeon RX 6700 XT has been in the market for over a year now, technically speaking. AMD’s original SRP or SEP for the RX 6700 XT is $479. Unfortunately, due to the silicon shortage, none of the MSRPs for all the graphics cards were followed.
At the time of publishing this review, an RX 6700 XT graphics card retails for around $500 to $700, some even up to $900. But usually, it’s around the $600 to $700 price range. This also depends on the model of the graphics card and the retailer. Asus’ RX 6700 XT cards, currently, play around the $700 to $900 price range. For the latest pricing and availability, kindly follow the links below.
Asus Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics cards’ latest pricing and availability: (#ad)
ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC is available on Amazon.com here
TUF Gaming RX 6700 XT OC is available on Amazon.com here
Dual Edition RX 6700 XT is available on Amazon.com here
Asus ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC Review Conclusion
Let’s talk about the ROG Strix first. I think the Asus ROG Strix series is one of the best-looking and premium graphics cards on the market. I love the design and aesthetics, not to mention it blends well with an Asus ROG motherboard. It features a superb cooling solution, resulting in a silent operation. I think the implementation of the RGB lighting is well-thought and the solid reinforced frame prevents the card from sagging. There’s also a dual BIOS, which I expect on every high-end or premium card. Overall, in my opinion, the ROG Strix graphics card design is one of the best in this generation. The only (real) downside is its (hefty) price tag.
Moving to the RX 6700 XT’s performance, it performs well at 1440p overall and exceptional at 1080p based on our testing. I don’t have any issues when it comes to performance. My concern lies in its current pricing, especially Asus’ RX 6700 XT. At the time of publishing this review, most RX 6700 XT on the market sell for around $600 to $700 USD.
However, the ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC sells for around $800 to $900+, depending on the retailer. I think at this price range, the graphics card is at a disadvantage. Because there are better options at this price range. For example, the Asus ROG Strix RX 3070 Ti currently sells for $899.99 on Amazon here. The RTX 3070 Ti is a better card than the RX 6700 XT, not only in performance but it has several additional features as well. You could even get a better price if it’s the TUF variant or from another brand.
Again, I don’t have any issue with the performance of the RX 6700 XT. It’s a great GPU for 1440p gaming. But it needs to have the right price tag to sell. Another thing to consider is if you care about ray tracing and DLSS. AMD is behind when it comes to ray tracing and upscaling technology. The RTX 30 series GPUs are better when it comes to ray tracing and it has a more mature DLSS implementation.
Overall…
If the Radeon RX 6700 XT sells for around $500++, which is near AMD’s $479 SEP, that would be ideal. The Asus ROG Strix RX 6700 XT is a premium graphics card, so expect a premium price tag. But I am hoping with the release of the RX 6750 XT, the prices of these 6700 XT would come down (hopefully). I’m giving the Asus ROG Strix RX 6700 XT OC Edition a highly recommend award because it’s an excellent performing card, with premium build quality and stunning aesthetics. The only thing that is holding it back, is the high price tag.
As of 7/10/22 the ROG Strix 6700 XT is selling for $480 on Amazon.
I just checked, and the only card close to $480 at Amazon, is the ASUS ROG Strix AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT OC (ship and sold by Amazon).
It must have been sold out fast since the ones left are from a third party and it’s priced higher.
The newer ASUS ROG Strix AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT OC sells for ~$668. Although I would expect more price drops very soon.