AMD has highlighted a 30 per cent increase in clock speed for the same power consumption as a key improvement from the RDNA 1 to RDNA 2 architectures. Combined with a large, very fast on-die cache, called Inifinity Cache, this has allowed AMD to increase performance per watt by 54 per cent.
Regarding the performance of the cards, AMD is pitting the RX 6800 XT against the RTX 3080, and its test results showed the two to be very close. The company also claims it provides this performance at a lower power rating, with the 6800 XT consuming 300W compared to the RTX 3080's 320W.
As for the RX 6900 XT, AMD is again bullish about its performance, showing performance figures at 4K resolution that rival the RTX 3090. This time the power saving is even greater as the RX 6900 XT is rated again at 300W while the RTX 3090 is rated at 350W.
Bottom of the initial stack is the RX 6800, which AMD showed comfortably outperforming an RTX 2080 Ti, though here the card is again rated at 300W, so power saving isn't quite such a highlight.
AMD hasn't employed a particularly new or innovative cooler for its cards, in the same vain as Nvidia's Founders Edition RTX 3000 series cards. Here you get a standard triple-fan cooler. Likewise, the cards use standard eight-pin power supply connectors.
Full specs, prices and release dates are as follows:
AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
80 compute units, 2015MHz base clock, 2250MHz boost clock, 128MB infinity cache, 16GB GDDR6, 300W total board power
$999 US (~£769 inc VAT)
Release date: 18th November
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
72 compute units, 2015MHz base clock, 2250MHz boost clock, 128MB infinity cache, 16GB GDDR6, 300W total board power
$649 US (~£499 inc VAT)
Release date: 18th November
AMD Radeon RX 6800
60 compute units, 2015MHz base clock, 2250MHz boost clock, 128MB infinity cache, 16GB GDDR6, 300W total board power
$579 US (~£446 inc VAT)
Release date: 8th December