Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7800 XT, 16GB GDDR6, 2x HDMI, 2x DP, lite retail

Schon AMDs Referenzdesign (MBA) der Radeon RX 7800 XT wusste zu überzeugen, doch die Custom-Designs Asus TUF Gaming OC, PowerColor Hellhound, Sapphire Nitro+ und Merc 319 kühlen noch einmal besser und bleiben trotzdem leiser. Welches Modell im Vergleich die beste Vorstellung abliefert, klärt der Test.

The Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+ is the company's flagship card for this release. It comes with all the bells and whistles like adjustable RGB lighting, dual BIOS, a powerful triple-slot, triple-fan cooling solution and a large factory overclock. Compared to AMD reference speeds, the Nitro+ ticks at a gaming clock frequency of 2254 MHz, which is a 6% increase over the 2124 MHz baseline value set by AMD. Averaged over the 25 games in our test suite, at 1440p resolution, this leads to a 4% performance improvement over the AMD reference card—not much, but that's how factory overclocks work these days. Actually, all RX 7800 XT custom designs tested today reach virtually the same performance levels, which can be a good thing, because it really doesn't matter which one you pick, at least when it comes to gaming performance.

Upon examination of the NITRO+, its build quality and specifications are evident. The NITRO+ features an elevated power budget and clock speed, positioning it with a faster performance compared to its contemporaries. Regarding the RX 7800 XT, benchmarking indicates an average performance advantage of 3% for the NITRO+. Both the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT graphics cards are recent introductions specifically for my favourite monitor resolution,the WQHD monitor range. Both cards feature a notable shader count and VRAM buffers when evaluating their specifications. They are strategically positioned between the GeForce 4060 Ti and RTX 4070, aiming to blend performance and cost-effectiveness. The tested 7800 XT I do seem to like a notch better overall, and it's just $50 more, so that would be an easy choice for men. The extra VRAM, wider memory bus and 13%-14% extra performance pretty much make the choice a no-brainer. The 7800 XT series does not present groundbreaking technological advancements but brings incremental improvements in raw performance. What I am saying, here is AMD is still a step behind in Raytracing performance and efficient adaptive supersampling techniques with the help of an AI assist. However, most people still do not care about the latter one and as such crave faster shader performance. And here these graphics cards definitely deliver. Notable features include AV1 compatibility, incorporation of the rDNA3 architecture, and updated monitor connectors, all of which enhance the overall user experience but really might not be compelling enough to switch away from NVIDIA. In terms of performance, the RX 7800 XT closely mirrors its 6800XT/6900 XT predecessors within this competitive market segment. Alternatives might offer distinct benefits, so potential buyers should assess their options carefully.