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[Leonidas]

Scott Herkelman Q&A: AMD Radeon boss answers your burning RX 7800 XT questions | Club386

Ever wondered why there's no reference 7700 XT, or the reason AMD shunned the 12VHPWR connector? We have answers from Radeon's head honcho.

www.club386.com

Club386: Radeon RX 6000 Series was launched with a top, middle, bottom strategy. Radeon RX 7000 Series has taken a good while to reach the critical middle segment, why change the strategy for this generation?

SH: These products were planned two to three years out, right around the time we launched RDNA 2, and we then set the schedule of taping out certain future products. If we could do it all over again, I’d love to have a different priority.

Club386: Many felt the price difference between 7900 XTX and 7900 XT was too close. The $50 gap between 7800 XT and 7700 XT is even tighter, giving partners little scope to build OC cards. How do you respond to this observation?

SH: $50 is a big deal for people who are looking at 7800 XT / 7700 XT-class of GPUs.

Club386: Ray-tracing performance remains below Nvidia’s comparable cards. Assuming this continues with RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT, what tools does AMD have to combat this apparent weakness?

SH: Reviewers like yourself tell us we’re doing okay in pure frames per second but not so good in ray tracing, so we try to price that difference into our SEP, ensuring Radeon GPUs offer great value.

We just have to do better on future generations, making sure we have the right architecture for efficient ray tracing. Furthermore, we need to continue working with ISV partners for gamers to have the best experience.

Club386: Energy efficiency also appears weaker than Nvidia on paper – RTX 4070, for example, has a 200W TGP, compared to 245W for RX 7700 XT. Is this an area of concern?

SH: Power is definitely a prime initiative. You’ll see us over time get better and better at it. We need to catch up. There are still bugs that we need to fix. Idle power is one of them. We believe there is a driver fix for it. It’s a wonky one, actually. We do see some inconsistencies with idle power that shouldn’t be there, and we’re working with our partners to maybe help with that. It will be cleaned up, but it might take a bit more time.

Good to see AMD admit that they fell short in quite a few areas with their RDNA3 midrange GPUs, hopefully they fix these issues in RDNA4.

 

[Crayon]

"So awesome."

Maybe 7800XT is the most sensible thing to come out in a while now, but otherwise you've got a couple rdna2's that have finally been price cut to more like what they are worth. Much fire, such ass kick. jerkoff.gif

 

[Leonidas]

"So awesome."

Maybe 7800XT is the most sensible thing to come out in a while now, but otherwise you've got a couple rdna2's that have finally been price cut to more like what they are worth. Much fire, such ass kick. jerkoff.gif

Till reviews launch and we know exactly where it falls it just seems like 7800 XT fits roughly in the pricing structure of the already discounted RDNA2 cards.

At best you'll get 10% faster than 6800 XT for the same money. At worst you'll get the same performance (possibly even slightly worse) for the same money.

Neither situation seems all that sensible to me, unless you've lowered your standards so far that a 10% 3060 Ti to 4060 Ti - like upgrade at a similar price is somehow sensible.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

I hope so. Have you seen their stock price recently?

 

[Crayon]

Till reviews launch and we know exactly where it falls it just seems like 7800 XT fits roughly in the pricing structure of the already discounted RDNA2 cards.

At best you'll get 10% faster than 6800 XT for the same money. At worst you'll get the same performance (possibly even slightly worse) for the same money.

Neither situation seems all that sensible to me, unless you've lowered your standards so far that a 10% 3060 Ti to 4060 Ti - like upgrade at a similar price is somehow sensible.

We had this exact conversation 2 days ago.

 

[demigod]

Ping me when they start kicking nvidia’s ass at the high end.

 

[Leonidas]

We had this exact conversation 2 days ago.

And I still can't wrap my head around how similar performance (at worst) or 10% faster (at best) at the same price you could get a 6800 XT today is somehow sensible.

It's a joke, if it turns out in that performance range. It's no different than 3060 Ti to 4060 Ti and could in fact end up worse than that...

The only real advantage of 7800 XT over 6800 XT seems to be AFMF driver support (which AMD now says they might bring to RDNA2 at a later date).

 

[SolidQ]

Ping me when they start kicking nvidia’s ass at the high end.

It's was RDNA4, but now moving to RDNA5

 

[Danknugz]

Another Motherboard Dead

 

[ahtlas7]

I wish someone would kick their ass but

that’s some wishful thinking, AMD.

 

[Crayon]

And I still can't wrap my head around how similar performance (at worst) or 10% faster (at best) at the same price you could get a 6800 XT today is somehow sensible.

It's a joke, if it turns out in that performance range. It's no different than 3060 Ti to 4060 Ti and could in fact end up worse than that...

The only real advantage of 7800 XT over 6800 XT seems to be AFMF driver support (which AMD now says they might bring to RDNA2 at a later date).

Well in that case, all I'll add is that the 6800's are considered a good deal right now with the price cuts so getting something newer and a little better for less money seems fine given the choices.

 

[Kakax11]

Good luck beating 4090 in 2025

 

[Sentenza]

Bold prediction:
nah. They aren't.

 

[Crayon]

Good luck beating 4090 in 2025

 

[Killer8]

This you?

 

[SirKicksalot]

Club386: Radeon RX 6000 Series was launched with a top, middle, bottom strategy. Radeon RX 7000 Series has taken a good while to reach the critical middle segment, why change the strategy for this generation?

SH: Because Nvidia is the top and we are the power bottom.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

 

[Silver Wattle]

Club386: Still no sign of 12VHPWR on any Radeon graphics card. Is this a burning issue for you?

SH: We specifically, for 7900 Series, and even 7600, we didn’t plan on the new power cable, but 7800 and 7700 did have a plan for it. We removed it, and that was a purposeful removal. You shouldn’t blame end users for issues you have. You should catch and own any problems, just like we did with the vapour-chamber issue. I was all over social media because I felt like it was AMD’s problem and I was going to own it.


Until this power issue is cleaned up and there’s good confidence it’s working correctly for end users, that’s where you’ll start to see us incorporate it into our planning. The ability for someone to say it’s an end-user’s fault is a little strange to AMD and definitely strange to me.

The NVIDIA 12pin issues were so bad AMD removed it from a design that already had it, wow.

Also lol @ the "$50" is big for people buying at 450-500 range, what a shit answer.