Mr. Fox

Did Zotac have a change of heart about you keeping the 4070 Ti or allowing you to buy it at an irresistible price? The 6900 XT is the first red card I have owned since the HD 7970 days (2011). I hated them back then and wrote them off as garbage because I had too many GPU failures (HD 6900 and 6950 and 7970) and Catalyst drivers were absolute trash. I moved to the green side and never looked back. It's easy to hate NVIDIA as a company. I think they are probably the most crooked PC component manufacturer, but their graphics cards are better in every way in my opinion. So, getting the 6900 XT was kind of a "wish me luck" leap of faith with hope that it would turn out OK. As far as the 6900 XT goes, it's certainly not horrible, but it doesn't really do much to impress me. It will allow me the opportunity to rack up some hardware points on the bot, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking to buy a GPU. Overall, it is a bit lackluster. I like it enough to keep it, but probably would not buy another one. I will say that it is kind of fun tinkering with the More Power Tool, but apart from that I am not finding much to write home about. Even on water, the reported 6900 XT hotspot temps are ludicrous... to the point that I am almost inclined to think the insane hotspot temps are a product bug that is erroneous and totally inaccurate. It doesn't make any sense that there can be a 30°C or higher delta between core and hotspot temps at any given point in time under a high stress overclocked load.

Excellent review. Looks like a good rack-mount option. Something like that would work well for me because I use external radiators and pumps. You could probably use a Cablemod 90° 12VHPWR adapter to get the lid on it, but I do not blame you for avoiding problems with sharp cable bends. I really do not like the new 12VHPWR GPU power cables because of the sensitivity to bending. I can't really see the logic behind deploying it. I guess NVIDIA needed to disrupt status quo by changing something that didn't need to be changed. I prefer the "ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. 8-pin PCIe cables were an example of that. There was no problem that needed fixing.

Great review, bro. I really think Zotac GPUs are under-rated. Pretty much everyone I have known that had one liked it and had good results with it. I really like the aesthetics of their new GPUs. The curvy lines are a nice contrast to the boxey-looking trend that the technology cartel hive mind has chosen to stick to. That GPU performs very similar to an RTX 3090, so it is a good option for gaming that isn't north of $1500.

Yeah, good review. Sorry I am late to the show. Crucial generally doesn't make "enthusiast" parts, but they do produce reliable memory and SSDs. This low cost kit is a great option for an AMD system that isn't going above 6200 or an Intel system that memory overclocking isn't high on the list of priorities. Very affordable option for the right application.

Sorry I am just now getting caught up on things. Really good review. Sad that it wasn't good news for CM this time, but you win some, lose some. You did a nice job on the review and it was an deserving report of mediocrity.

Thank you. Other than my 5000D Airflow example, where I see it working extremely well is a case where the PSU is stood up on the narrow side with the fan blowing out the side panel (one popular example being the Lian Li 011/011 XL). The ports would be pointing toward the roof of the case.

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/90902010 /img/logo.png MrFox`s 3DMark - Fire Strike score: 57492 marks with a Radeon RX 6900 XT HWBOT.ORG The Radeon RX 6900 XT @ 2850/2200MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the 3DMark - Fire Strike benchmark. MrFoxranks #null worldwide and #8 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.

Thanks, bro. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words. Yes the lay out with the ports on the side is wonderful if your PSU has enough space around it. I really like it. I also really like the flat cables versus the round bundle in a sleeve.

I really like this PSU. I've been punishing it with severe 4090, 3090 Kingpin and now 6900 XT and CPU overclocks and it hasn't missed a beat.

Yeah that looks great. If the hotspot temps are still high I may try that. I added a thermal pad on the backplate side directly over the die area. I am not even sure if the hotspot readings are accurate. Before installing the backplate, I used an infrared thermometer and with the GPU loaded full tile nothing measured over 50°C anywhere, yet the hotspot still showed 90°C. That's why I am thinking the reading may be wrong. But, I got the screws and now the backplate is installed. Time to do a bit of quick studying and get cracking the firmware tweaking.

Read the full review HERE

So, got the block installed. The kit did not have screws for the backplate (had short screws for naked installation). Screws should be here from Amazon in the next hour or so. I am hoping having pads behind the core will help hotspot temps (still quite high, but better). Have not touched the firmware yet. Will dive into MPT later today or tomorrow, once I get the temps as good as I can get them without the chiller. It will get better, as it is hitting the power limit and remaining there throughout all of the graphics tests. Totally maxed out with the stock firmware limits and can't do much more until I raise the limits. https://hwbot.org/submission/5222705_ | https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/90656314#

Thank you. Glad you enjoy it. That is good news. I can manually set 1.200V and it stays there and never moves. And, I need some good news because right now I am disappointed to a degree... about two things. First, the AMD driver tweak tool doesn't seem to remove any garbage. It merely provides an alternative way of installing the driver with a couple of tweaks. All of the worthless trash is still there. So, I have to figure out a way of killing the processes and services so they stay dead unless I manually trigger them intentionally, instead of immediately restarting. I wish AMD had a Control Panel that was not DCH/UWP trash for W10/11. Seems like they do not. I will try the oldest available driver for 6900 XT and see if it has been that way since day 1. It sucks that all of the hardware OEMs muppets are kissing Micro$lop's butt like this. On a much sadder note, it appears the firmware on this 6900 XT is incompatible with Windows 7. I have spent hours trying to make it work. (Literally stayed up all night trying to get it to work, took a shower and started work.) I tried a half dozen Windows 7 Macrium Reflect images, manually changed to a few different bootx64.efi files (including a custom one that allows pure UEFI mode for Windows 7) and even tried a clean install. 100% failure on all attempts. Windows 7 setup refuses to run with the 6900 XT installed. Tried USB and DVD... both the same. It hangs before it reaches the first screen of the setup GUI. If I put the NVIDIA GPU back in it boots right up like normal. So, it has to be the AMD firmware. The GPU is not bootable in CSM mode (Windows 7 freezes at boot CSM with enabled, which is the exact opposite of the expected behavior) and in UEFI mode (CSM disabled) Windows boots fine and the driver installs but the GPU has code 12 (no available resources/resource conflicts). Coincidentally, this is the same issue I had with 4090... exactly. I was able to mod a driver, but same code 12 and same freezing behavior. So, that really sucks. Maybe I can find an older 6900 XT vBIOS that has CSM support. I hope so. Being able to use Windows 7 was one of the things that I was looking forward to. Benching is a lot less fun if you are stuck being forced to the newer cancer OSes that ruin CPU performance.

Yeah, that gosh-awful overlay thing... talking about being OD'd on stupid... makes me want to punch somebody... real bad. The GPU hotspot scores are absolutely ludicrous. I can see why people are scared to get too crazy with the overclocking if they are trying to cool this on air. My office is 77°F (25°C) which certainly doesn't help. OK, here are stock baseline scores. Now that we have that out of the way... Onward and upward! GPU block and chilled water... better things ahead! https://www.3dmark.com/sw/402677 https://www.3dmark.com/pr/2200869 https://www.3dmark.com/spy/36499097 https://www.3dmark.com/spy/36499182 https://www.3dmark.com/fs/29680529 https://www.3dmark.com/fs/29680529 https://www.3dmark.com/fs/29680591 https://www.3dmark.com/wl/279366 https://www.3dmark.com/wl/279367 https://www.3dmark.com/nr/854599 https://www.3dmark.com/sd/6394414 https://www.3dmark.com/cg/4961958 https://www.3dmark.com/is/4931053 https://www.3dmark.com/is/4931054

I think I found it. AMD Radeon Software Customize Setup - Radeon Setup Tool | guru3D Forums FORUMS.GURU3D.COM --- AMD Radeon Software Customize Setup - Radeon Setup Tool --- [IMG] ※Downloading Radeon Software *Radeon Software is available...

Hey bro. I have the 6900 XT. Do you or @pioneerisloudknow of any AMD driver mods or tool to mod the driver that gives you basic control panel access without the worthless payload of garbage? I use NVCleanStall to strip out all of the useless trash that the Green Goblin packs into the GeFarts drivers (like GeFarts Experience and what not). I'm really not liking this gamerboy rubbish included in the Adrenaline "Pro" malware.

Ok... Here 'tis kidz. OnePlus 8T - Geekbench Browser BROWSER.GEEKBENCH.COM Benchmark results for an OnePlus 8T with an ARM Qualcomm processor.

I find it really difficult to get excited about smartphones. I think they call them that because they make the people that love them extra dumb. I really don't like them very much. The only value I typically find in them is the role they serve as a camera on the go. I think they are a real detriment in the grand scheme of things, and a tool that governments use for nefarious purposes probably more than we realize. They are an always-on tracking device and only a fool would believe they aren't being used for surveillance of the users. I will install GB6 and post a score so the data will be available. I don't really care if the score is good or not.

I am hoping having it blocked on chilled water will be enough to let me get crazy with it. I haven't done anything with Red cards for so long that I am a bit rusty and out of my element.

Have you tried tinkering with the 6900 XT voltage or power limits using RBE and MorePower tools? I am going to be dipping my toe into that and curious if the red cards are fragile or easy to brick, or if they can take a lot of firmware modding without issue.

Here are my poopalicious GB6 scores with my Precision 7720 turdbook. CPUx1: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/409416 | https://hwbot.org/submission/5218152_ CPUx4: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/409416 | https://hwbot.org/submission/5218151_ NVGPU: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/155841 | https://hwbot.org/submission/5218157_ iGFX : https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/compute/155857 | https://hwbot.org/submission/5218160_

A good friend of mine shipped me his spare 6900 XT and a GPU block that he never installed so I can have something to play with while I decide if or when I am going to replace my second 4090. Once that gets here, I will do a stock run before I start probing the edge of functionality for that GPU. I haven't owned a Team Red GPU that I have been happy with since the ATi Radeon HD 5870 (threw in the towel for good around 7970 and started wasting my money in the Green Goblin's lair). So, this will be an interesting experiment. I hope the short time I spent with a 4090 Suprim X that I loved and a Strix 4090 that sucked in comparison didn't ruin me forever. Maybe this 6900 XT experiment will distract me until 4090 Ti drops. Am I just getting old and not remembering, or did Geekbench suddenly become idiotically expensive with version 6? I don't remember what I paid for GB5 (will have to scan my email archive to find it) but $99 for a benchmark seems ludicrous.

https://hwbot.org/submission/5216229_ | https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/90141500

Well, my shunt-modded 3060 Ti FTW3 on chilled water just took 3rd place from buildzoid's 3060 Ti on LN2. https://hwbot.org/submission/5216196_ | https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/90137564#