6800xt/6900xt or 3080 for ultrawide (3440x1440) gaming?

[aduman]

Hi guys! I was going to go with the new amd line up but they are all over 1100€ in germany lol so currently debating between these cards. What would you go for if you were in my place? I'm willing to go second hand. I'm kinda worried about the VRAM of 3080 cutting it a bit close with 10 gigs. This is strictly for gaming btw and RT is nice and all but it's not a deal breaker for me. Is there much difference between the power draw of these cards? I did look up the TDPs but that doesn't always match the real-world results with undervolting and all.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[CommanderAlex]

I don't have a problem with my RX6900XT at 3440x1440 over 120FPS in the games I play. BF2042 I gotta turn settings down to medium (still looks great) and will get above 120 FPS. I don't play RT games and think the performance hit is not worth it, more so on a 6900XT. 

 

Just my $0.02. 

[_Omega_]

3 minutes ago, aduman said:

Hi guys! I was going to go with the new amd line up but they are all over 1100€ in germany lol so currently debating between these cards. What would you go for if you were in my place? I'm willing to go second hand. I'm kinda worried about the VRAM of 3080 cutting it a bit close with 10 gigs. This is strictly for gaming btw and RT is nice and all but it's not a deal breaker for me. Is there much difference between the power draw of these cards? I did look up the TDPs but that doesn't always match the real-world results with undervolting and all.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

i cant really complane about my 6800XT for 1440p UW even tough im bottlenecked with my X370 Board and PCIe 3.0

[brentward]

I use an RTX 3080 10 GB for 3440x1440. It works very well. I haven't had any issues with lack of VRAM with the exception of some machine learning tasks, but in that case it required CUDA so the 6800XT wouldn't have worked anyway. When not using RT the 3080 is more than enough for 3440x1440. I usually do use RT and I still get acceptable performance for the gaming that I do. For example in Cyberpunk I run it on Ultra Ray Tracing preset and I set the DLSS to Balanced and I still get about 67 FPS and it looks amazing.

 

I usually run mine undervolted and I get slightly better performance than stock and depending on the game it uses between 250 and 300 W. Typically it uses about 290 W.

[aduman]

@_Omega_ @CommanderAlex @brentward thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated!

 

So all the cards seem to be fine for the job. What about the price difference between 6800xt and 6900xt? In the used market 6900xt's go for about 100€ higher. That comes with increased TDP and maybe 5% increase in performance, at least according to the latest GN 7900 review vid. 6800xt seems to be the better choice between the two value-wise, or am I missing something?

 

Btw are there any aftermarket brands to avoid with these cards? I'm guessing powercolor/sapphire are still the go-to for team red.

[QuantumSingularity]

Since it says in your signature "SimRacer", If you plan on doing any VR sim racing, AMD and FSR is the way; 6900 XT or 6950XT. DLSS increases the latency too damn much, leading to some major motion sickness and very choppy gameplay on pretty much every VR headset; especially noticeable in ACC. In fact, that is the key difference between now previous gen GPUs - AMD have a bit lower average FPS, but provide smoother gameplay.

But if you can wait a bit more, you should be able to get an used GPU for A LOT less with the beginning of the new year, at least for the EU. They basically shot all miners with a shotgun in the face with the accepted €1000 transaction roof and the personal information requirements. Even more from June all platforms will be liable for clients/investors losses, so... the picture looks really REALLY bright for the again normal GPU market in 2023. Already there are hundreds if big mining rigs being sold in parts. 

[CommanderAlex]

3 hours ago, aduman said:

So all the cards seem to be fine for the job. What about the price difference between 6800xt and 6900xt? In the used market 6900xt's go for about 100€ higher. That comes with increased TDP and maybe 5% increase in performance, at least according to the latest GN 7900 review vid. 6800xt seems to be the better choice between the two value-wise, or am I missing something?

 

Btw are there any aftermarket brands to avoid with these cards? I'm guessing powercolor/sapphire are still the go-to for team red.

Just checking prices via PCpartpicker in Germany and the price difference vary greatly across different models. (XFX Speedster MERC 319 RX 6900XT is 1,200€ while a MSI RX 6900XT Gaming X TRIO is 799€). Not gonna really notice a difference in performance and mainly just features that manufacturers will tack on. Personally, that MSI will be good enough (going off previous experience with a MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio). 

 

I don't think there is any you should avoid. Powercolor and sapphire only produce AMD cards.

[aduman]

2 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Since it says in your signature "SimRacer", If you plan on doing any VR sim racing, AMD and FSR is the way; 6900 XT or 6950XT. DLSS increases the latency too damn much, leading to some major motion sickness and very choppy gameplay on pretty much every VR headset; especially noticeable in ACC. In fact, that is the key difference between now previous gen GPUs - AMD have a bit lower average FPS, but provide smoother gameplay.

But if you can wait a bit more, you should be able to get an used GPU for A LOT less with the beginning of the new year, at least for the EU. They basically shot all miners with a shotgun in the face with the accepted €1000 transaction roof and the personal information requirements. Even more from June all platforms will be liable for clients/investors losses, so... the picture looks really REALLY bright for the again normal GPU market in 2023. Already there are hundreds if big mining rigs being sold in parts. 

Oh a fellow simracer! That's great info, thanks! Isn't FSR available on nvidia gpus too? Can't you just use FSR to get around the latency issues of DLSS then?

 

I thought this is as low as the prices would go honestly. Do the new regulations for mining apply starting from next year? I can't really see 3080s dropping lower than the 500€ point.

[aduman]

1 hour ago, CommanderAlex said:

Just checking prices via PCpartpicker in Germany and the price difference vary greatly across different models. (XFX Speedster MERC 319 RX 6900XT is 1,200€ while a MSI RX 6900XT Gaming X TRIO is 799€). Not gonna really notice a difference in performance and mainly just features that manufacturers will tack on. Personally, that MSI will be good enough (going off previous experience with a MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio). 

 

I don't think there is any you should avoid. Powercolor and sapphire only produce AMD cards.

Yeah I was just asking whether powercolor and sapphire were still the go-to for AMD cards. Are there any brands to avoid when it comes to 3080s? Back when amd vega cards were a thing, the Asus cards were subpar for example.

[Dedayog]

5 hours ago, _Omega_ said:

i cant really complane about my 6800XT for 1440p UW even tough im bottlenecked with my X370 Board and PCIe 3.0

Pci 3.0 doesn't bottleneck a 6800xt really.

 

Loving the 6900xt and the 1440p UW.   Coupled with the 7700x I'm on Ultra/High in anything I'm trying. 

 

Especially like you said, prices are just all over too expensive.  Hoping when the excitement settles in a few weeks, things will stabilize and we'll see prices get a reality check.

 

Hoping the 6900xt goes back to $600, a friend didn't get my deal but maybe Microcenter comes thru again 

 

 

[CommanderAlex]

27 minutes ago, aduman said:

Yeah I was just asking whether powercolor and sapphire were still the go-to for AMD cards. Are there any brands to avoid when it comes to 3080s? Back when amd vega cards were a thing, the Asus cards were subpar for example.

I'm not too sure about that but for RTX 3080s, I don't recall if there are any issues maybe except ZOTAC series on one model they sell (unless I'm confusing it with their RTX 3090s). 

 

IIRC, the card I got, ASUS TUF GAMING RX 6900XT, was rated high compared to other models on the market. I did have an issue with my first copy where games would crash or random black screen restarts-sent for RMA and determined it was defective and exchanged with a refurb/"new" copy. 

[_Omega_]

15 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Pci 3.0 doesn't bottleneck a 6800xt really.

 

Loving the 6900xt and the 1440p UW.   Coupled with the 7700x I'm on Ultra/High in anything I'm trying. 

 

Especially like you said, prices are just all over too expensive.  Hoping when the excitement settles in a few weeks, things will stabilize and we'll see prices get a reality check.

 

Hoping the 6900xt goes back to $600, a friend didn't get my deal but maybe Microcenter comes thru again 

 

 

well my for example GPU is only running at 80 % in some games while the CPU is just at about 50-60% in squad... something must be the bottleneck... if its not PCIe 3.0 im not really shure what is...

 

[QuantumSingularity]

15 hours ago, aduman said:

Oh a fellow simracer! That's great info, thanks! Isn't FSR available on nvidia gpus too? Can't you just use FSR to get around the latency issues of DLSS then?

 

I thought this is as low as the prices would go honestly. Do the new regulations for mining apply starting from next year? I can't really see 3080s dropping lower than the 500€ point.

Well FSR works on every GPU from GTX 1000 series upwards. I use it on my GTX 1070 and despite it helping with much higher FPS, the GPU is still locked at 100% use all the time. How it will affect newer NV gpus though, i have no idea. And it actually defeats the point of getting an RTX 3000 GPU, if you are gonna use FSR. IT's basically NV's main selling feature (and RT performance for the higher tier models). But even w/o FSR or DLSS, all native rendering, AMD gpus just give this "smoother gameplay" feeling, while even with the RTX 4090 it at times feels choppy, despite the much higher average FPS. Idk if it's some issue with power delivery or drivers, but it is what it is.

[aduman]

53 minutes ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Well FSR works on every GPU from GTX 1000 series upwards. I use it on my GTX 1070 and despite it helping with much higher FPS, the GPU is still locked at 100% use all the time. How it will affect newer NV gpus though, i have no idea. And it actually defeats the point of getting an RTX 3000 GPU, if you are gonna use FSR. IT's basically NV's main selling feature (and RT performance for the higher tier models). But even w/o FSR or DLSS, all native rendering, AMD gpus just give this "smoother gameplay" feeling, while even with the RTX 4090 it at times feels choppy, despite the much higher average FPS. Idk if it's some issue with power delivery or drivers, but it is what it is.

Never heard of that before, did you check the frame times? That's the most important part if you want smooth gameplay.

[QuantumSingularity]

Can't check frametimes, because i don't have a 4090 and still don't have an XTX. But it's been the same story since 3090 vs 6900 reviews. Nvidia gets higher FPS, AMD get smoother gameplay. 

[ewitte]

3 hours ago, _Omega_ said:

well my for example GPU is only running at 80 % in some games while the CPU is just at about 50-60% in squad... something must be the bottleneck... if its not PCIe 3.0 im not really shure what is...

 

Sounds CPU limited.  50-60% CPU can still be 100% as far as the game is concerned if it is only using half the cores.