AMD Radeon RX 6800

AMD has two winners on its hands with Big Navi so far, with the Radeon RX 6800 offering performance that beats the RTX 3070 and RTX 2080 Ti for $579.

AMD now has the performance to compete directly with NVIDIA, and any small disparity in performance with the RX 6800 XT vs. the RTX 3080 was clearly accounted for with the Radeon’s $50 lower MSRP. For its part the RX 6800 seems priced fairly at $579. Beyond raw performance, features (ray tracing, Smart Access Memory, etc.) play a role in the overall story, and we need to wait for mature drivers (and a Ryzen 5000 CPU) to explore all aspects of these new GPUs.

We feel Nvidia's RTX 30 Series remains the most complete solution right now, but let's make no bones about it, AMD is certainly back in the high-end PC graphics game with Radeon RX 6000 Series. Roll on RDNA 3.

The RX 6800 is a solid GPU that can outperform NVIDIA's RTX 3070. It'll handle 4K gaming easily, but don't expect much from the ray tracing performance.

Priced at $580, the Radeon RX 6800 feels a little bit expensive. It goes up against the GeForce RTX 3070, which costs only $500. Yes, RTX 3070 is a little bit slower, but it makes up for that with slightly better RT performance, and a quieter cooler on the Founders Edition. On the other hand, AMD is giving you 16 GB VRAM, which definitely add to the design cost.

RX 6800 may not grab the headlines quite like the RX 6800 XT, but it delivers excellent performance for those who want something a bit faster than the RTX 3070 without coughing up the cash for RX 6800 XT.

If you've been waiting for Big Navi, you'll be quite glad you did. They delivered, but there's still a long road ahead on matching up with ray tracing performance

All of which means that we finally, finally, have AMD graphics cards which match their competitor, just as the Ryzen CPUs easily match - and sometimes best - the Intel ones. The Ryzen comparison is pretty apt, as these RDNA 2 cards are like the first-gen Ryzen CPUs. Suddenly, AMD has been put back where they belong as real contenders for your hard-earned cash. Which one would we buy? Probably the plain RX 6800, but it's a tight run thing, and your 4K needs will guide you. Welcome back Radeon, we've missed you.