The Radeon RX 7900 XT, which is now rated at 315 watts, constantly attracts 340 to 350 watts beneath load, with a few spikes as much as 360 watts and one spike as excessive as 389 watts noticed throughout a single 3DMark Velocity Means run. As to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which is rated at 355 watts, it constantly reaches the 370 to 390 watt vary, spiking as excessive as 406 watts on this take a look at.
I did additionally strive PCAT logging with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX throughout a recreation engine take a look at, and through a run of Metro Exodus Enhanced Version at 3440×1440 / Excessive I recorded spikes as excessive as 421 watts. That’s 100 watts increased than the largest spike we recorded from our RTX 4080 FE, although I’ll replace with PCAT logging on the NVIDIA facet as properly.
Earlier than leaping to any conclusions about foul play right here with an NVIDIA energy testing system, please perceive that we couldn’t depend on our regular GPU-Z logging. Throughout our testing main as much as this overview, GPU-Z was not reporting energy draw with these new Radeon playing cards. The PCAT {hardware} was an awesome various, because it merely sits between the PCI Specific energy and slot energy and shows the present draw from every.
Lastly, a fast word on noticed thermals with these reference playing cards. I don’t have Avid gamers Nexus-style thermal probes or another {hardware} answer, so I’ll need to belief the temps reported by the GPUs. In the course of the looped Metro Exodus benchmark runs I used to file GPU frequencies, the best GPU core temp was reported as solely 67 C, with the GPU sizzling spot recorded as 79 C (in a really cool 17 – 18 C room). These numbers dropped to 60 C core, 71 C sizzling spot with the reference 7900 XT in the identical take a look at.
There are some issues with this technique to check thermals, not the least of which is the 90-second length of the benchmark (although it did run ten occasions in a row). I solely present this data right here as a result of I’ve the info, however thermals should be additional explored in an extended length take a look at.