Assemble It Hands You # 290
Star of the week, the Radeon RX 6700 XT took the field with pure rendering performance superior to that of an RTX 3060 Ti and in some cases close to those of an RTX 3070. Enough to be able to tame gaming in 1440p at high framerates despite a significantly lower hardware equipment than that of the RX 6800. And it is partly due to high frequencies that compensate for part of the disadvantage in terms of silicon and enhance the importance of a high-level power supply. However, it puts the dissipation system under pressure, touching significantly higher temperatures than the higher-end models.We obviously have to take into account that the reference model has only two fans, among other things calibrated to be silent, and that in a well-ventilated case remains below the guard thresholds. But it is clear that the extreme clock of the GPU comes at a cost in terms of efficiency, as evidenced by the 220W of consumption despite 33% less Compute Unit than the RX 6800.
This is also why we would have expected a more aggressive recommended price which would have made this proposal significantly more attractive. Speaking of pure rendering, it must be said, the price is almost perfectly proportional to the performance, comparing it with that of the other cards of the same range, but by calling into question the ray tracing the decidedly inferior equipment in terms of ray accelerator and the lack of the FidelityFX Super Resolution. Hence a support for ray tracing which, excluding titles specially optimized so as not to burden too much on the hardware, is bound to 1080p, in some cases below 60fps.
The new Radeon RX 6700 XT, designed for gaming in 1440p We may therefore have to settle for 30fps or a little more, at least in the case of heavy titles like Control, with the Navi 23 GPU that seems destined to arrive, presumably in the form of a smooth Radeon RX 6700, in April with 8GB of GDDR6 memory with 128-bit bus and 2048 Stream Processor for 32 Compute Units. However, it should guarantee excellent framerates in 1080p, speaking of pure rendering and highly optimized or particularly light ray traced titles, as well as some excursion in 1440p. But even in this case we expect a change in horizons with the arrival of the Super Resolution. We doubt this technology can push performance on par with DLSS, which has dedicated hardware, but we are confident that the combination of the brute power of the Radeons and the evolution of artificial intelligence can offer a significant performance boost. This is not, however, machine learning. Scott Herkelman has in fact talked about alternative ways, confirming the arrival of the technology first on PC, in the course of 2021, and then on consoles. According to Herkelman, the internal tests are going well, but there is still some work to be done, which leads us to suspect that contrary to what we hoped we will have to wait until the end of the year.
Even NVIDIA, however, gave us a nasty surprise, releasing a version of the GeForce drivers that disabled the much-heralded 50% hash rate block designed to make the GeForce RTX 3060 less appealing to miners. cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum. Among other things, shortly before this surprise, we rejoiced to know that the elusive circumvention of the block by alleged Chinese hackers was false, proving the effectiveness of the trick adopted by NVIDIA. But it was the latter who thwarted its work, without providing any statements about it. In any case, cryptocurrency or not, the availability of next-generation GPUs remains extremely low, even for the Radeon RX 6700 XT despite claims by AMD regarding a greater influx of parts. Apparently a few thousand video cards have arrived in the entire continent, inevitably sold out in a moment despite already significantly inflated launch prices. Lisa Su spoke of a very high demand, but it is clear that the bulk of the chip production is currently dedicated to other devices, including the highly sought-after next-generation laptops.
One of the first models based on Intel Xe HPG architecture The CEO of AMD, however, reiterated that the company is working to increase production and we hope that the situation can improve before the summer. In the meantime, there are those who hope that Intel will ease the pressure on the GPU market, apparently very close to the marketing of XE HPG video cards. This is suggested by the publication of a teaser dedicated to the Xe HPG Scavenger Hunt, an initiative presumably destined to culminate with the official announcement of Intel video cards that we know will usher in the era of multi-core GPUs, based on the philosophy of tiles. . We therefore speak of a basic unit, the same for all solutions and therefore easier to produce, designed to be combined with other identical ones to produce increasingly powerful models.
Budget Configuration
The budget configuration is the one oriented to saving but it is not certain that there is no room for the upgrade where interesting prospects arise. The proposals in this range include solutions designed for low-profile games and 1080p-oriented builds.Another small price drop for the Core i5-10400F which, although destined to give way to the analogous model of the new Rocket Lake-S series, remains an excellent option for the low end thanks to the excellent relationship between price, overall power and performance in play. Moreover, unlike other models, it is immediately available, which should be taken into account these days.
The GPU shortage shows no sign of resolving itself, as is evident from the ever higher price increases that have also affected the GeForce GTX 1050. This week, however, a Biostar GTX 1050 Ti has come up for less than 210 euros. Unfortunately it is not available but can be ordered in the hope of taking home a still decent option for 1080p at a less than ideal but acceptable price.
BUDGET Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5- 10400F 2.9-4.3GHz 135,00 € ASROCK MOTHERBOARD H410M-HDV 90,00 € VIDEO CARD Biostar GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB 210,00 € RAM HyperX FURY Black 2x8GB 2666MHz CL16 80,00 € POWER SUPPLY FSP HEXA + 500W 80+ 55 , 00 € HARD DISK Kingston A400 480GB SATA III 50,00 € CASE Kolink Nimbus RGB Mid Tower 60,00 € TOTAL 680,00 €
Gaming configuration
In the gaming range usually yes they find those components that allow you to face the game on the PC without fear and to hold on for some time. The frame rate showdown is just around the corner but, with a good base, it's always possible to sell the old GPU before it devalues too much so you can buy a new one just in time to take on the next hardware-smashing blockbuster.The Ryzen 5 5600X, again available at around 350 euros, is a very attractive processor, also in view of a lasting platform thanks to connectivity and PCIe 4.0. But it is likely that in the near future it will actually be available at the recommended price of around 300 euros. This is why we put it aside in favor of a processor that wins in convenience, thanks to a drop of over 10 euros, such as the Core i5-10600KF.
The Radeon RX 6700 XT is attractive for those looking for high framerates and is unpretentious in terms of ray tracing. Sure, we would have expected a more aggressive recommended price, but this is a consideration that is chewed on by the particular market situation. So particular that, probably for a short time, the RX 6700 XT can still be found at acceptable prices, at least in relation to the monstrous price increases that distinguish the other models.
GAMING Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-10600KF 4.1-4.8GHz € 190.00 MSI Z490-A PRO MOTHERBOARD € 150.00 VIDEO CARD Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 XT Pulse 12 GB € 605.00 RAM Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 € 105.00 POWER SUPPLY FSP Hydro PRO 600W 80+ Bronze 65,00 € HARD DISK Rocket Q 1TB NVMe M.2 120,00 € CASE EMPIRE GAMING Diamond ARGB Mid Tower 75.00 € TOTAL 2465.00 €
Extra configuration
The pushed configuration makes sense only for those who aim for high resolutions, aware that luxury often does not go hand in hand with rationality. On the other hand, let's face it, who doesn't like having a nice engine under the hood even if you have to respect the speed limit?Waiting to be able to verify in-game performance and characteristics of the Core i9-11900K, we rely once again on the excellent Ryzen 7 5800X, expensive but subject to lower prices than the higher models, definitely balanced even for a high-end gaming configuration and obviously equipped with plenty of connectivity and a PCIe 4.0 interface.
With patience, time to follow several groups and a lot of luck it is possible to find some models of GeForce RTX 3070, obviously not luxury, for just over 700 euros. On the contrary, it is necessary to undergo really excessive prices that lead us once again to recommend the wait, unless you have the absolute need to buy a high-end GPU.
EXTRA Component Price PROCESSOR Ryzen R7 5800X 3.8-4.7GHz 445.00 € DISSIPATORE ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 115.00 € MOTHERBOARD ASUS TUF X570-PLUS 210.00 € VIDEO CARD ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Dual 8 GB 950,00 € RAM G.Skill Trident Z RGB 2x16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 235,00 € ANTEC POWER SUPPLY HCG-850 80+ Gold 150,00 € HARD DISK Samsung 980 PRO 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 200 , 00 € CASE NZXT H710 Mid Tower 160,00 € TOTAL 2510.00 €
