Introduction to a Golden Rabbit
Today's review focuses on the Radeon RX 7900 "Golden Rabbit Edition" (GRE), a variant distinct from the 7900 XTX or XT models. Introduced by AMD a while ago for the Asian maket, the GRE is named after the Chinese zodiac sign for 2023, the year of the rabbit, it now has availability in other regions in order for AMD to have an answer towards the recently released GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER. The 7900 GRE is essentially a scaled-down version of the 7900 XT, with lower specifications. It shares the same GPU with the XT and XTX models but has only four out of six Memory Cache Dies (MCDs) active and features 80 Compute Units or 5,120 Stream Processors, which is a reduction from the XT and XTX models. A downgrade can be found in the memory subsystem, with the GRE having 16GB of GDDR6 memory, a narrower 256-bit memory bus, and 18 Gbps memory speed, resulting in a 576 GB/s bandwidth, a notable decrease from the XT. Despite these reductions, the GRE still uses the Navi 31 die, raising questions about its positioning within the 7900 series. With its 16GB memory, similar to the RX 7800 XT, but with more Compute Units and Stream Processors albeit at slightly lower boost frequencies and memory speeds, the 7900 GRE is a considerably modified version of the 7900 XT. It presents an attractive $549 price point and is expected to perform well in 1440p and 4K gaming. This introduction comes as Nvidia launches its RTX Super series, applying price pressure in the market. While prices are still higher than in past years, this trend indicates a shift in the industry, potentially benefiting PC gamers.
| AMD Radeon RX 7000 Specifications | ||||||||||||
| Radeon RX | 7900XTX | 7900 XT | 7900 GRE | 7800 XT | 7700 XT | 7600 XT | 7600 | |||||
| Architecture | RDNA3 (TSMC N5) | RDNA3 (TSMC N5) | RDNA3 (TSMC N5) |
RDNA3 (TSMC N6) | RDNA3 (TSMC N6) | RDNA3 (TSMC N6) | RDNA3 (TSMC N6) | |||||
| GPU | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XT | Navi 31 |
Navi 32 XL | Navi 32 XT | Navi 33 | Navi 33 | |||||
| GPU Clusters | 96 CUs | 84 CUs | 80 CUs | 60 CUs | 54 CUs | 32 CUs | 32 CUs | |||||
| FP32 Cores | 6144 | 5376 | 5120 | 3840 | 3456 | 2048 | 2048 | |||||
| Boost Clock | 2.5 GHz | 2.4 GHz | 2.2 GHz | 2.43 GHz | 2.54 | 2.76 GHz | 2.625 GHz | |||||
| Memory | 24GB G6 | 20GB G6 | 16GB G6 |
16GB G6 | 12 GB G6 | 16GB G6 | 8GB G6 | |||||
| Memory Bus | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-Bit |
256-bit | 192-bit | 128-Bit | 128-bit | |||||
| Memory Speed | 20 Gbps | 20 Gbps | 18 Gbps | 19.5 Gbps | 18 Gbps | 18 Gbps | 18 Gbps | |||||
| L3 Cache | 96 MB | 80 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB Gen2 | 48MB Gen2 | 32 MB Gen2 | 32 MB Gen2 | |||||
| Board Power | 355W | 315W | 260W | 263W | 245W | 190W | 165W | |||||
| Power Connectors | 2 × 8-pin | 2 × 8-pin | 2 × 8-Pin |
2 × 8-pin | 2 × 8-pin | 1 X 8-Pin | 1 x 8-pin | |||||
| PCIe Interface | Gen4 x16 | Gen4 x16 | Gen4 X16 |
Gen4 x16 | Gen4 x16 | Gen4 X8 | Gen4 x8 | |||||
| MSRP | $999 | $899 | $549 | $489 | $449 | $329 | $269 | |||||
| Launch Date | December 2022 | December 2022 | February 2024 |
September 2023 | September 2023 | January 2024 | May 2023 | |||||
The Radeon RX 7900 GRE, originally launched by AMD on July 27th, 2023 for the Asia region, is a high-performance graphics card fabricated using 5 nm process technology. It is built around the Navi 31 XL variant of the Navi 31 graphics processor and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes advanced gaming features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and variable-rate shading. This GPU has a die size of 529 mm² and contains 57,700 million transistors. To meet specific performance criteria, AMD has slightly reduced the number of active shading units in the 7900 GRE model compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The card is equipped with 5120 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, 192 Render Output Units, and 80 ray tracing cores, offering robust graphics processing capabilities. The Radeon RX 7900 GRE comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, utilizing a 256-bit interface, and has a base clock speed of 1287 MHz that can boost up to 2245 MHz. The memory clocks in at 2250 MHz, providing an effective 18 Gbps speed. Designed to fit in a dual-slot configuration, the card uses two 8-pin power connectors and has a maximum power consumption of 260 W. For display outputs, it includes one HDMI 2.1a port, two DisplayPort 2.1 ports, and a USB Type-C port. The card employs a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 interface for connection to motherboards, measures 276 mm x 110 mm x 51 mm, and features a dual-slot cooling design. The Sapphire card tested is using their Dual-X technology with two efficient fans that feature Dual Ball Bearings for longevity. Two 8-pin PCI Express power connectors are required to supply power to this RX 7900 GRE.
