Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Graphics cards aren't just about performance, or efficiency, or price. There are many factors at play. For a lot of gamers, it doesn't even matter how fast the RX 6950 XT might be because — much like the RTX 3080 Ti and above from Nvidia — there's no way in Hades that they're going to spend more than $1,000 just on a graphics card. You can put together a complete midrange gaming PC for about the same price. Sure, the 6950 XT might be 75%–90% faster than an RX 6700 XT, but if you're only playing at 1080p or 1440p with high settings, doubling the cost of your GPU would only improve performance by 50% on average.
Compared to Nvidia's recently launched RTX 3090 Ti, the RX 6950 XT delivers some interesting results. Throw out the DXR gaming and Blender 3D rendering results, and AMD's GPU looks great. The Sapphire RX 6950 XT Nitro+ Pure costs 40% less than the Asus RTX 3090 Ti, for example, and nearly matches it in traditional gaming performance at 4K, and even comes out ahead at 1440p and 1080p. Even if you include DXR performance, it would be difficult to justify the price of the RTX 3090 Ti. Still, it's doubtful anyone looking at the RX 6950 XT was ever really considering the RTX 3090 Ti, and vice versa.
The bigger issue is the wider graphics card market. GPU prices continue to fall, and some graphics cards are even selling at or below MSRP — AMD GPUs, in particular. The RX 6950 XT might be 10% faster than the RX 6900 XT on average, but it costs at least 10% more, and the Sapphire card costs more like 32% more than the least expensive RX 6900 XT. You can drop down another notch to the RX 6800 XT, which can be had starting at $800 right now, in which case the new 6950 XT delivers 18% higher performance at 4K for 56% more money. That's better than Nvidia's $500 upsell on the RTX 3090 Ti, but that's hardly worth mentioning.
AMD does have a new Raise the Game Bundle happening as well, coinciding with the RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT launch. The new bundle will include the 2022 Saints Row reboot, which is slated to arrive in September. There will be other games revealed as well, in case Saints Row isn't on your list.
If you're after the fastest graphics card around and you want to stick with AMD, perhaps the RX 6950 XT is worth getting. A 10% increase over the 6900 XT for a nominal 10% increase in cost isn't terrible. But we're now over a year and a half since the RX 6900 XT launched, and AMD RDNA 3 GPUs should arrive before the end of the year. Huge spoonfuls of salt with regards to potential specs, but it's certainly possible AMD will boost performance by over 50% with its next-generation GPUs before the end of the year. They certainly won't be slower than the current RX 6000-series for the same price.
As for the Sapphire Nitro+ Pure, there's a lot to like with this design. Yes, you need a bigger case that can accommodate a 3.5-slot cooler and a 332mm length, but we wouldn't want to try fitting something like this into anything less than a standard ATX case. It worked great in our Cooler Master HAF500, if you're wondering. Sapphire also offers a lower-spec RX 6950 XT Pulse or the even more audacious Sapphire RX 6950 XT Toxic that uses hybrid cooling. For $50 more, the Toxic increases the boost clock by another 130MHz, potentially improving performance by another 5%. Maybe you can sell it and trade up for an RX 7900 XT at the end of the year.
- MORE: Best Graphics Cards
- MORE: GPU Benchmarks and Hierarchy
- MORE: All Graphics Content
Alarming amount of Texas Instrument chips found in Russian-based weapons in Ukraine — Russian military using third parties to purchase U.S-made chips
Aoostar AG02 eGPU dock with OCuLink support and 500W PSU announced for $219
China levels anti-trust charges against Nvidia – country accuses chipmaker of violating anti-monopoly regulations, examining the $7 billion Mellanox acquisition
