Big Clocks for Big Navi: RX 6800 To Overclock Past 2.5 GHz at 60 Celsius

Radeon RX 6000
(Image credit: AMD)

Three weeks ago, AMD finally took the wraps off its next-gen RDNA2-based 'Big Navi' graphics cards, and since there have been many leaks about the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT. Today, we caught wind of a particularly interesting rumor, namely that the RX 6800 can overclock to over 2.5 GHz while maintaining reasonable core temperatures. 

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The leak in question comes from CapFrameX on Twitter, who shared a screenshot with the interesting results. The GPU on the RX 6800 is shown running at an average clock speed of 2532 MHz with a peak at 2553 MHz, and this is while running at full load.

The temperature noted is averaged at 60 Celsius with the highest figure at just 63 Celsius, which are respectable figures. Power consumption is 208W on average with a peak at 269W -- though note that this is only GPU power consumption. The total board power is likely about 50W more than this due to consumption by the memory and power subsystem.

Stock, AMD says that the RX 6800 will run at 1815 MHz 'Game Clock' and boost up to 2105 MHz, so the above numbers are impressive, to say the least. Given the moderate temperature of 60 Celsius, one could almost be lead to believe that this is stock performance, but it's not. 

This temperature is right about where a liquid-cooled card runs at under a moderate overclock, so we mustn't rule out that as a possibility. There has been much news of liquid cooled Big Navi cards, so it wouldn't come as a surprise.

The launch for the RX 6800 and 6800 XT is scheduled for November 18th, so we'll know more soon. The RX 6800 is AMD's mid-tier card that is set to launch for $579 with the RX 6800 XT landing in at $649.

Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • Kamen Rider Blade
    Not really surprised given the maturity of 7nm process and what it can do.
    Reply
  • javiindo
    The RX 6800 is AMD's mid-tier card. Seriusly? Are we crazy? It's the 3rd less powerfull, but it's not mid-tier!!!
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    javiindo said:
    The RX 6800 is AMD's mid-tier card. Seriusly? Are we crazy? It's the 3rd less powerfull, but it's not mid-tier!!!

    Its mid-tier for now

    they will probably release slower cheaper cards on the same arch next year.
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    /sigh

    Because core frequency means everything to performance, huh?
    Just disregard Vram, IPC, stream processors, compute units, blah, blah, blah.

    /sarcasm
    Ohh, the RTX 30 series can't touch those kinds of numbers, so the new RX 6000 cards are going to hammer RTX 30!
    /end sarcasm
    Reply
  • javiindo
    Makaveli said:
    Its mid-tier for now

    they will probably release slower cheaper cards on the same arch next year.
    What s a 5700xt and 5600xt for you ? Entry level ? And a 5500xt, Rx 570, 580? The 6800 is just 70$ cheaper that the 6800xt and they are sharing the same chip. To my eyes it's the top tier to me.
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    javiindo said:
    What s a 5700xt and 5600xt for you ? Entry level ? And a 5500xt, Rx 570, 580? The 6800 is just 70$ cheaper that the 6800xt and they are sharing the same chip. To my eyes it's the top tier to me.

    Yes eventually the whole stack will be on RDNA 2 and everything else will be discontinued and on sale to clear inventory.
    Reply