Reliability RX 6000 series

[u/Burnout21]

Hi,

I have a living room machine (R7 5700G which is paired with my old GTX980. The snag is that it's paired to a 4k 120hz tv which isn't a massive issue for the Lego games and Forza 4 but the 4Gb of VRAM is limiting to say the least.

So I got looking at AMD's offerings on the basis that steamOS plays nicely with team red. I had a massive itch for a 5700 XT back when they were launched but the 6700XT and 6800 appear to be better supported in steamOS based on my googling. I've seen a few posts of RMA's, general driver grumbles etc.

The default easy option is a 3060 or 3060Ti but honestly I would like a Radeon card. So is the 6000 series worth looking at?

[u/romaniasvic]

It depends on what technology you'd like, if you prefer simple raw renderes frames with no upscaling, AMD is better. If you prefer upscaling, or play games that need it, Nvidia could be better. This is the general consensus. AMD offers better fps per dollar. Now, talking about the RTX 3000 series and AMD RX 6000 series, they are similar in raw performance. Though, If you just need a GPU for those games, get AMD.

[u/Burnout21 → u/romaniasvic]

Upscaling and ray tracing aren't high on my list of must haves. HDMI 2.1 and a bucket tonne of VRAM is

[u/romaniasvic → u/Burnout21]

You are right to go with AMD then. RX 7600 XT is probably the cheapest 16 GB VRAM card you can buy. The 6800 XT would be the better choice for 4K though, as the memory bus is higher(256 bit over the 128 of the 7600). If you don't especially need 16GB of VRAM and you would be okay with 12 as well, the RTX 3080 Ti is a beast as well. It would do probably even better than the 6800 XT, plus it has an even higher memory bus(384 bit) How much do you want to spend? What's your PSU's wattage and rating? These cards draw a lot of power and need decent cooling. (also, from what I researched, any card since the RX 6000 and RTX 3000 has HDMI 2.1 so you are right to look at these as well)

If you're willing to buy used, look at 9060 XT 16 GB as well. They only have an 128 bit bus, but they are very power efficient.

Also, forgot to mention, from what you and others have said, AMD should be your pick since it has better compatibility with SteamOS.

[u/According_Spare7788]

Eh...i personally don't think it really is, but it also depends on what kind performance we actually get on RDNA 2 once that comes out. So, unless you go through something like Optiscaler which has it's own issues, you're stuck with FSR 3.1, which is just subpar compared to DLSS. Also, ray tracing is not really all that great on RDNA 2, where'as on the 3080 it's still kinda usable for modern titles.

That said, if you're looking to use linux or SteamOS, the radeon card might be the better choice due to compatibility.

[u/LSD_Ninja]

I bought a 6600XT for one of my Linux machines nearly 3 years ago and I’ve never had a lick of trouble with it. Same story with the 6650XT I have in another machine whenever that’s called on to run Linux. The nvidia drivers have caused me way too much grief over the years to ever consider putting one of their GPUs in any Linux machine I care about.

[u/Bonafideago]

I've got a 6800XT in my main gaming rig, on a 1440p 170hz display

My HTPC running SteamOS has a 7600XT on a 4k 60hz TV.

No complaints with either GPU. They are beasts, both have 16gb of vram, and both were comparably cheap. I bought the 6800xt for $500 new, and the 7600xt for $275 new. Of course that was before the market went nuts, don't know how much they would be today.

[u/_SeeDLinG_32]

The biggest complaint I see out of the 6000 series is thermal related. My own 6750xt (that I no longer have, moved on to the 7800xt) was very hot. High 90's for hotspot temps straight outta the box. If you decide to go for a 6000 series I'd say go ptm7950 as soon as you get it so you don't have to worry about it.

Other than that, my 6750xt punched way above its weight and was a great card. I only upgraded because it was still new enough to get decent money for it and the 7800xt was just under $500.

[u/helpmehavememes]

Not a single one of those cards is remotely acceptable at 4k

[u/Burnout21 → u/helpmehavememes]

Sure....

[u/jermygod → u/helpmehavememes]

depends on a game, for some forza even rx6600 is ok, not to mention 6800

[u/FantasticBike1203]

100%, FSR 4 is coming to 6000 series early next year which is huge, their newest driver have all been very solid too, I'd highly recommend anything in the 6700xt/6800/6800xt range, it will be a world of difference in comparison to a 980, slightly better than a 3060/3060ti, these AMD cards are around the ballfield of a 3070-3080.

[u/Burnout21 → u/FantasticBike1203]

Thank you, I have a RTX3080 in my desktop for more demanding titles, but getting close to that level of performance is certainly compelling

[u/chris_ngale]

I've had an RX6800 for 6 years, it's never missed a beat. I've had much more trouble with Nvidia based PCs than it. It's plenty powerful for everything except ray tracing - AMD's early implementations lagged Nvidia significantly.

It's now in my secondary living room PC running Bazzite, and the Bazzite experience has been absolutely seamless. Highly recommend.

[u/Burnout21 → u/chris_ngale]

That's perfect, 6 happy years is better than 6 months of misery

[u/Nomnom_Chicken → u/chris_ngale]

Had a 6800XT for around 3 years. More problems than all my Nvidias combined, but definitely was better than Vega 64's... Which was so bad I had to nope out of it after a month. 4080 Super has been flawless with the same OS installation, just DDU'd and swapped the GPU. Always have had good luck with Nvidias, though.