Tear-Down: AMD RX 6700 XT Design is Weak

[@GamersNexus]

Buy a GN Tear-Down Toolkit on the store: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit Buy a GN Mouse Mat on the store: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-mouse-mat Watch our AMD RX 6700 XT review: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZubhKiAZ7KVbKM

[@Kevinb1821]

Why isn’t the back side of the pcb exposed like on the 6800 and up cards?

[@AshenTechDotCom]

i gave up when i realized i was never going to be able to afford to upgrade to anything modern, this x5675@4.4-4.8ghz will be my last gaming system, when it cant play modern games anymore... im just done gaming.... i live on SSI, i have to be careful with money and my purchases, with the prices skyrocketing with zero signs of them becoming more reasonable, living on under 800usd a month... no way can i save up enough to even replace my videocard if it fails... and i expect the prices to keep going up.... and miners to keep getting all the cards... perhaps game developers can stop advancing games and start building games for the hardware people can actually get ahold of... anyway... good review, exactly what i expected, half arse work by amd, because, they know it dosnt matter, their not selling to gamers, they are selling to mining farms... hopefully this system holds up another decade... and before this crap hit... i was close to getting a ryzen core system upgrade.... oh well 48gb of ddr3 2133@1760 10-10-10-29 cr1 or 9-9-9-27 cr2 at least lets me use primocache to get nvme perf out of standard sata drives.... speccy.piriform.com/results/2v2cGHLQb2SiXyV6WujO3dy i expect to be able to upgrade in another decade, to stuff thats out now....

[@goofball1_134]

'nobody has ever used metal to transfer heat before' that one had me dying lmao

[@UberArchangel]

Thermal Pad thickness? Did I miss that? If doing a tear down always get thermal pad thickness' and dimensions along with fan models, tools needed, etc. Write a simple list update as needed. So foor every video card I will do xyz. You are awesome by the way and did address most of these.

[@phillipsaxton760]

@@UberArchangel about 1mm, it was text on the screen while talking about the size of the cold plate

[@watercannonscollaboration2281]

Steve: flips the backplate over Steve: My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day has been ruined

[@monktech7913]

yes lol

[@martinbadoy5827]

They should have just not included a backplate to improve airflow :p

[@timhartherz5652]

Yeah, what's the point in having a Backplate, without Pads. If you going to be cheap, go all the Way, and make it just the PCB, IO Plate, Heatsink and Fan.

[@veritassyfer1185]

I feel the same. For $500+ USD at least put in some thermal pads. Already paying damn near twice what we paid for same class few years back. It's crazy.

[@WalksWithNoFear]

Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence

[@sythiktv]

The amount of shade in this video lowered my ambient temperature by a whopping 10 degrees

[@KleinMeme]

Can still remember as high end cards sold for around 500 to 600€ and midrange for ~200. Good old times.

[@niklasholgerson3779]

Yeah, 6 years ago I paid 500€ for my GTX 980. With an average of 1.2% inflation that's 535€ today. I guess NVidia and AMD used f*cking raytracing to screw everyone over...

[@ValentineC137]

If they were still making 28nm GPU’s they would probably still be that cheap

[@pikkyuukyuun4741]

I remember times when phones never costed four fucking figures but people just accepted it for some reason

[@Skyhawk1998]

@@pikkyuukyuun4741 You've got to have eight cameras to take pictures of your stuff so you can use your massive amounts of RAM to post the highly compressed image on Facebook.

[@gamingmarcus]

@@niklasholgerson3779 It's actually not only Nvidia's and AMD's fault. Yes they (especially Nvidia) screwed with consumers but the main problem is increased cost of silicon. These processes are expensive as hell. For comparison here are the rough costs of one wafer: TSMC 12 nm (RTX 2000 series): 4000$ TSMC 7 nm : 9000$ TSMC 5 nm : 17000$ So guess what the next GPUs will cost when the raw material bill just doubles from one gen to the next. Now that I'm writing this...perhaps they artifically increased prices this gen to reduce the price jump next gen.

[@lkok931]

for anyone that may see this and notice their card is running hot... 2mm thermal pads on the back dropped temps by 10C on the mem, I used thermalright odyssey for all the 6700xt's I own. it only takes about 5 minutes to do if you did want to lower those temps since it does run hot hot even with just gaming. Don't even have to touch the warranty sticker, just the outer 8 screws and it falls right off! The smallest pack of them or gelids you can buy for like $10-$15 should suffice! :)

[@jaarizpe]

Could you show where on the backside you added them?

[@kaka0bab]

@@jaarizpe also curious

[@Altair123]

where you exactly put them? will be quite helpful! thanks

[@lkok931]

@@Altair123 so when you take the back plate off you'll just put a strip on the backside of each of the memory modules rows, you can probably tell where they are. There's only a few screws that hold the backplate on. I was using 2mm thermal pads but I think 1.5 should work without causing the backplate to bow out like 2mm does slightly. It's the biggest improvement I've seen from adding pads on the backplate tbh.

[@emperorxina2914]

@@Altair123 best to look up a trusty and detailed guide on yt.

[@SonGoku-97]

Nvidia: Prepare for trouble! AMD: Make it double!

[@First-Name_Last-Name]

PC USER use QUICK ATTACK! It doesn't affect SCALPERS... PC USER is confused!

[@HaHa-qz1nx]

Stock: We're blasting off again!

[@KillerInstinct1]

🤣

[@watcherman222]

Scalpers: Meowth, that’s right!

[@TarunTechEnvironmentCC]

In India, 6700xt is still in stock!

[@sietsedegrande213]

The 6700xt is the 5800xt they couldn't make a year ago

[@neonlights_12]

No glue timestamp? Fine, I'll do glue timestamps myself. Editing this comment as I go. Edit: Damn, not a drop of glue. 10/10 on GlueMark

[@psychohawk1]

The glue is in AMD cpu's though, right? lol

[@smoofles]

If GN were clickbaiting, we’d have a "GLOBAL THERMAL PAD SHORTAGE?!" title to this video.

[@tobiwonkanogy2975]

wouldnt even be clickbait . where are the two pads that should be on vrm and inductors lol.

[@TheHueOfHues]

that would be the LTT title

[@Avalon304]

The "So this is the Tea-- this is the Radeon RX 6700XT" gag was perfectly delivered. Just flawless.

[@dngerr]

I don't get it

[@kirillpetrovsky5830]

@@dngerr google "team rocket nintendo"

[@Qhimadi]

@@dngerr minute 2:40 he was about to say this is the team rocket rx 6700xt and stopped mid word of team

[@ktzore]

Only Tech Jesus can do this and pulled it off

[@solidsnake6405]

@@dngerr it's a Pokémon thing!! I didn't get it either and had to Google it.. youngings today!!

[@matt4193]

"Void if removed", not punctured. So yeah its still under warranty.

[@Michael18751]

LMAO

[@Gentamoru]

Spoken like a true lawyer

[@Blarnix]

Those stickers are illegal anyway

[@watercannonscollaboration2281]

The R9 290 launched for $400...oh yes times have changed

[@_--_--_]

And 1080Ti for 700

[@Atreea]

i miss the days where a flagship gpu cost $400 and the mid ranges cost $150 now its just stagnation and price increase

[@SparkY0]

@@_--_--_ You can still buy a 1080Ti for $700, they just renamed it to RTX3060

[@jintsuubest9331]

@@_--_--_ 1080ti is a mistake Nvidia will never made again.

[@Tx_zx]

@@SparkY0 RTX 3060 is weaker than 1080 Ti in many games

[@pkt1213]

Steve sounds like a disappointed dad. "Well you tried. Not real hard but you did try."

[@mereth13]

I think we've already seen this card has a lot of problems, and falls into the "it's not great, but regardless, you had already probably decided to buy it or not buy it" so I'm not sure the flatness testing is worth the effort, but something this might benefit from, and generally I'd love to see you guys take on from time to time, is make a few of the simple mods that you point out as flaws in the design, and see what kind of improvement you get over the stock performance, just by adding extra pads or better paste or whatever else. In addition to being entertaining, I think the "see how easily we improved your design for what would cost you pennies" factor would really add that extra punch to your frequent requests for the engineers/manufacturers to stop skimping or being lazy.

[@rafaelmarkos4489]

I'm with you on the general idea, but I think it would probably be too much effort to invest for just a 6700xt... Maybe a longer-form series on general manufacturing quality deficiencies and other shortcomings? One that isn't dependent on the GPU release cycle, and more evergreen (something that people tell me is something the KZbin algorithm likes these days).

[@longjohn526]

I'm all for taking a cheap device and making it better with some simple common sense mods .... The problem here is this is not a cheap card at least price point wise

[@Merahki3863]

@@longjohn526 it will be when mining isn't worth it again

[@dandaly7305]

@@rafaelmarkos4489 "...just a 6700xt..." - those who can't afford the higher tiered cards (6800 up) deserve the same testing. There are more users at the 1060-ish level (back when we could afford 'mid-tier' cards and they existed), and surely they want to know how to improve performance (since AMD didn't bother). They also tend to hold onto them longer. Particularly under current global circumstances. Is thermal paste that dry on other new cards?

[@asteria9963]

@@dandaly7305 i am with you on this. mid-tier cards tend to be the most popular, which means a lot of people would benefit from it, rather than the 5% or so who buy the flagships.

[@syncmonism]

I kinda regret not getting the Sapphire Pulse version of the 6700 XT when I saw one available (new) for about 530 CAD (including shipping), about 390 USD. The 6700 XT, as long as the cooler is alright, is a way better value than anything from Nvidia at around 340-390.

[@ultrarigo6829]

If you're okay looking at the used market you can find some incredible deals right now.

[@mattp6089]

@@ultrarigo6829 $400 Australian for a reference 6700 XT. I call that a good deal.

[@ultrarigo6829]

@mattp6089 that's awesome. I just got a used 6900xt for $500 USD. It works great so I'm very happy with my new card that'll last a decent amount of years 😄

[@mattp6089]

@@ultrarigo6829 Awesome. I intend to replace my 1080 and get some more VRAM for what I hope will improve things like Flight Simulator and DCS while I wait out the current madness for what now looks like being 1-2 more years. For reference to my definition of 'current madness', new 4090s here START at $2950 in local money. Hoping a second hand 6700XT, with thermal goop and pads redone, undervolted and with overclocked RAM will fill a gap in the meantime with a few extra frames.

[@taitruong968]

@@mattp6089 got one for 250 USD used. base model 6700xt.

[@opraiderman904]

Looks like Team Rocket blasted off with all of the GPU's once again 🚀🚀🚀

[@nnm711]

Crypto miners are the Team Rocket of the gaming industry, lol.

[@Tarrasq-Eredar]

@@nnm711 there was never a supply to begin with.

[@ozzyp97]

@@Tarrasq-Eredar Crypto miners had no trouble inflating the price of Pascal, with a very limited supply their impact could only be worse. They're also incentivised to justify a high purchase price due to potential mining profits, exacerbating the scalper problem.

[@Tarrasq-Eredar]

@@ozzyp97 well da if supply is low, inflating prices gets easier. That much we know, your point is?

[@ozzyp97]

@@Tarrasq-Eredar That stock issues don't change the fact that miners are making the GPU market worse? If that's not a relevant reply, I'm not sure if you had a point either.

[@World_Theory]

So… If someone with this card wants a bit more cooling from this, they just need to put thermal pads in all the places you pointed out. I personally would probably unplug the LEDs as well, because I don't need tiny, always on flashlights inside my computer that just use power and produce heat. (Though, only in tiny amounts.)

[@KeeferMaddness]

I’m going to be unplugging that bright red led for sure. Lol

[@daveblueballz6659]

boomer

[@World_Theory]

@@daveblueballz6659 Get it right; I'm a weird utilitarian hipster nerd thing. (WUHNT for short.)

[@DeadPiixxel]

@@World_Theory okay

[@NoobAlike]

They added fancy ass R metal plate on the front but didn't bother putting thermal pads.

[@SparkY0]

I think its shiny plastic

[@longjohn526]

Welcome to "Beancounter Engineering" .... Where symbolism always takes precedent over substance

[@knifeyonline]

@@longjohn526 lol can't see thermal pads under a plate after all

[@WestSeaSpirit]

It looks so cheap like buying from the 99¢ store

[@broken1965]

It's ironman flux capacitor

[@johntotten4872]

Steve, would love to see a video where you add some thermal pads to areas they should have and test for thermals (Also making sure to cover the die completely with thermal paste) and compare them. Your humor and frustration never disappoints.

[@thatslegit]

0:16 *flips $1,000 rare earth metal brick "Doesn't matter"

[@ktzore]

He is Tech Jesus its all beyond material value to him

[@ap4702]

Its not even close to being worth $1,000. In fact one retailer tried selling on newegg for just over $900 but non of the bots or scalpers even bought that.

[@togesaurplays5169]

I’ve seen it on eBay for $1500 multiple times with bids.

[@deanbartolo6199]

@@ap4702 depends on the board partner. Goes anywhere from 700 - 1.4K here in Aus

[@TLM-Nathan]

@@ap4702 Microcenter in KS is selling them for $750 - $850 for partner models. Ridiculous.

[@OSik83]

Imo good paste, good pads, pads on mem backside like you said. And testing how much of a difference it makes (and other ideas you might have about cooling related perf) - is what I would like to see. To know just how much they are skimping on those.

[@Greyghostvol1]

People (fanbois) need to take this to heart. AMD/nVidia/Intel it doesn’t matter. They are not your friends. Corporate is going to corporate. Just be an informed consumer and protect yourself with knowledge.

[@React2Quick]

Exactly this, these companies do not care about you. Only the money they gain from you buying their products.

[@LawrenceTimme]

Or just don't be a consoooooomer at all.

[@Nick-ue7iw]

There is something wrong, it's way too expensive.

[@arkdesign9517]

@@josephnorris4095 price and build quality are very wrong. Nobody should defend this. If nvidia made a card like this, all amd fanboys would slate them for a year. If intel made a card like this, they'd be called greedy cnts who cut corners for quick profits. If amd did this, and they did, amd fanboys encourage them, buy them and promote them everywhere. It's crummy when nvidia or intel does it, amd apparently has no choice. If intel pulled the pricing on their cpus same as amd, they'd be calling them greedy. When amd did it, every amd parrot started making excuses how it's a business, not a charity, that they need capital to invest... basically if amd does it, it's good, regardless what it is.

[@joabeamaral83]

Say that to Playstation/xbox/Nintendo fanboys.

[@jra5624]

Steve's savagery increases every video. This is how you know you got a good tech-head at the mast. Chaotic-Good. He will throw shade at anyone who deserves the shade, and this is why we love him and his team.

[@crylune]

Indeed. A good wake up call to all the fanboys.

[@edmond4005]

Steve calls it like he sees it. So much respect for this dude.

[@nicolasthibeault345]

I was about to say that but i saw the comments was the same as my thoughts haha...

[@nicolasthibeault345]

Shitty design to discourage taking it apart...?

[@alreed2434]

From the sound of that falling over I know I don't want it...

[@jake20479]

PLEASE do your full suite of tests. you help EVERYONE make smart decisions in the tech community and in all honesty.. i feel like these guys need to get called out on this kind of behavior.. dont hold back.

[@Bryan11210]

Really what matters is the temps imo...I don't care if it's a more level cold plate or better fin stack or thermal pads making contact in more places.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Yeah, it will really help people see which "mid-range" card is worth it over the other or is it worth saving or going used. Also, hold the manufacturer's responsible if it is a flawed design or let us know if it's just fine.

[@alreed2434]

@@Bryan11210 All that stuff greatly affects temps though...

[@cin2110]

@@Bryan11210 If those things were made correctly your gpu could’ve been 10-20 degrees c cooler and it would be easier to overclock because your memory would be cooled properly unlike this shit

[@longjohn526]

@@alreed2434 And for just an extra couple of bucks ...... You can't even justify this are "designing to a price point" because the price point sucks ..... This graphics card is going for at least $100 more than it's worth .....

[@HenriNero]

Nearly 500$ for midrange is already starting to sound really bs, even considering the inflation.

[@SonGoku-97]

God damn Steve is just really sick of shit lmao. Honestly can't blame em. I think everyone is

[@youtubevanced4900]

Yeah seems like he's not all that interested anymore.

[@SpacewolfDan]

we all are. no quality at all here in the hard ware

[@LawrenceTimme]

It's not even that bad. I think just people are butt hurt about the lack of stock.

[@tribopower]

@@LawrenceTimme its a number of factos tbh, but to be fair companies don't need to do any effort to sell a bottom line 500-600$ msrp card... and that is really sad

[@quintoblanco8746]

One of the problems is that most companies keep inventing the wheel. Work on a good design, keep it.

[@lukeperryglover]

"I'm going to be disappointed if there are no thermal pads on here," and the sigh when there wasn't lol It is shitty, but Steve was just funny.

[@conza1989]

LMAO omg, AMD's PMs are ACTUALLY TEAM ROCKET haha, oh I'm going to lose a lung!

[@ArthurM1863]

Nice pfp :)

[@eriKrypto]

I realize this is an old post/vid, but I can't be the only one who comes to your excellent stuff after time has passed, a card needs work, and your tear-downs are de facto regimen prior to opening an unfamiliar card. I wish to God in all your tear-down evaluation vids you would take a moment and measure the damn thermal pads that ARE present. Yes, I have a caliper. Yes, I measure to figure it out. But that tiny bit of reassurance from you confirming it would be golden. Thank you for all you do. I watch everything GN posts.

[@patd1471]

"except at a launch event in a room full of media" lmao

[@MoveTheMouse]

"This screw is different. Be aware if you take one of these apart in the fantasy land where you can actually get one of these" 🤣 lol

[@zelkuta]

Hey steve you didn't tell me the mouse mat also has that new car smell! Mine came in the mail and the build quality blew me away. It's so nice I feel like I shouldn't even be using it.

[@GamersNexus]

Haha, glad you like it! Thanks so much for trying it out. They can hold up to a lot and are easily cleaned by hand with some soap and water, so use with confidence!

[@zelkuta]

@@GamersNexus good to know!

[@matasa7463]

Boy, you weren't kidding, I just tried to smell mine, and it does have that. It's probably from the plastic softener for the backside of the mat. Funny enough, right after I bought my toolkit and mat, Steve did a stream where everything bought during said stream would be autographed by the team. There's a price to pay for rushing...

[@mikep9418]

Costing an extra $20 for the autographed versions there's a price to pay for ink too!

[@alreed2434]

@@mikep9418 He's got to fund raise for the carpal tunnel surgery!

[@dermothoyne2393]

The moment I heard rattling, from the GPUs *faceplant*, "this is gonna be G-O-O-D- " [Muttley laugh escalating]

[@thelaneyo]

I'd love to see deeper testing if you can make time for it, if only to let these companies know that they're going to get called on it.

[@jintsuubest9331]

GN being calling names as far back as his debut as reviewers. The sad thing is no one really cares and, company will exploited that, and try as much shady shit as possible unless there are legal and/or financial repercussion.

[@dra6o0n]

Yet Hardware Unboxed tests CPU limited settings and get called out for it. Tests different combinations of stuff and gets shadow banned. Maybe it's because they think Canadian audiences have no backbone.

[@rafaeldullnig1320]

As a heads up , Rossman does the same for apple and I don't think they even take notice of him. Guess channels under 5Mil subs aren't influencing much and channels smaller than 1Mil just get yeeted under the bus?

[@souldead6471]

Same, been kinda disappointed with this gen but I'll probably still invest into an EVGA card to upgrade from my ages old 960.

[@dra6o0n]

@@rafaeldullnig1320 Apple knows about Rossman, but it's mainly the contractors that works with Apple that hates him. Basically 3rd party companies are the ones picking up bread crumbs dropped by their corporate overlords. It's like being hated by farmers when you call out corporations that pays farmers for their crops, that overly process them into unhealthy food. These are "Blacklisting" and "Black sheep" sort of attitudes, where someone amongst the community of "specialist" decides to upheave the status quo and gets mobbed.

[@lamp7777]

Would be interesting to see how this design performs with the thermal pads added

[@mikev8500]

I would be interested in seeing a video where you apply the extra thermal pads and compare

[@sp00n]

Yes please! I'd be really interesting to see how much thermals would improve with some sticky tape.

[@magicdanielstyle]

I ordered one. If someone could tell me the thickness of the thermal pads, i could buy some and could tell you the difference. Maybe 1mm or 1.5mm?

[@francescolacamera9009]

@@magicdanielstyle 1mm (check bottom left @ 15:56), would prolly order 1/1.5 and maybe a 1.5 or 2mm for the backplate

[@Rspsand07]

Someone did it on a 6900 xt video, and got around 8-10C less, but it was the same temps as removing the backplate entirely.

[@whos_noner7189]

Como estás compare?

[@user-fo1nk3pd1t]

Had a feeling to not bother with this card. Not that I could get one, but something about it makes me steer clear. Better to wait/dream for something else

[@bl4d3runn3rX]

Thermalpads on the back before and after test please...

[@asmodeusml]

So, you remember those crappy coolers you used to find on low-end Maxwell and Pascal GPUs? Nowadays they slap similar solutions on almost $500 MSRP GPUs. What a time to be alive, eh?

[@SogenOkami]

Steve: puts AMD on blast. AMD: We're blasting off again!

[@miliardario4924]

Hey Steve! Thanks very much! I bought some random thermal pads (2mm) and the vram temperatures decreased noticeably under stress. Before the pads under stress I was getting 92~94 degrees celsius with 22 degrees room temperature. Now I get ~84 degrees celsius under extreme stress and can't get any higher than that (with overclocked speed of vram at 2150 mhz I see 86 degrees under maximum load). For those who might benefit I bought 12w, 85*45*2.0mm thermal pads and one pack was enough. (Btw, for those who just game I don't think any pads are needed, I haven't seen temps rise over 65 degrees anyway by gaming). Design is s**t, but thanks again for the info and the tip Steve! ;)

[@rossbalch]

I personally find all the testing interesting, regardless of whether you can actually get the cards are not. It's a purely engineering interest I guess.

[@djsatane]

at this point pc gaming could die due to gpu shortage

[@andrezunido]

Prove how bad it is so we don't feel bad about not being able to get one.

[@GlitterGoose]

I don't know what others want, but I think chemical paper test and cold plate info is absolutely wonderful content. I would love to see that video, and I hope others enjoy learning more about these kind of things as much as I do.

[@Dennzer1]

yes please

[@snakeatwar]

We want more testing for sure. It's a vocal minority that doesn't want testing. These cards will be available at **some** point and we want to know how good or in this case how bad they are. Please keep the testing going!

[@cosmic_drew]

This is why I buy Sapphire cards when I go AMD.

[@desmondmilesful]

when I got my Sapphire Nitro 5700XT I swear by it. the cleanest look. the cool temps. great aftermarket cards.

[@mot0rhe4d40]

Have loved Sapphire cards for a long time. Very clean designs and solid performance.

[@kennethd4958]

I went back to Sapphire with my 6800 and got the Pulse. I love Sapphire or Powercolor for AMD.

[@MrMilkyCoco]

Yup theyre the best with amd hardware. Its either sapphire for amd or evga for nvidia.

[@user-pn1fe6sg2w]

@@MrMilkyCoco this is the way.

[@MrMcGreed]

I'm watching this channel to learn and to understand computertech better. I don't honestly think I should be the one deciding what goes on it. I don't care if it's GPU-reviews, Ln2 livestreams, silly cat-themed builds or whatever. I like seeing Steve and crews passion for hardware and appreaciate what they're doing to try to keep companies honest and consumers informed. Long story short: Keep up the good work - I know no one can buy a GPU at the moment and it's annoying and angering a lot of people, which might hurt your business and your mood. But I for one would just like to see the content, that you and your team find important and fun to make!

[@short-circut2262]

10:49 Steve: I’ll explain why in a moment... also Steve: doesn’t explain why :(

[@TakumisBizarreRacingAdventure]

Ikr lol I was waiting for it. Either he didn't explain it or I missed it.

[@SchkuenteQoostewin]

@@TakumisBizarreRacingAdventure You both missed it.....The fan headers

[@RJ_Cormac]

That corporate reach around while pounding his wallet hole; edited out to prevent unnecessary Hardware Unboxed drama. Why even care when they can't manufacture enough for regular people, as currently these reviews are only marketed towards cryptocurrency mining. 🤔😒🙄🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

[@starr0401]

8:11 "Andrew, can you uh... run to the unicorn store and pick up some unicorns and video cards?" Um, what??

[@cosmic_drew]

You're one of the best and the best at trying to be the best at testing these products. Don't worry about people getting mad at you for doing a thorough and good job.

[@ValentineC137]

Seeing the hotspot hitting 90+ did catch my attention, so I was very excited when this appeared in my subbox

[@danijelujcic8644]

After a few runs of Superposition my sample hit 80 degrees and 100 degrees hotspot. Considering removing the backplate. Screwing up the warranty sticker seems like someting I'm willing to risk considering the card has been doing just fine since I got it 2 weeks ago.

[@Chef42]

I would love to see more detailed testing with the contact paper and such. It's honestly a bummer to see you guys cutting back on content because some people only care about now rather than info that would be highly valuable 6 months to a year or more down the road. I completely understand why GN would make that choice. It's just disappointing to see that people (not GN) in general are so short sighted.

[@Dennzer1]

yes please

[@SparkY0]

When you realize this flimsy GPU costs $80 more than the digital PS5, and $180 more than the XSeS. The die is a similar size, the memory is close enough. How much do you think one of these cards really costs to produce/ship compared to an entire console? If you assume the consoles are sold at (or slightly above) cost, theres still a ton of margin to be made selling a much smaller/lighter/simpler product with no SSD, wifi, controller, PSU, etc. I'm sitting here thinking about how you can walk into any best buy and get a name-brand LG 60" 4k UHD smart TV for $480. I can't imagine what it costs just to ship something like that into the country, let alone produce and package it. But sure, leave out the thermal pads. You've earned those pennies AMD.

[@mot0rhe4d40]

" $479 MSRP " Oh You Naive Bastard You 🤣. Saw only one mythical 6700xt for $400 something. Every other card was $750-$850+. Keep up the good work guys.

[@SpacewolfDan]

lml lml motorhead lml lml

[@velocity211]

i just got my 6700xt and holy crap the memory temperatures are insane. 30 min of stress testing and the mem temps hit 110C and started to thermal throttle, core/junction temp was normal in the 70s-80s. I added 2mm gelid pads to the backplate and dropped about 8C. I'm thinking of replacing the front thermal pads as well.

[@danijelujcic8644]

After a few runs of Superposition my sample hit 80 degrees and 100 degrees hotspot. Considering removing the backplate. Screwing up the warranty sticker seems like someting I'm willing to risk considering the card has been doing just fine since I got it 2 weeks ago.

[@wadsefrgthzjkl]

this helps me a lot to stop regretting that i bought an RX 5700 XT. :D

[@kennethd4958]

Why would you regret that? It’s a great card.

[@bobdole2184]

It was the correct choice for last gen lol 😂 20 series was a scam beta.

[@NeXMaX]

I don't think anyone would regret buying it especially if they aren't looking for DLSS and RT. It's a great card

[@longjohn526]

I regretted buying one .... at least for the first 6 months or so of broken buggy drivers and AMDs crappy tech support ...... I replaced it with a MSI 2080 Super Seahawk X for $500 back in October after seeing that getting a new graphics card was going to be nearly impossible ..... It just eats up the RX 5700 and spits out the chucks .... and it runs at 55 C or below with all my games .... It not only outperforms the RX 5700 in Raster Graphics it has DLSS 2.0 and Ray Tracing, a better recording/streaming software package and can even do some light AI functions for engineering thanks to the Tensor Cores ..... Cripes I just got back $300 by selling the GTX 1660 Ti that I replaced with the RX 5700 which my nephew has, in fact he has my entire old rig except for the 3 GB and 4 GB storage hard drives

[@bobdole2184]

@@basshead. nope because I got mine 6 months after launch 🚀 so no driver issues and the drivers made it age like fine wine 🍷

[@sadlerbw9]

Do I want more flatness testing? The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. The major things I want to know where flatness may come up are: 1. Does the cooler do it’s job. If the temps on major components are good, then whatever the flatness is, it isn’t handicapping the card. 2. Where can I improve the card on my own if I want more performance? So, if I want to push a higher OC, I will be looking at things I can do that the manufacturer didn’t. Better paste/pads, adding pads where there are none, replacing fans or modifying shrouds, etc. if the Die isn’t flat, that is a pretty serious task to fix. If the cooler baseplate isn’t flat, that I might actually tackle. So, if the cooler isn’t flat to the point I could see more than 1C-2C gains from fixing it, I would be interested. 3. Am I getting what I am paying for? So, if a cooler works, but not nearly as well as it should for the price being asked, I want to know where they cut corners. If the cooler looks cheap but isn’t priced as such, I want to know where they cut corners. 4. If a cooler is flat-out bad, I want to know why. If it isn’t even doing to job of keeping the card from throttling, dig into it and include the flatness testing. For me, those are the main reasons I might be interested in flatness testing. I don’t think you need to test every card, just ones where the flatness could change a buy/don’t buy decision, or where it is relevant to the value or modability of a card. Not sure modability is a word, but you know what I mean.

[@linearlink]

Something I’ve observed over the years is that anything that is being touted as “innovative” and/or “revolutionary” almost never is.

[@riel0563]

Just like startups claiming they're "disrupting" lol.

[@Tubes78]

Thnx a lot. This video helped me take it apart, clean it and put new paste on it. Also used the thermal pad nod from Reddit. Card runs a lot cooler now. It would regularly hit 90, now it hovers around 78-80 degrees.

[@Mammothtruk]

Id love to see the pressure and levelness testing, and anything else you want to throw at my eyes and brain. I enjoy that deeper more interesting content

[@Karan_HDS]

Came looking for this comment.

[@90khaki]

I started watching your videos a few weeks ago. You've quickly become my go to for news/reviews. Thanks for all you do.

[@briguyyt932]

GN videos are the only midnight drops I care about

[@ThaWhistle]

EVGA: here is a video card with red lipstick. Everyone: That looks fukin awful. EVGA: OK, we'll change it. AMD, high on glue: BOY ARE YOU GUYS GONNA LOVE THIS STYLING

[@Freestyle80]

hardware unboxed would’ve titled this “Cooler Design: Better than 3070???”

[@arkdesign9517]

Amd unboxed never misses an occasion to suck up to amd and get more likes and views from cringy amdbots.

[@Freestyle80]

@@arkdesign9517 they were literally the only ones who gave 6700 XT a somewhat positive title, they also always shit talk stuff like RT or DLSS yet people think they are unbiased

[@sages7783]

So.... pretty much what Nvidia did with the 3060, and intel did with the 11000 series, and even AMD did with the 5000 series- raise the price for the comparable core count, so essentially you aren't getting any more performance per dollar than the immediately previous generation. Great. Loved the intro LOL, pretty much what everyone feels about the pc parts market right now.

[@metal_bassist]

I'd like to see a thermalpaste video on this design and what performance increases can be acquired if the user fixes the issues themselves

[@TJCUBIO]

The lines around the copper block on the cooler look more to me like cnc machining marks from an endmill, at least through video

[@dontthinkastronaut]

steve, you should do the basic tests on no thermal pads vs a quick mod-up of your own, for science

[@aryanak1989]

Steve would you do a comparison video showing the difference in temp and benchmarks between what the card actually is and what it could be of it had those thermal pads? 🙏🏼

[@KeeferMaddness]

Agreed. Junction temps are high on mine

[@roml1289]

The sticker is illegal in the US, but not in the rest of the world, so they are not gonna make a special stickerless production line just for the US. They just need to remember they can't enforce it in the US.

[@LawrenceTimme]

Nowhere outside merica exists to mericans !

[@TheEtueify]

It's non enforceable in the EU either and a lot of other places. ( most places where people can afford these cards ) It's likely trying to dissuade people from RMA'ing their own product. ( not everyone knows their rights ) ( they will never admit to it, though ) Though within the EU warranty is so strong ( and long ) and restrictive that it might be counter intuitive as a costsaving/moneymaking measure.

[@roml1289]

@@TheEtueify i never Heard of it not being enforcable here in France. It if. Wasn't enforcable anywhere they wouldn't put them.

[@TheEtueify]

@@roml1289 If you could make money from selling someone who could RMA a graphics card a new graphics card you'd definitely would. Even if it's not enforable if that person thinks he can't repair his own card outside of warranty because of a cheap sticker you'd definitely put that sticker there. Apple makes a living off it if you look at some repair channels. Also, it's enforceable in brazil and a ton of other places, just not most of if not all of the EU.

[@roml1289]

@@TheEtueify Apple dont need any sticker, they just tell you "repaire (meening full intrenal swap) Will cost more than the machine, please buy a New one" 😂 and please dont go to Louis Rossmann, we make sure he doesn't get any chip

[@MetalAsFork]

Steve just finding 3080's on the shelf the way I discover unpaid bills... haha.

[@tommihommi1]

the 5700XT was what should have been a $250 polaris replacement, same with this card

[@DarkoPetreski]

There we go again...

[@runninginthe90s75]

GN doing RX 6700 XT teardown *[ DISAPPOINTMENT INTENSIFIES ]*

[@CharcharoExplorer]

Steve, make a video on a perfect or CLOSE to perfect design so we can see it. I guess more thermal pads, a separate Sapphire-esque VRAM/VRM heatsink, pass-through design, etc. is what is needed. Would be interesting.

[@JosiahBradley]

I wish Steve the best health and stress relief, but damn I do love it when he's disappointed or mad.

[@Code-n-Flame]

Not gonna lie. This gen of cards makes me appreciate my Strix 2080. At 1.068v my 2080 is pushing 2040 MHz and +1000 on the VRAM all while staying in the low 70s with the fans at a static 40%. I'm literally less than 10 FPS behind a 3060Ti. All due to great design and cooling. You'd think both AMD and Nvidia would be trying harder. Instead they're are literally sucking every cent dry. This gen of GPUs isn't widely available to most, and I actually think that's a good thing. Worst cost to performance generation of GPUs. Of all time. Easily.

[@jaronmarles941]

Wrong by a longshot, look at Maxwell vs Pascal excluding the 1080Ti (the ONLY time we got an increase over 50%). Specifically the 1070 vs 980Ti ($450 vs $600 launch). Then look at the 2080Ti vs the 3070 ($1000 vs $500 launch). Turing was worse by far with only one card having double digit gains over the 1080Ti for 2 years until drivers got good.

[@PolbeRacing]

Soooooo, I got a reference card at the release and was totally happy that I got one. The temps are.. meeeh That's why I bought some Thermal Grizzly Minus Pad 8 and replaced the standard thermal pads with the Pad 8s and also put some right under the backplate. I also replaced the thermal paste (with Arctic MX-4) because it was drier than the Sahara. My results: money waste - I got 0 temp difference even the idle temp is now higher and I don't know why. I disassembled the card twice but I found no mistake. Sad story overall.

[@SparkY0]

AIB partners: "Boohoo! Fans and aluminum are so expensive that we can't make make enough money selling this midrange card for $250, even though $150 - $199 was no problem, like, a year ago." Nvidia: "we got you fam, we'll raise MSRP to $330" AMD: "hold my beer" AIB partners: " lol, not even close to high enough. We're going to charge $600 instead"

[@Maxxarcade]

I struggled to find an old used RX 560 card with 4GB for less than $150 over the past week. The video card market is absolutely nuts. I'm so glad I'm not a gamer right now.

[@thomas4201]

Please do deaper testing! You guys put out some of my favorite content with these teardowns and commentary. It makes knowing what to look at much easier.

[@ZenDragonJP]

It's sad that all they have to do is exist to satisfy consumers, but they can't even make them exist...

[@shawndiaz7528]

I would be interested in seeing b4&after tests if you decide to slap some thermal pads on there and repaste it.

[@TheJackalxy]

8 years ago I spent 280 euro for a r9 280x (sapphire trix) and I always thought that was top mid range...

[@Overonator]

AMD: "Steve is a mean poopoo head." Steve could add the thermal pads you were talking about and show what the difference in temperatures are before and after?

[@RobBCactive]

Exactly, product engineers care if things run within spec, adding unecessary parts and steps to manufacture add costs but might also add a new way to fail, so should be tested. Sometimes Steve's oc-ing objectives appear to mean his goal is minimising heat rather than manage it to specs.

[@harukonoe4248]

@@RobBCactive He's an end-user. He cares about getting the most quality of an item he could get and if that means minimizing as much heat as possible then yes he'd want companies to add a few pennies for better cooling.

[@RobBCactive]

@@harukonoe4248 He's hand waving without data. There's also big user visible over size coolers on GPUs and triple fans which don't actually improve performance, perhaps they reduce fan noise slightly, but their real purpose is to increase AIB margins.

[@SchkuenteQoostewin]

I get a feeling this is going to be in the 2021 Disappointment build at the end of the year.

[@ffwast]

If it reflects the market there won't be any gpu in the disappointment build because you can't get one lol

[@halcyondraconis7437]

GN Video Card reviews, now with 100% more sarcasm.

[@TheAlphaWolf77]

It’s well deserved

[@bobg3034]

If the heat sink that cools the die gets hotter than the one cooling the memory then you don't want to connect the two with heat pads!

[@trash3570]

You would think a reference board would be the simplest and shittiest based on its cost but it’s always the opposite. They are the cheapest and contain the most convoluted designs

[@USSMariner]

So a big brain move would be to grab a better cooler from an older card and mount it to a reference board.

[@MisterCiv5]

I've seen you and other reviewers mention '"1$ increase for 1% more performance". That would mean you'd get double the performance compared to the previous model for a 100$ higher price, which, depending on the previous model's base price, might actually be a great value proposition. Do you mean "1% price increase for 1% more performance"? That would make more sense and keep the performance per dollar flat, and make the newer model not a better value.

[@StargazingCeres]

Steve: "We want something that's easier to maintain" AMD: "what?? no no no, you're just supposed to buy the next release and toss the old one"

[@Gentamoru]

ofc why else would they make something impossible to take appart without specific tools ...I'm looking at you Apple

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

I tried to look up those fans but so far I haven't found a data sheet for them. Looking at the model number they seem to be sleeve bearing fans, which often is seen as a negative. But fan with a similar model number, Delta AUB0412VD-00, has a MTBF of 80,000 hours or about 9 years of continuous operation at full speed. The difference in the numbers are that 08 tells us it's a 80mm fan while 04 means it's 40mm. Scaling the fan from 40 to 80 mm means the bearing will be subjected to higher forces due to the impeller weight. But the shaft and bearing will also be larger and the RPM lower so my guess is that the MTBF will be about the same. Also most people won't be running these fans at full speed 24/7. All in all these should have a pretty low failure rate. I still wish it was easier to get the data from Delta not to mention that when I searched for Delta AUB0812VD-00 I didn't see a single source for replacements.

[@eriKrypto]

I know this post is old, but it's still true today. Finding replacements for these fans is near impossible. AliExpress seems only option, not Mouser or Digikey as mentioned in the vid. Amazon has some at crazy $60+ PER FAN, but I ordered a full set from AliExpress at $57, we'll see how that works out. Fans for my ASRock 5700XT Taichi came from an AliExpress vendor and they were perfect. Even had logo. Keeping fingers crossed [for 3 weeks]

[@sjab5987]

Steve combining tech reviews and stand up comedy like a boss!

[@erakettu1395]

Having just re applied the paste to reference RX 480, the board and screw layout look almost identical : DDD

[@joj.]

AMD: _"We are proud to be powering the new generation consoles, and we have worked hard on the silicon inside to give the best gaming experience possible."_ Customers: "You also made a bunch of PC GPUs, right?" AMD: *_"You guys are actually trying to buy those? lmao"_*

[@gucky4717]

For me the 6700XT even at MSRP is too expensive. The 5700XT launched at 399$. Yes it had less VRAM and RT. Overwise its like a overclocked 5700XT with a smaller Memory Bus. There was a test where they compared a 5700XT and a 6700XT by using the same Baseclock for both. The 5700XT sometimes beat the 6700XT simply by having a bigger Memory Bus. So the only generational improvement you get is: Raytracing capabilities and better efficiency. AMD overclocked the Card quite much, even raising the TDP from 225W to 230W to reach 3060Ti territory. So you won't notice the better efficiency. Tl;dr: The Card feels like a cheap 5700XT refresh with a 80$ higher price.

[@Allstudiosfull]

You should benchmark based on the number of disappointments

[@AtariBorn]

$500 for a "mid tier" card? Test the shit out of it brother!

[@SparkY0]

If the GPU or cooler is junk, then they definitely need to be called out.

[@LawrenceTimme]

It's clearly not junk though. It's pretty good compared to previous blower ref cards. Steve is comparing it to evga cards which are top end cards, ref cards are bottom of the barrel penny pincher cards.

[@LawrenceTimme]

@@josephnorris4095 yes absolutely. Just like everyone is complaining about inflated prices, but other people are clearly still buying them at the inflated price so the price really isn't too high.