AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB Review Featuring XFX MERC 319

How Much Does it Cost?

Now in terms of the 7800 XT, it’s good value and that’s clear to see from the cost per frame argument, and while the XFX MERC 319 will sit you back around another $30, you get a LOT of card for that money with the triple fan cooler, thick backplate and stellar cooling performance.

Now speaking of value, it’s good. I mean really good, but on the same hand is it really? Well yes and no, because it’s a bit artificial purely down to the reasons that other cards from both AMD and NVIDIA are simply terrible, so anything that is slightly better is made to look amazing and that’s something the 7800 XT isn’t. It is amazingly average. It won’t set the world alight but on the same hand, it’s the best that you can buy right now, though remember, the 7700 XT is also launching so I’d definitely invite you to check out our content on that.

Overview

So let’s break down really, what we already know. The 7800 XT is a good GPU and is arguably the best graphics card that has launched since the 6000 series or 30 series from NVIDIA. It did seem with the likes of the 7900 XT, RX 7600 and the whole of the NVIDIA 40 series lineup that both brands had lost touch a little with what consumers wanted but it feels like the 7800 XT has clawed things back for them a bit.

Compared to the 6800 XT, it’s…well… okay and that’s all I can really say about it. I was honestly expecting a little more, and to a consumer’s eyes, I fear they may look at it as AMD doing “enough” and in 2023, is that really enough? A small uplift with some improved Ray Tracing and upscaling performance? What’s happened to the days of having the wow factor where we see huge performance increases from the previous generation to the latest product being released? It just seems like things have slowed down somewhat and there’s just a lack of innovation, and I’m hoping I’m not alone on this one.

Should I Buy One?

To wrap things up, if you’re looking at 1440p gaming, the 7800 XT set out to hit that market, and it’s done a good job at it and right now there really isn’t anything that can compete for the same price, because that 4060 Ti 16GB isn’t even worth talking about and that’s easily shown as nor NVIDIA or any AIB partners even wanted to sample it, which tells us everything we needed to know about it, and with the fact that the RTX 4070 loses out for more money, NVIDIA really need to go back to the drawing board and look at their pricing.

If you have got $500 and want the best, then the 7800 XT is the way to go, and both models we looked at today are great examples of what you can get, albeit for a little more money, but for the cooling performance alone, I don’t think it’s a bad choice at all, though I do personally wish that the Sapphire card had a slightly higher fan speed which in turn would give slightly lower temperatures, but that’s just me being picky.