XFX QUICKSILVER 309 RX 7600 XT Graphics Card Review

Nvidia has been busy this month, with the new RTX 4070 Super, the RTX 4070 Ti Super and soon the RTX 4080 Super graphics cards hitting the market, a modest mid-gen upgrade to their product range. Of course, AMD has been busy too, and has come up with the new RX 7600 XT, a beefed-up version of one of their existing cards that now features 16GB of GDDR6 memory. XFX are a big partner for AMD, so they've given it a custom cooler, factory overclock and a few other tweaks to make it an appealing aftermarket model. XFX QUICKSILVER 309 RX 7600 XT The XFX QUICKSILVER 309 may have upgraded VRAM, but it also has the mid-range cooler from XFX, with the MERC being their more cost-effective solution and the SWFT being their flagship, but that's fine, as this is really a mid-range GPU chipset, so it seems that's a good pairing for a card of this price range and respective of its performance targets. Will it feel like much of an upgrade from previous AMD efforts? Well, I'm honestly not sure, as I don't think more VRAM is quite the answer, despite feverish demand for more VRAM often being the comment of choice on the bottom half of the internet, but I'll happily be proved otherwise. Features A Closer Look XFX hasn't gone overboard with the QUICKSILVER 309 design, it's a large after-market model and features a pretty big cooler, but they've kept the aesthetics pretty toned down and gone with a mostly black plastic shroud that looks presentable, but it's nothing too crazy. XFX have three main series for their graphics cards, the MERC (Mercury), the QICK (Quicksilver), and the SWFT (Swift), and this new GPU is part of the QICK series, which is their mid-range option promising "a high-performance model for mainstream gamers) which means it comes with most of the premium performance features, but without the more expensive materials seen in the MERC series, keeping costs down and performance up, which is something I can totally get on board with. It's also the 309, which is their very simple numbering system, as 210 would mean two 100mm fans, and in this case, it means three 90mm fans. They're pretty big fans too, 90mm fans can move a lot of air even at lower RPM, but that does mean that this card is pretty large. It measures 302mm long, 114mm wide and 50mm deep (2.5 slots), so while it's not the largest graphics card on the market, it's pretty big relative to where it sits in the price and performance ratios. Down the side of the card, you'll find a pair of 8-pin PCIe connectors, making it easily compatible with last-gen power supplies and suitable for haters of the 12VHPWR (which honestly, I like using, but to each their own). At the back of the card, there are four display connections, comprising of three DisplayPort and a single HDMI port, making it easily suited to multi-monitor configurations. There's also a dual BIOS configuration built-in which can of course be flashed to a new or custom BIOS, and can easily be recovered using the other BIOS should something go wrong. The card does feature a full backplate, which features additional ventilation and a cool XFX logo is cut into the middle of it too. There's a large cut-out towards the rear of the card too, allowing the rearmost fan to push airflow right through the card, which should help significantly improve the overall cooling performance. Tearing down the card was very easy, as it only required four screws around the GPU and four in the backplate to remove it, making it easy to strip, clean, and reassemble the card when required. The XFX QICK 7600 XT uses a fully digital PWM 6+2 phase power delivery design, which XFX say allows it to reach 15W over the reference specifications, as well as an additional 44 MHz boost clock out of the box. The GPU has four 2GB memory ICs surrounding it along with another four on the rear of the card, giving us the 16GB GDDR6 total, which should be better for higher texture settings and higher resolution gaming, at least in theory. The heatsink uses a nickel-plated solid copper cold plate, which features a larger raised surface just for the GPU die, but also a surrounding surface that cools the memory ICs, and a further wide strip separate from this to cool the power delivery hardware, all of which feed into a large aluminium heatsink. The heatsink is split into a few sections but features five 6mm heatpipes to ensure the heat is evenly distributed so that those three 90mm fans can do their job. Taking a quick look at the back of the backplate, you can see there are three more thermal pads here, ensuring the capacitors and the PCB behind the VRAM are cooled too. How We Test We continue to update our testing methods around once per year. As such, we re-test older hardware to reflect changes over time. These can be driver updates, Windows updates, game patches, and more; all of which have an impact on performance figures. Furthermore, we update our test benches to newer and more relevant hardware. This means that our new reviews aren’t always comparable to those of older reviews, so please compare the testing methodology on older reviews should you be trying to compare them with newer ones. Replicate Our Results When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory and are kept as simple as possible, although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of a graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using the benchmarks available to you. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware tested here to give you a ballpark figure of how much of an upgrade this will provide you with. Processor Test Systems Test System (GPU) Motherboard Gigabyte B650E AORUS MASTER Buy Now Processor Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review Buy Now GPU Changes Per Review RAM Corsair VENGEANCE RGB 6000MHz CL30 Review Buy Now CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken Z73 RGB Buy Now Power Supply NZXT C1000 Gold Review Buy Now Storage Seagate FIRECUDA 530 1TB Review Buy Now Chassis NZXT H9 Flow Review Buy Now OS Windows 11 Pro Version 21H2 Drivers AMD Graphics: 22.10.1NVIDIA Graphics: 521.90 Software We use a variety of software from different developers to assist in our testing and to give us the most consistent results possible. Some applications are specifically used for testing, while others are simply used for monitoring and to aid us in making sure that our results are as accurate as possible. Software Used 3DMark FireStrike & TimeSpy (download) Gaming To gauge performance levels which are easily reproduced time after time, by both ourselves and our readers, we now stick strictly to games default profiles. Given how powerful most modern cards are getting, we've began using more demanding profiles for most games, but will otherwise state on a per game basis if we use other profiles beyond High, Ultra, Maximum or their respective equivalent at all resolutions. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, and all FPS caps that can be removed are. We also enable XMP and Resizable bar technology across all platforms to keep things as fair as possible. Games While we test a lot of games, it's not possible to display all of the data on the website or in our videos. Instead, we include access to all of our testing data for our Patreon members (link), where members get a ton of other benefits as well. What we do, however, is display charts for averages across all game titles to give a better picture of performance across all titles tested. A Plague Tale: Requiem Baldur's Gate Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Cyberpunk 2077 Far Cry 6 F1 22 Far Cry 6 Hogwarts Legacy Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered Ratchet & Clank Starfield Resolutions 1080 (Full HD) 1440 4K Some tests will also include features such as NVIDIA DLSS and Ray Tracing. However, these will be clearly labelled and may only appear in reviews for graphics cards that support those features. Power Consumption Not being content on simply reading total system power draw, we now run F1 22 for an hour loop and measure power draw at the end of the loop for the most accurate measurement that represents real-world gameplay experience. Temperatures We take temperature readings after the same hour long F1 22 loop with no other background programs running, again to simulate a real-world gaming experience. A Plague Tale: Requiem Far across the sea, an island calls… Embark on a heartrending journey into a brutal, breathtaking world twisted by supernatural forces. After escaping their devastated homeland, Amicia and Hugo travel far south, to new regions and vibrant cities. There, they attempt to start a new life and control Hugo’s curse. But, when Hugo’s powers reawaken, death and destruction return in a flood of devouring rats. Forced to flee once more, the siblings place their hopes in a prophesized island that may hold the key to saving Hugo. Discover the cost of saving those you love in a desperate struggle for survival. Strike from the shadows or unleash hell, overcoming foes and challenges with a variety of weapons, tools and unearthly powers. Available now on Steam. So starting with A Plague Tale: Requiem and it’s here where the RX 7600 was just falling short of the 60 FPS threshold that most gamers crave, and even with a 5% increase in performance, the 7600 XT also just sits behind at 59 FPS so margin of error, but still nothing fantastic, especially considering we’re at 1080p. As we move up to 1440p the increase in performance is even smaller at just under 3% which actually equates to just 1 FPS though the 1% lows do grow by 6% so silver linings and all that, though at around 40 FPS, it’s not going to be the best gaming experience anyway and for 22% more money, it’s a bit of a flop at the early stages of our testing. Baldur's Gate 3 Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a mind-flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil. From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Available now on Steam. Moving over to Baldur’s Gate 3 and it’s a similar story at 1080p with just a 4% increase in performance over the 8GB RX 7600. While this does move the 7600 XT up in our standings, it’s only just above the RTX 2080 SUPER from yesteryear so nothing really of huge significance, especially considering that card only had 8GB of VRAM. At 1440p, again we’re talking small gains of around 3% which could be deemed as a margin of error, and again sees no change to our standings where the likes of the RTX 2080 SUPER manage to push ahead, albeit by 1 FPS but many other older cards are quite further up in our results, and can be had for the same price, or cheaper. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II drops players into an unprecedented global conflict that features the return of the iconic Operators of Task Force 141. From small-scale, high-stakes infiltration tactical ops to highly classified missions, players will deploy alongside friends in a truly immersive experience. Infinity Ward brings fans state-of-the-art gameplay, with all-new gun handling, advanced AI system, a new Gunsmith and a suite of other gameplay and graphical innovations that elevate the franchise to new heights. Modern Warfare® II launches with a globe-trotting single-player campaign, immersive Multiplayer combat and a narrative-driven, co-op Special Ops experience. Available now on Steam. Call Of Duty finally sees a result that’s worth talking about as the RX 7600 came in at 121 FPS with the RTX 4060 Ti just ahead at 125 FPS which is a 3% margin. The 7600 XT manages to squeeze out 7% more frames compared to its little brother, which now means that it sits ahead of the more expensive 4060 Ti by 4% which is more like it. More performance, a cheaper price, but Call of Duty does favour AMD somewhat as you can see from the rest of our results. At 1440p we see some bigger gains of 6% over the RX 7600 which now sees AMD leapfrog the RTX 4060 Ti, 3070 and 2080 Ti though in some cases we’re talking 1-2% and considering the extra price tag on the RX 7600 XT (while we know the 4060 Ti isn’t great value for money), the 7600 XT seems to sit in the same area. Cyberpunk 2077 Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be? Available now on Steam. Cyberpunk at 1080p sees our biggest gain yet of 11% over the RX 7600, which is definitely getting closer to where I’d want things to be from a value-for-money perspective, but even then, it only surpasses the RTX 2080 SUPER in our chart and older and cheaper cards are available that also perform better. It’s the same at 1440p where we see another 11% uplift in performance going from the RX 7600 to the 7600 XT which again puts it past the ageing 2080 SUPER but still falls short of that 60 FPS marker and instead is beaten by the likes of the RTX 3070 and 2080 Ti which can be had used for cheaper, and also shows that the 3070 with its 8GB of VRAM means that memory isn’t everything. Enabling Ray Tracing sees a huge gain of 28% over the RX 7600, but in real-world terms, we’re talking 5 FPS which still means that AMD sits at the bottom of our chart and that pesky 2080 SUPER now sits 39% ahead of the 7600 XT with its 1% low matching the overall average of the new AMD GPU. Though it’s not really worth talking about due to the dire performance at 1080p, the 7600 XT at 1440p comes in with 63% more performance compared to its younger brother which is a fantastic uplift if it wasn’t for the performance being so low in the first place. FSR will be your only saving grace here, but still won’t be enough to do anything of significance to raise the overall performance to playable levels. Far Cry 6 Welcome to Yara, a tropical paradise frozen in time. As the dictator of Yara, Antón Castillo is intent on restoring his nation to its former glory by any means necessary, with his son, Diego, following in his bloody footsteps. Their oppressive rule has ignited a revolution. Available now on Steam. In Far Cry 6 the 7600 XT now manages to beat the performance of the RTX 4060 and 4060 Ti in both the averages and 1% lows thanks to the 5% increase in frames from the lowly RX 7600 though Far Cry does have a somewhat AMD bias so it’s nothing out of the ordinary and in my opinion, still isn’t enough to warrant the extra cost involved. It’s 5% again in the averages at 1440p and a further 6% in the lows which does show that the extra VRAM makes a difference there, but beyond smoothing that out and increasing performance, the 7600 XT still sits exactly where you’d expect it, which I guess is fine, but I was hoping for higher gains overall. When enabling Ray Tracing and moving down to 1080p, the RX 7600 was at the bottom of our standings, and while the 7600 XT does increase performance beyond that by 10%, it just means the position of the higher capacity card takes the 2nd lowest place and still sits behind everything from NVIDIA. Moving up to 1440p, performance jumps by 14% from the RX 7600, which now puts the XT 5% ahead of the RTX 4060 at $299, the 5% extra performance of the 7600 XT doesn’t make that much sense considering the $329 price tag of the 7600 XT, which makes it 10% more expensive F1 23 Be the last to brake in EA SPORTS™ F1® 23, the official video game of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship™. A new chapter in the thrilling "Braking Point" story mode delivers high-speed drama and heated rivalries. Available now on Steam. In F1 we see some respectable numbers on the 7600 XT at 228 FPS, but when compared to the rest of our standings, it’s not exactly groundbreaking. Sure, at $329 the performance looks good, but when comparing against other cards, it just disappoints again especially as the extra VRAM only equates to a margin of error 4% uplift in overall performance compared to the RX 7600. 1440p has the 7600 XT coming in with 7% more performance than its younger brother which again now puts the newer card just above the RTX 2080 SUPER which was matching the performance of the RX 7600. Again, older cards like the 2080 Ti still sit ahead of the XT and with less VRAM so if AMD were hedging their bets on more memory making up for things, they’re severely mistaken. F1 23 with Ray Tracing enabled shows how biased the game can be for AMD, even with Ray Tracing as we see an 11% increase in overall performance over the 7600 which now puts it level with the RTX 4060. A card that we’ve made clear doesn’t offer great bang for buck though it is nice to see over 60 FPS, with Ray Tracing enabled. At 1440p, the 7600 XT runs out of steam, as even with an 11% gain over the 7600 8GB, it’s still not enough to take on anything from NVIDIA in terms of the RTX 4060 or 2080 SUPER and above. What AMD were thinking at this point is beyond me as I’m really struggling to see any upside to this card that I fear will offer a pretty terrible price to performance figures. Hogwarts Legacy Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive, open-world action RPG. Now you can take control of the action and be at the centre of your own adventure in the wizarding world. Available now on Steam. Moving over to Hogwarts Legacy, which is known for its AMD bias, and while it’s enough to give an extra 7% in performance, now matching the 2080 SUPER, that’s not much of a win, even if the 1% lows are dramatically improved. Sure, the RTX 4060 now sits 10% behind, but that’s never been a great value-for-money GPU anyway, so what exactly are AMD winning here? As we move up to 1440p, the 7600 XT manages to fend off the 2080 SUPER by a single FPS and keep its stronger 1% low figure as seen on the RX 7600. Again, it beats the RTX 4060, but the 7600 was already ahead of that anyway so why anyone would spend extra to get a single FPS more when compared to the 8GB variant is beyond me. When enabling Ray Tracing, the 4060 manages to fight back, along with the older 2080 SUPER and even with the huge 142% increase in frames over the 7600, at just 29 FPS, Hogwarts is still pretty unplayable, so another win for NVIDIA here. At 1440p, AMD is just a hot mess across multiple cards including the 7600, 7600 XT and 7700 XT which garnered the same result time and time again. The likes of the 2080 Ti and up, which are cheaper, are where you’d want to be at a minimum but even then, it’s not going to be the greatest experience overall. Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered Developed by Insomniac Games in collaboration with Marvel, and optimized for PC by Nixxes Software, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered on PC introduces an experienced Peter Parker who’s fighting big crime and iconic villains in Marvel’s New York. At the same time, he’s struggling to balance his chaotic personal life and career while the fate of Marvel’s New York rests upon his shoulders. Available now on Steam. Spider-Man really leaves me with nothing to say. We’re talking margin of error of 1 FPS, though as we move up the chart, you can see that bottlenecks are really quite evident, so it’s best not to factor in the results seen here for anything meaningful. At 1440p, the results sort themselves out a bit, as we now see the 7600 XT coming in with 10% more performance. Still nowhere near where I’d expect things to be but better than the RTX 4060 by 6% which is a hollow victory given the price point, but I guess AMD would see that as a win. Enabling Ray Tracing we start to see some good gains of 59%, now putting the 7600 XT matched with the 2080 SUPER at 65 FPS, but with much better lows. Sadly, as it’s Ray Tracing, NVIDIA has the upper hand across the board from the 4060 upwards, further cementing just how bad value this card is. It’s the same at 1440p, where we do have playable figures, and a hefty 70% increase in performance, which again puts it above the 2080 SUPER, but is that something to write home about? Does the new AMD GPU beat the 20 series card in the latest title? Not much of a headline is it? Ratchet & Clank Blast your way through an interdimensional adventure with Ratchet and Clank – now on PC! Help them take on an evil emperor from another reality as you jump between action-packed worlds and beyond at hyper-speed! Available now on Steam. Finally, we start to see something of substance from Ratchet & Clank at 1080p but NVIDIA do suffer in this title, especially in the 1% lows. That aside, we’re now seeing a 100% uptake in performance from the 7600 to the XT which leaves the 4060 and 4060 Ti behind in its dust and with a much more enjoyable gaming experience overall. The uplift isn’t as big at 1440p but 92% is still nothing to grumble at and again it manages to fend off team green, though with just a single FPS difference with the 4060 Ti, it’s a win, but only just, but again more than makes up for it in the 1% lows that needs addressing by the developers as NVIDIA suffer here. Memory capacity really plays a big part when enabling Ray Tracing as is shown by the 7700 XT which drops down the table, and instead sees the 7600 XT with 4GB more moving up. It again beats the 4060, but isn’t enough for the 4060 Ti which even though it has less memory, more than makes up for it in RT cores. At 1440p, it’s very much the same again, with the 7600 XT improving upon its lacklustre performance on the RX 7600 8GB, but going from nothing to something doesn’t mean it’s great by any means, as NVIDIA still holds the lead across multiple cheaper GPUs. Starfield Starfield is the first new universe in over 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next-generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery. Available now on Steam. In our last game, Starfield, we see gains of around 12% from the 7600 8GB which was already matching the performance of the RTX 4060, but even with the increase in memory size, the 4060 Ti still holds a lead of 17% which considering it comes in 18% more expensive, I’d chalk that up as a win for team green, even though Starfield favours AMD, though with updates, that is levelling out somewhat. Then finally at 1440p, the 7600 which was trailing behind the RTX 4060 sees a boost of 11% going to the 7600 XT which now puts it 1 FPS ahead of NVIDIA’s cheaper offering so a win, but then again, based on price, not really. Cost Per Frame & Overall Average FPS So speaking of price, when we take a look at the 1080p cost per frame, it’s clear to see that there isn’t a huge amount in it between the RX 7600 and 7600 XT, separated by just 10 cents per frame. Now that the RTX 4060 has matured somewhat, it’s actually coming in at better value overall, though the 7800 XT is the clear winner at $4.70 per frame, but will involve spending another $170 to reap the rewards so if you’re budget is quite a strict one, at 1080p, the RTX 4060 seems to be the card to go for now unless you can find the extra cash. Yes, the 7600 XT does give 8% more performance overall when compared to the 4060 but is 10% more expensive, so just falls short when looking at value for money. As we move up to 1440p, the 7600 XT does even worse, now being beaten by the 4060, 7700 XT, 6950 XT and even the newer RTX 4070 SUPER from NVIDIA and again, that 7800 XT coming in the cheapest per frame makes it the most affordable 16GB card in terms of performance on the market, though the 7600 XT is officially the cheapest 16GB GPU you can buy aside from the Intel ARC A770 which can be had slightly cheaper but is still hit or miss depending on the games you play. Power & Temperatures Now as mentioned, we have two cards here from different AIBs. The XFX QICK 309 and the Sapphire Pulse OC and each have their merits for cooling performance, power and fan speeds. It’s here where we put them both through a one-hour loop of F1 23 to see how they hold up over time and to simulate a prolonged gaming session. On the XFX card, where the GPU temperature was kept under control at 59 degrees, while the hotspot rose to 81, so a little on the warm side but nothing to cause concern. The memory also was on the warmer scale at 84 degrees, but nothing serious. The clock speed rose to 2751MHz for the most part, with the GPU fan staying pretty conservative around 1600 RPM. Considering the max power draw of 190 Watts, the XFX card came in just below 184 Watts. How Much Does it Cost? You can check for up-to-date prices and stock for the RX 7600 XT 16GB Series on Amazon here, Overclockers UK here, and Scan.co.uk here. Was 16GB The Right Call? So, where to start with this one? Well, I think I’ve made it pretty clear that the GPU from AMD has it all wrong in terms of its naming structure. 7600 XT makes it sound like you’re getting a lot more, when in fact it’s all in one area, memory, and while I have to put the blame onto AMD, they are essentially doing what consumers asked when it was made clear that 8GB in 2023 wasn’t enough, and moving into 2024, gamers wanted more and this is the end result. Now I’m not trying to put the blame on the consumers, because while they asked for more memory, much like with the 4060 Ti, AMD obliged, but that’s all they did. Surely getting some more performance out of the GPU core, or utilising a cut-down 7700 XT would have more sense to give it more of a purpose, but as with this, like we’ve seen time and time before, it’s AMD doing AMD things and after being in this industry for close to 20 years, nothing surprises me any more. Overview Generally, when I look at GPUs, there’s a silver lining to it all, but I’m really struggling on this one, but that’s been the case on the last few launches from both AMD and NVIDIA, and I think it shows just how out of touch they are with consumers, which is a shame, as AMD has always been quite community driven and focussed on offering great value for money, which is the case on the desktop CPU division, but GPUs have just fallen by the wayside and that’s an opportunity for someone to scoop up, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Intel come in even stronger when their new products release. There’s a market available to them, and I honestly feel like AMD and NVIDIA have tried, and to a degree, they've both failed, so why not give the essentially, new guy a chance? It’s a shame, and while AMD can have the bragging rights to a degree, with Intel to one side, of having the cheapest 16GB GPU out right now, that’s where it starts and ends. The A770 is the cheaper 16GB card, but they just don’t have the same momentum that Team Green and Team Red have, and that’s why I’m cautious about saying that it’s comparable. Should I Buy One? Right now, if you have a budget of $329, I’d probably go with something older that is still capable, or try to increase that budget and go for the 7800 XT. In all of our latest content, it keeps cropping up as the best value card you can buy, and that right now, even though it costs more, is very hard to ignore.