MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X 12G, 12GB GDDR6, HDMI, 3x DP

The base design of the Radeon RX 6700 XT is done right, MSI added to that a more advanced PCB design, component selection as well as a more beefy cooler. That recipe is working well bringing you a product that is 3 to 4% faster than reference depending on monitor resolution and game. You'll retrieve a nice performing product in that WQHD range at very acceptable temperatures and acoustic levels. Aesthetically the card looks fine as well, a bit bulky perhaps. We do feel that MSI needs to step away from the silver-colored elements on the cooling shroud though. As stated it's a lovely Full HD, and Quad HD card with abilities at Ultra HD as well. Raytracing performance on this generation RDNA2 card is okay and will allow you to fool around with ti a bit. Of course, AMD lacks something DLSS, bigtime. All that could be forgiven if the product was priced right, and it isn't. We think the card as tested will cost somewhere in the 550 USD marker, and while we can recommend the card itself up-to 2560x1440 gaming, we cannot justify the irrational price level.

On average, over our brand-new, 22-game strong test suite, we measured the MSI RX 6700 XT Gaming X to almost exactly match the AMD reference design. In some tests it's a tiny bit faster, in others it's a tiny bit slower—expected due to random variation between test runs. The result is still surprising, because MSI has the card coming with a factory overclock, according to specs, but it doesn't turn into any tangible performance benefit. Other custom designs tested today have exactly the same problem, so it doesn't look like it's MSI's fault. While it's not a huge deal—factory OCs only give you 1, 2 or 3% these days, it's still unexpected. Other reviewers are seeing similar results, I wonder what's going on.