Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7700 XT, 12GB GDDR6, 2x HDMI, 2x DP, lite retail

Nachdem die dritte RDNA-Generation durch die Radeon RX 7900 Boliden bereits Ende 2022 ihren Anfang nahm, wurde im Mai dieses Jahr mit der Radeon RX 7600 das nächste Modell der Serie vorgestellt. Weitere vier Monate später, im September 2023, legte AMD wiederum nach und präsentierte die Radeon RX 7800 XT mit 16 GB sowie die Radeon RX 7700 XT mit 12 GB. Preislich liegen die beiden jüngsten Sprösslinge der Familie bei 549 bzw. 489 Euro und sind für WQHD-Gaming konzipiert. Die Radeon RX 7700 XT muss sich fortan mit der GeForce RTX 4060 Ti mit 16 GB von Nvidia messen. Die RTX 4070 ist preislich und auch leistungsmäßig in einer anderen Region zuhause. Für einen ausführlichen Praxistest haben wir uns zwei Custom-Design Modelle von Sapphire ins Testlab geholt. Dabei handelt es sich um die günstigere PULSE RX 7700 XT sowie die extravagante PURE RX 7700 XT, die in einem komplett weißen Design, RGB-Beleuchtung und Overclocking ab Werk geliefert wird. Preislich liegen diese Exemplare bei ca. 460 Euro sowie ca. 480 Euro. Beide Testprobanden mussten sich selbstverständlich dem Vergleich mit den GeForce-Konkurrenten von Nvidia stellen.

RTX 4060 Ti Schreck! Die AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT tritt in die Fußstapfen der AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, welche in der Vergangenheit mit einem guten Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis punkten konnte. Wir haben uns die AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT in Form der Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT genauer in diversen Tests und Benchmarks analysiert und klären, ob sie ein würdiger Nachfolger der Radeon RX 6700 XT ist.

Our look at the Sapphire RX 7700 XT Pulse is both a look at AMDs new 7700 XT GPU and at Sapphire card design as well. For the 7700 XT AMD has opted to not do a reference design so budget-focused cards like the RX 7700 XT Pulse are as close as you are going to get. They don’t have the all-metal fan shroud but Sapphire’s design is a great example of everything you need and nothing else. The Pulse card design isn’t bad looking and other than a few small accents printed on the shroud you aren’t getting a crazy over top design or any lighting at all. Not having lighting is going to be a big plus for some people and a downside for others. The overall card size isn’t as compact as some of the reference designs, but once you figure in your power connections on top the RX 7700 XT Pulse should fit in any of the same situations. It also uses standard PCIe power connections which means you won’t need to upgrade to a newer ATX 3.0 power supply if you already have one and can avoid the 12VHPWR adapters as well. For performance, the RX 7700 XT Pulse isn’t sitting at the top of AMDs 1440p product stack but it does have solid 1440p performance. If anything at 1440p, unless you are trying to game at 240hz you won’t see much of a sacrifice compared to the 7800 XT, you lose 4K performance more than anything between the two cards. The RX 7700 XT Pulse leaves the RTX 4060 Ti in the dust for performance and even outperforms the RTX 3070 Ti as well as AMDs 6750 XT. It does have the same Blender performance issues that all of the AMD cards have. Its ray tracing performance is still behind where Nvidia is right now but AMD has made improvements there so the gap is smaller. Sapphire’s card design was quiet at 100% fan speed but when I got into the noise tests when under a normal load it was louder than I expected it to me, after seeing its cooling performance the fan profile could be tweaked slightly to even this out. As for pricing, Sapphire has the RX 7700 XT Pulse priced at $449 which is right with AMDs RX 7700 XT MSRP, and the Pulse is the perfect card for an MSRP card with its stock clock speeds and only what you need design. But how does AMDs MSRP compare with the competition? Well if we are looking at just current generation cards from AMD and Nvidia the RX 7700 XT Pulse sitting at $449 the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB can be found at $399 and Nvidia has lowered the 16GB card down to $449. We don’t have a 16GB card to compare with but the RX 7700 XT Pulse as a whole was well ahead of the 4060 Ti. Nvidia’s last gen cards like the RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti get a little closer in performance but the RX 7700 XT Pulse was still ahead and while you can find a 3070 Ti at the same $449 price point they don’t completely line up. The RX 7700 XT Pulse gets the strongest competition from AMDs own cards with the 6800 XT that can be found for $499 and the 7800 XT as well at that same price. The pricing between the 7700 XT and the 7800 XT being so tight makes things tough as well once you start looking at any overclocked cards. They didn’t leave much room for a more premium 7700 XT to fit in at all. The 7700 XT Pulse also comes with a copy of Starfield Premium Edition as well which at a $99 value helps a lot if you were already considering getting the game.

AMD isn't producing a reference design card for the Radeon RX 7700 XT, so they sent us the Sapphire Pulse instead. Pulse is Sapphire's at-MSRP graphics card design, which still gives you a decent cooler paired with excellent fan settings. A factory overclock is not available, but the other RX 7700 XT cards from ASUS and XFX didn't achieve any meaningful performance gains either with their factory overclock.

Both the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT graphics cards are recent introductions specifically for my favourite monitor resolution,the WQHD monitor range. Both cards feature a notable shader count and VRAM buffers when evaluating their specifications. They are strategically positioned between the GeForce 4060 Ti and RTX 4070, aiming to blend performance and cost-effectiveness. While I do like the 7800 XT a notch better, the 7700 XT surely is no slough. I do feel this card should be priced at $349-389.The RX 7700 XT series does not present groundbreaking technological advancements but brings incremental improvements in raw performance. What I am saying, here is AMD is still a step behind in Raytracing performance and efficient adaptive supersampling techniques with the help of an AI assist. However, most people still do not care about the latter one and as such crave faster shader performance. And here these graphics cards deliver. Notable features include AV1 compatibility, incorporation of the rDNA3 architecture, and updated monitor connectors, all of which enhance the overall user experience but really might not be compelling enough to switch away from NVIDIA. In terms of performance, the RX 7700 XT closely mirrors its 6800 predecessors within this competitive market segment. Alternatives might offer distinct benefits, so potential buyers should assess their options carefully. The RX 7700 XT model comes with 12GB of graphics memory on a more restricted 192-bit memory interface, potentially making it an appealing choice for those emphasizing performance relative to cost. On the other hand, the 7800 XT 16GB 256-bit provides a slightly higher performance level but demands more financial and energy budget and your money, passing 500 Euros.