Table of Contents
Radeon RX 7900 GRE wasn’t planned for a global release; it was a product designed for the Chinese market. However, it became so interesting that AMD decided to make it available worldwide, and we didn’t have to wait long for leading partners to present their versions. This review will focus on the RX 7900 GRE from Gigabyte, which uses a custom PCB and power design. The card is also overclocked, so it promises better than standard performance.
The RX7900 GRE is a product placed between models that seem too expensive or not performing well enough. Many users see it as a perfect gap filler at a reasonable price. Our review will highlight its features, but you have to decide if it’s the ideal card for your daily challenges.
AMD RDNA 3 Architecture and Chiplet Design
RDNA 3 Chiplet Design
AMD uses a similar approach for NAVI 31 and the Zen CPU, separating the memory/IO portion from the computational part of the die. Zen4 CPUs contain a large Input/Output Die (IOD) manufactured on TSMC N6 that connects to the system memory and PCIe interface. This IOD is connected via the Infinity Fabric to one or two much smaller Core Compute Dies (CCD) manufactured using TSMC N5. When shrinking nodes, specific processes like memory interfaces and Cache don’t scale performance-wise. On top of this, the TSMC N5 is more costly to produce than the TSMC N6, leading AMD to mix processes in the CPUs for efficiency and cost reasons.
CPUs and GPUs are very different in how they function and communicate with the memory and the rest of the system. Typically, CPUs have a limited number of cores compared to GPUs. Take the Ryzen 9 7950X, for example, with 16 cores and 32 threads; this is a drop in the bucket compared to the RX 7900 XTX with 96 CUs for 6,144 Stream Processors. Feeding all these cores takes an enormous amount of memory bandwidth.
To accommodate this bandwidth, AMD took an opposite approach with a larger Graphics Compute Die (GCD) housing thousands of Stream Processors, video codec hardware, display interfaces, and the PCIe connection. Connected to the GCD are up to six smaller Memory Controller Dies (MCD) containing the large Infinity Cache, Infinity Fabric links, and GDDR6 memory controllers. The GCD measures 300 square millimeters and contains 45.7 Billion transistors. Each MCD measures 37 square millimeters with 2.05 Billion transistors. In the specifications chart, the transistor count combines the GCD + MCD.
AMD still had another hurdle in their GPU chiplet design. The Infinity Fabric that AMD uses in their CPUs works well, but scaling it up to accommodate a 384-bit interface would consume too much power to make it feasible.
AMD needed a replacement for their organic substrate interconnect and developed something completely new, the Infinity Fanout Links. This new tech from AMD packs double the number of connections in less than 2% of the same area as the Infinity Fabric used. These links operate at 9.2 Gb/s, offering ten times the bandwidth of AMD’s Infinity Fabric for an industry-leading 5.3 TB/s. Thanks to AMD’s innovation, these links also account for less than 5% of the total GPU power consumption.
RDNA 3 Architecture
On top of a total GPU redesign to accommodate the chipset layout, AMD has also improved most, if not all, aspects of its architecture. The compute units, Cache, and Ray tracing have all seen some tweaking. According to AMD, RDNA 3 GPUs can hit the same frequency as RDNA 2 while using half the power or 1.3 times the frequency while using the same power.
Although the official boost speeds seem modest, AMD claims that RDNA 3 has been created to reach speeds of 3 GHz. During our testing, we did see some peaks over the 3 GHz mark, but the card doesn’t run at that speed continuously.
Like the previous Generation, RDNA3 uses Compute Unit pairs, but the new generation has some significant changes. Aside from the 20% increase in Compute units over RDNA 2, we also have updates to the L0/L1/L2 cache sizes, more SIMD32 registers for FP32 and matrix workloads, plus wider and faster interfaces.
Looking at the scheduler for RDNA 3, we now have double the floating point 32 and Matrix SIMD 32 instruction capability. This should give RDNA 3 GPUs double the raw FP32 throughput of RDNA2. We should also see double the AI Matrix throughput, although resources are shared with FP32 instructions. BF16 (brain-float 16-bit) support is new to the AI units and INT4 WMMA Dot4 instructions (Wave Matrix Multiply Accumulate); AMD claims there’s an overall 2.7x increase in matrix operation speed.
The Cache system for RDNA 3 has seen a complete overhaul as well. Compared to RDNA 2, the L0 cache has doubled to 32 KB, the L1 Cache has also doubled to 256 KB, and the L2 Cache is now up to 6 MB compared to 4 MB from the last generation. The L0, L1, and L2 Cache links are also 1.5x wider than RDNA 2, improving the bandwidth.
The L3 (Infinity Cache) has shrunk compared to the last gen. It’s also divided up between the MCDs in 16 MB chunks. The RX 7900 XTX with six MCDs would see the maximum Infinity Cache of 96 MB. The 7900 GRE we have here today has 64 MB of Infinity Cache. The second generation can deliver up to double the bandwidth, 3494.4 GB/s for the RX 7900 XTX, compared to 1793.5 GB/s over the last generation’s RX 6950 XT.
AMD’s RDNA 3 Compute Units evolve their high-performance ray tracing acceleration with several hardware and software optimizations. They employ methods to skip parts of the acceleration structure during transversal to execute the workload efficiently. An enhanced cache structure allows more rays to be in flight for faster performance. Overall, thanks to the new optimizations, higher frequencies, and increased number of Ray Accelerators, AMD says RDNA 3 should deliver up to 1.8x the performance for ray tracing compared to RDNA 2.
Also, with RDNA 3, we see the introduction of AMD’s new Radiance Display Engine featuring the industry’s first Display Port 2.1 interface in a high-performance graphics card. Display Port 2.1 has a display link bandwidth of 54 Gbps, doubling the display bandwidth per port over RDNA 2, supporting unprecedentedly high refresh rates.
Specifications and Features
| AMD Radeon RX Series Specifications | ||||
| Model | Gigabyte Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC | AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX |
| GPU | Navi 31 | Navi 31 | Navi 31 | Navi 31 |
| Architecture | RDNA3 | RDNA3 | RDNA3 | RDNA3 |
| Process | TSMC N5 + N6 | TSMC N5 + N6 | TSMC N5 + N6 | TSMC N5 + N6 |
| Transistors | 54 Billion | 54 Billion | 56 Billion | 58 Billion |
| Infinity Cache | 64 MB | 64 MB | 80 MB | 96 MB |
| Compute Units | 80 | 80 | 84 | 96 |
| Ray Accelerators | 80 | 80 | 84 | 96 |
| Stream Processors | 5120 | 5120 | 5376 | 6144 |
| ROPs/TMUs | 160/320 | 160/320 | 192/336 | 192/384 |
| Game Clock | 2052 MHz | 1880 MHz | 2220 MHz | 2269 MHZ |
| Boost Clock | 2391 MHz | 2245 MHz | 2560 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| Memory | 16 GB GDDR6 | 16 GB GDDR6 | 20 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Speed | 18 Gbps GDDR6 | 18 Gbps GDDR6 | 20 Gbps GDDR6 | 20 Gbps GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 576 GB/s | 576 GB/s | 800 GB/s | 960 GB/s |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 320-bit | 384-bit |
| Throughput (FP32) | 46.0 TFLOPs | 46.0 TFLOPs | 51.6 TFLOPs | 61.4 TFLOPs |
| TDP (Watts) | 280 W | 260 W | 300 W | 355 W |
| Release Date | 1Q 2024 | 7/27/2023 | 12/13/2022 | 12/13/2022 |
| MSRP (USD) | $550.00 | $550.00 | $899.00 | $999.00 |
KEY FEATURES
- Powered by Radeon™ RX 7900 GRE
- Integrated with 16GB GDDR6 256-bit memory interface
- WINDFORCE Cooling System
- RGB Fusion
- Dual BIOS
- Protection metal back plate
CORE CLOCK
Boost Clock: up to 2391 MHz (Reference card: 2245 MHz)
Game Clock: up to 2052 MHz (Reference card: 1880 MHz)
WINDFORCE COOLING SYSTEM
The WINDFORCE cooling system features three 90mm unique blade fans, alternate spinning, 7 composite copper heat pipes, a large copper plate that directly touches the GPU, 3D active fans, and screen cooling, which together provide high-efficiency heat dissipation.
- ALTERNATE SPINNING
Reduce the turbulence of adjacent fans and increase airflow pressure. - 3D ACTIVE FAN
The 3D Active Fan provides semi-passive cooling, and the fans will remain off when the GPU is in a low-load or low-power game. - UNIQUE BLADE FAN
The airflow is spilt by the triangular fan edge and guided smoothly through the 3D stripe curve on the fan surface. - GRAPHENE NANO LUBRICANT
Graphene nano lubricant can extend the life of sleeve bearing by 2.1 times, close to the life of double ball bearing, and is quieter. - LARGE COPPER PLATE & HEAT-PIPE
The large copper plate directly contacts the GPU, coupled with the composite heat pipes, which quickly transfers the heat of the GPU and VRAM to the heatsink. - SCREEN COOLING
Extended heatsink allows air to pass through, providing better heat dissipation.
RGB FUSION
With 16.7M customizable color options and numerous lighting effects, you can choose any lighting effect or synchronize it with other devices in GIGABYTE CONTROL CENTER.
EXCELLENT IN ESSENTIAL
- PROTECTION METAL BACK PLATE
The metal back plate not only provides an aesthetical shape but also enhances the structure of the graphics card to provide complete protection. - DUAL BIOS
The factory default setting is OC mode, which provides users with the best performance. However, switching to silent mode will give you a quieter experience. - POWER INDICATOR
When experiencing any power supply abnormality, the indicator will alert gamers by flashing light.
BUILT STRONG
- ULTRA-DURABLE
Ultra Durable certified highest-grade metal chokes, lower ESR solid capacitors, 2oz copper PCB, and lower RDS(on) MOSFETs, plus over-temperature design to deliver superior performance and longer system life. - FRIENDLY PCB DESIGN
A fully automated production process ensures the top quality of the circuit boards and eliminates sharp protrusions of the solder connectors seen on the conventional PCB surface. This friendly design prevents your hands from getting cut or inadvertently damaging components when making your build.
Power Through The Game
GIGABYTE offers the best power supply solutions for your graphics cards. You can choose either the AORUS series or the UD series to power your graphics card.
Retail Packaging and Accessories
Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE 16G OC arrived directly from Gigabyte in a retail package. The package is quite a large box with a typical design for high-end graphics cards and is similar to what we could see in previously reviewed Gigabyte graphics cards. The front shows future-soldier graphics instead of the graphics card we are used to seeing. There is also a model and its memory capacity. On the back, we find features that Gigabyte considers the most important. The list isn’t long but shows everything gamers want to know. Most users nowadays buy computer hardware online, so the package description doesn’t matter much.
The most important thing is that the card is well-protected for transport. As you can see in the photos below, it is very well protected by thick foam and an antistatic bag.
We won’t find much in the box besides the graphics card, as there is only a universal Quick Guide. Drivers and additional software nowadays are on the manufacturer’s website, and basic or older but certified drivers are usually built-in in Windows.
Manufacturers also assume that power adapters are not required for AMD graphics cards, as every modern PSU supports 6/8 pin power connectors. We will need two 8-pin connectors available in all 550W+ PSUs from popular brands.
A Closer Look at the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC
Gigabyte Radeon RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC design
The tested Gigabyte graphics card is not too flashy, and I could even say it has a pretty dull design. The card is mainly kept in black, while its back has a silver backplate. There is only a tiny Gigabyte sign with an ARGB backlight on the top.
The front shroud is made of plastic, while the back is made of a metal alloy that seems to be aluminum. This helps spread the heat, cool the card from the back, and protect the PCB.
The card looks even better in reality than in the photos. You can also see how large it is. The same as some competitive RTX4080, the iGame Advanced is over three-slot thick and, more precisely, 70.5mm. It’s also 343.8mm long and 147.6mm tall, so be sure you have enough space inside your chassis.
The I/O includes two DisplayPort ports and two HDMI ports. DisplayPort and HDMI ports are in the 2.1 version, which is more than enough for all available monitors.
What’s under the hood?
The RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC has a 15-power phase design. Since the RX 7900 graphics card series is quite power-hungry, it’s a good choice. During the tests, there were no problems with the card’s stability, regardless of whether it ran at default or overclocked settings with a +15% higher power limit.
The tested card is equipped with Samsung K4ZAF325BC-SC20 GDDR6 memory chips rated at 20Gbps. The card has memory set at 18Gbps, suggesting we can overclock it without going out of the specs for the used IC. I’ve seen more Micron memory chips recently, but it’s probably because Nvidia cards use them more often than AMD.
Once we remove the cooler, we can see precisely what Gigabyte advertised. The flat and quite well-polished cold plate, with nine heat pipes directly attached, cools down the GPU and memory chips. Compared to additional heatsinks, the cold plate is made of copper, and the cooler’s fins are made of aluminum.
The back plate is also made of aluminum. It helps to cool the GPU from the backside. One thick thermal pad is directly behind the GPU area.
GIGABYTE CONTROL CENTER Software and RGB Illumination
The default illumination mode is rainbow multi-color, while the Gigabyte software lets us change modes and adjust all the colors we wish. The software is available on the product pages and shared between most new products. If we have other Gigabyte products, like a motherboard, then it will support it, too.
Once we get everything running, we can use a tool to monitor our graphics card and other PC components, manage graphics card clocks and fans’ speed, and adjust RGB on all discovered devices. Above are screenshots that show the Control Center and its available options.
Below is our test rig and an example of how the illumination works. We focused on the golden-orange for the black-gold PC, but the whole RGB range and multiple modes are available.
Stability at the Default Frequency
The RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC performs better than expected due to a higher real boost frequency than the specified. The GPU frequency in most tests was about 200MHz higher, so around 2600MHz. The card in the 3DMark Stability Test ran at lower temperatures than in some games, going up to 58°C on the GPU and 76°C on the hot spot.
Below are screenshots that were taken after the 3DMark Stability Test.
In the stability test, the card’s fans were spinning up to 3200 RPM. It’s also less than in some demanding games, but it’s still noisy. We wish fans were tuned closer to 2000 RPM as it wouldn’t be very quiet, but it would be acceptable if we had a PC standing at the desk next to us.
Test System and Benchmark Methods
| Test System Components | |
| Motherboard | MSI Z790 Ace MAX |
| CPU | Intel i9-14900K @ stock |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair iCUE H115i ARGB 280 AIO |
| Memory | Kingston Renegade RGB 2x48GB DDR5-6000 36-38-38-80 |
| SSD | 2x 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe (OS + Applications) |
| Power Supply | Deepcool 1300W 80+ Platinum |
| Video Card | @ Stock (24.3.1 driver as of 4/2024) |
Our test system is based on the latest (at the time of publishing) mainstream Intel z690 platform and uses the i9-14900K 8P,16E/32t CPU. The DRAM is set at 6000 MHz with CL36-38-38-80 timings, a middle-of-the-road option that balances performance and cost. The CPU runs stock on the motherboard.
Since the last update, we have made some changes and updated titles. More details can be found in the most recent GPU Testing Procedure article, which we have updated with our latest benchmarks. I’ve included a quick summary below for you to look over.
- UL 3DMark Time Spy – Default settings
- UL 3DMark Fire Strike (Extreme) – Default settings
- UL 3DMark Port Royal – Default Settings (Ray Tracing capable cards only)
- UL 3DMark Speedway – Default settings
- Unigine Superposition – 4K Optimized
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider – DX12, “Highest” preset
- Assassin’s Creed: Mirage – Ultra High preset
- F1 2023 – Ultra High preset, Las Vegas track
- Far Cry 6 – Ultra preset, HD Textures enabled
- Avatar – Ultra preset
- CyberPunk 2077 – Ultra preset
Synthetic Benchmarks
Our first set of benchmarks hails from Underwriters Laboratories, which acquired Futuremark in 2014. Earlier in 2018, a rebrand occurred, and since then, Futuremark has become UL. The benchmarks have not changed; it is just the name. We chose to use 3DMark Fire Strike (Extreme) and 3DMark Time Spy, 3DMark Speedway, and 3DMark Port Royal as these tests give users a good idea of performance on modern titles and include ray tracing.
3DMark Fire Strike (Extreme) is a DX11-based test that runs at 1080p resolution. UL says the graphics are rendered with detail and complexity far beyond other DX11 benchmarks and games. 3DMark Time Spy is a DX12 benchmark designed for Windows 10 PCs. It supports new API features such as asynchronous computing, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading and runs at 2560 x 1440. 3DMark Port Royal is the first Ray Tracing benchmark designed for Windows PCs and graphics cards with Microsoft DirectX Raytracing capabilities, while Speedway is another DX12 benchmark.
Results from the synthetic benchmarks show the Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE performs better than the RX 7800 XT or RTX 4070, but it’s at about the same level as the RTX 4070 Super.
Gaming Benchmarks
We have updated our testing suite for gaming benchmarks to bring more modern titles into the mix. Gone are Assasin’s Creed: Odyssey, F1 2022, The Division 2, and Metro Exodus, replaced/updated by Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, F1 2023, Avatar, and Cyberpunk 2077. It is worth mentioning that high-end cards aren’t made for 1080p gaming, so the gaps between them tend to be minimized as this is a wholly CPU-bound resolution with such powerful SKUs.
1920 x 1080 (1080p) Results
Our card performs well in 1080p gaming. Except for Avatar, every game shows an average of over 160FPS. Avatar is the only title where we can expect worse performance than the RTX 4070. The RX 7900 GRE performs significantly better in all games than the RX 7800 XT, while both cards cost almost as much in most stores.
2560 x 1440 and 4K UHD Results
Below are the higher resolution results, starting with 2560 x 1440 and the gaining-in-popularity 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD) resolution.
At 2560×1440, the Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE handles all games without issues. All titles show over 70FPS. It may not be very high, but it is enough to enjoy every game with high graphics details on the list.
4K UHD resolution is more demanding, and we see it in lower FPS. However, we should see smooth gameplay in most of the games presented. Avatar and Cyberpunk 2077 may occasionally show an FPS drop below 30.
Ray Tracing and DLSS/FSR Testing
The charts below show what the review card can do when using ray tracing and DLSS/FSR capabilities. We test at 2560 x 1440 and 3840 x2160 in this grouping.
F1 2023
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage
Cyberpunk 2077
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Avatar
Far Cry 6
Ray tracing affects results more on AMD cards than Nvidia, so the RX 7900 GRE also doesn’t perform great at high graphics details with ray tracing enabled. As long as we can enable FSR, we can play most games at 1440p and even at 4K. On the other hand, titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Avatar will be unplayable without FSR at 4K, and 1440p will show low FPS, too.
The RX 7900 GRE requires us to adjust various settings and pick those that give us the best experience and high enough FPS. It’s still a graphics card capable of 4K gaming, just not always at high enough details and with disabled ray tracing.
Folding @ Home Performance
Since we had limited time for tests, we could pass only a couple of WUs. The Client’s Advanced Control shows around 3.8M PPD. The card had an average of 254W during this test. Interestingly, fans automatically kept around 1400-1500 RPM, which was about half of the speed in demanding 3D tests. The GPU clock was boosting to about 2600MHz, so it was not much different from 3D tests.
Looking at the average PPD and power draw, the RX 7900 GRE needs to be more efficient to run calculations like F@H for an extended time. For that, a much better option is cards based on Nvidia GPUs.
Overclocking the Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE OC
We used the AMD driver’s panel for overclocking, as it provides the same values as Gigabyte’s software but is easier and faster to use. Either way, we will be limited to the same frequencies. For the GPU, it’s a 2802MHz boost, which in reality was closer to 2700MHz. The memory couldn’t be stabilized above 2400MHz (default 2250MHz). Anything above that, the card would freeze or show the green screen.
Automatic overclocking by Gigabyte software didn’t work, so we skipped it.
The overall result is alright, but we can’t count on much higher performance. The card could overclock around 80MHz on average on the GPU and 150MHz on the memory. In games, it can give us anything from 0 to 5% performance gain.
The card’s power limit can be raised by 15%. However, it doesn’t help at all, and even peak wattage doesn’t change. The GPU is limited to the point where it can’t use higher power. On the other hand, we can lower the power limit by 10%, but it also only changes a little, as 10% isn’t enough to see a significant difference in the average power draw.
Temperatures and Power Use
We test power consumption by running through the game benchmarks of F1 2023 and Cyberpunk 2077. We monitor temperatures throughout this testing, with the peak temperature listed in the data below. The benchmarks are extended (time) to allow the card to settle to simulate extended gaming conditions more accurately. Most air-cooled cards will saturate and normalize around 10 minutes or so.
Temperatures on the Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE reached 62°C in F1 2023 and 1°C more in CP 2077 at stock settings. Overclocking pushed it 6°C higher in both games.
Temperatures look great until we check how fast fans are spinning. GPU-Z reports between 2200RPM and 3500RPM, depending on the game and GPU load. The card is significantly louder than anything we have tested on Nvidia GPUs in the last months. This can be a deal breaker for many users, as the card is simply noisy during gaming. The silent BIOS isn’t the best solution either, so if we want it to keep acceptable noise, we are forced to adjust everything manually.
I mentioned that the power limit can be adjusted to +15%. It doesn’t affect the peak power draw but slightly raises the average power draw in games. It also doesn’t help with overclocking. The card’s peak wattage is around 373W in F1 2023 and Cyberpunk 2027, whether overclocked or not.
Considering the peak wattage, if we wish to use this card with a high-end CPU, I recommend a high-quality 750W or a mid-shelf 850W PSU.
Conclusion
The RX 7900 GRE is an interesting option, considering its MSRP of $550. Newegg sells the Gigabyte Gaming OC version for $549.99 right now, which is barely more than most stores ask for a significantly slower RX 7800 XT. Gigabyte doesn’t have any other RX 7900 GRE in its offer, so we don’t have a big choice if we wish to buy a card from this manufacturer. Competitive cards based on the RX 7900 GRE cost the same or even up to $150 more.
The tested graphics card performed well and maintained complete stability in all our tests. It was even performing better than expected. The only design downside is the default fan speed, which in demanding games is pushed over 3200 RPM and can be heard even with headphones on. It forces us to limit the fan speed manually. However, since there is temperature headroom, it’s not a big problem. The second downside, which is related only to the AMD GPU, is the high power draw. Compared to Nvidia cards at about the same price or performance, we can count on an average 100W higher power draw while gaming. It’s a lot and significantly affects the heat generated and the cooler’s noise.
The Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC isn’t the best graphics card around, but if we count the pros and cons, then it’s still a good option for the price. Its performance is high enough to play all games with maximum graphics details and 1440p display resolution. It’s also suitable for many titles at 4K UHD. If we can live without ray tracing in every title, then the RX 7900 GRE is an interesting option.
The Gigabyte RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC receives an Overclockers Approved Stamp thanks to its well-balanced performance and competitive price!
Click here to learn what this means.
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