Jesper Berg
Other than a Made by AMD (MBA) model, Gigabyte offers two graphics cards based on AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU (Navi 31 XTX), including the more cost-effective Gigabyte Radeon RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC and this Aorus Elite card.
The Aorus Radeon RX 7900 XTX Elite comes with a significantly larger cooler than the Gaming OC model as well as much higher clock rates out of the box. Running the card at these specs results in a higher power draw compared to the reference design, and for this reason, the card uses triple 8-pin power connectors instead of the dual connectors found on less expensive boards.
Specifications
| Specifications | Gigabyte Aorus RX 7900 XTX Elite | Sapphire 7900 XTX Nitro+ Vapor-X | AMD RX 7900 XTX Reference Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX |
| Shading Units | 6144 | 6144 | 6144 |
| GPU Clock: Base/Game/Boost | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2300 MHz / 2500 MHz |
| FP32 Theoretical Performance | 65.8 TFLOPS | 65.8 TFLOPS | 61.4 TFLOPS |
| Dual BIOS | Yes | Yes | No |
| Memory Configuration | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock (Effective) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) |
| Memory Bandwidth (Bus Width) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) |
| Outputs | 2x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 | 2x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 1x USB Type-C |
| TDP | 355 Watt | 420 Watt | 355 Watt |
| Recommended Power Supply | 850 Watt | 800 Watt | 800 Watt |
| PCIe Power Connectors | 3x 8-pin | 3x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |
| Slots | 3.5-Slot | 3.5-Slot | 2.5-Slot |
| Dimensions (Length/Width/Height) | 335 mm (13.2 in) 137 mm (5.4 in) 69 mm (2.7 in) | 320 mm (12.6 in) 136 mm (5.4 in) 72 mm (2.8 in) | 287 mm (11.3 in) 110 mm (4.3 in) 51 mm (2 in) |
Gigabyte’s Aorus-branded graphics cards tend to be premium designs that spare no expenses and may come with substantial factory overclocking. The Aorus Radeon RX 7900 XTX Elite is no exception, with a cooler that occupies more than three slots and clocks that far exceed those of AMD’s reference model.
As a high-end version of a flagship GPU, the Aorus Radeon RX 7900 XTX Elite competes directly with cards like the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX or PowerColor Red Devil.
These two cards have a lot in common including a massive cooler and triple 8-pin power connectors. They even share the same OC clock speeds, with a game clock that’s more than 9% higher compared to the reference MBA board. The display output options are also identical, with dual HDMI 2.1a outputs along with dual DisplayPort 2.1 outputs (and no USB Type-C port like the MBA card).
Due to the three 8-pin power connectors, there should also be fewer restrictions on user overclocking. However, the quality of the GPU itself is what will eventually decide the outcome of such endeavors. Cards with substantial factory overclocking may have smaller margins to the upside compared to more affordable variants of the same GPU such as Gigabyte’s own Gaming OC card, the Powercolor Hellhound, or ASRock’s Phantom Gaming OC RX 7900 XTX.
Power consumption is also a consideration, especially when a card like the high-end Aorus Radeon RX 7900 XTX Elite runs in overclocked mode. Gigabyte has increased the power supply (PSU) recommendation to 850 Watts from AMD’s 800 Watts, but the difference may actually be larger than that.
Cooling Solution
The Aorus Elite cooler on the Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU is extremely large compared to any mainstream graphics card as well as most other high-end cards. Although it is not much longer than the competition, the cooling shroud is wide and effectively occupies four expansion slots in the PC case.
The fan arrangement is nevertheless fairly typical, with three 100 mm fans including a central fan that spins in the opposite direction to the other two. This is now the most common solution on triple-fan coolers, as it improves airflow and minimizes turbulence.
A less common feature is the large vapor chamber and heat pipe solution, with ten copper pipes connecting the GPU and VRAM to a very large heat sink.
Being an expensive high-end card, the Aorus Elite RX 7900 XTX also comes fully loaded with RGB effects. Aorus logos and fans light up in any color and you can control and sync the light show via Gigabyte’s Control Center app (RGB Fusion).
Reviews
Overall, AORUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX ELITE 24G is a more advanced and powerful version of Radeon RX 7900 XTX, providing better gaming performance and more advanced cooling.
There are no reviews yet.