The frequency study of the AMD RDNA3 and NVIDIA Ada architectures is covered in detail by ComputerBase. Both architectures can easily break the 3 GHz barrier with this iteration, but such clocks won’t always be there.
German reviewers revisit earlier assertions that the RDNA3 architecture can operate at frequencies considerably above 3 GHz. It turns out that some of those assertions might have actually been valid; they simply do not apply to demanding gaming workloads.
RDNA3 and ADA GPUs were examined by ComputerBase using the Blender benchmark for 3D rendering. The custom Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU has a much higher clock speed, averaging 3455 MHz. Even if the rates were as high as 3548 MHz, the card wasn’t completely reliable, according to the editors.
A hard limit of 500W was reached when using 374W of electricity to accomplish this frequency. This indicates that the GPU was not power-truncated, which is significant given that it has a unique design and a better vapour chamber. In spite of being 13% higher than the standard model, it uses 21% more electricity. Additionally, its GPU clock is 24% faster than the RX 6900 XT GPU from the previous generation.
Blender comparison of AMD RX 7900 XT and NVIDIA RTX 4080 Images: ComputerBase
But the frequency is far lower in games. While the fully tuned (overclocked) Sapphire Nitro card can attain an average clock speed of 2832 MHz, the reference AMD RX 7900 XTX GPU runs at 2554 MHz on average. The frequency can actually reach 3155 MHz in some special test scenes, according to ComputerBase editors, but custom Navi 31 only goes so far in games.
Overclocking AMD RDNA3 to 3 GHz, Image: AMD
The RDNA3 architecture was touted by AMD as the first to reach 3 GHz. This assertion is therefore accurate, however it might not always hold true for games. It’s also important to note that Navi 31 is only one of the three anticipated GPUs. It is expected that custom versions based on Navi 33/32 will finally reach an average 3.0 GHz in games because smaller RDNA GPUs tend to clock higher.
Source: ComputerBase
