Question Is a 6800 XT with three connectors better than a 6800 XT with two?

[Minutoh]

I had an [ASRock Phantom Gaming 6800 XT](https://pg.asrock.com/Graphics-Card/AMD/Radeon%20RX%206800%20XT%20Phantom%20Gaming%20D%2016G%20OC/index.asp) with 3 connectors, but I was having issues with it and returned it for a [https://www.sapphiretech.com/en/con...n/consumer/pulse-radeon-rx-6800-xt-16g-gddr6) with only 2 connectors. Is the Pulse worse than the Phantom Gaming then, or are they the same? I did get the Pulse for $15 less than the Phantom Gaming which is something.

I was able to OC my ASRock to a minimum of 2450, a maximum of 2550, a VRAM frequency of 2124 with fast timing, and undervolted to 1000mV. For my Sapphire, I can only OC it to a min of 2309, a max of 2409, and a VRAM frequency of 2112 with fast timing on, and undervolted to 1100mV. Is this just because of the silicon lottery, or is this because the Sapphire has only 2 connectors?

It seems to be reaching the power limit when I run Time Spy. The PPT limit percentage gets to 99% to 100% when Time Spy crashes, but it also gets to that point when Time Spy doesn’t crash; I suppose something else is causing the crashes then like the silicon lottery. Additionally, the PPT limit is 312.8W anyway when I set the power limit to +15% in Adrenalin, and I heard the most I can get with 2 connectors is 375 W; I don’t plan on using MPT to raise my power limit even more, so that seems to be unrelated to how many connectors I have anyway. Is this actually related to how many connectors I have, or is this limited by the BIOS?

 

[Avro Arrow]

I see, so things evolve that fast in even 3 short years. That is interesting for sure; who knows how many pins well have in another 3 years lol. And $70 CAD is definitely a great price for that even if you had to put in all that work. Yeah, it definitely does suck for the seller; it’s a shame you can’t send him more money again or something but that’s unfortunately obviously not how it works lol.

Speaking of not working, the card stopped working again. Strange how that makes me feel better eh? 😆

I went for the Pulse since it was $520 instead of $535 for the Phantom Gaming; I might as well save a bit if they’re identical anyways. It seems the PG is actually going for $520 now though, so I suppose it’d be slightly better than the Pulse for the same exact price, but whatever, it doesn’t actually matter and Sapphire is a better brand anyway.

There's not really a "better" or "worse" brand when it comes to video cards. I've used cards by Albatron, XFX, Gigabyte, Sapphire and (currently) ATi and they've all be just fine. I've used motherboards by ASRock, Biostar, ECS/Elitegroup, Gigabyte and MSi with the only motherboard brand that ever failed on me being MSi. Motherboards are similar to video cards but also far more intricate which is why any motherboard maker can make video cards but not every video card maker can make motherboards.

I've only seen two company that began as a video card maker who branched out into motherboards and that's EVGA:

Three other companies tried branching into motherboards but ultimately failed.

One was XFX:

One was Sapphire:

And the third was Zotac:

It is difficult for me to consider Sapphire to be a "better" brand than ASRock when Sapphire failed at motherboards while ASRock is one of the "Big Four" (ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSi).

Pay no attention to the brand of a card because they all do the same thing the same way and one's as good as the next. The only thing that makes a difference to me in video card brands (other than the fact that I refuse to buy MSi) is the same thing that makes a difference to me in motherboard brands.

"Which one has the best price for the chipset that I want?"
- It's really that simple.

In this case, the Sapphire Pulse is better because it was cheaper but these days, AMD has a fairly firm grip on what the AIB partners can do. This isn't because AMD is overly-controlling like nVidia (which is why XFX jumped ship to Radeon from GeForce) but because AMD doesn't want any of them to get an unfair advantage over the others. AMD wants them ALL to succeed so the AIB partners mostly tend to fight over aesthetics. Like just look at Yeston's offerings...

RX 550:

RX 580 (Cute Pet):

RX 5700 XT:

RX 6800 XT (Sakura):

RX 7900 XTX (Sakura):

Sure, you have upper and lower-tier designs but they're all similar and they all work. I think that Sakura is Yeston's upper-tier line like Sapphire has Nitro, XFX has Speedster Merc, ASUS has ROG Strix, Gigabyte has AORUS, etc.

Personally, I just buy the cheapest one out there because I stick it in my rig and never look at it again. The only time that the model ever mattered to me was my current ATi RX 6800 XT (my way of saying reference model) because it was the first consumer Radeon reference model that didn't have a blower in over 20 years. The exception to this would be the Radeon VII but that was more of a professional/prosumer card like a GeForce Titan.

Actually, that's not true either. Back in 2008, I bought the XFX version of the HD 4870 1GB because it was the same price as the rest but I liked the goalie mask and hellish look of the XFX model:

 

[Minutoh]

Speaking of not working, the card stopped working again. Strange how that makes me feel better eh? 😆

There's not really a "better" or "worse" brand when it comes to video cards. I've used cards by Albatron, XFX, Gigabyte, Sapphire and (currently) ATi and they've all be just fine. I've used motherboards by ASRock, Biostar, ECS/Elitegroup, Gigabyte and MSi with the only motherboard brand that ever failed on me being MSi. Motherboards are similar to video cards but also far more intricate which is why any motherboard maker can make video cards but not every video card maker can make motherboards.

I've only seen two company that began as a video card maker who branched out into motherboards and that's EVGA:

Three other companies tried branching into motherboards but ultimately failed.

One was XFX:

One was Sapphire:

And the third was Zotac:

It is difficult for me to consider Sapphire to be a "better" brand than ASRock when Sapphire failed at motherboards while ASRock is one of the "Big Four" (ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSi).

Pay no attention to the brand of a card because they all do the same thing the same way and one's as good as the next. The only thing that makes a difference to me in video card brands (other than the fact that I refuse to buy MSi) is the same thing that makes a difference to me in motherboard brands.

"Which one has the best price for the chipset that I want?"
- It's really that simple.

In this case, the Sapphire Pulse is better because it was cheaper but these days, AMD has a fairly firm grip on what the AIB partners can do. This isn't because AMD is overly-controlling like nVidia (which is why XFX jumped ship to Radeon from GeForce) but because AMD doesn't want any of them to get an unfair advantage over the others. AMD wants them ALL to succeed so the AIB partners mostly tend to fight over aesthetics. Like just look at Yeston's offerings...

RX 550:

RX 580 (Cute Pet):

RX 5700 XT:

RX 6800 XT (Sakura):

RX 7900 XTX (Sakura):

Sure, you have upper and lower-tier designs but they're all similar and they all work. I think that Sakura is Yeston's upper-tier line like Sapphire has Nitro, XFX has Speedster Merc, ASUS has ROG Strix, Gigabyte has AORUS, etc.

Personally, I just buy the cheapest one out there because I stick it in my rig and never look at it again. The only time that the model ever mattered to me was my current ATi RX 6800 XT (my way of saying reference model) because it was the first consumer Radeon reference model that didn't have a blower in over 20 years. The exception to this would be the Radeon VII but that was more of a professional/prosumer card like a GeForce Titan.

Actually, that's not true either. Back in 2008, I bought the XFX version of the HD 4870 1GB because it was the same price as the rest but I liked the goalie mask and hellish look of the XFX model:

Oh okay I see. Yeah, it makes sense since you didn’t expect that card to work and all lol.

And it’s good there’s not really better or worse brands for video cards. I won’t worry about then and just go with what’s cheapest which is the Pulse. I will say that I regret going with Asus for my motherboard. The BIOS is so bad that features like PBO and EXPO II just do not work and make the PC unable to boot. They finally fixed most of their issues after more than 7 months, but I heard other brands weren’t having issues and they also benefit from faster boot times. When I was looking into these issues, I read that Asus is known for having terrible BIOS, so I wish I knew that before I bought it. At least they seem to be fixed now. It makes sense that they’re more intricate though, so the differences between similar mobos matter more than the small difffetrnces between different models of the same GPU.

And that’s fair. ASRock is definitely a better brand if Sapphire’s mobos just completely failed. It’s good that the AIBs are pretty much identical. I’ll definitely stick with the Pulse then. As for aesthetics, I saw some of Yeston’s offerings before and they are definitely very unique. I prefer more plain GPU designs, so Yeston isn’t for me, but I’m sure it’s preferred for some people. That XFX GPU does look pretty cool though I’m all about function over form.

I won’t really care about the differences between my lower-tier and upper-tier models then if they’re pretty much identical. Yeah, the fact that I won’t really see my GPU is another reason I don’t care about aesthetics. I had no idea that the reference 6800 XT doesn’t have. A lower. That definitely cannot be good that for temps.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Oh okay I see. Yeah, it makes sense since you didn’t expect that card to work and all lol.

And it’s good there’s not really better or worse brands for video cards. I won’t worry about then and just go with what’s cheapest which is the Pulse. I will say that I regret going with Asus for my motherboard. The BIOS is so bad that features like PBO and EXPO II just do not work and make the PC unable to boot. They finally fixed most of their issues after more than 7 months, but I heard other brands weren’t having issues and they also benefit from faster boot times. When I was looking into these issues, I read that Asus is known for having terrible BIOS, so I wish I knew that before I bought it. At least they seem to be fixed now. It makes sense that they’re more intricate though, so the differences between similar mobos matter more than the small difffetrnces between different models of the same GPU.

Yes I've heard that. Funny how so many people swear by ASUS, eh? If anyone ever "swears" by one brand, they're only broadcasting their ignorance to everyone else. The only brand I won't touch is MSi and that's because I once bought a flagship motherboard of theirs that failed and they basically told me to pound sand. Customer service is another big thing for me because I don't expect to need it but if I ever do, it's good to have.

And that’s fair. ASRock is definitely a better brand if Sapphire’s mobos just completely failed.

I wouldn't even say that because Sapphire boards weren't bad, they just weren't selling because the market was too saturated and they wanted to focus on their core business, Radeons. Sapphire has a fantastic reputation for Radeon cards and it is warranted, but I've only ever had a problem with one video card and it was XFX. Having said that, I've owned six XFX cards (5 Radeons, 1 GeForce) and except for the RX 5700 XT (which they took care of), I had no problems.

It’s good that the AIBs are pretty much identical. I’ll definitely stick with the Pulse then. As for aesthetics, I saw some of Yeston’s offerings before and they are definitely very unique. I prefer more plain GPU designs, so Yeston isn’t for me, but I’m sure it’s preferred for some people. That XFX GPU does look pretty cool though I’m all about function over form.

Oh yeah, me too. I think that attitude is caused by something called a Y-chromasome. 😊

Having said that, if the price and performance are the same, I don't mind picking the one that more suits my aesthetic tastes.

I won’t really care about the differences between my lower-tier and upper-tier models then if they’re pretty much identical.

At MOST, there might be a 5% performance difference but you'll usually pay far more than 5% extra to get it so what's the point?

Yeah, the fact that I won’t really see my GPU is another reason I don’t care about aesthetics. I had no idea that the reference 6800 XT doesn’t have. A lower.

Doesn't have a what?

That definitely cannot be good that for temps.

I don't know, my RX 6800 XT is a reference model and it works just fine. I even used it for mining for the first 6 months that I owned it (to try to get some of what I overpaid on it back) and it has never skipped a beat. Sure, maybe the AIB models have lower temps but as long as the card remains within spec, that's all that really matters. I also got it for $500 below the going rate for the 6800 XT at the time and I wanted a reference card so I didn't do too badly, especially since I was able to mine back a good chunk of it.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself so I don't go insane with regret. 😉

 

[Minutoh]

Yes I've heard that. Funny how so many people swear by ASUS, eh? If anyone ever "swears" by one brand, they're only broadcasting their ignorance to everyone else. The only brand I won't touch is MSi and that's because I once bought a flagship motherboard of theirs that failed and they basically told me to pound sand. Customer service is another big thing for me because I don't expect to need it but if I ever do, it's good to have.

Yeah, I also don’t understand people who swear by one brand even when they have issues like Asus. I definitely am going to avoid MSI too if even their flagships are failing and customer service was completely unhelpful. Id definitely like to have great customer service when problems arise.

I wouldn't even say that because Sapphire boards weren't bad, they just weren't selling because the market was too saturated and they wanted to focus on their core business, Radeons. Sapphire has a fantastic reputation for Radeon cards and it is warranted, but I've only ever had a problem with one video card and it was XFX. Having said that, I've owned six XFX cards (5 Radeons, 1 GeForce) and except for the RX 5700 XT (which they took care of), I had no problems.

That’s good to hear. I’m glad I went with Sappbire then since they have a great reputation. And that makes sense that they wanted to focus more on video cards then. I suppose 1 out of 6 XFX cards ain’t too bad, especially since they took care of it.

Oh yeah, me too. I think that attitude is caused by something called a Y-chromasome. 😊

Having said that, if the price and performance are the same, I don't mind picking the one that more suits my aesthetic tastes.

Haha yeah that’s definitely true. For one, if I had the choice between a Yeston and anything else for the same price, I’d go with anything else lol.

At MOST, there might be a 5% performance difference but you'll usually pay far more than 5% extra to get it so what's the point?

Yeah, it’s just not even worth it at that point. That is very true.

Doesn't have a what?

Sorry, I meant to say a blower. It’s definitely interesting for sure that’s missing for the reference model.

I don't know, my RX 6800 XT is a reference model and it works just fine. I even used it for mining for the first 6 months that I owned it (to try to get some of what I overpaid on it back) and it has never skipped a beat. Sure, maybe the AIB models have lower temps but as long as the card remains within spec, that's all that really matters. I also got it for $500 below the going rate for the 6800 XT at the time and I wanted a reference card so I didn't do too badly, especially since I was able to mine back a good chunk of it.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself so I don't go insane with regret. 😉

It’s good to hear that it’s been working great even after 6 months of mining. I’m glad that you were able to get some money back, and it’s good you were able to save money since it was below the going rate. It makes sense that temps don’t matter too much as long as they’re not overheating and all.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Yeah, I also don’t understand people who swear by one brand even when they have issues like Asus. I definitely am going to avoid MSI too if even their flagships are failing and customer service was completely unhelpful. Id definitely like to have great customer service when problems arise.

Well, I don't know if MSi is STILL like that because this was a LONG time ago. The motherboard was an MSi K9A2 Platinum from 2007:

As you can see, it was a very high-end board for the time with 4 PCI-Express v2.0 x16 and 2 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 slots. I had bought it with the intent to fill it with 4 HD 4870s in Quad-Crossfire but I only had 2 of them when the board failed. I replaced it with a dirt-cheap ECS/Elitegroup IC780M-A2 (because it was all I could afford at the time):

That board still works to this day. With my expensive motherboard dead, I decided to not bother with Quad-Crossfire. Now I had one card that I couldn't use. In anticipation of Bulldozer, I bought a Gigabyte 990FX motherboard but when Bulldozer turned out to be terrible, I instead bought a Phenom II X4 965 for it and the 16GB of DDR3 that I bought. I don't remember which model it was but I was able to use Crossfire again.

That’s good to hear. I’m glad I went with Sappbire then since they have a great reputation. And that makes sense that they wanted to focus more on video cards then. I suppose 1 out of 6 XFX cards ain’t too bad, especially since they took care of it.

Yup. The RX 5700 XT was the most recent card from XFX that I had. My card was a Triple-Dissipation (base model triple-fan):

They replaced it with a higher-end THICC-III model:

Unfortunately, the first card they sent me had a VRAM error so I had to send that one back too. The second one I received was perfect and they paid shipping both ways for the second one. I still had my Sapphire R9 Fury Nitro OC+:

So I wasn't exactly doing without. In fact, I used it again when I stuck my RX 5700 XT and RX 6800 XT in my mining rig for 6 months. I was actually amazed at how well that old R9 Fury could handle games like Godfall, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Far Cry 6. Sure, I couldn't max anything out but the games still looked good and they played smoothly. When I got the second RX 5700 XT back, it was a Monday and I didn't bother swapping it back in until the weekend because I wasn't really suffering with the R9 Fury.

Haha yeah that’s definitely true. For one, if I had the choice between a Yeston and anything else for the same price, I’d go with anything else lol.

Well, the Yestons aren't exactly cheap so you'll never get one. 😊

Yeah, it’s just not even worth it at that point. That is very true.

Sorry, I meant to say a blower. It’s definitely interesting for sure that’s missing for the reference model.

Believe it or not, the double and triple-fan designs are far superior to blowerS when it comes to cooling. That's why AIB models have used them for years. A blower is a lot more versatile for OEMs because they blow hot air out of the case and are therefore usable in compact PC cases without a lot of natural airflow. That's why Radeon Reference and GeForce Founder's Edition cards used blowers for so long.

It’s good to hear that it’s been working great even after 6 months of mining. I’m glad that you were able to get some money back, and it’s good you were able to save money since it was below the going rate. It makes sense that temps don’t matter too much as long as they’re not overheating and all.

That's exactly how I look at it. It's also why I just use stock air coolers for my CPUs. They cost nothing and they work. I'm not running benchmarks 24/7 and I'm not overclocking to the moon either so, for gaming, an air cooler works just fine.

I actually shake my head when I see people putting 360mm AIOs on CPUs that aren't called i9-13900K/KS/KF, i7-13700K/KF or FX-9590 or aren't heavily-overclocked. They're just paying ~$200 for something that should cost less than $50 or $0 if it's included with the CPU. That cost makes the whole PC weaker because it's money that can't be spent to improve another aspect of the PC's configuration like the CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD or PSU. Sure, it might look cool but, like you, I like function over form. Also, it's not like the AMD Wraith Prism (the cooler that I use) isn't already pretty cool-looking:

Besides, water cooling would be far more effective on their video card than their CPU because the video card makes A LOT more heat. That's why CPU air coolers are far smaller than GPU air coolers.