XFX SPEEDSTER SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming Graphics Card with 12GB GDDR6 HDMI 3xDP, AMD RDNA 2 (RX-67XTYJFDV)

Pros: Fast, quiet, more affordable compared to other 6700XT cards, runs great.

Cons: A little warmer than the 5600 XT (~5-10C (70-72C) when pushing its limits, where the 5600 XT would max out around 63C. No RGB lighting or logos.

Overall Review: I finally got and installed the XFX SWFT 6700 XT tonight. I have a Ryzen 2700X, ASUS Strix B450-Itx mobo, 32GB 3200 RAM, 1TB Samsung 970 EVO, and upgraded from a Sapphire Pulse 5600 XT. While not the ideal hardware for this card, I did see some huge improvements over the 5600 XT. The biggest FPS jump I seen so far was in Resident Evil 3 Remake, which went from 90-95 FPS (5600 XT) to hitting 160-165 FPS with the 6700 XT (145 FPS in heavy action)- both cards were running it maxed at 1440p. It runs about 5-10C warmer than the 5600 XT. Hottest temps I seen so far was 71C GPU & 91C junction temp when playing Sword and Fairy 7, which is extremely GPU intensive (supposedly that game even gives cards like the 3080 TI a workout).
There are some games I play that have frame rates locked at 60 FPS and those games used to push the 5600XT at 98-99% GPU usage in 1440p. After upgrading to this 6700 XT, I upped things like Render Resolution (1.2 to 1.5) and anisotropic filtering (4x to 8x). The XFX 6700 XT card seems to be running in the mid 50C range and to low 60C GPU temps, while running at 70-80% GPU usage and keeping things running smooth at a locked and steady 60FPS. On the 5600XT, the same game at those settings would run at low 40s FPS along with some stuttering.

As for the fans, they are not audible to me. The CPU fan on the AMD Wraith Prism cooler is the loudest fan in that case and easily drowns out all other fan sounds. I have not heard any sound differences between the idle and intense gaming sounds coming from the case.

All in all, I am pleased with the 6700 XT. I play at only 1440p, which was a bit much for the 5600 XT I had been using since February 2020. It was nice to finally get smooth and high frame rates in 1440p. I am impressed because I am using a Ryzen 2700X and a B450 motherboard in an ITX case (InWin A1 Plus with a 650W gold PSU).

Pros: None

Cons: None

Overall Review: Bought it 9/21 and today 10/4/22 dead