Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition - Review

Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition - a brutal graphics card with 360mm water cooling and the most powerful edition of the Radeon RX 6950 XT graphics processor. Hellishly fast and beautiful, and at the same time quiet.

• Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition - Introduction
• Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition - Characteristics and Impressions in the work
• Conclusion

Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition - Introduction

We are especially pleased to show you a real premiere and a component that you can't see very often, even in specialty stores. Even when it comes to the latest generation graphics card, excitement is guaranteed. Apart from the strongest Radeon in the form of the "supercharged" RX 6950 RX version, the fact that it is the fastest and most powerful Sapphire TOXIC model brings special weight.

AMD recently launched additionally optimized and accelerated Radeon RX 6000 series models with the suffix 50 in the label. So, in front of you are the Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT selected models by major categories for FullHD, QHD, and 4K gaming - the best that AMD can offer you at the moment in the form of RDNA 2 architecture.
 
In addition to all that has been said, there is a logical question - well, how are the new Radeon models better than the ordinary ones from the RX 6000 series?

First of all, in this fine optimization, we would say that these are binary examples of processors because although they have the same number of transistors as the previous series, they have a slightly higher number of stream-shader processors, and add faster memory with higher data flow to better took advantage of ultra-fast Infinity cache and higher operating frequency in Boost mode, altogether resulting in 5% -10% better performance.

The consumption of the graphics card is just as much compared to the Radeon RX 6900 XT model with which we compare our graphics card.

Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition - Characteristics and impressions in the work

The fact that makes a key difference in the whole story of today's AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT model is that it is not a reference graphics card but a Sapphire TOXIC model - the best of the best, but without exaggeration.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Sapphire does not have a bad graphics card, whether it is a budget model, a mainstream middle class, or a "top of the line" TOXIC model. In this way, the fastest in the line of AMD "supercharged" Radeon's new-generation models got the predisposition to be even faster. First of all, we mean the uncompromising quality of the workmanship and one of the best cooling systems, which together are aimed at raising performance to the maximum of RDNA 2 technology. So, this TOXIC squeezes the last drop of performance pushing the Radeon RX 6950 XT to the very limits of AMD 7nm technology.
 
These are not just empty words and PPT presentations. We made sure of that during all these days of testing and reminded ourselves what it means to have the ultimate powerful gaming graphics card. It's a whole new level of gaming experience. It is really difficult to describe in words who did not feel it. However, this statement is accompanied by demands for the ultimate rest of the components such as the fastest desktop CPUs, fast RAM, powerful power supply, and a suitable case. This is the only way to use its extraordinary power - because the existence of a bottleneck is not allowed in this case, if you want to see the graphics card at its best.

How else to describe something with 5120 stream processors, 80 Ray accelerators, and computing units with 16GB of the fastest GDDR6 memory and 128MB of AMD Infinity cache. A board with PCIe specifications of the 4th generation is included, as well as a power supply of at least 850W because only the "graphics" consumes 350W, and the system in spikes pull up to 700W, so a power reserve is required. In the end, get ready to pay alot for this good TOXIC Radeon RX 6950 XT Limited Edition.
 
And what do you get in return? The fastest Radeon version you've ever had a chance to try. Sapphire TOXIC versions have been special so far in terms of cooling system quality, and this version takes that detail to a whole new level using a dual cooling system - one based on a graphics processor and an air cooling system with a massive cooler based on heat pipe technology and one large fan whose task is to cool the video memory and VRM unit to power the graphics card. The water cooling system is a custom AiO 360mm system that uses a triple radiator configuration for this occasion, we have to notice a slightly thicker body compared to the CPU models.
 
Add to that three efficient RGB fans with striking lighting effects, and the curiosity is that all the necessary power and RGB cables are reconfigured and powered virtually via a PCIe slot, so you have no workaround cabling - everything is routed and connected at the factory. All you have to do is install the graphics card in the PCIe x16 slot, and everything works from the first. Details are set from the accompanying Sapphire TRIXX software.

Apart from being strikingly beautiful to the eye and of impressive quality at hand, this Sapphire TOXIC is brutally fast in operation. This, on the other hand, is a confirmation of how Sapphire has completely hit the design of the cooling solution and perfectly adapted it to the characteristics of the Radeon RX 6950 XT hardware. Multiple layers of cooling surfaces, copper layers of printed circuit boards, composite heatpipes - we could talk a lot more about this, but in the end, it all comes down to performance and how it delivers such high performance in the context of work culture.
 
You have been convinced and disappointed many times so far when you realize that fast tickets are usually hot and noisy. It is necessary to deal with the body heat that emits 350W of energy. This is exactly the detail in which this Sapphire TOXIC excels. Even under maximum load after several hours of gaming, the temperature of the graphics processor does not reach, let alone exceed the limit of 60 degrees Celsius. Fantastic result and we have to admit that water cooling is simply an imperative with high-performance graphics cards.
 
You can adjust the noise-to-speed ratio directly using two BIOS predefined profiles that are selected using three-position microswitches - the first "Primary", the second overclocking, and the third position allows you to call the desired profile software from TRIXX tools.

The direct benefit of this is that this Sapphire TOXIC goes far beyond the specifications stated by AMD for its Radeon RX 6950 XT model i.e. 2100 MHz for the classic gaming scenario. We recorded over 2600MHz or half a gigahertz more during our test, which is an extraordinary result for such a massive processor numbering 26.8 billion transistors. Undoubtedly, all this has a direct impact on better performance.

Test system:

MB:	MSI X570 Godlike
CPU:	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
RAM:	32GB (2x16GB) GSkill 3600 CL16 2R
VGA:	Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT Limited Edition
SSD:	500GB Western Digital SN850 M.2
Case:	Cooler Master MasterBox 520
PSU:	Cooler Master MVE Gold 1250 - V2
Driver:	Adrenalin 22.5.1
OS:	Windows 11

Performance:

We see that the advantage over classic models increases with increasing resolution compared to a purebred QHD gaming model such as Radeon RX 6700 XT, the real difference in games at 4K resolution is twice as large in favor of TOXIC RX 6950 XT model + additional margin with Fidelity With FX acceleration and possible overclocking attempts, although realistically at heart, the automatic overclocking system works fantastically in practice with Sapphire water cooling.
 
It is without a doubt a model for 4K gaming because in CoD Warzone it delivers 145 frames on ultra settings and RT effects included, Apex Legends fires 183 fps in 4K on High settings or 80fps in RDR2. On average, it delivers 80-100 fps in the latest "AAA" games.
 
The only weak conditionally weak point is the work in some graphically accelerated applications such as Blender, which simply uses practically only half the power of this map with the latest API.

In the end, you can't help but wonder how Sapphire managed to make TOXIC such a powerful and at the same time quiet graphics card. He took advantage of the fact that the new Radeon RX6000 series features a full network of GPU thermal sensors in vital positions, giving a much more realistic picture of the state under load, allowing the processor to last longer in the high operating frequency zone.

Aggressively high-frequency values continuously push the processor to the maximum, which according to the specifications in the case of operating temperature is 110 degrees - this is the hotspot or Junction value. In practice and real situations, the temperature is lower, but on this phenomenal TOXIC model, it does not exceed the 60th division, which opens space for massive accelerations of 500MHz, ie a quarter of the frequency according to AMD factory specifications, which is a result of respect.

Conclusion

We conclude that this is the best and fastest Radeon we have tried so far. It is expensive, but like any "flagship", it has a price. Who will buy it? Well, some people want only the best in life, and they are ready to pay for it. There aren’t many but there are definitely, just like this limited edition Sapphire TOXIC RX 6950 XT model!

Once you get used to this incredibly good fluidity and smoothness of movement in fast-paced games that are the result of a phenomenally fast graphics card that produces several hundred frames per second and a good screen with high vertical refresh rates and dynamic sync settings - the result is the ultimate gaming experience, without exaggeration!
 
We have reached the very end of the presentation of this unusual Sapphire TOXIC Radeon RX 6950 XT in a limited series. It is one of the best graphics cards of today. If you ask us if this TOXIC or some GeForce RTX 3090 - we can not answer because they are objective finesse and personal decisions - but they are currently the best graphics cards of today - certainly without a doubt, and if you are one of the fans of AMD technology, from this is no better!