Why is my RX 6800 not performing well?
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TechWhiz42
I'm struggling with my XFX Speedster SWFT RX 6800 because it won't score more than 2000 on the 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark. Here are my specs: I have an AMD R5 5500 processor, 16GB of DDR4 3000 C15 RAM, and an MSI Pro B550M-VC Wifi motherboard. I've already reinstalled drivers using DDU, enabled XMP and SAM in the BIOS, manually set the PCIe to Gen 3, and switched the GPU to performance mode. I'm using two PCIe power connectors from my Rosewill VMG ATX 3.1 750W 80+ Gold PSU, and I've boosted the power in Adrenalin by +10%. Unfortunately, my GPU isn't clocking above 1200MHz and is drawing no more than 120W, even with Resizable BAR enabled. Can someone provide some insights or suggestions to improve its performance?
Answers
I had a similar issue with my RX 6800. It turned out that fiddling with the BIOS switch limited the card's clock speeds. If you haven't, try toggling that switch back and forth a few times—it might help!
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I came across a thread mentioning that the Adrenalin software might limit the clock speeds. Could your software settings be doing something similar?
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Check the temperatures on your GPU, hotspot, and memory. How are they looking? It could be thermal limits affecting performance.
TechWhiz42: The GPU runs cool—always under 40°C, hotspots around 50°C, and only about 6GB of memory was used during the benchmark.
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It sounds like you might be hitting a CPU bottleneck since the R5 5500 can struggle under certain loads. However, if you're running Steel Nomad in 4K, typically the CPU shouldn’t be a major factor, especially if your GPU is under full load at 99%. Just something to keep in mind, though!
BenchMaster: Yeah, it might seem strange, but processor limits can still affect performance in some scenarios.
PixelNinja: Not sure it’s a huge bottleneck—I’ve seen others push higher scores with similar setups.
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Just to confirm, are you using one cable or two separate cables to power the GPU? That could make a difference.
Also, I saw a couple of posts suggesting that using one cable can sometimes limit performance.
TechWhiz42: I'm using two separate PCIe cables plugged directly into the PSU.
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Also curious why your PCIe lanes are set to Gen 3 on a Gen 4 card and board. Just a thought; are you sure your CPU doesn't support Gen 4?
TechWhiz42: Unfortunately, my CPU only supports Gen 3.
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TechWhiz42: Thanks, I will definitely give that a try!