AMD releases Navi – RX 5700 + 5700 XT

Written by Branton

Last updated Feb 14, 2020

The long-rumored Navi has finally arrived. After what’s felt like years of speculation, we’re finally getting our hands on the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT. Early benchmark results are already in, so is Navi worth it or not?

Before we dive into the early testing results, let’s dig into what the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT are bringing to the table in terms of specs.


RX 5700
amd rx 5700VRAM: 8GB GDDR6 (256-bit)
VRAM Bandwidth: 448 GB/s
Compute Units: 36
Stream Processors: 2304
Texture Units: 144
ROPs: 64
Base Frequency: 1465MHz
Boost Frequency: Up to 1725MHz
TDP: 180W
MSRP: $349


RX 5700 XT
amd rx 5700 xtVRAM: 8GB GDDR6 (256-bit)
VRAM Bandwidth: 448 GB/s
Compute Units: 40
Stream Processors: 2560
Texture Units: 160
ROPs: 64
Base Frequency: 1605MHz
Boost Frequency: Up to 1905MHz
TDP: 225W
MSRP: $399


There’s also an RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary edition available, but it’s just a very lightly overclocked (+75MHz) variant of the RX 5700 XT with gold trim and a much higher price tag. Not really worth it in my opinion, but if you’re a collector of special editions then this might be a decent one.

rx 5700 xt gold

As you can see, there’s quite a difference between the RX 5700 and the RX 5700 XT. The XT has a much higher base frequency, more SPs, more TUs, and more compute units. Current benchmark results are putting the RX 5700 XT on par with Nvidia’s RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 Super in a lot of games.

The one major drawback with the current RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT options is cooling. All of the existing models are of the reference design, meaning all of them use a blower-style cooler. Buying a card with a blower-style cooler can be fine if your plan is to water cool, otherwise, they’re just not that good. They’re always much louder and cool significantly worse than fan cooled options.

While the new cards definitely show promise, early testing results have indicated the current blower-style options are sub-par. They’ve also indicated that the current drivers aren’t functioning as they should. So, if you’re planning on buying the RX 5700 or RX 5700 XT, wait until AIB partner cards have been released with better cooling solutions. By then, newer and better drivers will have been released. Why AMD opted for a blower-style cooler is beyond me when the earlier Radeon VII had a great fan setup – that’s the direction they should have gone with Navi.

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Anonymous
Anonymous
July 14, 2019 3:27 pm

What are your thoughts on the ryzen 7 2700x being 25% off? Is the quality good? Does it compare to intel well? Just wanted to ask the expert 🙂

Anonymous
Anonymous
July 14, 2019 3:27 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

(250$ Now was 330$ on Amazon)

Anonymous
Anonymous
July 8, 2019 4:06 pm

Are they going to release anything above or below the 5700? A 5800 or a 5600?

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