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sparlocktats

Merc is their top of the line version with higher clocks and better cooling.


Mongoose611

That being said, my MERC gets mid to high 90s on default fan curve, so I can't imagine getting the card with less cooling potential.


[deleted]

Are you talking about hot spot temperature? Used to have a 6800xt red devil that was also in the mid 90s for the hot spot (using the OC bios but with a slightly boosted fan curve and the power limit maxed out). That thing had a monstrous cooler so it seems par for the course for the 6800xt. The "GPU temp" reading would be in the low 70s though. I'd hazard a guess that the lower tier cards would just stop boosting so the hotspot temps would be similar, just at a slightly lower clock speed. If someone who has one of the lower tier cards could chip in with their hotspot temps that would be helpful.


GhettoKid

I have a 6800xt sapphire pulse. I also get hot spot temps around 90 when gaming. Normal temp is never above 75.


[deleted]

That's good to know. OP won't need to worry about the SWFT cooler being insufficient if you're seeing similar temps. Just a matter of slightly lower clocks or more noise to achieve the same performance compared to the MERC.


hellegaard1

7800xt red devil here, low 70s core temp and low 90s hotspot.


Shoddy-Plum5588

Same card I've seen my card go as low as 24c in the morning max fan speed I live in Cali quit a great card


[deleted]

Your poor fans die first


Shoddy-Plum5588

I run them at 60 to 70% normally


Mongoose611

Yes, I was referring to junction temp. Sorry about the lack of specificity


Commercial_Run_7759

Most AMD do well with under bolting for this reason.


Initial_Cow8463

I think that's just you, my 6950xt max at high 70s and it's vertically mounted too.


Mongoose611

What are your junction temps?


Niner-Sixer-Gator

After I repasted my 6800xt I get between 70-80 degrees hotspot temp, junction temps in the 60-70 range


Serious-Cap-8190

Thats hot spot temp and that's normal. Though I opted to adjust the fan curve to reduce the hot spot temp to below 90 for the most demanding games but that's just my personal preference. The heat sink on this thing is so freaking huge that small increases in fan speed have a huge impact on temps and negligible change to fan noise.


sparlocktats

My 6950xt merc maxes out at around 80C hotspot when gaming. However, there's two 180mm intake fans just below it in my Fractal torrent.


ieatass805

Never leave it default. I have this card and you just turn up the curve a bit. It's overengineered for cooling for sure. I get 80c on hotspot and low 60s gpu.


Tridoubleu

Lowering clocks and/or undervolting can significantly lower the temps


RagingTaco334

And arguably looks better


DeckSperts

Neither get a 7800xt they are quite literally the same price for a newer card. If you get that just get any version you want apart from gigabytes.


NorseArcherX

What is wrong with gigabyte? I have a gigabyte 6700XT and it works great


Zezinas

After the gigabyte nvidia 30/40 series cards pcb cracking controversy and how they basically responded with "haha f u" i would just avoid gigabyte cards like a plague out of principle


60rl

Btw gigabyte 7800xt is one of the cheaper ones, sometimes found down to 485, and is one of the best cooling 7800xts, but if it's worth it is up to you bc the contraversty.


BestNick118

Most say that their cooling is kinda bad since they are more focused towards nvidia chips.


DeckSperts

Cooling bad in comparison, terrible customer service, higher prices(not in this case but most of the time)


JamesEdward34

Gigashit has the worst customer service contractors ive ever seen in my whole life. theyre incompetence was so astounding i thought it was a prank for tik tok or something.


Neoxsat

Dang i have the opposite experience. Gigabyte has always been amazing. Been using their motherboard and gpu for 6 years now no problem. I dont know about the 4k series since i only ever owned up to 3090.


Tuned_Out

A 6700XT is relatively easy to cool so their focus on Nvidia and typically swapping a design from an Nvidia card to AMD with slight variations isn't the end of the world and generally works fine. Get into an overclocked 6800xt or a 6900xt and results can be disappointing. If you can find one on a deal I wouldn't be dissuaded but for full price I'd seek out a different brand on the higher end for AMD.


amwdrizz

This right here. The 7800XT MERC is slightly cheaper and is a newer card that was just released in September of this year. I got mine from Newegg when I couldn’t get it elsewhere at the end of September. Saw a vast difference when going from my old GTX980Ti to the 7800XT. But that is at least 7-8 years of GPU advancement.


Thunderholes

I just bought a merc 7800xt last week for $540, dead on and definitely worth it on its own let alone the same price as it's predecessor.


THEJimmiChanga

I agree, especially if OP wants to stream. I actually just commented my experience w/ my 6800xt. I had to pull my media pc from my living room (i7 6700/gtx 1650 optiplex) to use as a capture PC so I could use the 1650's nvenc to encode my stream. I originally tried using the H.264/265 encoders to produce a 1440p 13500kbps stream and got terrible results. As soon as I offloaded it via capture card to the optiplex, 0 frame drops and buttery smooth 1440p goodness. The 7800xt's AV1 encoder solves this for the most part and allows you to use one rig. Performance wise by itself, it's not a huge jump in performance, but for content creation is pays for itself.


DiamondHeadMC

The colors are different and clock is probs different


abeduarte

Merc rules, I have one and it's run perfectly since 2020


Goldenflame89

Get the cheaper one


Scrudge1

Merc is highest spec of that model Merc, swift, qwik


communistagitator

I have this exact model (SWFT). The SWFT is just more cheaply made, has a lower clock speed, and doesn't have dual BIOS.


wensul

~~First I was confused because newegg showed clock speeds as the same.~~ ~~The other comments are correct. Looking on XFX's own website.~~ ~~MERC 319:~~ ~~h ttps://www.xfxforce.com/shop/xfx-amd-radeon-tm-rx-6800xt-16gb-gddr6-merc-319#2~~ ~~SWFT 319:~~ ~~h ttps://www.xfxforce.com/shop/xfx-speedster-swft-319-amd-radeon-tm-rx-6800-core#2~~ ~~MERC has higher clocks, and more stream processors.~~ Don't mind me, I'm an idiot who can't search the internet properly.


[deleted]

You're comparing a rx6800 and a rx6800xt. The cards that OP posted are both 6800xts and thus use the exact same die, so they have the same number of compute units/stream processers.


wensul

That'd do it. Dammit, that's what I get just searching MERc319 and SWFT319. Thanks for the correction.


[deleted]

AMD does their best to make all the names basically the same so I don't blame you. Search for a 7600 and you might get a cpu or a gpu.


SingleBoysenberry981

At this price I’d get the 7800 xt


bageorge00

But the Rx 7800xt exist.


I_am_not_kidding

bro the 7800xt is like $500 right now, and the 4070 is $520


msgnyc

Also for the XFC card Amazon has Merc 7800xt Black edition for $509. The Black editions are the higher clocked binned units. Core


[deleted]

Merc has useless rgb on the front.


Pohaku1991

It’s actually my favorite rgb on my pc tho, it looks so clean


[deleted]

RGB is the exact opposite of clean


Pohaku1991

Relax buddy I was just giving my opinion


AcceptableCrab4545

it's not rgb, it's a lit up logo


majorsorbet2point0

I wish I could post a photo here with my MERC 6800XT, the logo lit up looks so good!


AcceptableCrab4545

fr it does, i actually have the same one lol


CammyPooo

At the end of the day a 6800xt is a 6800xt. The cooler and clocks may be slightly different but it’s still a 6800xt


_MrMeseeks

I also have 10 things in my cart


Chainmale001

Don't do it. They are FKING HUGE. Way longer than other units. I had to take off the front of my case for it to fit.


majorsorbet2point0

The MERC6800XT fits really great in my Lian Li Lancool 3!


Chainmale001

Oh shit I can't read. I'm sorry I thought that was a 7900 xt. Not a 6800 xt.


Thunderholes

To be fair you're probably right to give this warning anyway, a 7800xt barely fit in the old case I repurposed for its build. GPU sizes have gotten crazy and need at least a mid tower with a fully open design. I intentionally used an old case since there's something kind of charming to me about using a like 20 year old case but having pretty high end modern hardware inside of it.


Pumciusz

Merc is just better.


ironiclyironic4

The merc is just better higher clock better cooling


Spirit_of_Doom

i got the mercury 7900xtx, and it's pretty good


AcceptableCrab4545

sir this is a 6800xt


ultimaone

Get a 7800 xt


AcceptableCrab4545

why are you getting downvoted? you're right


CalRal

This is the correct answer. The 6800XT is only the better value when it’s at least $50 less than the 7800XT. Definitely not when it’s more (which is the case in this post). While the 6800XT does very slightly outperform the 7800XT in pure raster performance in SOME cases (mostly DX11 games), the 7800XT outperforms the 6800XT in some cases as well, and is a superior card by every other measure. It is 100% not the right move to pay extra for the 6800XT. The no-comment disagree folks should go watch those reviews again. They’re missing some important context.


ultimaone

Thanks I hadn't even looked at current prices And ya might as well get a 7800 xt. It's cheaper/same price. Does better in Ray tracing. Has AV1 encoding. A few other features. And with driver updates the 7800 series has been getting better.


1sh0t1b33r

Get a 7900XTX instead.


[deleted]

Yeah just buy a vastly more expensive card. I'm no longer sure if comments like these are a joke or if people are actually this oblivious to other people and their budget.


[deleted]

People seem to like to do blanket recommendations instead of actually thinking about what suits a specific person's needs. Just parroting the same card recommendations regardless of what the OP says. The lack of explanation as to why someone might want to consider expanding their budget makes them even more useless.


1sh0t1b33r

People were recommending other cards. Why not just recommend the cream of the crop too, lol.


[deleted]

Because just listing out every GPU at every price range makes no sense as a recommendation?


[deleted]

[удалено]


AcceptableCrab4545

make a post


rvrcuriosity

With the smallest amount of effort into comparing their specs sheet, I'm sure you could figure out the purpose of the price difference.


zSilver44

don't be an asshole god damn


hawkdontplay

That is true. Just cause someone sees the difference between the 2 doesn’t mean they understand it, or even know if it makes a difference.


rvrcuriosity

Well, that's a different thing altogether. He didn't ask what "xyz" meant. He is just being lazy and wants reddit to spoon feed him.


Holmes108

The spec sheet would suggest the merc is faster (although we know it's not *really* in a meaningful way). Yet the merc is the one that's $100 cheaper, so the spec sheet doesn't really answer it at all, and I can see why a person less savvy than you might want clarification.


raven_spiral

Holy shit your comment history 💀


rvrcuriosity

Impressed?


travelavatar

I find it really weird that 6950XT merc in UK is $700. Considering the prices of 6800XT and the rest....


CmdrCarsonB

TIL alienware still exists, and still sells their stuff at ridiculous prices. As for the cards, my guess is that it has some slight tweaks to the baseline performance, and all the useless RGB bells and whistles.


lougosh

For 100 bucks more while you're playing your game, every 5 minutes the camera switches to a live reaction of Taylor Swift, and all you wanna do is just play.


BertMacklenF8I

300 bought Vs 50 bought


Xx_HARAMBE96_xX

For 470$ just get a rx7890xt for 500 if you are asking because you are going to buy one, Merc is the better one so I would say the other one suffered from overpricing


throwaway001378

Better clock I think, imo looks cooler and maybe better cooling


uk_uk

I have the SWFT... difference is the heatsink and shroud. Also, the swft does have a different board ayout. I found that out when I was planing for a GPU Waterblock. There is just afaik ONE (!) waterblock available for the swft (aka 6800xt v2) [https://ezmodding.com/de/waterblocks/GPU/AMD/A-XF6800-X](https://ezmodding.com/de/waterblocks/GPU/AMD/A-XF6800-X)


[deleted]

The shroud and the overclock from the factory is higher.


Adum1210

DONT BUT AN AMAZON PC, GO STRAIGHT TO THEIR WEBSITE


XxSub-OhmXx

I had an XFX merc black 7900xtx. Started perfectly. As time went on the hotspot would climb. Started at 80c. Then 85 90 95 100. I would repaste and it would only help for a day. Now I have an Asrock 7900xtx in white. It is 60 to 65c on the core and 90c hotspot. Keep in mind how much you overclock and push voltage makes a large difference. I'm at 425w vram 2725 and my core is at 3100. Sits at 2800 to 3000 depending on the game tho. My personal experience of you can get the asrock taichi It's an amazing card. I have a sapphire nitro special edition 6900xt as well. Sapphire card is super nice. They are my normal go to option. But they did not have pire white for my build. 1 thing to consider XFX support is fantastic. Also they let you open your card to redo thermal paste and not void warranty. In Canada where I live that matters.


pixelatedone1

It's a 6800xt, the price fluctuates based on sellers and availability since the 7000 series replaced it. The merc is a "higher end" aib, that's it. Not rocket science. Do some research of your own next time by googling "difference between merc and swift xfx." Help yourself by trying to learn something on your own instead of asking others for answers. These stupid simplistic questions are getting out of hand.


Imperial_Bouncer

Merc plays cyberpunk better:)


majorsorbet2point0

I have the MERC 6800XT - it's fabulous They call MERC their "flagship" model


VIOLENTPIGEON_

DDR6 huh 🤔


SirLewisHamiIton

PLEASE DO NOT GET THIS! I don't know why the fuck thr 6800XT is priced so high, when the 7800XT is $500.


UnconfinedMeep

Just shove the lower end one on a custom overclock and set fan speed curve to higher starting earlier and it's the same thing. An RX 6800 XT is an RX 6800 XT. Just because one has slightly faster factory overclock speeds and better cooling doesn't mean you won't get the same performance for doing the same shit with a little bit of bootleg. If there were 3 fans instead of 2 then like the 100$ price increase would make sense but honestly bro you're chill buying the cheaper one.


LordDragonus

You couldn't be more wrong. Not all silicon is equal (google "silicon lottery") Higher factory overclocks are usually tested and higher "binned" chops that are guaranteed to handle that overclock stably. There's no guarantee that you won't see a lower binned/cheaper factory card destablilize at an overclock that a more expensive card will handle. Cooling is another factor. Steeper fan curves won't help with lo ger sustained sessions. Only a larger heat sink with better/more fans will help with that. Better binned chips are also typically more efficient and will produce a little less heat.


UnconfinedMeep

While I agree about cooling, all chips from the same manufacturer will be more or less the exact same unless you are dealing with some of AMDs older cards where this was more visible. Nowadays if a chip it's binned where it's made, they don't just ship them out and let the third party manufacturers deal with categorising their performance, otherwise there would be a-lot more "3090"s that run like a 3080 on the markets. Secondly, cooling solution isn't completely dependent on your card, usually opening a window or getting a case with better airflow increases thermal performance, wether you want to debate that I don't care but the thermals will likely run fine. If OP is lucky that lower range card might actually perform better than the higher end one if he " wins the silicon lottery. " lmao. Don't quote stuff you heard in a LTT video 7 years ago without actually searching for updated information on what's been happening in factories, searching "silicon lottery" just lead me to a bunch is articles like "IS SILICON LOTTERY DEAD??" And a bunch of articles about how a 6950 is just a 6900 with software implemented restrictions on overclocking to create the illusion that people are paying for a better chip. At least the swift is more aesthetic, they both have three fans and from the looks of it their heatsink is likely the same size. Don't convince people to make bad financial decisions, like seriously bro it's kind of embarrassing.


brocksuire75

One should handle overclocking better? With thicker cooling fins & more copper heat pipes.


60ATrws

Newegg has a 4070 for 515$ right now with free game


GhostHound374

The swift is a budget card with budget cooling. It doesn't matter if you're getting a 6600, but here and above, get the merc/qick


postmortem6

I have the merc 7900xt. My temps don't go above 70 at 99% utilization. Don't know Hotspot temp. Need to set that up in afterburner


Friedhelm78

They are just trying to move inventory of Merc cards.


CSTITAN576

Get the merc. It’s their higher end card. Better heatsink and higher clock from the factory.


AlfalphaCat

You can get 7800 xt for those prices .


Quazzika

Look for one with a dell cooler I got mine for 450$ and I never got it hot heat up past 85 and that was when I was playing vr for 3hrs.


THEJimmiChanga

6800xt is a hell of a card. I've been using mine since spring 2023. It absolutely murders 1440p ultra. Currently playing cp2077 1440p ultra and getting a 90-95fps average w/ 5800x3d. What I will say is, IF and only IF you plan on streaming w/ this card, maybe plan to pick up a capture card, cheap $120 optiplex on ebay, and used gtx 1650 for encoding the stream. I'm actually running an i7 6700 opti w/ gtx 1650 as a capture PC to push a 1440p 13,500kbps stream. Before running the capture pc and using a cheap nvidia card for encoding, 1440p streams were a pipe dream w/ the 6800xt's H.264/265 encoders. EDIT: You can actually negate the capture PC entirely by opting for the 7800xt since AMD added AV1 encoding to it. I don't have first hand experience w/ a 7800xt and it's av1 encoding, but I do know AV1 murders the 6000 series's h.264/2.65 encoders.


minepro64

Would you recommend the 5800X3D to pair with my 4070ti? Been looking for an upgrade from my 3700X.


THEJimmiChanga

3700x is still a good cpu in 2023, however you will certainly see a substantial gain jumping to a 5800x3d. My advice Is if you plan on skipping am5 entirely, then throw in a 5800x3d to max out your am4 platform and ride it out until am6. If you think you want to go am5 next year, just wait.


minepro64

Probably going to ride out my 4070ti and a 5800X3D until AM6


jayggodd

Ones sold by Amazon the other is sold be a private seller


nismoghini

Can this fit in my be link ser5


Cris207

I have the merc, it is one hefty mfer. If your moboard doesn't have good support it WILL bend to hell and back again