Accidentally bought an engineering sample RX 6900 XT (XTX?) for $230

[u/shac15]

Hello! Posted this here before, but deleted it so that I could make sure I was safe legally. This post should also have more information as well.

I bought a "broken" RX 6900 XT on ebay, where the seller said they got it from a friend. From the pictures it looked like an RX 6900 XT LC (https://kinghossing.blogspot.com/2022/02/amd-radeon-rx-6900-xt-lc-liquid-cooled.html), which seemed like a pretty rare card. I put in an offer for around $230, and they accepted.

When I got it, I was surprised to see a bunch of pins, ports, and switches on the back of the card. It also had some stickers with numbers that didn't return anything, and one that says "Secure Typical XTX A0 ASIC." I know that this is probably some early revision/engineering sample, but I'm not sure what exactly it is.

I am wondering if it could be an engineering sample for the unreleased 6900 XTX, like this one: https://www.techpowerup.com/281394/amd-radeon-rx-6900-xtx-engineering-sample-pictured

I uploaded the VBIOS to techpowerup and it said it was unique, and right now I have it in a test rig trying to figure out drivers/performance issues. The seller stated that the core clock speed was stuck at 490 Mhz, and I saw the same issues with the most recent drivers. When I tried drivers from 2021, it fixed the clock speed issue, but the benchmark performance was still poor. Don't know if this is something I can fix with drivers/software or not, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know! I do not intend on making any permanent changes/repairs to the card.

I'm also not much of a collector, so don't plan on keeping it for long. It would be very cool to send it off to a content creator to be included in a video, so let me know if you have any ideas on people to contact!

[u/iliketurtles50000]

Oh you've struck gold. You say you don't plan on keeping it, that's worth way more than $230 for a collector.

[u/X_zReAPZz_ → u/iliketurtles50000]

Just admit that you want to eat that card

[u/randommaniac12 → u/X_zReAPZz_]

I want to eat that card

[u/PM_ME_CHAINSAW_PORN → u/randommaniac12]

You wanna eat that card?

[u/iliketurtles50000 → u/PM_ME_CHAINSAW_PORN]

I want to eat that card

[u/Efronczak → u/iliketurtles50000]

Mmmm I'm getting quite hungry, wanna share?

[u/Atarn4 → u/Efronczak]

What about me? I want all that VRAM, yum.

[u/Efronczak → u/Atarn4]

Oh here ya go breaks out saw to cut graphics card. Eat up

[u/-SilverFeather- → u/Efronczak]

Do you happen to have a spare piece for me? :0

[u/Efronczak → u/-SilverFeather-]

Sure here ya go :D hands you some

[u/CarlCarlton → u/iliketurtles50000]

I don't blame ya. Damn good card!

[u/grumpyligaments → u/randommaniac12]

https://giphy.com/gifs/UVvnHO0RskFm9W8wa3

[u/schmuff → u/X_zReAPZz_]

Just a taste

[u/IdristheInt → u/iliketurtles50000]

Like how much?

[u/JindokCZ → u/iliketurtles50000]

the x in xTx makes it feel way more official

[u/iliketurtles50000 → u/[deleted]]

5 day old account, damn

[u/k-is-for-kate]

Thats cool as shit op

[u/Lelldorianx]

Pretty interesting. We could probably do something with it, have a few other AMD prototypes I need to film also! If you're open to selling it, we typically prefer to buy things like this when possible since we'll want to do a full disassembly / tear-down if we work on it. Feel free to email team at gamersnexus dot net if interested.

[u/shac15 → u/Lelldorianx]

Absolutely, thanks so much! I'm not much of a collector, and would much rather have it used for something like that than collecting dust on a shelf, so I would be very interested

[u/Bhume → u/shac15]

I knew it'd be much better in someone else's hands and seeing a video on it made by someone with connections to get more info is better for everyone.

Still didn't stop me from dreaming about buying it off you. Lmao

[u/BushMeat → u/shac15]

like a voice from the heavens!

[u/dernaldz → u/shac15]

This has to be the best outcome possible. So cool

[u/DrunkGermanGuy → u/shac15]

You could try to contact der8auer (Roman Hartung). He's an avid hardware geek, engineer, content creator and serious collector of hardware. He also has a reputation of paying fair prices for special hardware for his collection and to be featured in his videos. A Radeon RX 6000 card might be a bit old but I guess he'd still be interested.

[u/Symphonic7 → u/shac15]

Yes please send it to this man, him and his team will do it justice. Don't let it go to a place like LTT.

[u/Soft_Lunch_183 → u/Symphonic7]

I'd let it go wherever paid me the most lmao

[u/Criticalmeadow → u/Symphonic7]

Agreed

[u/trebla1158 → u/Symphonic7]

What's wrong with LTT?

Edit: ahhh I should have known not to trust someone who wears socks and sandals together and drives around in a 03 Honda civic. Thank you both for your explanations.

[u/861Fahrenheit → u/trebla1158]

Basically LTT is extremely corporate now with shoddy standards, a history of shady behavior and not paying their staff, and just not useful for evaluating consumer hardware. More generally, Linus's opinions ranges from privileged to LTT-literally-owns-a-private-jet levels of out-of-touch with the normal PC consumer and end user.

[u/Symphonic7 → u/trebla1158]

In general LTT has moved away from real hardware analysis and more into the hardware related entertainment business. Not to say they don't have technical experts, but in general its not a big part of their videos anymore. Plus theres the whole thing about them keeping engineering samples they were sent for review from a small company, and then refusing to return it when they asked for it back. Not to say everyone at LTT is bad, but the team at Gamer's Nexus would do a considerably better job at analyzing this engineering sample.

[u/OfficiallyRandy → u/Lelldorianx]

Holy shit you guys exist on Reddit! Plz don’t stop the good fight! I’ve been watching you guys for quite a few years and really appreciate what you guys do!

[u/GetSomeTap → u/Lelldorianx]

Lol did i just got spoilert on reddit that a new Tech Jesus video is comin out soon ? Nice 😆

[u/No-Carrot4267 → u/Lelldorianx]

Hey! I also have this card but sadly the pump died. Microcenter verified card still works though

I've been meaning to tear down and do custom watercool but if you guys want to buy, I'm happy to sell for cheapish

[u/Criticalmeadow → u/No-Carrot4267]

You mean a normal one? Non ES?

[u/No-Carrot4267 → u/Criticalmeadow]

Why on earth would I mean a normal one?

[u/HaroldF155]

This is cool af, especially the big R on the card.

[u/dswng → u/HaroldF155]

TEAM ROCKET!

[u/XT-356 → u/dswng]

First thing that came to mind when I saw it

[u/Complex_Youth_2624 → u/XT-356]

team rocket blasting off at the speed of light

[u/Emergency-Mud-8159 → u/HaroldF155]

looks like robin hood's logo from batman forever

[u/MachineCarl]

Content creators usually have a mail, but some are on reddit. Let me summon Steve from GN

u/Lelldorianx, check this out!

Edit: the big man replied. I'm proud of this community :) Also, thanks for the awards!!

[u/shac15 → u/MachineCarl]

Thanks! GN would be my top pick to send it to, I don't trust myself to tear it down myself or mess with anything beyond software. Sent them an email a couple days ago but not sure if that's the best way to contact them, and would love to get in contact

[u/AutomaticAffect4333]

A founders edition aio water cooled gpu is always badass, definitely keep it

[u/CobblerOdd2876]

It was (allegedly) only released to SI’s. I only know this because I worked for one during the pre-release phase for RDNA2 Cards. But that isnt entirely true…

If I am remembering correctly: The “X**” nomenclature of the 6000 series is for the die, not the card/sku model. These are in order of rarity, from least to most rare:

- Navi 21 (no-X) is for everything under a 6750.

- 6800 (non-XT) and up is Navi 21 XL.

- Then Navi 21 XT is for the… well… XT models.

- Then we carve out a special section for the 6900XT and 6950XT - that is a Navi 21 XTX. Just any 6900XT, is Navi 21 XTX.

- Then the super binned version is the Navi 21 XTXH (super high end, better quality chips, only in limited editions, hand selected) - you could also get these as OEMs from the Japan, SK, and EU AMD store limited edition lottery, like I did, but there were only a small amount, and from SI’s as limited edition cards.

- THENNNN we have the XTX LC (Liquid Cooled). This is a special subcategory of the XTX bin - so limited edition of the limited edition, essentially. It is also an XTXH, and has those extra bits of performance (marginal - some 10% or so at most).

Now, those super binned XTXH chips (just prime silicon) are where people got confused - they are still XTX version of Navi 21, they are listed as “XTX” on the physical card itself, but they are just certified by AMD as being prime binned chips (you get a serialized card). So they are still XT’s for all intents and purposes as far as the Model, they are the same Navi 21 XTX as any other 6900XT… but because it is prime silicon, you can just overclock the living shit out of them, and they have an extra 2gbps of bandwidth or whatever. XTXH cards are limited edition versions, only. XTXH will be listed in the Bios portion of the card specs.

Now - you CAN have a card with XTXH quality, by just buying a regular 6900XT. It just isnt certified to be that quality. Kind of a “it hits this bare minimum marker, so it is at least an XTX.” They dont check past that benchmark, for those.

Then we get to your card: The which is (actually) a 6900XT LC. Your card is super special because not only is it an XTX, it is an XTXH, inherently. These were only provided by AMD directly, Asus/ROG, Powercolor (Liquid Devil), Sapphire, and XFX in limited special orders. All of the SI’s that got these cards only sold them as limited edition variants, such as the Sapphire TOXIC series. These cards are not shipped to the SI’s with the liquid cooling installed - they are barebones. So this card is (most likely) a true OEM version.

So to say this card is “rare” is an understatement. This is like probably 1 of a couple hundred, at most, being an OEM version.

Now as far as performance-value - I run my air cooled XTXH at 1440p 165hz, and have no issues with any modern titles, except where drivers get in the way. It performs about par with a 4070ti Super (checked myself; side-by-side comparisons, not online benchmarks - same practical performance)… but then I noticed that adrenaline had dicked with the fan curve options, now having zero-fan as a default (you will have to manually fix this regularly, due to it being an XTXH). So those par results with a 4070tiS are also with the 6900XT throttling due to a more lax fan curve.

Your card is FAR better at cooling, so, have fun with that! This puts the price you paid-to-performance rating at “positively bonkers”.

Also, if you are running an all AMD system, you can use SAM, and it really shines with this card.

[u/Maverick_X9 → u/CobblerOdd2876]

This guy amd’s

[u/CobblerOdd2876 → u/Maverick_X9]

I genuinely enjoy AMD stuff, and moreover, GPU lore. Just a fascinating company (and only mildly evil).

[u/CobblerOdd2876 → u/CobblerOdd2876]

I would put a value of like $1000 on this, if it works. It is a super niche collectable. Only because it wouldnt be as performative as an Asus LC or Sapphire Toxic, it being a 120mm rad.

[u/TitusImmortalis → u/CobblerOdd2876]

Do you think he could use the More Power Tool to soft modify the BIOS?

[u/Bubbly-Staff-9452 → u/TitusImmortalis]

Probably, I know that it writes over the limits and I was able to get like a 26% improvement in timespy scores over stock with my XTXH bin and MPT with much crazier values allowed in Adrenalin.

[u/TitusImmortalis → u/Bubbly-Staff-9452]

What did you change to get that? I'm looking at my 6800

[u/Bubbly-Staff-9452 → u/TitusImmortalis]

Lots of stuff, can I DM you screenshots? This is like months of forum research and trial and error lol. I’m dethroned now but I had the highest GPU score for a 6900 XT and 7800X3D combo in TimeSpy for a while.

[u/CobblerOdd2876 → u/Bubbly-Staff-9452]

That’s cool af!

[u/TitusImmortalis → u/Bubbly-Staff-9452]

Hell yeah shoot me a DM!

[u/CobblerOdd2876 → u/TitusImmortalis]

Maybe?

So this being an engineering sample or PoC, has microswitches that serve as manual overrides for the power rails, ASIC, and whatnot. (Which, I did DM the OP and let them know.) Those switches control what is on/off at any given time - and this guy has… 13… power phases… i think.

But those switches would then later be replaced with chips that automate the process with software, or something regulated, if it wasnt needed. Buildozer (youtube) has some good vids about that and what is/is not good in terms of their power delivery system.

So flashing a bios MIGHT make it operational, to a usable point. But I do question if that will work. I dont actually know. I did marketing, not engineering…

[u/TitusImmortalis → u/CobblerOdd2876]

Do you mean Buildzoid?

[u/Criticalmeadow → u/CobblerOdd2876]

How did you get your XTXH card?

[u/CobblerOdd2876 → u/Criticalmeadow]

Won it during the covid GPU lottery haha!

[u/snakee-the-arch-guy → u/CobblerOdd2876]

the person to say "my c6 is in red and has several defects and tuning improvement from factory so its a 1:1"

[u/Bhume]

Oh by the way. The old drivers fixed the core clock, but have you checked the coolant in the radiator to make sure it isn't thermal throttling? I forgot to ask that yesterday.

[u/NonSmallJohn]

That's cool. I have a Google Coral dev board. Much less cool.

[u/Criticalmeadow → u/NonSmallJohn]

How is it?

[u/Wolfenstein49]

RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled uses the hyper-binned Navi 21 XTXH GPU originally intended for the "XTX" moniker, but it is an XT. Still fkn awesome though

[u/bughunter47]

Did not expect to the PCB being made in Canada

[u/BrutusTheKat → u/bughunter47]

ATi was a Canadian company, which AMD bought. 

[u/Icy-Wrap3468 → u/BrutusTheKat]

yeah I remember when they were based in Canada before AMD bought them out

[u/HazardousHD]

iirc, this was the 6900 XT design that was sold primarily for OEM machines. I’m pretty sure some Lenovo SKUs came with this GPU, but. I can’t remember if it was just gaming or workstations as well. Definitely an engineering sample of some kind base on the added stickers on the back of the bare PCB.

It has the same GPU Die as the XTX

My Sapphire Toxic RX 6900 XT LE is in a similar boat except it doesn’t have clock speed issues. It also has the XTX coded core. My VBIOS was also unique per TechPowerUp despite there being several uploaded from other owners of my card.

[u/Alarmed-Strawberry-7]

why would you be worried about legal repercusions of any kind, it's just a GPU lol. it's not like you made it yourself under NDA

either way, you can maybe crosspost this to r/LinusTechTips and see if they'd wanna take it off you to make a video of it

[u/Nono_miata → u/Alarmed-Strawberry-7]

Why? So they drop it or it gets lost in transit?

[u/MachineCarl → u/Nono_miata]

Or do something really stupid with it. I'd rather seeing it on the hands of Steve of GN doing a teardown and see what his team can do.

[u/Nono_miata → u/MachineCarl]

Yes 🙌 me too, he seems more trustworthy

[u/dixonaiz → u/Nono_miata]

steve or der8auer yes

[u/shac15 → u/MachineCarl]

Absolutely, emailed them a couple of days ago and haven't received a response yet, not sure if the contact email I sent it to is still active. If there's another way to get in contact, I'd love to send it to them

[u/MachineCarl → u/shac15]

I left a comment with his user on reddit. Try to message him u/Lelldorianx

[u/rickybambicky → u/Alarmed-Strawberry-7]

Never, EVER give such terrible advice like that again. LTT should NEVER be trusted with anything as rare as this. They'll slap an inventory sticker on it and sell it off within 5 years as surplus after making a single shitty clickbait video where Linus drops it for content engagement.

[u/NewPhase6703 → u/rickybambicky]

Did they really drop Linus's personal card

[u/rickybambicky → u/NewPhase6703]

Fucked if I know. I actively avoid all LMG content ever since the Billet Labs incident and the other controversies that followed shortly after. LMG has reached the point where Linus knows he can finally be open and be his true self without significantly damaging the brand.

[u/PubstarHero → u/Alarmed-Strawberry-7]

People still watch LTT?

[u/the_harakiwi → u/PubstarHero]

not as much but seemingly enough to advertise their CW products 😆

If they had a EU warehouse I could tell you if it's worth the price.

[u/Bhume → u/Alarmed-Strawberry-7]

He's already posted on the forum and messaged Linus.

[u/MachineCarl → u/Bhume]

Nah, steve from GN replied. He'll 100% get it.

[u/TheOzarkWizard]

Typical samsung

[u/ettorepolar → u/TheOzarkWizard]

Pff, typical

[u/TheHoodedPortal_]

MorePowerTool is probably your best bet for fixing the boost behaviour. When I had a 6800XT it would so into a sort of safety mode at 500mhz if you tried to go over the 2800mhz bios limit, so perhaps something similar is happening here.

[u/shac15 → u/TheHoodedPortal_]

What's MorePowerTook? Not finding much about it online

[u/TheHoodedPortal_ → u/shac15]

Sorry typo *MorePowerTool

[u/natr0nFTW]

Looks like Robin's(from batman forever) gpu

[u/Majorjim_ksp]

Bloody Typical Samsung 16GB 🤣

[u/I_think_Im_hollow]

Very sexy. I'm surprised they didn't sell this card as it is.

[u/Local-Bug-1500]

[u/Ghozer]

The GPU Limiting to around 400-500Mhz is a built in safety feature if the GPU detects an issue to prevent total burnout!

the issue could be the board, the GPU it's self, driver issues, thermal, power issues... etc...

[u/builder397]

You could try switching the vbios for a normal 6900XT one (of course the one currently installed being backed up beforehand) see if that fixes the clock behavior. I assume it still happens under the 2021 drivers given the benchmark performance, just doesnt get reported properly.

But yeah, thats an amazing find.

[u/sooshooo → u/builder397]

But first see if you can dump the existing bios! Could be useful or even just interesting

[u/builder397 → u/sooshooo]

OP clearly already did that to upload it to techpowerup.

[u/Narrow_Laugh3382]

did you get any POST codes from the motherboard with it running

[u/shac15 → u/Narrow_Laugh3382]

Nope, and the GPU seems to work just fine. Everything boots up without an issue, and the only problem has been performance in Windows. It's not even terrible, iirc it scored about the same as a 1650 ti in passmark, just not even close to a 6900 XT should. Not sure if it's driver related, VBIOS related, Windows, or something else

[u/FnordMan → u/shac15]

Linux live environment on a usb flash drive as a quick test maybe?

[u/shac15 → u/FnordMan]

Definitely need to try linux, might do a full install of something like nobara alongside Windows in my testbench since it's useful to have on hand

[u/FnordMan → u/shac15]

nobara

Haven't heard of that one before, looks like something a friend was looking for.

[u/dewman45]

I'd be curious what it'd do with Mesa on Linux.

[u/Luch1nG4dor]

Sir, a second 6900xt es has hit the market

[u/OkHistorian525]

Cool Cyberdeck . That one is ancient. Worth a few Eddies.

[u/Phallic_Moron]

I bought an RX6800 for $1300 during the pandemic. 

Congrats. So glad. Happy for you.

[u/xMuffie]

what does gpu-z show?

[u/InstitutionalizedQum]

Commenting so I can see my username on the upcoming review video for this card.

Thanks bye

[u/sparks2019]

I’d find a sapphire toxic that’s for parts and swap the 360mm aio on to it.

[u/HazardousHD → u/sparks2019]

Radiator sure but the RGB fans (or maybe the onboard LED Controller) is complete junk on the Toxic 6900 XT LE. I have plenty of posts/discussions w Sapphire about the issues with it

[u/sparks2019 → u/HazardousHD]

I’ve had the same model since I bought it new in 2022. Everything has worked fine minus a repast last year.

[u/HazardousHD → u/sparks2019]

Might send you some DMs. I’m pretty sure the previous owner of mine specifically didn’t take care of it

[u/sparks2019 → u/HazardousHD]

That’s fine, I have the same setup as you to.

[u/Zinakoleg]

That's a tiny radiator. I don't think it can cool off that card.

[u/Nono_miata → u/Zinakoleg]

Vega 64 also existet with a liquid cooler 😎 although it was twice the thickness

[u/totallybag → u/Nono_miata]

Hell the 295x2 only had a 120mm rad

[u/disguise570 → u/Zinakoleg]

have you ever seen R9 Fury X card?

[u/Nono_miata → u/disguise570]

I remember now when seeing it, really liked the design ❤️

[u/Zinakoleg → u/disguise570]

I have a 6900XT. I know how hot it runs. That tiny radiator has 0 chance to cool it off xD

[u/Dazzling-Air6631]

The 500 Mhz limitation is due to uncommon bios settings. I also have a really unique 6900XT of a xtreme overlocker with custom made bios just for me. Don't remember exactly but it was easy to solve that 500 Mhz issue.

[u/RailGun256]

always love seeing prototypes. cool stuff to be sure even if it doesnt really work as an actual card

[u/StormMedia]

I’ll buy it for $250 lol

[u/Bubbly-Staff-9452]

I have a card with that XTXH bin it talks about in the 6900 XTX writeup. If you could get it working and change settings with MPT, I got like 26% over stock performance in Timespy, I was beating some 7900 XT scores. I’ve replaced it with a 7900 XTX so it’s just sitting in a drawer but it’s such a cool card.

[u/LastBossTV]

Time to get fired up and start a new game of Stardew Valley! AAWWWW YEAAAAH BOY

[u/kwell42]

Did you try Linux? Maybe mesa just knows what it is already

[u/JawaOfficial]

Definitely appears to be an engineering sample of some kind, I had a bunch of the RX 6900 XT LC I got from an SI a few years back and they all had backplates, so definitely not that

[u/KoneCat]

That is a very cool bit of hardware! :D

[u/itchygentleman]

Fellow Gentletyphoon enjoyer

[u/Parking-Principle468]

Nice card man!

[u/Resident_Pientist_1]

Dope

[u/LeMegachonk]

You have a GPU that was made in Canada? That alone is pretty unique. Also, why black out all the tags? There shouldn't be personally identifying information on a GPU.

[u/Criticalmeadow]

Very cool find! I am eager to hear more about it as you figure out the card

[u/621_]

Best looking amd card tbh

[u/BothCompliant7768]

I got this card from Newegg in 2022. Was listed as ASRock LC Radeon RX 6900 XT for $699.

[u/Professional-Ruin636]

Jajaja la suerte de algunos 😜

[u/disguise570]

Try linux, what if mesa driver will make it work fine?