Gigabyte Unveil Brand New RX 6800 & 6800 XT AORUS Master GPUs

You might already be aware, but this year has been a big one when it comes to PC gaming. Not only have we had the release of the new line of AMD CPUs (which top the charts when it comes to gaming performance), we had the release of the Nvidia 30 series GPUs (Ampere generation), which were all lauded and celebrated by PC gamers for their commitment to 4K, Ray Traced PC gaming environments – and we had the launch of the AMD Radeon 6000 series, AMD’s newest generation of graphics card.

Now, whilst all of these new releases have been pretty well received, there is one aspect of these product releases that could bear improvement – and that’s availability. Hardly any of the new hardware released this year is available to purchase, and that includes the brand new PS5 and Xbox One.

However, Gigabyte have just announced their brand new AORUS Master GPUs entering the line up of 6000 series cards from AMD, possibly adding supply into an over demanded market.

Gigabyte are trusted and long time favorite GPU manufacturers in the world of PC gaming, so their announcement can’t exactly be labelled a surprise – but it is a welcome one, especially at a time when GPUs are hard to come by.

So, what are Gigabyte producing? Well, you can expect three new graphics cards from the company, consisting of the Radeon RX 6800 XT AORUS Master, the Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming OC, the Radeon RX 6800 AORUS Master, and the RX 6800 Gaming OC. For those counting, that’s two versions of the higher tier 6800 XT cards, and one of the budget orientated 6800 card.

We also got a full look into the specifications of the new cards themselves, during the live launch reveal, with both the 6800 XT and the 6800 AORUS Master GPUs featuring 16Gb of GDDR6 RAM, Screen Cooling, LCD lighting, metal back plating, and MAX-covered cooling, all shipping with a four-year warranty.

The clock of each of these cards differed a little, with the 6800 XT Master featuring a Game Clock of 2065 MHz, and a Boost Clock of 2310 Mhz, and the 6800 Master having a game clock of 1980 MHz, and a Boost Clock of 2190 Mhz.

It looks like both of these cards are going to be offering solid performance for the price they are being offered at, which is set at $899 for the 6800 XT and $719 for the 6800.

The Gaming OC cards are going to be made available as well, which will be available in both 6800 XT and 6800 variants. Both of these cards are going to have Gigabyte’s Windforce 3X cooling design, which we know works well and keeps the card optimized and at healthy temperatures even under heavy use.

The 6800 XT variant will feature a Game Clock speed of 2045 MHz and a 2285 Boost clock speed, whilst the 6800 variant will have a 1925 MHz game clock and a 2155 MHz boost clock speed. These cards are going to be available for a price of $849 for the 6800 XT variant, and $649 for the 6800.

Now, the pricing disparity here does relate to the difference in clock speed and cooling options available on each card, with the AORUS option being the slightly better performer. However, the difference in the recommended price (and the reliability of Gigabyte) means that these cards are going to be of great quality no matter which you choose.

The implications of this launch on the wider market are actually quite small – but for the average consumer looking into different 6000 series GPU options is going to be a lot happier knowing that Gigabyte is on the market and that their quality cards are an option for Radeon gaming.

Of course, like I mentioned before, if production in these cards does see an uptick it will increase the chances of users being able to get themselves a card, even though so far this year I don’t think many people have even managed to snag a 6800 XT or 6800 for themselves.

So, when the time comes to buy these cards at their recommended MSRP, consumers are going to be very happy with what they are able to achieve – when that time is could be anyone’s guess though, as scalpers seem to dominate the market at the moment.