ASUS has recently launched two new graphics cards for fans of Team Red – the very first RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX models to feature just two fans instead of the usual three. This comes after they’ve already put out a dual-fan 7900 GRE on the market. Usually the only real upside of reducing the number of fans is that it saves space, but we don’t even get that according to the dimensions, and we can only expect that the cooling will be a little worse off.
With the news that other brands such as MSI is focusing less on AMD GPUs, it does come as a surprise to see ASUS releasing new SKUs of the 7000 series, especially these models which are now well over a year old.
ASUS launches dual-fan RX 7900 XT & RX 7900 XTX
These new models are available to view on the ASUS website right now, detailing the specs and features, a few of which we can detail below. We can see that they both push fast clock speeds while in OC mode, and interestingly enough they are the very same size.
| Specs | ASUS Dual Radeon RX 7900 XTX | ASUS Dual Radeon RX 7900 XT |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 20GB |
| Boost clock | up to 2615 MHz | up to 2535 MHz |
| Game clock | up to 2455 MHz | up to 2175 MHz |
| Dimensions | 32.2 x 14.7 x 5.8cm (2.95 slots) | 32.2 x 14.7 x 5.8cm (2.95 slots) |
Why we don’t see the appeal
One of the biggest problems we see with these new models is the size. We’d expect a dual-fan card to be much more compact, as that is generally the appeal of them – making one easier to fit in your PC case. However, the 32.2 x 14.7 x 5.8cm dimensions are even smaller than something like the Sapphire Pulse RX 7900 XTX (31.3 x 13.3 x 5.6cm) that features three fans. At least it’s smaller than their massive ASUS TUF triple-fan model we reviewed.
Plus, looking at the specs of the 7900 XT and 7900 XTX, we can see that they have 300W and 355W TDPs respectively, which isn’t a nominal amount of power draw to keep cool. That being said, ASUS do detail that the dual-fan design allows for ‘longer blades and a barrier ring’ that increases downward air pressure.
We haven’t been able to find the exact pricing of them, but Videocardz note that they’re nothing worthy of mention. So, without truly being a compact nor budget alternative, they don’t make a whole lot of sense.
