AMD Reference RX 6800 XT with RX 6900 XT backplate! (mining card???)

[jeffw985]

Just purchased a 2nd hand card. AMD reference RX6800XT. Upon receipt the serials do not match and the backplate plainly states the card is a RX6900XT. The card definitely has a RX 6800 XT bios and seems to perform as expected. Vulkan scores perhaps a little higher. I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm wondering if this card was inadvertently regressed to a 6800xt from a 6900xt OR if perhaps parts were swapped out.

I have noticed that the 6900xt and the 6800xt can have the same device ID's so wondering if this could be flashed back to a 6900xt if that is indeed a solution. Thoughts?

 

[Imperator]

Hello.
If you have any doubts regarding the card, then you should probably return it as fast as you can.
This way at least you will be refunded.
But that is your choice.

 

[gurusmi]

The 6800xt and the 6900xt do have the same Coolers and backplates.

 

[VuurVOS]

Just purchased a 2nd hand card. AMD reference RX6800XT. Upon receipt the serials do not match and the backplate plainly states the card is a RX6900XT. The card definitely has a RX 6800 XT bios and seems to perform as expected. Vulkan scores perhaps a little higher. I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm wondering if this card was inadvertently regressed to a 6800xt from a 6900xt OR if perhaps parts were swapped out.

I have noticed that the 6900xt and the 6800xt can have the same device ID's so wondering if this could be flashed back to a 6900xt if that is indeed a solution. Thoughts?

Personally I would return the card since the card has been tampered and the previous owner wasn't honnest about it.

 

[Night]

Like others have said, your best bet it to return it, if you want to play it safe. Another option is that you remove the heatsink and inspect the card further, it could be a RX 6900 XT, but I honestly doubt that. Seeing there's no particular reason for someone to downgrade the performance of their GPU. Then again, maybe the previous owner used it for mining but flashed the wrong vbios on it.

 

[jeffw985]

Hello.
If you have any doubts regarding the card, then you should probably return it as fast as you can.
This way at least you will be refunded.
But that is your choice.

I'm reaching out to the seller about returning this card. The card was sold to me as a RX6800XT of which it seems to be performing fine. However, I'm curious if there is a way to determine if this was actually a RX6900XT. Is there any visual inspection or identifying marks that would be on the circuit board that would confirm the actual card model? The card looks to be in pretty good shape and I cannot tell if it has been disassembled.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[jesdals]

You can see pictures of both cards in the TechPowerup GPU database

 

[VuurVOS]

You can see pictures of both cards in the TechPowerup GPU database

The reference RX6800XT and RX6900XT looks exactly the same on the outside.

I'm reaching out to the seller about returning this card. The card was sold to me as a RX6800XT of which it seems to be performing fine. However, I'm curious if there is a way to determine if this was actually a RX6900XT. Is there any visual inspection or identifying marks that would be on the circuit board that would confirm the actual card model?

The reference RX6800XT and RX6900XT looks exactly the same on the outside. The only visual difference is the label on the backplate.

The card looks to be in pretty good shape and I cannot tell if it has been disassembled.

Is the warranty void sticker still present? See image below for location.

 

[jeffw985]

The reference RX6800XT and RX6900XT looks exactly the same on the outside.


The reference RX6800XT and RX6900XT looks exactly the same on the outside. The only visual difference is the label on the backplate.


Is the warranty void sticker still present? See image below for location.
View attachment 328209

Yes - the sticker is intact and shows no signs of being tampered with

 

[AsRock]

Yes - the sticker is intact and shows no signs of being tampered with

He posted the pic of this site is all with out his own pic.

 

[VuurVOS]

Yes - the sticker is intact and shows no signs of being tampered with

You can still tamper the card without removing that sticker. You can remove the backplate and do a backplate mod for additional cooling like the image below:

You can check if this modification was done by unscrewing those 8 screws. Please put the screws in the correct order back since there could be a difference in screws.

 

[jeffw985]

You can still tamper the card without removing that sticker. You can remove the backplate and do a backplate mod for additional cooling like the image below:
View attachment 328237

You can check if this modification was done by unscrewing those 8 screws. Please put the screws in the correct order back since there could be a difference in screws.
View attachment 328240

That's a good idea. I may do that and circle back with my findings. I'm curious, everything I look at shows same device id and board id as 6900xt. Apparantly the 6800xt and 6900xt use the same board and per techpowerup database there is a match on the device id's. Question: can this be flashed to a 6900xt using the force method to avoid the p/n mismatch? If so, what is the risk? I've done this before but it's been quite some time.

 

[OolongGoat]

If you are concerned about it, I would just return the card and not spend the time jacking with it. Any time you mess with the vBIOS you run the risk of bricking the card. Being able to flash up to a higher performing part was done away with a long time ago....

 

[VuurVOS]

That's a good idea. I may do that and circle back with my findings. I'm curious, everything I look at shows same device id and board id as 6900xt. Apparantly the 6800xt and 6900xt use the same board and per techpowerup database there is a match on the device id's. Question: can this be flashed to a 6900xt using the force method to avoid the p/n mismatch? If so, what is the risk? I've done this before but it's been quite some time.

If you want to be sure, you must disassemble the whole cooler to found out which code is printed on the GPU. I do not recommend that.

GPU Variant	Code
RX 6800	215-121000187
RX 6800XT	215-121000177
RX 6900XT	215-121000167

 

[jeffw985]

If you want to be sure, you must disassemble the whole cooler to found out which code is printed on the GPU. I do not recommend that.
View attachment 328246

GPU Variant	Code
RX 6800	215-121000187
RX 6800XT	215-121000177
RX 6900XT	215-121000167

Thanks for this info. The card seems to be working just fine and is presenting as a 6800 XT. I wish there was an easier way to verify the chip number. I'm working with the seller on this and we'll see what happens. I just have a gut feeling this may actually be a 6900XT.

If you want to be sure, you must disassemble the whole cooler to found out which code is printed on the GPU. I do not recommend that.
View attachment 328246

GPU Variant	Code
RX 6800	215-121000187
RX 6800XT	215-121000177
RX 6900XT	215-121000167

Pulled the backplate on the card and fortunately I didn't need to dig any further as this sticker was on the board. This confirmed that this unit is actually an RX 6800XT and the serial matches the box it came in. Looks like this card had a backplate swapped out for whatever reason. Guessing it was a mining card in the past. No thermal tape had been added behind the backplate.

Thanks again for all the feedback and assistance!

 

[VuurVOS]

Looks like this card had a backplate swapped out for whatever reason

The midnight black edition has a black backplate instead of a grey one. It could be a cosmetic reason since the reference RX 6900XT backplate is only available in grey.

 

[jeffw985]

The midnight black edition has a black backplate instead of a grey one. It could be a cosmetic reason since the reference RX 6900XT backplate is only available in grey.

Yeah - it definitely had the grey backplate. I wondered what the "black edition" constituted. I didn't realize it originally came with a black backplate. Makes sense. Thanks again for the guidance!!!

 

[Vya Domus]

The reference 6800XT and 6900XT are exactly the same.

The advice given is bewildering, why return the card ? They look exactly the same, it's an 6800XT, I don't see anything out of place here. Focus on testing the card, who cares about the backplate.