What the—This MSI RX 6900 XT GPU is on sale for close to MSRP

MSI Gaming X Trio RX 6900 XT GPU on a blue background
(Image credit: MSI)

When the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT first came out, I wrote in our review that it didn't quite justify its high cost versus the RTX 3080 10GB and RX 6800 XT. However, what I didn't know at the time was that this GPU would go for far, far more than its $999 MSRP for most of its lifetime. Even being spotted on sale for more than double that price.

Now we're starting to see that sort of inflated GPU pricing ease, and to such an extent that this RX 6900 XT isn't majorly overpriced for what it is. In fact, for a third-party cooler like this, it's basically at MSRP.

The MSI Gaming X Trio Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB is currently on sale at Newegg for $1,020, including a $50 rebate. Even if you forget to cash in the rebate, you can still grab it for $1,070, which isn't a bad price. That's hardly much over this graphics card's $999 MSRP for the reference AMD-designed cooler, and definitely a good get for a third-party cooler as capable as MSI's Gaming X Trio.

MSI Gaming X Trio RX 6900 XT | 16GB GDDR6 | Boost clock 2,340MHz | 5,120 Stream Processors | $1,299.99 $1,019.99 at Newegg (save $280 with $50 rebate)
was $1,299.99 now $1,019.90 at newegg.com

MSI Gaming X Trio RX 6900 XT | 16GB GDDR6 | Boost clock 2,340MHz | 5,120 Stream Processors | $1,299.99 $1,019.99 at Newegg (save $280 with $50 rebate)
The RX 6900 XT is a mighty card for 4K gaming, but it'll also deliver extremely high frame rates at 1440p and 1080p, paired with a decent CPU. This model is MSI's prolific Gaming X Trio cooler, so should keep this card's components cool. While not quite at AMD's $999 MSRP, for a third-party model such as this it might as well be.

I use an RX 6900 XT day-to-day, and I have to say it's one of those graphics cards that's so powerful you don't really have to concern yourself with a game's settings menu—other than to set everything to max, that is. The RX 6900 XT breezes through most games, and doesn't really break a sweat at 4K as you can see in our benchmarks. Paired with a FreeSync Premium gaming monitor this graphics card really sings.

You will need a powerful PSU to run the RX 6900 XT, at least one capable of delivering 850W. So consider that added expense if you don't already have one.

AMD will have new graphics cards ready to go by the end of the year, it says. That means that these may be the final few months of the RX 6900 XT being top dog. Still, it's an awfully powerful GPU, and if you've been holding off on purchasing one this past year, it looks like that may have finally paid off, with prices dropping and availability improving.

Jacob Ridley
Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, and would go on to run the team as hardware editor. He joined PC Gamer's top staff as senior hardware editor before becoming managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll now find him reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industries and testing the newest PC components.

TOPICS