ASRock Launches Radeon RX 7700 Challenger With 16 GB VRAM; AMD Confirms Driver Support in Adrenalin Edition 25.9.2
ASRock has officially unveiled the Radeon RX 7700 Challenger 16GB, marking the first custom design available for AMD’s newly launched Radeon RX 7700 graphics card. The GPU, based on the RDNA 3 NAVI 32 architecture, fills the performance gap between the Radeon RX 7600 XT and the RX 7700 XT, giving gamers a new mid-range option with higher VRAM capacity.
The new Radeon RX 7700 comes with a cut-down NAVI 32 die, featuring 40 Compute Units (CUs) compared to the 54 CUs of the RX 7700 XT. This results in 2,560 Stream Processors, but AMD compensates with faster 19.5 Gbps memory speeds versus the 18 Gbps on the XT model. A key improvement is the 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM across a 256-bit bus, which surpasses the XT’s 12 GB on a 192-bit bus, making it a more attractive option for memory-hungry modern titles.
Despite this, the RX 7700 will not outperform the RX 7700 XT overall, but AMD markets it as a strong choice for 1440p gaming. According to the company, games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Spider-Man 2 and others can reach well over 60 FPS on ultra settings. Power consumption is slightly higher, with a Total Board Power (TBP) of 263W, which is 18W above the RX 7700 XT.
ASRock has taken the lead by introducing the Radeon RX 7700 Challenger 16GB, which features a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost clock of up to 2459 MHz. The design mirrors AMD’s reference dimensions at 267mm, using a dual-slot, dual-fan cooler with 2x 8-pin PCIe connectors. Since this is not a factory-overclocked edition, performance should be consistent with AMD’s baseline specifications.
To ensure immediate support, AMD has also updated its drivers, adding full compatibility for the Radeon RX 7700 in the latest Adrenalin Edition 25.9.2 release.
The Radeon RX 7700 introduces an appealing mix of higher VRAM and competitive 1440p performance, giving gamers another alternative in the mid-range market. With ASRock stepping in first, more board partners are expected to follow with their own versions in the coming weeks.
Do you think the added 16 GB VRAM makes the RX 7700 a smarter long-term buy than the RX 7700 XT, or does raw performance still matter more for today’s gamers?
