The Power of the AMD Radeon 7900 Series: Overview

AMD has recently released its latest graphics card, the AMD Radeon 7900 series, which is competing against Nvidia’s RTX 4080. In this blog post, we will try to shed light on the 7900 XTX and XT models, and we’re excited to see how they compare to their competitors.

If you want to read about Nvidia,s latest 40-series, click HERE!

Price Comparison: AMD Radeon 7900 series

The 7900 XTX is priced at $1000, which is $200 cheaper than the RTX 4080, and the 7900 XT is $300 cheaper. But does this price gap equal a difference in performance? Let’s find out.

Keep in mind that prices are to change frequently. In general, AMD’s GPUs are cheaper than Nvidia’s GPUs

For the latest price and buying:

AMD 7900XTX: Amazon

AMD 7900XT: Amazon

Benchmarks: AMD Radeon 7900 series

Before we delve into the benchmarks, we want to remind our readers to cross-reference the results with other reviewers. One reviewer cannot cover all bases, so it’s important to look at different benchmarks and different games to get the full picture.

These benchmarks are for the 7900 XTX and XT models against their primary competitor, the RTX 4080, and also compared to other the fastest previous-generation Radeon card, the 6950 XT Red Devil. RTX 4090 results are the reference point for maximum FPS.

Some of the benchmarks are presented here just for reference and to understand the difference between the GPUs.

What These Results Mean for AMD Radeon 7900 series

If you’re going for maximum “like-oh-I-don’t-care-how-much-it-costs-I-want-the-most-FPS-possible” then obviously these cards aren’t exactly in your market. You’re gonna just buy a 4090 and then not care about any other opinions, and that’s totally fine. But the 4080 Fe is the one to beat here, and AMD has put up a huge fight with these cards.

The AMD 7900 XTX is delivering comparable performance to the Nvidia 4080 at a lower price point of $1,000, which is $200 less than the 4080. This impressive performance and affordability is causing many consumers, like myself, to consider choosing the 7900 XTX over the 4080 and using the extra $200 to upgrade other components in their system, such as RAM or a faster processor.

Despite being physically smaller than the 4080, the 7900 XTX is delivering similar performance in rasterization, which is quite impressive. It’s remarkable that AMD has managed to produce a graphics card that can compete and trade blows with the 4080 while being smaller and cheaper. The 7900 XTX is precisely what AMD promised, a cost-effective alternative to the 4080.

However, it’s worth noting that bottlenecks can be an issue with these cards, especially if you’re running 1080P or 1440P. Additionally, the XT version of the AMD card performs differently than the XTX, so it’s important to compare both cards before making a decision.

Price and Performance: RTX 4080 vs 7900 XTX

The 7900 XTX is currently competing neck-and-neck with the 4080. At a price point of $1000, it costs $200 less than the 4080, but is trading blows and even beating it in terms of performance. It’s a great option for those who want to save some money and use it towards other upgrades in their system like extra RAM or a faster processor to prevent any bottlenecks. The fact that it’s physically smaller and cheaper makes it even more impressive that it’s able to deliver similar performance to the 4080 in rasterization. AMD has certainly kept its promise of competing against the 4080 with the XTX.

Price and Performance: RTX 4080 vs 7900 XT

The XT, on the other hand, is priced at $900 and is noticeably slightly behind the XTX in terms of performance. However, it is $100 cheaper, so it ultimately depends on one’s budget and priorities when it comes to choosing between the two. While the XT may not confidently go toe-to-toe with the 4080 like the XTX, it still offers great performance that’s not far off from the 4080 in most benchmarks.

Choose According to your Requirement

With the new architecture and triplets, AMD has impressed with its latest graphics cards. However, their RT cores are not as refined and mature as Nvidia’s, which is understandable given Nvidia’s head start in the industry. In terms of synthetic benchmarks, the 6950 and 7900 XTX showed a straight line while the 7900 XC was in the middle. The AMD cards did take a hit compared to Nvidia cards in titles like Cyberpunk with ultra at 4K, but the 7900 XTX still showed significant improvements compared to the old 6950 XT.

When analyzing the benchmark charts, it becomes clear that the 4K numbers are the only ones that seem reasonable. As you move up the chart, the numbers gradually converge and come closer to the 250 range, which we believe is an engine cap since no card has exceeded 250 FPS in Shadow of the Tomb Raider thus far.

For instance, the 4090 Fe achieved 248 FPS in 1080p and 245 FPS in 1440p. Given that the resolution increase only yields a 3 FPS difference, we don’t believe it’s worth it. These cards are bottlenecked, with the CPU being the culprit that’s slowing down these fast GPUs.

Guardians of the Galaxy produced some interesting benchmark results. Surprisingly, the 7900 XTX scored lower than the XT in both 1440p and 1080p. This is due to the fact that the XTX is able to complete frames much faster than the XT, resulting in longer idle periods per frame as it waits for the CPU to give instructions. As a result, we believe the XTX is clocking down more aggressively than the XT.

It’s strange to think of 1440p as a low resolution, but for these GPUs, it seems like a breeze. They’re not breaking a sweat anymore, just shifting the bottleneck around your system to find the next slowest component. If your CPU is unable to keep up with these power-hungry GPUs, you’ll experience this kind of anomaly.

The bottom line here is that graphics cards are so powerful in this generation that you’ll most likely need to upgrade your CPU.

Power-Draw, and Temperatures of AMD GPUs

When choosing a graphics card, there are several crucial factors to consider. Among them are power draw and temperature, both of which can significantly impact your system’s performance. In this post, we’ll be comparing the cooling performance and power draw of two popular graphics cards to see how they stack up against each other.

We tested the cooling performance of the smaller AMD 7900 XTX/Xt against the larger Nvidia 4080 and found that the temperature difference is negligible. However, due to its smaller heatsink, the AMD card runs slightly hotter at around 71 degrees Celsius. Despite this, it runs quietly, and there’s no need to worry about any adverse effects on performance.

In terms of power draw, the AMD card pulls slightly more wattage than the Nvidia card. It runs at its TDP of 340-345 Watts and 315 Watts for the XTX and XT, respectively. Both cards run extremely quietly and can fit into most cases. The AMD card costs $200 less than the Nvidia card and provides the same rasterization performance with a slight hit on RT. Thus, if you’re looking for a cooler that fits into your case and provides good performance, the AMD 7900 series is a solid option to consider.

Conclusion

When considering value, the AMD cards present themselves as an excellent option, providing the same rasterization performance as the second card, but at a lower price point, saving users $200. Choosing the 7900 XTX or XT graphics card could be a practical choice for a wide range of users as it fits into most cases without issue. Although, if a user prioritizes RT performance, the second card may be a better option.