Overall and Final Verdict
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX launch is an exciting one, not just because of the pricing that AMD announced the card with. But also because with the new RDNA 3 architecture we see big improvements in ray tracing performance, the inclusion of AI processing cores, two AV1 encoders, and DisplayPort 2.1 support. The Radeon RX 7900 XT performed similarly to its bigger brother the RX 7900 XTX but with a few fewer processing cores and lower clock speeds, it was the difference between running ahead of the RTX 4080 and sitting solidly being the RTX 4080 in a category that Nvidia hasn’t filled yet (4080 12GB anyone). The 7900 XT’s performance was impressive across the board in anything requiring raster performance. In other words in anything that doesn’t have ray tracing even the 7900 XT is pushing Nvidia hard but Nvidia is going to have an advantage when it comes to Ray Tracing and DLSS 3, not that FidelityFX Super Resolution isn’t also great, but until it gets frame generation AMD will be a step behind. Blender performance was lacking once again compared to what Nvidia has going with OptiX.
Like with the 7900 XTX I was extremely impressed with the blacked-out styling that AMD went with on their reference design. I’ve been a big fan of what Nvidia has been doing with their Founders Edition designs because they feel a step ahead in quality and the styling isn’t over the top and focused on that standard “gamer” look. AMD has taken notice and has done the same thing here. With this design being more compact and a standard size unlike what Nvidia has done this generation, I would say they are doing better than Nvidia in that department. With that and not having to worry about the 12VHPWR issues, AMD has done a great job of listening and sidestepping all of those issues.
The cooler did well in our standard 50% and 100% fan speed tests but the fan profile was a lot more aggressive than I expected and it was loud for our under load test which is the only noise test that is truly important. Cooling performance was great even with this being a slightly smaller card design than the 7900 XTX. The only disappointing part was seeing the small lighting accents from the XTX being replaced with screen-printed grey accents, I would have liked to see that lighting be on both cards. Power usage wasn’t off the charts, but the 4080 did show itself to be surprisingly efficient even compared to the 7900 XT. Once Nvidia releases a competing card to the 7900 XT I imagine the power gap is going to be even more noticeable.
As always it always comes down to pricing and the Radeon RX 7900 XT is priced starting at $899, $100 less than the RX 7900 XTX. There is a lot of performance to be gained by stepping up to the 7900 XTX but the real question is how much of that performance is needed. Unless you are running a high refresh rate 4K display you aren’t going to experience much of a difference which makes the 7900 XT the better buy for most. It remains to be seen where this stacks up compared to what Nvidia will bring out. But as of right now the 7900 XT is the cheapest option on the market from both AMD and Nvidia from the newest generation of cards. That alone makes it a good buy.
Live Pricing: HERE
