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AMD's new mid-range is competitive

7/9/2023

Translation: machine translated

Almost two weeks after the presentation of the RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT at Gamescom, the new cards have officially been released. I have looked at two reviews of the AMD cards and summarise the most important findings for you.

With the Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT, AMD is filling a large gap in its line-up. The entry-level model RX 7600 and the RX 7900 XT are priced several hundred francs apart. With the two new cards, AMD has largely succeeded in completing its portfolio in a meaningful way. At least that's what the reviews from Computerbase and Techpowerup suggest.

Computerbase

According to reviewer Wolfgang Andermahr, the Radeon RX 7700 XT is well suited for games in 1080p or 1440p resolution at high to maximum details. It beats the competing GeForce RTX 4060 Ti in classic rasteriser games by up to 21 per cent. Even with ray tracing, the card is usually seven to ten per cent faster. Compared to its predecessor, the 6700 XT, the performance increase is up to 30 per cent. A reasonable increase in performance.

The performance gain for the RX 7800 XT is significantly less compared to its predecessor, the 6800 XT. Here it is up to five per cent in rasteriser games and eight per cent in ray tracing games. Compared to the competition, the RTX 4070, the differences are also small. The AMD card is up to five per cent faster. With ray tracing, on the other hand, the Nvidia card is ten per cent faster on average. The card feels really comfortable in Full HD and WQHD. Ultra HD is also possible, but with reduced graphics details.

Andermahr also believes that the RX 7800 XT has the wrong name. The marketing suggests more than is offered. In terms of performance, the card would fit better into the AMD line-up without the "XT" suffix.

In terms of efficiency, the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT require 200 to 250 watts. They are slightly more efficient than their predecessors, but cannot keep up with Nvidia's RTX 40 series.

Overall, the RX 7800 XT fits into the manufacturers' current graphics card line-up in terms of both price and performance. Andermahr does not see a real winner between the RTX 4070 and RX 7800 XT. This is because the AMD card is slightly better in Raseriser games, but the Nvidia card has the better and more modern features.

The RX 7700 XT also fits into the current graphics card market. However, the AMD card is clearly ahead of the RTX 4060 Ti.

Techpowerup

Reviewer W1zzard comes to similar conclusions as Andermahr. However, in its tests, the RX 7800 XT only beats its predecessor, the RX 6800 XT, by three per cent. On the other hand, the card always achieves 60 frames per second (FPS) in 1440p resolution at maximum settings. With ray tracing, the difference to the competition from Nvidia, the RTX 4070, is 15 per cent on average. W1zzard therefore believes that Nvidia is the better choice if you are fully committed to ray tracing. For rasteriser games, however, the RX 7800 XT is better suited.

W1zzard sees the overclocking potential of the RX 7800 XT as a big plus point. He tickled up to 14 per cent more performance out of the card. This has not been seen for a long time. The new one from AMD thus almost reaches the level of an RTX 4070 Ti.

In terms of price/performance, the card is a good offer in the current market situation according to W1zzard. According to the recommended retail price, the RX 7800 XT is 100 US dollars cheaper than the RTX 4070 and offers two per cent more performance in rasteriser games. Whether more performance with ray tracing and DLSS 3 is worth 100 dollars more is up to you to decide. With FSR 3, AMD will soon be launching its own DLSS 3-like technology.

W1zzard takes a different view of the RX 7700 XT. In terms of price/performance, the card doesn't really fit into the line-up. The difference in the recommended retail price is 50 US dollars less than the RX 7800 XT. This means that the value for money is worse than that of the RX 7800 XT. W1zzard sees the biggest competition for the RX 7700 XT not in Nvidia, but in the RX 7800 XT. The competitor RTX 4060 Ti clearly beats the RX 7700 XT in W1zzard's test. In 1440p resolution, the difference averages 20 per cent in Rasteriser games. And even with ray tracing, the two cards are on a par.

The RX 7700 XT requires 20 watts more power than its predecessor, the RX 6700 XT. Nevertheless, the new card is around 20 per cent more efficient. As with its big sister, overclocking seems to be a plus point for the card. W1zzard was even able to get 17 per cent more performance out of it.