AMD’s RX 7800 XT is here to rival Nvidia’s RTX 4070. How do these two graphics card compare, and which one is the best? We know the answer.
With the release of the Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT, AMD finally set foot in the mainstream gaming sector with its RDNA 3 lineup. Nvidia, its biggest rival, which also makes some of the best graphics cards, was the first to release competing cards with similar performance — at least on paper. But are Nvidia’s options better than AMD’s in this generation?
The RX 7800 XT was, from the get-go, said to be the competitor to Nvidia’s RTX 4070, but in reality, these GPUs differ both in price and performance. We’ve tested the RX 7800 XT and compared it to the RTX 4070, and we now know which of these two GPUs is the one to pick.Pricing and availability
While the RX 7800 XT and the RTX 4070 came out a good few months apart, they were both highly anticipated releases that were much-needed in the GPU market. When the RTX 4070 launched, it was pretty much the only mainstream option in a market filled with high-end cards like the RTX 4090 or the RX 7900 XTX. The RX 7800 XT, on the other hand, finally bridges the gap in AMD’s lineup and presents an option to gamers who need a reasonably powerful PC build.
Nvidia’s card came first. The RTX 4070 launched on April 13, 2023, and was priced at $600. This felt reasonably competitive when compared to its older sibling, the RTX 4070 Ti ($800). Even months after launch, it’s hard to find an RTX 4070 for less than $600.
The RX 7800 XT launched on September 6, 2023, with a recommended list price (MSRP) of $500. Alongside the RX 7800 XT model, AMD also released the RX 7700 XT, priced at $450, which puts it in a less competitive position than the 7800 XT.Specs
When it comes to specifications, comparing AMD to Nvidia is always challenging, as there’s little overlap in specs. Each GPU has an entirely different architecture, and while they’re both built to do similar things, the ways in which they achieve them are vastly different. First, let’s take a look at the specs they do have in common.
The RTX 4070 has a marginally higher boost clock speed, but it also has a lot less memory (although it uses the more efficient GDDR6X instead of GDDR6). As VRAM has been a hot topic in games as of late, AMD decking out the RX 7800 XT with 16GB of memory is a smart move, although the memory speed on the 7800 XT is lower than on the RTX 4070 (19.5Gbps and 21Gbps, respectively). The 7800 XT also has a wider bus, but the price for these improvements is an increase in power consumption.
