AMD’s 6950 XT can be had for similar money to the RTX 4070. But which is the best buy?
Nvidia has rolled out its $600 killer, the GeForce RTX 4070 (opens in new tab). And wouldn’t you know it, prices of AMD’s last-gen Radeon RX 6950 XT (opens in new tab) have tumbled to just over $600. Which immediately begs the question, which is the best graphics card for your roughly 600 bucks?
We’ll skip over the question of where the hell the rest of AMD’s RX 7000-series graphics cards are, because right now its strategy seems to be relying on its last-gen options to take the fight to Nvidia outside of the $999 RX 7900 XTX (opens in new tab).
This then is a classic contest between a last-gen GPU with traditional enthusiast specs including a big memory bus and loads of VRAM versus the young upstart with more advanced technology and features but hailing from lower down the model line.
In a nutshell it’s a question of a 256-bit bus and 16GB of VRAM versus more advanced ray tracing support and that DLSS 3 goodness. Game on. AMD Radeon RX 6950 XTThe case for the AMD RX 6950 XT
Just enough. That’s Nvidia’s MO when it comes to graphics memory. And, I’m sorry, but ‘just enough’ isn’t actually good enough for $600. Especially when just enough applies today and can’t be relied on tomorrow.
AMD’s Radeon RX 6950 XT, you see, is a proper enthusiast-spec card. You get a 256-bit memory bus and 16GB of VRAM and that means plenty of bandwidth and indeed sufficient VRAM for the latest games.
You could argue that the increased cache of newer GPUs like the RTX 4070 makes memory bandwidth less critical. I’m sure Dave will. And it’s true. But the problem with the RTX 4070’s stingy 192-bit bus isn’t bandwidth, it’s the limitations it makes for graphics memory allocation.
Long story short and without getting into the technicalities, a 192-bit bus means Nvidia had to go for 12GB of VRAM. 16GB isn’t an option with a 192-bit bus. And for better or worse, 12GB is marginal when it comes to the most demanding current games.
That is only going to get worse. Sure, if you’re only planning to keep your new card for a year, 12GB versus 16GB may not prove much of an issue. But I’d say within around 18 months to two years 12GB is going to be a real barrier.
Already, numerous games can exceed 12GB depending on the settings used, including The Last of Us, Resident Evil 4, Forspoken and a fair few others.
