The new Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT are built on AMD’s RDNA3-based Navi 32 GPU, and are competitive alternatives to the heart of NVIDIA’s current
Radeon RX 7800 XT: Starting At $499, Radeon RX 7700 XT: Starting At $449The new Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT are built on AMD’s RDNA3-based Navi 32 GPU, and are competitive alternatives to the heart of NVIDIA’s current midrange GeForce RTX 40 line-up.Strong Overall PerformanceCompetitive PricingPowerful Display EnginePlenty Of Memory (12GB and 16GB)Ray Tracing Trails NVIDIAHigher Power7700 Should Be Priced Lower
A few weeks back at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, AMD officially unveiled the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT, targeting gamers with 1440p displays. To quickly recap, the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT solidify the middle of AMD’s current GPU line-up, to fill a big gap between the mainstream, affordable Radeon RX 7600 and high-end Radeon RX 7900 series. Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT cards are both based on the Navi 32 GPU, which shares the same RDNA3 architecture with its higher- (and lower) end siblings. Like the bigger Navi 31 employed in the Radeon RX 7900 series, AMD’s Navi 32 GPU package consists of a larger «GCD» processor (5nm), surrounded by a few «MCD» chips (6nm) that provide both Infiniti Cache and a GDDR6 memory interface to the GCD. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves here.
First up, some specs and background, then we’ll take a look at the graphics cards we’ll be testing today…AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT & 7700XT Features & SpecificationsFind Radeon RX 7000 Series Cards @ Amazon
Before we continue, there are a few HotHardware articles we’d like to call out. We have already covered AMD’s previous RDNA 3-based graphics card launches and explained the finer details of the RDNA 3 architecture. We’ll summarize some of that info again here, but suggest checking out our previous coverage for the foundational details regarding the graphics architecture, AMD’s chiplet approach, and features inherent to the new Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT.AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX And 7900 XT ReviewAMD Radeon RDNA 3 Architecture Overview: Efficiency Is King
Those articles will provide all of the background necessary to digest everything we’ll be showing you here today.
The specifications for both the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT, compared to their previous-gen counterparts, are listed in the tabled above. The RX 7800 XT is a fully-enabled Navi 32 part with 60 compute units and a 256-bit memory bus (utilizing four MCDs, totaling 64MB of Infinity Cache). The Radeon RX 7700 XT is scaled back somewhat, and drops one MCD and 10% of its compute capability to give it 54 compute units, which are fed by a 192-bit memory bus and 48MB of Infinity Cache.
Reducing the memory bus width also means a reduction in memory capacity, so the RX 7800 XT’s 16 GB gets chopped to 12 GB on the RX 7700 XT. That’s the same memory capacity as the previous-generation RX 6700 XT, and it’s also the same amount as NVIDIA applies to its current-generation «7»-tier cards. Note, however, that the memory operates at higher speeds on these newer cards, for a significant increase in bandwidth.
