Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT overview: AMD’s ‘affordable’ stab at 4K gaming

Whereas I used to be wanting to see how these new GPUs in comparison with NVIDIAs, I needed to undergo a number of rounds of driver and motherboard BIOS updates on my Ryzen 9 7900X earlier than each playing cards have been secure sufficient to really use. That is one thing I often run into when testing cutting-edge {hardware} (NVIDIA’s playing cards additionally required a BIOS replace), however there have been nonetheless points with AMD’s playing cards even after that. Halo Infinite, for instance, refused to launch matches with both card. Generally my PC would utterly shut down whereas testing Cyberpunk 2077, which required me to unplug my desktop and reset my BIOS earlier than Home windows would boot once more.

I have been benching AMD and NVIDIA video playing cards on this PC, geared up with a premium Corsair 1000W PSU, for the previous a number of months with none stability points. So it was a shock to see simply how a lot havoc these GPUs might wreak. I have never seen different opinions complaining of comparable points, so I will chalk up my expertise to early drivers. AMD just released a new driver that resolves a problem of excessive energy draw throughout video encoding, so I am hoping the corporate can be attempting to deal with the bugs I am seeing.

When the playing cards ran easily, they proved to be pretty aggressive with the RTX 4080. The 7900 XTX was on-par with the 4080 when it got here to 3DMark’s TimeSpy Excessive benchmark and Geekbench 5’s Compute take a look at. The 7900 XT scored 1,000 factors decrease on TimeSpy Excessive, which was 3,000 factors larger than final 12 months’s RTX 3080 Ti, nevertheless it was bested by that NVIDIA card when it got here to Geekbench. Hitman 3 additionally ran blazingly quick on each playing cards in 4K, reaching 165fps and 180fps once I flipped on FSR upscaling. Very similar to NVIDIA’s playing cards, there’s little motive to run any sport in 4K with out the assistance of superior upscaling tech.

The efficiency gulf between AMD and NVIDIA appeared as soon as I began dabbling with ray tracing. The 7900 XTX and XT scored nicely beneath the RTX 4080 within the 3DMark Port Royal benchmark (a minimum of they managed to beat the 3080 Ti). I additionally solely noticed round 57fps in Cyberpunk 2077 on the Radeon 7900 XTX whereas taking part in in 4K with full ray tracing and AMD’s FidelityFX Tremendous Decision know-how. With out FSR, that body charge dipped to an unplayable 25fps. The slower 7900 XT solely managed to hit 50fps in 4K with FSR and ray tracing enabled.

Mainly, for those who’re wanting to get a video card that reaches nicely above 60fps in 4K with ray tracing, you may should look elsewhere. However for those who can reside with 1,440p, you may discover extra to love: The 7900 XTX reached 130fps in Cyberpunk with ray tracing, FSR and graphics settings maxed, whereas the 7900 XT hit 114fps. That is nearly sufficient to max out a 120Hz gaming monitor! Personally, I nonetheless discover 4K gaming to be overrated — 1,440p nonetheless appears to be like nice, and chances are you’ll by no means discover the advantages of pushing extra pixels. However I’ll admit that I have been spoiled by NVIDIA’s DLSS3 upscaling know-how, which allowed me to hit 74fps in Cyberpunk whereas taking part in in 4K with ray tracing. That is as near gaming heaven as I’ve ever been.

However there’s one factor you may discover with these AMD GPUs that you simply will not with NVIDIA’s: Affordable avenue costs. Even after their launch, you possibly can nonetheless snag the 7900XT and XTX near retail. Many RTX 4080 fashions, in the meantime, are inching in direction of $1,500 at on-line retailers (assuming you could find them in inventory in any respect). Spending near $1,000 on a video card continues to be exhausting to abdomen, however a minimum of it makes extra sense than going all the way in which to $1,500.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT are a stable step ahead for AMD, particularly in the case of 4K gaming. However I am hoping the corporate can get its driver scenario so as, and maybe eke out higher ray tracing efficiency within the course of. Most avid gamers are nonetheless higher off ready for AMD and NVIDIA’s next-gen mid-range playing cards, that are certain to be launching quickly. However for those who’re an avowed AMD fan, you have lastly received the high-end improve you have been ready for.