~$750-800 GPU : RTX 4070 Ti vs. RX 7900 XT for Gaming

[boomstik360]

Since prices have settled a bit and drivers matured, this is the question. If YOU were shopping for a GPU in this price segment right now for 1440P and the occasional 2160P resolution, what would be your choice and why?

 

[Kapone33]

I have a 7900XT paired with a 4k 144hz monitor and totally love it. Most newer Games like Exoprimal and Armoured Core 6 give averages over 100 FPS. My monitor has freesync Premium so that means butter smooth frames between 45-144 HZ. That translates to the smile I get while Gaming sometimes that comes from experiencing compelling hardware. I also owned a 6800XT with the same panel and in alot of case had to play at 1440P to enjoy 100 FPS. I made sure that I paired it with an X3D chip and those other features make for an entirely enjoyable experience. I would not buy a 4080 because 12GB of VRAM is the 6700XT for half the price.

 

[wNotyarD]

If you can leave RT off, 7900XT all the way.

 

[Frick]

4070ti if choosing between those two, 7900xtx if it's in the same range (which it is here). For pure gaming and absolutely nothing else, 7900xt, but general use 4070ti.

 

[QuietBob]

It all depends on local pricing.
Over here the 7900XTX starts at $800, and the 7900XT at $670 -- both are XFX Merc 310. The cheapest 4080 is $1025 for PNY Triple Fan, and the 4090 starts at $1400 for Palit GameRock. All prices before tax.
To me, the 7900XTX is a no-brainer at its current price, but to someone who prioritizes RT the 4080 may be worth the extra $200. Both are great choices for maxed out 1440p or 4K.

 

[Kapone33]

It all depends on local pricing.
Over here the 7900XTX starts at $800, and the 7900XT at $670 -- both are XFX Merc 310. The cheapest 4080 is $1025 for PNY Triple Fan, and the 4090 starts at $1400 for Palit GameRock. All prices before tax.
To me, the 7900XTX is a no-brainer at its current price, but to someone who prioritizes RT the 4080 may be worth the extra $200. Both are great choices for maxed out 1440p or 4K.

At that difference it makes sense but where I live the 7900Xt was $400 more than the XT. That was enough to convince me to get the 7900XT. The difference in performance is not noticeable between the 2 using a Freesync panel.

 

[Macro Device]

Where I live, 7900 XT makes negative sense because it's more expensive than 4070 Ti and less than $100 cheaper than 7900 XTX which is a lot faster than 4070 Ti in every scenario except RT On (but RT is a meme as of today, I don't consider lack of this feature crucial; in late 2030s, RT will definitely be a real deal if nothing disasterous happens).

2160p makes little sense because I game from afar (rarely ever closer than 5' to my display). 1440p with millions raw raster FPS fueled by 7900 XTX is a go.

 

[Dr. Dro]

The 4070 Ti is more feature complete, has better drivers and better power consumption.

The XT has more memory and is a little faster, sometimes, as long as you pretend that raytracing doesn't exist.

I'd go with the 4070 Ti myself.

 

[gffermari]

At 750-800$: 4070Ti or 7900XTX at a similar price.

4070Ti: it just works, power efficient.

7900XTX: way faster than 4070Ti at raster, slower with RT on but playable with tuned settings. FSR worse than DLSS but I find it more than acceptable in real gaming conditions. Most likely worse frame gen tech but practically you shouldn't care for three reasons. First, no driver overhead, second, it's ridiculously fast anyway and third, if a game is ridiculously RT/path traced heavy, you won't be able to play it anyway and the frame gen won't save you.
It's quite power hungry but you shouldn't care that much since it's an enthusiast class card.

I'd go for 7900XTX.

Stay away from 7900XT at this price range. Don't even think about it.

 

[Vayra86]

7900XT at same price, its just more GPU. Less feature, more GPU, and it seems to get closer to feature parity over time. It really depends bigtime whether you value the 'feature completeness' which FWIW is whatever Nvidia decides to place new sticker on, even during GPU gen releases, where you get funny business like DLSS3.5 working on that card you just sold off because Ada was the only thing running DLSS3 . I don't like being on their agenda, to be honest, I can anal probe myself if required.

RT is really the only argument for a 4070ti.

I have a 7900XT paired with a 4k 144hz monitor and totally love it. Most newer Games like Exoprimal and Armoured Core 6 give averages over 100 FPS. My monitor has freesync Premium so that means butter smooth frames between 45-144 HZ. That translates to the smile I get while Gaming sometimes that comes from experiencing compelling hardware. I also owned a 6800XT with the same panel and in alot of case had to play at 1440P to enjoy 100 FPS. I made sure that I paired it with an X3D chip and those other features make for an entirely enjoyable experience. I would not buy a 4080 because 12GB of VRAM is the 6700XT for half the price.

This is really just the core of the whole issue right. If you buy a card for gaming, get a solid CPU and GPU and you're done. That's how it should work, in my world, too. Everything else is bullshit.

 

[Vya Domus]

has better drivers

Better how ?

If you can leave RT off

No it's fine to use RT, I am playing cyberpunk 2077 currently with all the RT effects turned on, you just have to use upscaling, which you are going to use anyway with any card because it's a necessity at this point.

 

[freeagent]

I got my 4070 Ti for a few hundred less than the 7900XT.. good deal.. sorta.

 

[Space Lynx]

AMD drivers are like fine wine, the most recent drivers gave a decent bump in performance across the board. I love my 7900 xt.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Better how ?

It'll just end up being another forum brawl once the others chime in, let's not go there

In general Nvidia's drivers are more polished, stable and the cards just support more graphics techniques across games, and the 4070 Ti qualifies for all of the goodies like studio drivers, so therein lies my vote.

AMD drivers are like fine wine, the most recent drivers gave a decent bump in performance across the board. I love my 7900 xt.

It's more like "we release everything so hopelessly broken but trust us, we'll fix it down the road, maybe" than fine wine... fine wine is if these RDNA 3 cards end up beating the Ada ones silly 8 years down the road, kind of like GCN v. Kepler

 

[Vayra86]

AMD drivers are like fine wine, the most recent drivers gave a decent bump in performance across the board. I love my 7900 xt.

Yep last update was very decent indeed!

It'll just end up being another forum brawl once the others chime in, let's not go there

In general Nvidia's drivers are more polished, stable and the cards just support more graphics techniques across games, and the 4070 Ti qualifies for all of the goodies like studio drivers, so therein lies my vote.



It's more like "we release everything so hopelessly broken but trust us, we'll fix it down the road, maybe" than fine wine... fine wine is if these RDNA 3 cards end up beating the Ada ones silly 8 years down the road, kind of like GCN v. Kepler

Isn't what you're really saying more a case of Nvidia's hardware more readily integrated/supported in software? Because I don't disagree there, and it happens on the smaller things you can come across. An example, I use Wonderdraft, its a small tabletop RPG tool to make maps with. On the 7900XT it runs in OGL at 50 FPS. On Nvidia, I had monitor refresh.

That's really just an aspect of market share. But its reality nonetheless. However, I wouldn't attribute it to driver 'quality'. When it comes to that, having made the switch recently, I can say AMD has its driver and its GUI to tweak things in a good order, equal and in some aspects better than what Nvidia has currently. GFE is still a hot mess, and the NVCP is still Windows 95 style; while Adrenalin just centers and orders it all nicely in one app. Let's give credit where it's due... Also the quality gap wrt bugs and stability, I don't recognize at all. Not yet, at least.

 

[gffermari]

....the 4070 Ti qualifies for all of the goodies like studio drivers, so therein lies my vote.

If the gpu is not only for gaming , then 4070Ti.

But for pure gaming....a 7900XTX is the choice for me.
It has the raw power to hide the missing tech.

 

[Deleted member 223428]

AMD drivers are like fine wine, the most recent drivers gave a decent bump in performance across the board. I love my 7900 xt.

lmgdmfao.

Fine wine = it took their driver developers that long to figure out how to write software for their own hardware. That's great if you like to wait a year for them to get it right.

Just wait for when the 8000 series is released and you sit around for three months without driver updates while they get the duct tape and bailing wire out to fix their latest bottle of grape juice.

Back on topic to the OP: Buy whichever card you're more familiar with. Knowing your drivers and associated software is more critical than choosing AMD/Nvidia. I have both and each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

 

[freeagent]

AMD should rename their GPU division to ATi. It would be an instant 20-30% bump

And everything would be right with the world, be even better if they came back to Canada

 

[Deleted member 223428]

AMD should rename their GPU division to ATi. It would be an instant 20-30% bump

And everything would be right with the world, be even better if they came back to Canada

I'd totally buy an ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder X8900X Newfoundland Edition. Credit card in hand.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

For me it would be the 4070ti. Better drivers, DLSS3 and RT.

 

[bug]

Since prices have settled a bit and drivers matured, this is the question. If YOU were shopping for a GPU in this price segment right now for 1440P and the occasional 2160P resolution, what would be your choice and why?

I wouldn't spend that much on a GPU, but if I did, I'd go for the 4070Ti. Might as well check out what RT has to offer and take DLSS3 for a spin. Sure, the 7900XT also does RT, only in slomo. And there will be a FSR3, but it's not here yet so it's an unknown quantity at this time. But again, that would be just me gone insane, with nothing better to spend that kind of money on.

 

[Vya Domus]

It'll just end up being another forum brawl once the others chime in, let's not go there

No I am being serious, the problem with terms like stable and polished is that they don't really mean anything without something concrete. In what way would a 4070ti be more polished and stable than a 7900XT when it comes to drivers.

I do have a 7900XT, what did I miss, everything works fine.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Isn't what you're really saying more a case of Nvidia's hardware more readily integrated/supported in software? Because I don't disagree there, and it happens on the smaller things you can come across. An example, I use Wonderdraft, its a small tabletop RPG tool to make maps with. On the 7900XT it runs in OGL at 50 FPS. On Nvidia, I had monitor refresh.

That's really just an aspect of market share. But its reality nonetheless. However, I wouldn't attribute it to driver 'quality'. When it comes to that, having made the switch recently, I can say AMD has its driver and its GUI to tweak things in a good order, equal and in some aspects better than what Nvidia has currently. GFE is still a hot mess, and the NVCP is still Windows 95 style; while Adrenalin just centers and orders it all nicely in one app. Let's give credit where it's due... Also the quality gap wrt bugs and stability, I don't recognize at all. Not yet, at least.

Yeah it's things like this, when you don't get a complete crash or whatever. The repeated BSOD problems and nonsense issues I get often and sometimes months/years go by with no attention paid to it, which really strained my patience as of late. They've been hard at work, though, so I guess eventually it'll smooth out. Between the Ti and the XT I'd go with the Ti, but if a XTX is within reach, going for that seems the wisest course of action. If, of course, you can live without CUDA and the Nvidia ecosystem.

There's also some shortcomings that still exist in the AMD hardware but they are becoming increasingly minor, such as lack of 4:2:2 video acceleration, but it's not the end of the world.

Hardware and software are symbiotic, if either falters, both will suffer greatly for it. @Vya Domus this also answers your question

 

[Space Lynx]

No I am being serious, the problem with terms like stable and polished is that they don't really mean anything without something concrete. In what way would a 4070ti be more polished and stable than a 7900XT when it comes to drivers.

I do have a 7900XT, what did I miss, everything works fine.

only game that I know of that had issues was Starcraft 2, where the vram clock would not go high enough, i sometimes get stuttering in starcraft 2, but ever since i created a specific game profile for that game and that game only to launch with enhanced sync, the stuttering has gone away.

no sure if everyone has that issue or not, but I know it was at least me and one other person, but out of the 50+ games i tested, thats not bad at all imo. everything else has been smooth as butter

 

[Belfaborac]

I had a 6800 XT before my current Nvidia card and have had zero isses with either brand's drivers, but there's no doubt that Adrenalin rides roughshod over the fossilized Nvidia Control Panel. Can't speak to the current Geforce Experience; I installed it years ago and removed it in a day or two. Ain't touching that crap again anytime soon.

Anyway; making the drivers a positive or negative point in the buying process is pointless unless you're a constant tweaker. For me they're pretty much set and forget and they're on par in terms of stability, so who gives a monkey's.