Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT: The AMD graphics cards are good for that

By Adrian Muehlroth | Aug 28, 2023 at 4:51 p.m

AMD presented two new graphics cards at the Gamescom gaming fair, which bring additional options for the middle class. That puts pressure on the competitor Nvidia.

RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT with new AMD chip architecture

The Radeon RX 7700 XT and the RX 7800 XT are based on the current RDNA 3 graphics microarchitecture from AMD. One of the biggest innovations is the use of modular chiplets instead of a larger, unified graphics chip. AMD first used this type of chip design in its Ryzen processors and is now applying it to graphics cards for the first time. In the case of the RX-7000 series, this means that a graphics compute die (GCD; graphics processing core) is combined with several memory cache dies (MCD; memory cache chips). This allows AMD to manufacture the GCD using TSMC’s more efficient N5 process, while using the more cost-effective N6 manufacturing process for the MCDs.

While the RX 7700 XT combines a GCD with three MCDs, each with 16 megabytes of Infinity Cache, the RX 7800 XT has an additional memory cache module. This results in a cache size of 48 MB for the RX 7700 XT and 64 MB for the RX 7800 XT. The size of the video memory (VRAM) also differs between the two models. While AMD equips the RX 7700 XT with 12 GB GDDR6 VRAM and 192-bit memory interface, the RX 7800 XT has 16 GB and 256-bit.

The new models fill the gap between the previous RX-7000 series cards. This previously only consisted of the high-end GPU RX 7900 XT/XTX and the budget option RX 7600. The GCD in the RX 7700 XT comes with 54 Compute Units (CUs) – 22 more than found in the RX 7600 are. The RX 7800 XT, on the other hand, is only slightly better equipped at 60 CUs, especially compared to the next-higher RX 7900 XT, which has 84 CUs. AMD probably reserves the right to launch a 7850 XT to fill this gap.

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AMD competes with Nvidia in the mid-range

The company positions the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT as mid-range GPUs that compete directly with Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4070. They should be suitable for gaming in 1440p resolution at 60 frames per second (FPS) or more. While we don’t have any independent test results yet, AMD’s performance charts already give a first glimpse. The company compared the average FPS values ​​of the RX 7700 XT and RTX 4060 Ti (16GB) as well as the RX 7800 XT and RTX 4070 and recorded the percentage deviation in a number of titles.

The RX-7000 series marks a significant leap in real-time lighting effects calculations by utilizing the RDNA 3 architecture and AMD’s second-generation ray tracing technology. If you believe AMD’s test results, the improvements when turning on ray tracing over the competition are noticeable. Games tested with ray tracing are marked with “RT” in brackets.

According to AMD data, the RX 7700 XT in particular achieves up to 31 percent more FPS performance than the RTX 4060 Ti (16 GB) in the games tested. This stat is attributed to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remake. The RX 7800 XT also apparently achieves 23 percent more frames in the title than the RTX 4070. At least AMD not only mentions the positive, but also a few negative sides. The RX 7700 XT is worse than the competition in two titles and the RX 7800 XT in five titles. It’s worth noting that all of the titles that ran worse on the AMD cards had ray tracing turned on – an indication that Nvidia still has the edge here?

Nvidia’s memory controversy benefits AMD

According to AMD, the new models offer up to 50 percent more memory bandwidth than comparable GPUs from Nvidia. In a direct comparison with the RTX 4060 Ti, this statement is actually correct. Thanks to the significantly wide 192-bit memory interface, the RX 7700 XT achieves a bandwidth of 432 gigabytes per second (GB/s). The RTX 4060 Ti, on the other hand, is held back by its comparatively small 128-bit interface and only achieves 288 GB/s. Thanks to 256-bit with 624 GB/s bandwidth, the RX 7800 XT also has significantly faster memory than the competitor RTX 4070 192-bit and 504 GB/s. That’s no longer 50 percent, but still almost 23 percent.

Both Nvidia models are severely limited by their memory interface – a decision for which the manufacturer has received a lot of criticism. Mainly because the GPUs of the previous generation were already equipped with larger interfaces that can keep up with AMD’s new models. A stroke of luck for the manufacturer, who can now advertise its new graphics cards better.

price and availability

Speaking of better advertising, AMD states that the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT offer 20 percent more “performance per dollar” than their direct competitors for 1440p gaming. At least based on the recommended retail price, this information seems to be quite close to reality. Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti (16GB) and RTX 4070 retail for $499 and $599, respectively. As AMD announced at Gamescom 2023, the RX 7700 XT for USD 449 (EUR 489) and the RX 7800 XT for USD 499 (EUR 549) are scheduled to launch on September 6th.

If the new graphics cards are actually available at these prices, they would undercut the competition even after their price drop in recent months. The RTX 4060 Ti (16 GB) is currently available from around 520 euros, while the RTX 4070 starts at 600 euros.

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