AMD Introduces New GPUs for the 1440p Market

AMD is targeting the 1440p market with its latest graphics processing units (GPUs), offering a balance between performance improvements and affordability. The company will launch two new GPUs, the RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT, on September 6. To make testing easier for users, both GPUs come with a free copy of the highly anticipated game Starfield.

With price points of $500 and $450 respectively, these GPUs aim to outperform Nvidia’s mid-range offerings, the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4070, which have failed to impress PC consumers. AMD’s in-house testing shows that the RX 7800 XT performs better than the RTX 4070 in both traditional rasterized performance and ray tracing, an area where AMD has struggled to keep up in previous generations.

Superior Performance and Value

In various games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the RX 7800 XT outperforms the RTX 4070 at 1440p by 23%, 15%, and 5% respectively. However, when ray tracing is enabled, Nvidia’s card pulls ahead by 12% in Spider-Man: Miles Morales and 18% in Doom Eternal. Nevertheless, there are instances where the RX 7800 XT shows single-digit performance advantages in games like Resident Evil 4 and Far Cry 6, proving that AMD has made progress in ray tracing performance. The RX 7800 XT also offers a $100 price advantage over the RTX 4070, making it an appealing option in terms of value.

The RX 7700 XT, priced $50 higher than the RTX 4060 Ti, justifies the additional cost with superior performance. In a comprehensive range of games, including both rasterization and ray tracing, the RX 7700 XT consistently outperforms its Nvidia counterpart. It boasts a 26% improvement in Cyberpunk 2077, 21% in Resident Evil 4 (with ray tracing), 14% in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and 19% in Red Dead Redemption 2. Only in Doom Eternal and F1 23, both with ray tracing enabled, does the RTX 4060 Ti offer a slight advantage with 9% and 5% better performance.

Impressive Specifications

Examining the technical specifications of these new GPUs reveals the source of their performance gains, particularly in terms of memory bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT features 16GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit memory bus, providing an effective memory speed of 624GB per second. The RX 7700 XT offers slightly lower specifications with 12GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit bus, operating at an effective speed of 432GB per second. These figures far exceed the RTX 4060 Ti’s memory bandwidth of 288GB per second (which Nvidia disputes with its own calculations), explaining the RX 7700 XT’s significant performance advantage.

Considerations for Power and Space

It is important to note that both of these GPUs consume more power, averaging at 265W compared to the 200W of previous generation cards. Additionally, the RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT are 2.5 slot GPUs, whereas reference designs for the RTX 4070 are slimmer at 2 slots. This difference may be relevant for users building PCs with limited space. However, the AMD cards use the more common 8-pin power connectors, eliminating the risk of damage associated with the 12-pin connectors used by Nvidia cards.

Future-Proof Features

Both the RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT support AMD’s new FSR 3 suite of tools, including the software-based frame generation that works across both AMD and Nvidia GPUs. This technology will be launched alongside the highly anticipated games Forspoken and Immortals of Aveum later this year.

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