After championing AMD and contemplating utilizing it in my subsequent construct, I nonetheless ended up shopping for one among Nvidia’s finest graphics playing cards — though arguably, the GPU in query can be amongst Nvidia’s worst. Positive, it’s a robust card, however by way of worth, it’s in all probability one of many worst choices I may have gone with.
I’m speaking concerning the RTX 4080. There’s little question it will possibly blitz by way of any sport you possibly can throw at it, as you possibly can learn in our RTX 4080 evaluate, but it surely’s additionally $1,200 — a full $500 greater than last-gen’s RTX 3080.
Do I remorse it? No, in no way. I nonetheless consider that my poor-value Nvidia GPU is a greater deal than no matter AMD needed to provide on the time. But when I used to be making my resolution now, AMD could have lastly made me assume twice.
I actually wished it to be AMD
Once I first heard about AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX, I used to be excited and all however prepared to leap ship after years of shopping for solely Nvidia. I didn’t at all times revert again to Workforce Inexperienced out of some form of model loyalty, or at the very least I’d prefer to assume that it didn’t play a lot of a component. Nonetheless, having been disillusioned by AMD up to now, I didn’t do a lot to problem the truth that Nvidia merely had the higher GPUs for a few years in a row. That sentiment stopped being true with the appearance of RDNA 2, and AMD was as soon as once more on my radar. The RX 7900 XTX solidified my want to go for the underdog and provides AMD one other likelihood.
And but, right here I’m, the (mildly) proud proprietor of an RTX 4080 — a GPU the place the numbers actually simply don’t add up. It’s costly, however not fairly highly effective sufficient to justify the inflated price ticket. Have I misplaced my thoughts? You may make that argument, however for probably the most half, I made an knowledgeable resolution and purchased the RTX 4080 realizing the entire caveats.
Sure, I nonetheless assume that it was the higher selection than the RX 7900 XTX.
With that mentioned, I selected the RTX 4080 considerably begrudgingly, and that’s largely right down to Nvidia’s strategy to pricing its GPUs. Market domination has made Nvidia a bit too comfy, or so it appears, as a result of not solely does it have a reasonably outrageous pricing technique, but it surely additionally stands by it and doesn’t appear desperate to make any adjustments.
Sadly, the RX 7900 XTX lacked a number of of the explanations that make the RX 7800 XT an fascinating choose, which is why I used to be in the end tempted again in Nvidia’s route.
Not fairly there but
The RX 7900 XTX is a superb GPU, and it truly outpaces the RTX 4080 in some video games. Nevertheless, in our evaluate of the cardboard, you’ll see that it turned out to be round 6% slower than the RTX 4080 at 4K with ray tracing enabled. In a approach, that’s an ideal outcome, given AMD’s less-than-stellar report the place ray tracing is concerned, but it surely’s not precisely a dealbreaker in both route. These two playing cards are pretty comparable.
Nvidia has the higher hand with Deep Studying Tremendous Sampling 3 (DLSS 3), although. This upscaling know-how that generates complete frames as a substitute of simply pixels is highly effective sufficient to let an RTX 4070 obtain larger frames per second than an RTX 4090.
It’s not out there in each sport, but it surely’s mighty spectacular, and whereas it’s not with out flaws, it’s nonetheless much better than AMD’s FidelityFX Tremendous Decision 2 (FSR 2).
By now, AMD additionally has FSR 3, which marks yet one more step in the proper route. Nevertheless, in contrast to DLSS 3, FSR Three is out there on any GPU. It’s good of AMD to make it much more accessible, but it surely additionally signifies that you don’t essentially want to purchase an AMD graphics card to reap the benefits of it. DLSS Three is unique to Nvidia’s RTX 40-series, and a few of the GPUs in that lineup are little greater than vessels for Nvidia’s AI-driven body era — take the RTX 4060 Ti as a major instance.
All that put collectively signifies that we’ve received two GPUs which are shut in efficiency, however solely one among them has entry to Nvidia’s tech stack. Ray tracing turns into good to have at this degree, and DLSS Three is engaging if it’s not too costly to get.
That’s the issue — the worth hole between the RX 7900 XTX and the RTX 4080 simply wasn’t large enough for me to justify giving up on DLSS Three and improved ray tracing. The beneficial checklist value for the RTX 4080 sits at $1,200, whereas the 7900 XTX is priced at $1,000. In follow, you could find many fashions of the RTX 4080 at round $1,100, whereas the RX 7900 XTX is about $950 to $1,020. While you’re already spending over $2,000 on a pc, including an additional $100 to get a extra spectacular GPU looks like much less of an issue than it does in a budget-oriented PC construct.
If there’s one factor I remorse, it’s not saving up extra and doubling down on my budget-breaking journey to only get the (surprisingly higher worth) RTX 4090. Then again, I, like most individuals, actually don’t want that form of a GPU.
Had the RX 7900 XTX been cheaper, it possible would have been extra fashionable. I do know I wouldn’t have hesitated if it was within the $800 to $850 vary. Nvidia’s RTX 4080 was too costly to start with, so if AMD stored issues cheap in flip, it could have made rather more sense to snub Nvidia and go for AMD. Sadly, each producers went with excessive costs, and I went with the controversial RTX 4080 regardless of my earlier plans.
That brings us again to the brand new RX 7800 XT. It’s not the category of GPU I used to be taking a look at for my subsequent PC construct, but it surely’s clear AMD didn’t take the pricing bait this time round.
AMD is lastly on track
The RX 7800 XT is the GPU I’ve been hoping to see for a very long time. At simply $500, it reveals a commanding lead over Nvidia’s RTX 4070, to not point out the RTX 4060 Ti. Working at 1440p, which is the cardboard’s supposed decision, it beats the 4070 by a mean of 9%. It additionally outpaces its Nvidia counterpart by 6% at 4K. That won’t sound large, however the RX 7800 XT is $100 cheaper. And at this value, $100 makes an enormous distinction.
We’re additionally seeing higher leads to ray tracing at 1440p, and that’s encouraging. AMD’s climb up the ray tracing ladder has been moderately gradual, however whereas the 7800 XT remains to be behind the RTX 4070 in that regard on common, there are video games the place it retains up. It maintains a mean of 74 frames per second (fps) in Returnal with ray tracing enabled at 1440p, which is greater than playable. Nvidia’s minuscule lead isn’t an issue right here — it hits 76 fps on common, which makes no distinction throughout gameplay. Resident Evil 4 pits the 2 playing cards in opposition to one another in the same approach, with the 2 attaining the identical 93.Three fps common.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one sport the place AMD nonetheless lags behind in a giant approach, reaching 27 fps on common in comparison with Nvidia’s 38.eight fps. Regardless of that outcome, I’m nonetheless impressed with AMD’s enchancment within the ray tracing division.
You’d anticipate a $1,000 GPU to have the ability to deal with 4K and ray tracing with ease, which is the place the RX 7900 XTX proved to be a disappointment. Nevertheless, when a GPU that’s half the worth manages to beat a competitor that’s priced larger, it’s a victory to be celebrated.
There’s additionally the continuing VRAM dilemma. Whereas the RX 7900 XTX has a powerful 24GB of video reminiscence, which is the equal of Nvidia’s flagship RTX 4090, it makes much less of a distinction at this degree. The RTX 4080 has a lot much less (16GB), but it surely nonetheless has loads to deal with even probably the most demanding video games. Nevertheless, at these decrease GPU tiers, each the 7800 XT and the 7700 XT shine when in comparison with their starved-for-VRAM counterparts. The RTX 4070 skirts by with 12GB, however you’re caught with solely 8GB with something decrease.
The RX 7800 XT is what the RX 7900 XTX ought to have been. It’s nice worth, a lot in order that it’s now onerous to advocate another graphics card at this value level. It performs rather well for the worth, it’s not a letdown by way of ray tracing, and it’ll have the identical entry to FSR Three as each different AMD GPU. At $500, it’s refreshing to see within the present GPU panorama that’s stuffed with overpriced playing cards.
With that mentioned, I nonetheless don’t remorse my overpriced RTX 4080.
Why? As a result of AMD nonetheless doesn’t have an attractive counterpart at that efficiency tier. I wished a GPU able to dealing with 4K gaming, ray tracing at excessive body charges, and all these different bells and whistles. The RX 7900 XTX can’t give me that whereas concurrently being considerably cheaper than the graphics card I selected in the long run.
The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is unquestionably a step in the proper route for AMD, and it’s precisely why I’m not upset about AMD doubtlessly skipping the high-end section in its next-gen graphics playing cards. If I wished a 1440p GPU, I wouldn’t have thought twice and I’d have gone for AMD this time round.
As it’s now, I’m sticking to my horrible worth RTX 4080 and hoping that AMD will sustain this development going ahead, as a result of the RX 7800 XT is de facto the way in which to go.
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