AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX / XT review: AMD beats Nvidia
AMD's new GPUs take the fight to Nvidia
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 – both the XTX and XT launched back in December 2022, following the launch of the RTX 4080. Both graphics cards have easily positioned themselves among the best GPUs, with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX especially being the top-end champ for anyone not looking to drop $1,600 or more on the RTX 4090.
Since the launch of these graphics cards, they’ve become even better, with Team Red releasing constant driver updates to improve stability and get these next-gen cards ready for games. Either way, though, even though the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is cheaper than the RTX 4080 and beats it on a price-to-performance level, AMD is still asking for $999, which is a lot for a graphics card.
That being said, if you’re looking to build the best gaming PC you possibly can and you have the budget for it, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is absolutely worth it, even after the RTX 4070 Ti has finally graced us with its presence.
🛍️ Where to buy the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT
🏆 Score: 4 out of 5
⚙️ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX specs
🧠 24GB GDDR6 VRAM
⚡355W Board Power (Total graphics power)
✨ 6,144 Stream Processors
💡 96 ray accelerators (for ray tracing)
🏃♂️ 2,300 MHz Game Clock
🔌 2 x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1 x USB-C
⚙️ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT specs
🧠 20GB GDDR6 VRAM
⚡315W TGP (Total graphics power)
✨ 5,376 Stream Processors
💡 84 ray accelerators (for ray tracing)
🏃♂️ 2,000 MHz Game Clock
🔌 2 x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1 x USB-C
How I tested the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
To test the two new AMD GPUs, I put them in my gaming PC, with these specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
RAM: 32GB DDR5 @ 6000MHz
PSU: 1000W
Case: Cooler Master H500P Mesh
Motherboard: X670E Aorus Master
SSD: PNY XLR8 1TB PCIe 4
In this gaming PC, I ran it through my standard gamut of tests, which includes the best PC games across multiple genres and engines. I also kept the PC closed, so that I could measure temperatures in a way that’s actually realistic – no open-air test benches here. I also took some time to actually play some games to make sure everything was stable.
Why trust my AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX review?
I’ve been reviewing GPUs for years now, starting with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 back in 2019. But even before I was officially reviewing graphics cards, I was benchmarking them for fun. Something about seeing what these chunky bois can do has always tickled my fancy, starting with my Radeon HD 5770 back in like 2009.
GPUs are kind of my life, and I’m passionate about helping people buy one that actually serves their needs. I’m less interested in what they can do theoretically and more in what they can do out of the box for the average PC gamer.
The future of 4K gaming 📺
With the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and its competitor, the RTX 4080, 4K gaming is getting easier every day. With any of the current generation graphics cards, I was able to play any game I wanted at max settings at 4K, without having to worry about tanking framerates.
There are a couple caveats, though. Ray tracing is still difficult if you don’t have FidelityFX Super Resolution (or DLSS for an Nvidia card). But, luckily, more games are including both features. Upscaling tech is becoming something you just need for AAA games. Nvidia’s DLSS does have better image quality, but only by a bit. However, AMD’s tech is compatible with all three brands of graphics cards.
As time goes on, I expect both solutions to grow, but you’re going to want to look up the specific games you want to play to see which tech the developer goes with. Hopefully more games will use both AMD and Nvidia solutions to make this decision easier.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX release date
📅 Available December 13, 2022
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT will both be available on December 13. However, be prepared to buy quickly, as graphics cards have a tendency to sell out quickly. AMD says that won’t be as much of an issue with this generation, but only time will tell.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX price
🤑 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX starts at $999
💸 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT starts at $899
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT starts at $899, and its more expensive XTX sibling will cost $100 more. Please note that these are starting prices for the AMD reference design reviewed here. There are going to be third-party manufacturers that have beefier coolers or flashier designs that will charge more. I’ll update this review once the store pages are up to let you know how much you should expect to pay for these GPUs.
AMD’s software suite
These days, the graphics card itself is only part of the GPU package. AMD has paired the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT with its suite of gaming-focused software to boost its value. This of course includes its AMD Adrenalin software. This will get you the latest drivers and let you fiddle with settings, but more importantly, it allows you to both launch your entire PC library and track how your games perform on average.
This is extremely helpful, especially if you’re not the type to run a bunch of performance-tracking software while gaming.
AMD also includes a number of software features that either boost gaming performance or image quality. The most important of these is FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR. This tech takes a lower-resolution image and upscales it to your native display resolution with little to no impact on image quality. This is basically free performance, and you should absolutely enable it whenever possible.
FSR is even better when you combine it with ray tracing, though. Because while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is ray tracing capable – and is even much better than the previous generation at it – the fancy lighting tech takes a heavy toll on frame rates. Luckily, in games that support it, FSR eases the burden by quite a bit.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX benchmarks and performance
Radeon RX 7900 XTX is 18% faster than Radeon RX 7900 XT on average
RX 7900 XTX 15% slower than RTX 4080 on average
Great at 4K gaming
For years, AMD’s graphics cards have played second fiddle to Nvidia. And while the Radeon RX 7900 GPUs don’t really approach the level of performance offered by the RTX 4090, they have no problem keeping up with the RTX 4080.
There are a number of PC games where the 7900 XTX outright beats the RTX 4080. In Far Cry 6 with FSR enabled, the 7900 XTX topples the 4080 with a massive 14% performance lead. Even the $799 7900 XT beats Nvidia’s $1,199 GPU in this title.
AMD also pulls ahead in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, which measures DirectX 12 performance, though the lead isn’t as massive here.
To be fair, the RTX 4080 does beat the AMD card in pretty much every other test, but even at its worst the difference is 27%. That’s in Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS 2.0 on the Nvidia cards and FSR 2.0 on the AMD cards. That goes to show, though, that anyone looking to play Cyberpunk 2077 should just get an Nvidia card anyways. That game is hard enough to run that you may as well get the card that will run it best.
Things get weird when we look at the two AMD cards side by side, though. There’s only an 11% difference in pricing, but the performance gap is much bigger at an average of 18%. That means that the more expensive Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a better value for your money than the 7900 XT. And, that’s backward.
AMD could have priced the Radeon RX 7900 XT at a more affordable $849 and this would have been a non-issue. That’s only a $50 difference, sure, but 50 bucks is 50 bucks.
However, if you’re just looking at the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the RTX 4080 and trying to decide which GPU is right for you, it’s hard to justify spending the extra $200 on the Nvidia graphics card. Ultimately, it’ll come down to which PC games you want to play, but on the whole, the AMD card wins out for most people. And, honestly, kudos to AMD, it’s been a while since I’ve said that for one of its flagship graphics cards.
Should you buy the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX?
Yes, if…
✅ You want high-end 4K gaming
💸 You don’t want to spend an extra $200 for the RTX 4080
🎮 You play a lot of games with the AMD logo in their loading screen
No, if…
💸 You don’t want to spend a thousand bucks on a graphics card
🔦 Ray tracing is everything for you
🤔 Your current GPU is less than 4 years old
Your AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX questions answered
If you have any other questions about the AMD RX 7900 XTX or any other graphics card, please leave a comment or DM me on Twitter. I’ll do my best to respond as soon as possible to find you the best GPU for your gaming needs.