Who will win the GPU crown? AMD paints at least good chances.
The duel is officially open: Nvidia presented its new top models of the RTX 4000 series last night. First and foremost the RTX 4090, which is said to boast a gigantic increase in performance, especially when ray tracing is activated.
But the fight for the GPU crown is not yet decided. Because while the new Nvidia cards are more than just a step up in terms of performance, there is a weakness in other areas that AMD could exploit with its upcoming Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards. For example with the prices.
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RTX 4000: The prices are outrageous – and yet understandable
Officially, apart from a launch on November 3, 2022, we know little about the new Team Rot cards. However, based on some leaks and AMD’s own appearance, we can already estimate where AMD sees itself at least on par, if not ahead of Nvidia.
So could AMD take the GPU crown in 2022 and leave old rival Nvidia in the dust?
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Who has the better graphics card performance?
In terms of pure graphics power, Nvidia’s new lineup has done a good job. Although this is manufacturer PR material and not independent testing, the technical leap forward seems clear.
Depending on the game, resolution and ray tracing, you want to beat the previous top model RTX 3090 Ti by two to four times – thanks to the new architecture, further developed tensor cores and DLSS 3.0.
We can also confidently expect a massive leap in performance from AMD. Several indications suggest that consumer cards with a 4 GHz clock rate will appear for the first time with the RX-7000 series.
In addition to the fast clock, the new top GPU Navi 31 should also have up to 12,288 stream processors and 96 MB Infinity Cache feature. They also want to increase the transfer rate for the apparently 24 GB memory: the top model RX 7900 XT should use 18 Gbps instead of the previous one up to 20 Gbps deliver. With a 384-bit interface, this would result in a maximum bandwidth of 960 GB/s.
These numbers already make it clear that AMD wants to keep up with Nvidia beyond the midfield. Whether this will succeed will only become apparent after the release of both cards. But how does it look apart from the performance?
| specifications | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | Navi 31 | Navi 21 |
| stream processors | 12.288 | 5120 |
| Infinity Cache | 96 MB | 128 MB |
| Storage | 24 GB GDDR6 (20 Gbps, 384 Bit, 960 GB/s) | 16 GB GDDR6 (18 Gbps, 256 Bit, 576 GB/s) |
| Boost clock speed | up to 4000MHz | 2310 MHz |
Radeon RX 7000: Is AMD more economical in consumption?
The massive performance of the new Nvidia cards comes at a price: The power requirements of the RTX 4090 and Co. are lower than feared in advance. Nevertheless, the power consumption of up to 450 watts as a default is not trivial. Will AMD succeed in conjuring more economical cards out of a hat here?
The provocative statement by an AMD manager that “bigger isn’t necessarily better” speaks in favor of this. AMD already seems to want to position itself as the more reasonable alternative that better corresponds to the zeitgeist.
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However, the 4 GHz clock rate mentioned above needs to be powered somehow. In an interview with Tom’s Hardware AMD Vice President Sam Naffziger has already confirmed that the power consumption will increase compared to the previous generation with Radeon RX 7000.
Despite the increased efficiency, you shouldn’t expect a drop in electricity costs from a new graphics card from AMD.
Is price AMD’s big trump card?
In terms of performance and power draw, it looks like AMD is going in the same direction as Nvidia: a big leap forward in graphics, fed by higher power consumption. That leaves the price that Team Red could use to set themselves apart from Team Green.
Various reasons ensure that Nvidia has tightened up properly here: 1100 dollars for the smaller of the two RTX 4080 and almost 2000 dollars for the RTX 4090.
The price trend should also go up at AMD. The GPU architecture RDNA3 is supposed to Sea Leak be more expensive than its predecessor RDNA2. However, the price difference in production seems to be limited.
So far, there have been no exact prices either from the official side or from the rumor mill. However, we cannot imagine that AMD will reach dizzying heights beyond 1700 dollars with its top model – on the contrary, only a slight price increase compared to the previous model (RRP of the RX 6950 XT: 1100 US dollars) would be possible.
However, neither of the two manufacturers can avoid the badly performing euro and the resulting exchange rate disadvantages for end customers. This is what AMD and Nvidia will ultimately say: Yes, you get significantly more power, but that comes at a price.
Are you particularly happy when graphics cards make a big leap forward in terms of performance? Then reminisce with us: On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the GameStar, my colleague Nils remembers the test of the most legendary graphics card of all time.
25 years of GameStar: Perhaps the most legendary graphics card of all time in the original test
Are you looking forward to Radeon RX 7000? Or do you find the developments at AMD rather questionable? And who do you currently see ahead in the duel for the GPU crown? Tell us in the comments!
