RTX 4070 vs RX 7900 XTX: Which Value GPU is Best?

Deciding between the NVIDIA RTX 4070 and the AMD RX 7900 XTX? In this guide, we’ve highlighted the main differences of both GPUs to help you the right option for your needs.

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has been one of the best graphics cards of the current GPU generation, offering stellar performance for the price, making it great value compared to its more expensive competitors.

But now that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is out, there’s another great value offering, this time from the Green Team. Notably, the 4070 is $400 cheaper than the 7900 XTX, making it a more affordable GPU for most gamers.

Of course, these two graphics cards are very different, as the 7900 XTX is definitively more high-end than the 4070. But these are two of the best-value current-gen GPUs right now, so it’s important to compare them.

Also Read: RTX 4060 Ti vs RTX 4070: Which is the Best GPU Upgrade?

Comparing the 4070 vs 7900 XTX doesn’t just come down to analyzing the raw performance of the two GPUs. In addition, we must see how the two cards fit into the current market and how competing GPUs change the picture.

Buying Options

• Best RTX 4070 Graphics Cards
• Best RX 7900 XTX Graphics Cards
• Best RTX 4070 Prebuilt Gaming PCs
• Best RTX 4070 Laptops

What is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a high-end, current-gen graphics card released by NVIDIA in April 2023. While it’s a high-end card, it does edge towards the midrange, and its price tag reflects this.

The RTX 4070 is based on NVIDIA’s ‘Ada Lovelace’ GPU architecture, and it uses a scaled-back version of the RTX 4070 Ti’s AD104 GPU. As with all 40-series Ada Lovelace GPUs, the RTX 4070 can use the most recent graphics technologies such as DLSS 3.

What is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX?

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a high-end, current-gen graphics card released by AMD in December 2022. It competes most closely with the RTX 4080, and doesn’t stray towards the midrange at all.

The RX 7900 XTX is based on AMD’s ‘RDNA 3’ GPU architecture. While it can’t use DLSS 3—NVIDIA’s proprietary upscaling tech—it can use open standard or AMD-specific technologies such as FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling. A new version of FSR—FSR 3—was unveiled at GDC 2023, but we haven’t been given a release date yet.

NVIDIA 40-Series vs AMD 7000-Series GPU Features

While both the RTX 4070 and RX 7900 XTX support some of the latest graphics technologies and features, such as AV1 hardware encoding, upscaling, input lag reduction, and VRR tech, NVIDIA currently offers more than AMD on the feature front.

While AMD’s FSR 3 looks to do what DLSS 3 does—frame interpolation/generation—it isn’t out yet, and we don’t know how well it will stack up. For now, NVIDIA has the upper hand regarding upscaling.

And while both the NVIDIA card and the AMD card support some kind of input latency reduction, only NVIDIA offers the best input lag reduction tech available at the moment, which is Reflex. Game devs must implement reflex in-game, however, and AMD’s driver-level anti-lag works just as well as NVIDIA’s Ultra-Low Latency.

Finally, just like with input lag reduction and upscaling, for variable refresh rate (VRR) tech, NVIDIA offers all that AMD does but has one additional option. This option is full-fledged GSync, and GSync monitors require an NVIDIA GPU like the RTX 4070 to make use of the tech. Good GSync Compatible and FreeSync monitors, however, can be just as good as GSync Compatible ones for all intents and purposes.

Read More:

• What is Input Lag & How Can You Fix/Test It?
• Is G-Sync Worth It?
• G-Sync vs FreeSync: Which Adaptive Sync Tech is Better?
• G-Sync vs G-Sync Compatible: What’s the Difference?

7900 XTX vs 4070: Price Comparison

The RX 7900 XTX is $400 (66%) more expensive than the RTX 4070 at MSRP.

This price difference also tracks onto actual price differences between the cheapest models of both GPUs being sold online right now. Currently, the cheapest RTX 4070s and RX 7900 XTXs retail for about the same as their MSRPs.

Alternative GPUs

If you’re considering both the RTX 4070 and the RX 7900 XTX, you’re probably looking for a GPU in the $500-$1,000 range.

In this range, you could also consider the RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XT. The 4070 Ti performs about 25% better than the 4070 and costs $200 more at $799 MSRP. Upon release, the 7900 XT performed about 25% better than the 4070, too. But, according to LinusTechTips’ testing, AMD driver updates have improved the 7900 XT’s performance significantly, meaning it now performs about 40% better than the 4070.

If you’re willing to spend a little more than $1,000, you could also consider an RTX 4080. The 4080 performs about the same as the 7900 XTX but costs $200 more than it at $1,199 MSRP. This NVIDIA GPU also performs about 45-50% better than the 4070.

If, however, you’re wanting to spend less than the RTX 4070’s $599, you could wait and see what the consensus is on the RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti when they launch.

Read More:

• Best RTX 4070 Ti Graphics Cards
• Best RX 7900 XT Graphics Cards

Graphics Card Specs

While we can never get a completely accurate picture of the difference between two GPUs by comparing specs alone—especially when one is an AMD GPU and the other is an NVIDIA GPU—we can see that the RX 7900 XTX is more powerful than the RTX 4070 without question.

Perhaps most crucially, the 7900 XTX has twice the video memory, with 24GB VRAM vs the 4070’s 12GB. While Ada Lovelace GPUs have more L2 cache, this probably won’t offset a 12GB VRAM deficit.

And, for those of you who are into ray tracing, it also has more than double the SM/CUs and RAs/RT Cores. But NVIDIA’s RT Cores are better, individually, at ray tracing than AMD’s Ray Accelerators, so the 7900 XTX having double these cores doesn’t necessarily mean it will offer double the ray tracing performance.

One thing in the 4070’s favor, though, is that some AIB models don’t require the full 16-pin power adapter, and only require 1x 8-pin power connector.

Dimensions

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX isn’t quite as big as some of NVIDIA’s current-gen offerings, but it’s certainly much bigger than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. This is a mark in the 4070’s favor rather than a mark against the 7900 XTX, though, because the 4070 is the first card of this GPU generation to actually look the size and scale of the normal GPUs we were previously used to.

Power Draw and Thermal Performance

Another benefit of the 4070 is its low power consumption compared to the 7900 XTX. Its 200W TDP means NVIDIA recommends a 650W PSU to power the 4070, whereas AMD recommends an 800W PSU to power the 7900 XTX with its 355W TDP.

Also Read: The Best Power Supplies for 2023

Regarding temperature, much will depend on the specific AIB version of the card in question and how its cooler is designed. This being said, while reference versions of both cards should stay below 70c while gaming, a reference 7900 XTX should stay much cooler than a reference 4070 (assuming the early problems with some 7900 XTX GPUs overheating has now been resolved).

4070 vs 7900 XTX: Gaming Performance

To give you a good picture of the 4070 vs 7900 XTX’s gaming performance, we’ve averaged benchmark results from several reviews, such as those from TechSpot and TechPowerUp, for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions.

Also Read: 1080p vs. 1440p vs. 4K: Which Resolution Is Best for Gaming?

The charts under each resolution show a framerate comparison that averages out the benchmark results from these reviews. Under these charts, you’ll find the average percentage difference between the two cards’ performances at these resolutions.

1080p Benchmarks

Framerates averaged from multiple online benchmarks.

On average, the RX 7900 XTX performs about 33.4% better than the RTX 4070 at 1080p.

For most gamers, an RTX 4070 will be more than sufficient for gaming at 1080p. This card averages higher than 144fps overall at max settings at this resolution, meaning it will be great for 120Hz and 144Hz monitors.

In almost any game, the 4070 should stay above 120fps, though in more demanding modern games it might struggle to maintain 144fps on average. If you want that 144fps guaranteed in pretty much any game on max settings, a 7900 XTX will be a better bet.

It might be tempting to opt for a 7900 XTX if you’re using a monitor that supports an ultra-high refresh rate—say, 360Hz—for competitive gaming. However, remember most competitive games aren’t graphically demanding, meaning an RTX 4070 should be able to push these high framerates. Also, many competitive gamers are happy to lower in-game settings, making a GPU like the 7900 XTX redundant.

1440p Benchmarks

Framerates averaged from multiple online benchmarks.

On average, the RX 7900 XTX performs about 47.1% better than the RTX 4070 at 1440p.

For 1440p gaming, whether to opt for an RTX 4070 or RX 7900 XTX depends on your monitor’s refresh rate, what kinds of games you’ll be playing, and whether you want to max out in-game graphics settings.

Also Read: Is 1440P Worth it for Gaming?

If you want to play modern games on ultra settings on a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor, the 4070 will struggle to handle this. In the most demanding games, it will average below 100fps, and in moderately demanding titles it will often struggle to average 120fps or 144fps.

The 7900 XTX, on the other hand, should guarantee framerates above 100fps even in the most demanding titles.

This doesn’t mean the 4070 is a no-go for 1440p gaming, though. If you drop your settings down from ultra to high, the vast majority of games will be smooth at 120fps or 144fps at 1440p. And if you’re using a 60Hz or 75Hz monitor, a 4070 will be enough for you even when cranking games up to max.

4K Benchmarks

Framerates averaged from multiple online benchmarks.

On average, the RX 7900 XTX performs about 60.7% better than the RTX 4070 at 4K.

For 4K gaming, it makes much more sense to opt for a 7900 XTX instead of a 4070.

This is especially thanks to the 7900 XTX having double the 4070’s VRAM capacity, which can really come into play at higher resolutions.

Also Read: Is 4K Worth it for Gaming? Why Most Gamers Don’t Need a 4K Monitor

If you want to play the most demanding titles on max settings, the 7900 XTX will guarantee a smooth 60fps (or thereabouts) while the 4070 will drop well below 60fps in graphically intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077.

The 4070 can certainly hold its own at 4K if you’re willing to lower your settings or play less demanding games, though. If you’re using a 60Hz monitor and are happy playing on medium settings, it might just be worth opting for a 4070 for its $400 saving.

Ray Tracing and Upscaling

Score taken from TechPowerUp’s testing (1440p chart).

Based on TechPowerUp’s ray tracing testing, the RX 7900 XTX does ray tracing about 22% better than the RTX 4070 at 1440p.

We mentioned earlier that the fact that the 7900 XTX has double the 4070’s number of ray tracing cores probably won’t mean it has double the ray tracing performance. We can see that this is proven true in TechPowerUp’s testing.

While opting for a 7900 XTX instead of a 4070 makes sense for many gamers with a 1440p or 4K monitor, it makes little sense if your primary concern is ray tracing performance. The ray tracing performance increase that the 7900 XTX offers simply isn’t worth its $400 markup.

Also consider that—for now—the RTX 4070 has the real game changer for ray tracing performance, which is DLSS 3 upscaling. Enabling DLSS 3 allows you to entirely offset ray tracing’s performance hit. The 7900 XTX’s only current alternative is FSR 2, which won’t come close to offering the same performance uplift.

FSR 3 should launch soon, though, and this could change things entirely.

Game Performance Summary

While the 7900 XTX performs about 33.4% better than the 4070 at 1080p, most gamers with a 60Hz, 75Hz, 120Hz, or even 144Hz monitor will find the 4070 to offer high enough framerates for them, making it worth the $400 saving.

At 1440p, if you’re using a 60Hz/75Hz monitor, or you don’t mind dropping settings from max to high, an RTX 4070 will probably be worth its $400 saving. But if you want 100+fps on max settings even in demanding games, a 7900 XTX will be worth it for 1440p gaming, because it performs about 47.1% better.

At 4K, it makes much more sense to opt for a 7900 XTX over a 4070, unless you don’t mind dropping your settings to medium or you don’t want to play demanding games, because it performs about 60.7% better. If you want to max games out or play demanding games like Cyberpunk, a 7900 XTX will be much less of a headache for you.

Finally, you shouldn’t opt for a 7900 XTX over a 4070 just for its ray tracing performance. While it does ray tracing about 22% better than the 4070, this doesn’t come close to making up for its 66% extra cost. Also, unlike the 7900 XTX, the 4070 has DLSS 3 at its disposal to offset ray tracing’s performance hit.

More Performance Comparisons

• RTX 4070 vs RTX 4080
• RTX 4070 vs RTX 4090
• RTX 4070 vs RX 7900 XT
• RTX 4070 vs RTX 4070 Ti
• RX 7900 XTX vs RTX 4070 Ti
• RX 79000 XTX vs RX 4080
• RX 7900 XTX vs RTX 4090
• RX 7900 XTX vs RX 7900 XT

Verdict: Is the RTX 4070 or RX 7900 XTX a Better Purchase?

As far as current-gen GPUs are concerned, both the 7900 XTX and 4070 are great value graphics cards.

With the 4070 you’re getting a sub-$700 GPU capable of high refresh rate 1440p gaming in modern titles, and even 4K gaming in many games. With the 7900 XTX, you’re getting a $1,000 GPU capable of smooth gameplay in any game on max settings, both at 1440p and at 4K.

Whether to opt for an RTX 4070 or RX 7900 XTX depends on what games you like to play, what settings you’re comfortable playing them on, and your monitor’s refresh rate and resolution.

A 4070 will be more than enough for 1080p gaming for almost any gamer. If you’re gaming at 1440p, however, a 7900 XTX is worth it if you want to max out in-game settings or playing some of the most demanding titles. And for 4K gaming, a 7900 XTX will almost always be worth it over a 4070, unless you’ll be playing games that go easy on the GPU or you don’t mind significantly lowering your graphics settings.

On the other hand, the 4070 can utilize DLSS 3 upscaling to make for smooth a 60Hz 4K or 144Hz 1440p gameplay experience.

The problem, though, is that DLSS 3 still isn’t supported in a lot of games. Plus, FSR 3 is just around the corner, and this could level the upscaling playing field in the 7900 XTX’s favor. For this reason, it’s probably worth comparing the 4070 vs 7900 XTX on the two GPUs’ own terms, considering just their raw performance capabilities.

And when it comes to these pure rasterization capabilities, the 7900 XTX comes out on top. Thankfully for the 4070, this is only a significant boon for the 7900 XTX at higher resolutions. 1440p is the gray area. For gaming at this resolution, which GPU you should opt for depends on what games you’ll be playing and what settings you’re happy playing on.