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We have reviewed enough GPUs through the years to conclude that the performance of a GPU at launch is vastly different from its performance a couple of months or years down the line. The prime reason for this is better driver optimization, an aspect that has generally been AMD’s Achilles heel. However, a lot has changed for AMD and for NVIDIA, particularly in the years 2022–2024. With Intel’s CPU quality control woes, AMD seems to be the default choice for CPUs. NVIDIA’s leaps in frame generation and ray-tracing technology have given AMD Radeon GPUs a run for their money.
There is still an upside for AMD, though. It’s 2024, and outright performance isn’t the only reason for preferring one GPU over another. There is a whole software package that GPUs offer, used for streaming and recording. Choosing a graphics card solely depends on one’s use case.
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX was launched in December 2022, roughly two years after the launch of its predecessor, the RX 6900 series. The RX 7900 XTX is AMD’s flagship desktop GPU and is in direct competition with the Nvidia RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER. The prices of both the RX 7900 XTX and RTX 4080 SUPER hover around the same range, i.e., INR 1,00,000—give or take a few thousand.
Gaming
Performance-wise, both GPUs are very different, yet very similar. It goes without saying that both of these graphic cards will handle 4K, ultrawide, and super ultrawide gaming just fine. The RX7900 XTX will beat the RTX 4080 in terms of gaming raw performance at native resolution without frame generation and/or ray tracing. Cyberpunk, a game that favors Nvidia, lags behind the RX 7900 XTX in frames per second by around 8%, with frame generation and ray tracing turned off. The story changes as soon as you turn on ray tracing. While the Radeon’s ray tracing performance has vastly improved since its launch, it is still behind GeForce.
Cyberpunk, a game that favors Nvidia, lags behind the RX 7900 XTX in frames per second by around 8%, with frame generation and ray tracing turned off. The story changes as soon as you turn on ray tracing.
For 4K gaming, the 7900 XTX consistently dishes out 60+ fps in games like Microsoft Flight Simulator, GTA V, Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, etc. You are assured to get triple-digit frames in 1080p and 1440p resolutions. The 7900 XTX’s advantage in raw processing power makes it perform better than the RTX 4080 in Microsoft Flight Simulator in every aspect.
With ray tracing on, the RTX 4080 slides ahead of the 7900 XTX in almost any given scenario. In some games, like Minecraft with full path tracing, the RTX 4080 SUPER is around 80% faster than the 7900 XTX. In most games with ray tracing, the GeForce is faster than Radeon by an average of 28–32 percent.
Conversely, the Radeon performs better than the GeForce in rasterization-only high-resolution scenarios. By high resolution, we mean 1440p, 4K, and above. This is the reason why the 7900 XTX is faster in games such as Forza Horizon, Far Cry 5, and Watch Dogs Legion. This lead, unfortunately, doesn’t mean much for AMD, as in real-world terms, the majority of games utilize ray tracing.
In terms of upscaling, DLSS (Nvidia) and FSR (AMD) have been going at it head-to-head since their inception. Going by general reviews from customers, DLSS offers superior upscaling image quality than FSR. This can be highly subjective, though. A large number of users can’t make out the difference between the two upscaling technologies. Some users report better FSR image quality and performance than DLSS 3.5 in some games. Also, consider that with GeForce, you get access to both FSR and DLSS, but with AMD, you have only FSR.
To summarize, if gaming is your prime usage, we would recommend the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER simply for its ray tracing capabilities. Ray tracing, as predicted by us when it was launched, is going to stay here. If only AMD had taken it as seriously as Nvidia did…
Efficiency
Nvidia’s 3000 series GPUs were notorious for their high power consumption, especially under heavy load scenarios. With the RTX 4000 series, Nvidia has redeemed itself.
Power consumption should be a factor to consider when buying a graphics card. Over long-term usage, choosing the right card can save you energy costs and cause less heat. The 7900 XTX might be slightly cheaper upfront than the RTX 4080 SUPER, but it draws considerably more power, probably owing to its beefier architecture. If your room is small, an efficient GPU can be your saving grace from heat buildup during long gaming sessions.
Power consumption should be a factor to consider when buying a graphics card. Over long-term usage, choosing the right card can save you energy costs and cause less heat.
AMD users have reported high power consumption numbers on their 7900 XTX GPUs when idle—as high as a whopping 120 Watts. When under load, its power consumption reaches a ridiculous range of 300–400 watts. AMD’s driver updates lately have fixed this, but still, 95W power consumption (driver version 24.7.1) on idle is way too much to call the 7900 XTX an efficient GPU.
Advanced AMD users have been undervolting their graphic cards to make them more efficient, and it works. There are numerous guides available on the internet on how to go about this. This might void your GPU’s warranty, though, so be wary.
There is an underlying reason for this massive difference between the two GPU power consumption figures. Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace uses the TSMC 4nm node, which is far more efficient than what AMD uses. AMD’s RAM bandwidth runs at significantly higher clock speeds than Nvidia’s and is also more abundant than GeForce.
Longevity
Owing to AMD’s beefier specifications—significantly higher RAM, RAM bandwidth, and higher clocks—the 7900 XTX is definitely better placed to offer better longevity. Nvidia has a tendency to lock its cutting-edge features to specific GPU series, a problem that AMD does not have. DLSS 4 will not be available for RTX 4000 series GPUs. On the other hand, AMD has made no such announcement, nor do we expect one. AMD tends to be a bit more open about their software features, whereas Nvidia’s features are hardware-specific. There is a higher chance of AMD’s software features trickling down to older models two or three years down the line. By simply having more horsepower, the Radeon 7900 XTX is going to trump many use cases as it ages, since it will offer being above minimum requirements longer than the GeForce RTX 4080 Super.
AMD tends to be a bit more open about their software features, whereas Nvidia’s features are hardware-specific. There is a higher chance of AMD’s software features trickling down to older models two or three years down the line.
Conclusion
On paper, AMD’s memory subsystem is far superior to Nvidia’s. The RX 7900 XTX has much higher memory and a wider memory interface than the RTX 4080 SUPER. You get 50% more memory, 50% more cache, and 30% more raw bandwidth on the RX 7900 XTX. That means the Radeon 7900 XTX can hands-down render faster than the RTX 4080 SUPER, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to real-world performance. The GeForce is undeniably the better card for gaming today, if we ignore pricing.
In India, both the GPUs cost roughly the same, so Nvidia is the clear winner here. For global markets, the RX 7900 XTX sells considerably cheaper (15–20%) than the RTX 4800. This changes the story completely. At this price, we would recommend the Radeon simply because it offers acceptable performance compared to the GeForce, and it is seemingly the better card from a long-term perspective.
