AMD RX 7900 GRE vs Nvidia RTX 4070: Which is best in 2024?

The AMD RX 7900 GRE and the Nvidia RTX 4070 are available at discounted rates, thanks to recent price cuts in the market. Amazon is running its Prim͏e ͏D͏ay sale, and many other e-͏commerc͏e websites have come ͏up with similar events. This means that if you are looking to buy a GPU,͏ now is͏ the ͏best time ͏to get one.

The RX 79͏00 GR͏E is͏ retailing for $509, while th͏e RTX 4070 is available for $͏499. T͏he two GPUs are t͏he most attract͏ive choice͏s at t͏hi͏s pric͏e point and ar͏e very͏ goo͏d ͏for͏ 1440p͏ gaming͏. ͏

If you are͏ confused a͏bout wh͏ich one to buy͏ bas͏ed on raw͏ p͏erform͏ance͏ and r͏ay-tracing capabilitie͏s͏, we've got ͏you͏ covered. This article compares the two GPUs to help you choose one based on your needs.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinion.

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Is the RX 7900 GRE better than the RTX 4070?

Spiderman Miles Morales (Image via @Games Choices/YouTube)

The RX 7900 GRE has taken over the mid-range gaming market, and players are all opting to buy it over the RTX 4070.

Is the RX 7900 GRE really that much better? We know it is superior in raw performance, but what about ray tracing? Let's look at the GPUs' specs to get the answer to this question.

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Specs comparison

Specification	RX 7900 GRE	RTX 4070
Architecture	RDNA 3	Ada Lovelace
GPU Die	Navi 31 XL	AD104-250
Stream Processors	5120	5888
Boost Clock (MHz)	Up to 2245	Up to 2475
RT cores	80	64
Memory Speeds	18 Gbps	21 Gbps
Memory Size (GB)	16	12
Memory Type	GDDR6	GDDR6X
Memory Bus Width	256-bit	192-bit
Memory Bandwidth	576 GB/s	504 GB/s
TDP	260W	200W

The RX 7900 GRE comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 V-RAM on a 256-bit memory bus, which gives it an effective bandwidth of 576 GB/s. The RTX 4070, on the other hand, comes with 12 GB of DDR6X V-RAM on a 192-bit memory bus for an effective speed of 504 GB/s. Based on these specs, we can say that the RX 7900 GRE is definitely better in raw performance.

When it comes to ray tracing, the AMD GPU packs 80 RT cores i.e. 16 more than the Nvidia offering's 64. Does that mean the 7900 GRE is better in ray tracing? Sadly, no. It should be better, but AMD handles ray-tracing optimizations poorly on their GPUs. That's why despite having more RT cores, the company lags behind.

Furthermore, DLSS is much better than AMD FSR, which reduces image quality.

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Performance comparison

Baldur's Gate 3 at 1440p comparison (Image via @Daniel Owen/YouTube)

Now that we are done with the specs sheet, let's compare the GPUs' actual gaming performance. We will take both raw performance and ray tracing into account here.

First, let's start with the raw performance. This data is from the Testing Games YouTube channel.

Games	RX 7900GRE	RTX 4070
Cyberpunk 2077	58 FPS	69 FPS (+18%)
Red Dead Redemption 2	104 FPS	111 FPS (+6%)
Forza Horizon 5	123 FPS	135 FPS (+10%)
God of War	96 FPS	103 FPS (+7%)
Hogwarts Legacy	76 FPS	92 FPS (+21%)

The RX 7900 GRE is about 10% to 20% faster in games when ray tracing is turned off at 1440p.

Let's now take a look at the ray-tracing figures based on data from Daniel Owen's YouTube channel.

Games	RX 7900GRE	RTX 4070
Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS RT Overdrive/FSR Quality)	29 FPS	44 FPS (+52%)
Alan Wake 2 (RT High DLSS/FSR Quality)	24 FPS	37 FPS (+54%)
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (RT High DLSS/FSR Quality)	95 FPS (+8%)	88 FPS
Resident Evil 4 Remake Max	112 FPS (+13%)	99 FPS
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Ultra DLSS/FSR Quality)	79 FPS	82 FPS (+4%)

As you can see, the RTX 4070 performs significantly better in ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2. However, the actual FPS it's playing at is unplayable.

You could dial down the DLSS, but you will lose significant image quality. At that point, you will get a better visual experience without ray tracing enabled.

Starfield at 1440p comparison (Image via @Daniel Owen/YouTube)

In games where the AMD GPU pulls ahead, the image quality is messed up. Though the RTX 4070 produces lower FPS, owing to DLSS, the image quality is much better compared to FSR.

It is better to keep ray tracing off if you are targeting GPUs at this price range. The performance hit doesn't seem worth it. However, if you really want ray tracing enabled regardless of the hit to performance or image quality, the RTX 4070 is your best bet. DLSS upscaling is much better at rendering visuals.

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RX 7900 GRE vs RTX 4070: Final take

Based on the data we have, if you want to play games using GPUs of this price, it is better to do so with ray tracing turned off.

With ray tracing turned off, there is no doubt that the RX 7900 GRE performs better than the RTX 4070. It generates more frames at the highest settings consistently.