Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti vs AMD RX 7700 XT: Which is the best mid-range GPU?

Modified Jun 18, 2024 03:33 GMT

Picture of AMD RX 7700 XT triple fan graphics card — AMD RX 7700 XT triple fan graphics card (Image via Techtesters/YouTube)

When Nvidia launched the new Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060, they were ridiculed by tech media for having lower performance upgrades and VRAM capacity, and they weren't wrong. The RTX 4060 Ti is only around 10-15% faster in gaming than its predecessor, and in my opinion, that's not worth the upgrade. There are no meaningful upgrades on the hardware side. Nvidia bet it all on the DLSS 3 Frame generation and ray-tracing features of the Nvidia 4060 Ti.

On the contrary, the AMD RX 7700 XT delivered significant performance improvements over its predecessor. In this article, we are comparing the two graphics cards to find which is the best mid-range GPU.

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

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti vs AMD RX 7700 XT

The Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti is based on Nvidia's Ada Lovelace architecture. It's a big architectural shift in terms of the performance-to-efficiency ratio from Nvidia compared to its previous generation architecture.

This Nvidia architecture really brings down the power consumption of the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, which will certainly affect your power bills as well. On the contrary, AMD RX 7700 XT is on the RDNA 3 architecture that focuses on improving the clock speed, performance, and VRAM capacity.

All these led to decent performance improvements in the AMD video card compared to its previous generation. On a side note, I didn't see any improvements to efficiency from AMD in this architecture. Let's check out how the two GPUs compare against each other, starting with their specs.

Specs comparison

AMD RX 7700 XT in white (Image via eTeknix/YouTube)

Here's the specs table of the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and AMD RX 7700 XT GPUs:

Specifications	Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti	AMD RX 7700 XT
Shader cores	4352	3456
RT cores	34	54
TMUs	136	216
ROPs	48	96
Base clocks	2310 MHz	1435 MHz
Boost clocks	2535 MHz	2554 MHz
VRAM size	8 GB	12 GB
VRAM bus width	128-bit	192-bit
VRAM bandwidth	288 GB/s	432 GB/s
Manufacturing process	5nm	5nm, 6nm
Thermal design power (TDP)	160W	245W
Price	$364.99	$379.99

Performance comparison

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Eagle OC 8G Graphics Card (Image via Gigabyte)

It is clear from the specs that they are two very different GPUs, but specs don't always tell the complete story. Let's check out the comparison of the two graphics cards to see how they perform in real-world games. The two video cards were tested at 1440p high/ultra settings since their specs and pricing target that resolution.

Note: All the FPS numbers are from the Benchmark For Gamers channel on YouTube.

Games	Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti	AMD RX 7700 XT
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Library	56 FPS	72 FPS
Starfield	51 FPS	60 FPS
Lies of P	105 FPS	120 FPS
The Last of Us: Part 1	52 FPS	69 FPS
Hitman 3	108 FPS	126 FPS
Rachet and Clank Rift Apart	75 FPS	85 FPS
A Plague Tale Requiem	53 FPS	66 FPS
COD: Modern Warfare III	87 FPS	117 FPS
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor	49 FPS	63 FPS
Assassins's Creed Valhalla	83 FPS	95 FPS

While both GPUs are capable of playing games at 1440p resolution, the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti often fails to deliver consistent 60 FPS in many games, while the AMD RX 7700 XT video card hits 60 FPS in every single game on the list.

In games like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Library and The Last of Us: Part 1, the difference in FPS between the two GPUs is huge. On average, the AMD GPU is 21% faster than the RTX graphics card.

Pricing

PowerColor Hellhound AMD RX 7700 XT 12GB Graphics Card (Image via PowerColor)

The Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti currently costs $364.99, while the AMD RX 7700 XT is available for $379.99. So, the AMD GPU costs $15 (or 4%) more than the Nvidia graphics card.

Which is the best mid-range GPU?

The AMD RX 7700 XT is the best GPU out of the two. It delivers 21% faster performance than the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti on average while costing only 4% more. The AMD graphics card also has 12 GB VRAM, while the Nvidia video card only has 8GB VRAM.

There's also a 16GB version of the Nvidia GPU, but that card costs $439.99, making it significantly more expensive than the 8GB version. The VRAM is more important than you might think, and modern AAA games require more and more VRAM, so the 16GB model is better. However, at $439.99, the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB model costs 15.8% more than the AMD RX 7700 XT, which is not worth it.

The two major advantages the RTX 4060 Ti has against the AMD video card are its ray-tracing performance and DLSS 3 Frame Generation, but whether this is required will depend on the user. Personally, I don't need them that much and would recommend the AMD RX 7700 XT over the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti graphics card any day. It is a better GPU, and the extra VRAM will be beneficial in the long run.

Check out our other GPU comparisons: