Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT: Which is the better gaming GPU?

The battle of mid-range GPUs, Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT, has been making a lot of headlines these days. That's because they are available at two different price points, yet they perform on a level close to each other. One GPU offers better performance, while the other offers better value for money. But which is the better gaming GPU? That would be the Nvidia RTX 4070, but there's more to this.

This article will tell you everything you need to know about the Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT debate and what makes the RTX 4070 better.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.

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Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT: Which is the better gaming GPU?

Both GPUs are designed to run games at 1440P resolution. However, the Radeon 7700 XT is a unique GPU here. It's priced closer to the RTX 4060 Ti than the RTX 4070, even though it is a lot faster than the RTX 4060 Ti. While the pricing of the Radeon GPU is certainly nice, it won't matter much if the Radeon GPU can't compete with the RTX 4070.

But before you jump straight to the performance numbers, let's check out the specs sheet of both GPUs. It will provide a better understanding of what to expect in the performance comparison.

Specs comparison

Sapphire Radeon RX 7700 XT(Image via Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

The Nvidia RTX 4070 brought a generational improvement in terms of performance and efficiency. As it is part of the RTX 4000 series, it has all the benefits, including frame generation. On the other hand, the Radeon 7700 XT brought improvements in terms of core clocks and core boost clocks. This allows the Radeon 7000 series GPUs to achieve higher scores.

Here are the specs sheets of the Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT:

	Nvidia RTX 4070	Radeon RX 7700 XT
Shader cores	5888	3456
RT cores	46	54
TMUs	184	216
ROPs	46	96
Base clock	1920 MHz	1435
Boost clock	2475 MHz	2554
VRAM size	12GB	12GB
VRAM bus width	192-bit	192-bit
VRAM bandwidth	504.2 GB/s	432 GB/s
Manufacturing node	5nm	5nm, 6nm
Thermal design power (TDP)	200W	245W
Price	$539	$399.99

The two specs that you should focus more are the number of shader cores and their thermal design power. The RTX 4070 has significantly higher shader cores while consuming less power. In fact, the RTX consumes 45W less than the Radeon GPU, and it will surely reflect on your power bill.

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Performance comparison

Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD Radeon 7700 XT comparison in Cyberpunk 2077 (Image via Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

Now, let's put the two GPUs to the test with multiple games to better judge how they perform in real games. Here's a look at Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT's rasterization performance in six games. All the FPS numbers are from the Hardware Unboxed team on their YouTube channel.

	RTX 4070	Radeon 7700 XT
A Plague Tale: Requiem	81 FPS	76 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	82 FPS	83 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy	72 FPS	67 FPS
Spider-Man: Remastered	159 FPS	128 FPS
The Last of Us: Part 1	73 FPS	66 FPS
Fortnite	112 FPS	87 FPS

As you can see, the RTX 4070 beats the Radeon 7700 XT in pretty much every game on this list except for Cyberpunk 2077. The Radeon GPU beat its RTX counterpart by just one FPS more in Cyberpunk 2077. The RTX 4070, on average, scored 12% higher FPS than the Radeon GPU. So, it's considerably faster.

Here's a look at the ray tracing performance comparison of Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT. All the FPS numbers are from the Hardware Unboxed team on their YouTube channel.

	RTX 4070	Radeon 7700 XT
Spider-man Remastered Ray-tracing	140 FPS	108 FPS
Fortnite Ray-tracing	57 FPS	51 FPS
Star Wars Jedi: Survivors	65	52 FPS

Ray tracing has always been the Radeon GPU's Achilles heel, and it's no different for the Radeon 7700 XT. The RTX 4070 handily beats it and gets 28% higher FPS on average.

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Pricing

Sapphire Radeon 7700 XT in all white (Image via Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

There's a huge difference between the two GPUs. The RTX 4070 costs $539, while the Radeon 7700 XT costs $399.99. The RTX GPU costs 34% more. When it comes to pricing, the Radeon GPU wins the battle of Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7700 XT.

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Verdict

Which is the better gaming GPU? Nvidia RTX 4070 or AMD RX 7700 XT? Well, the RTX model is the winner here. It is 12% faster in rasterization and 28% faster in ray tracing. So, it is a better gaming GPU, but it also costs 34% more. In terms of value, the Radeon 7700 XT is better. In fact, even the Radeon 7800 XT costs $50 less than the RTX 4070 and provides a better value.

But how does it compare against the RTX 4070? Check out the Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7800 XT comparison to know more.

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Check out our other GPU comparisons:

Intel Arc A750 vs RTX 4060 || Radeon 7900 GRE vs RTX 4070 Super || Nvidia RTX 4080 Super vs RTX 4080