Radeon RX 7800 XT vs Radeon RX 7900 GRE: Which is the better $500 AMD GPU?

The China-exclusive Radeon RX 7900 GRE was launched globally recently. This started a new battle between two $500 GPUs—the Radeon RX 7800 XT vs Radeon RX 7900 GRE. Recent price cuts have revitalized the conversation around the cards. So which is the better $500 AMD GPU for your PC? The Radeon RX 7900 GRE is the better AMD GPU, but it currently costs a bit over $500.

This article tells you why the Radeon RX 7900 GRE is the better AMD GPU and by how much.

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

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Radeon RX 7800 XT vs Radeon RX 7900 GRE: Which is the better $500 AMD GPU?

Both Radeon GPUs are designed for 1440p gaming but around a $500 budget. Not every gamer is comfortable paying $600 to $800 to get a decent gaming performance, and they no longer need to since both the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 GRE GPUs are perfectly good GPUs for a solid 1440p gaming experience. Let's take a look at their specs.

Specs comparison

Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 GRE (Image via Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

Both GPUs are based on the new RDNA 3 architecture that brought improvements by introducing more compute cores, higher core clocks, better ray tracing, AI accelerators, and more. Here are the specs of the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 GRE:

	Radeon RX 7800 XT	Radeon RX 7900 GRE
Shader cores	3840	5120
RT cores	60	80
TMUs	240	320
ROPs	96	160
Base clock	1295 MHz	1287 MHz
Boost clock	2430 MHz	2245 MHz
VRAM size	16 GB	16 GB
VRAM bus width	256-bit	256-bit
VRAM bandwidth	624 GB/s	576 GB/s
Manufacturing node	5nm + 6nm chiplet	5nm + 6nm chiplet
Thermal Design Power	263W	260W
Price	$479	$539

While the specs of the two GPUs may look similar, there are a few key differences. The Radeon RX 7900 GRE sports more shader cores, RT cores, TMUs, and ROPs than the other GPU but at the cost of reduced clock speeds. However, it is important to note that it can be overclocked.

The higher number of RT cores in the RX 7900 GRE will definitely make a difference in ray tracing games, and it's also better in the long term. It easily wins the specs battle, but real-world performance is a bit more complicated.

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Performance comparison

Alan Wake 2 running natively on the two GPUs (Image via Daniel Owen/YouTube)

With the specs out of the way, it's time to put the two GPUs to the test in games and see how they perform. Here's how the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 GRE perform in rasterized games.

Note: All the FPS numbers are from Daniel Owen's YouTube channel.

	Radeon RX 7800 XT	Radeon RX 7900 GRE
Alan Wake 2	60 FPS	67 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	95 FPS	102 FPS
RoboCop: Rogue City	65 FPS	71 FPS
Starfield	68 FPS	76 FPS
Baldur's Gate 3	110 FPS	115 FPS
COD Modern Warfare 3	234 FPS	243 FPS

All the games were running at 1440p resolution with High/Ultra/Epic settings. Some games have "High" as their highest setting, while others have "Ultra" as their highest setting. All the games ran in their native resolution, and no FSR/XESS upscaling was used.

With that said, both GPUs performed wonderfully and achieved 60+ FPS in all the games, including Alan Wake 2, which is generally very heavy on the GPU. On average, the Radeon RX 7900 GRE ran 6.7% faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT in rasterized gaming performance, but this was just an average percentage difference.

With individual games, the difference between the two GPUs can be as much as 7-10%. Here's how the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 GRE perform in ray tracing games.

Note: All the FPS numbers are from Daniel Owen on his YouTube channel.

	Radeon RX 7800 XT	Radeon RX 7900 GRE
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (RT Enabled at Ultra)	51 FPS	57 FPS
Alan Wake 2 (RT Low with FSR Quality)	49 FPS	53 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT Reflections only)	51 FPS	57 FPS
Resident Evil 4 Remake (RT enabled)	104 FPS	112 FPS
Rachet and Clack (RT High)	65 FPS	69 FPS

Both GPUs can play RT games but not at the highest RT settings in every game. However, the Radeon RX 7900 GRE provides 5.4% higher FPS in ray tracing games on average.

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Pricing

Radeon RX GPU in RGB glory (Image via Hardware Unboxed/YouTube)

The pricing of the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 GRE is more competitive than ever before. The Radeon RX 7800 XT currently costs $479, while the Radeon RX 7900 GRE costs $539, so you will be spending 12% more money for an average 7% more performance. However, the Radeon RX 7900 GRE will be better in the long term, thanks to it having more shader and RT cores.

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Verdict

Both GPUs will provide a stable 1440p gaming experience, but if you're willing to pay an extra $60, the Radeon 7900 GRE offers a better overall experience.

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