Though the Radeon RX 7900 collection (opens in new tab) has already launched, AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 (opens in new tab) continues to be one of many greatest graphics playing cards (opens in new tab) within the retail market. Sasa Marinkovic, senior director of gaming advertising at AMD, desires to make it possible for shoppers do not forget that, sharing a chart (opens in new tab) displaying the Radeon RX 6800’s dominance over the GeForce RTX 3070 (opens in new tab).
Each the Radeon RX 6800 and GeForce RTX 3070 are last-generation merchandise relationship again to late 2020. Again then, it did not make a lot sense to check the 2 playing cards as a result of they belonged to completely different tiers because of their MSRPs. The Radeon RX 6800 hit the market with a $579 MSRP, whereas the GeForce RTX 3070 launched with a $499 MSRP. In fact, neither graphics card retailed at their respective MSRP throughout 2020–2022.
Issues have fortunately settled down for the reason that finish of Ethereum mining (opens in new tab). The least expensive Radeon RX 6800 has dropped to $479 (opens in new tab), whereas the GeForce RTX 3070 now begins at $456 (opens in new tab), making them direct rivals.
Whereas Nvidia has now launched the GeForce RTX 4070 (opens in new tab) to interchange the GeForce RTX 3070, AMD hasn’t launched a successor to the Radeon RX 6800. The GeForce RTX 4070 additionally enters the market at $599, 20% greater than its predecessor’s MSRP whereas providing GeForce RTX 3080 (opens in new tab)-level efficiency at decrease energy necessities. Meaning pitting the GeForce RTX 4070 towards the Radeon RX 6800 kind of misses the purpose, particularly after we count on RTX 4060 Ti (opens in new tab) to reach earlier than the top of the month.
A greater comparability will probably be between the upcoming Radeon RX 7700 (XT) and GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, or between RTX 4070 and no matter equivalently priced GPU AMD desires to ship. However let’s go forward with AMD’s comparisons for now.
Though the chart claims that the Radeon RX 6800 delivers quicker ray tracing (RT) and rasterization efficiency, Marinkovic later clarified that it was an error. The above efficiency figures solely apply to rasterization efficiency. Oops.
In Marinkovic’s comparability throughout 32 video games, the Radeon RX 6800 was, on common, 13.4% quicker than the GeForce RTX 3070. The efficiency delta varies between -2% and +31%. The GeForce RTX 3070 solely outperformed the Radeon RX 6800 in Metro Exodus, Grand Theft Auto V, and Dota 2, although the efficiency distinction was mainly a tie. The tweeted picture additionally highlights how the Radeon RX 6800 affords twice as a lot onboard reminiscence because the GeForce RTX 3070, a promoting level that AMD has been very vocal about (opens in new tab).
AMD examined the 2 graphics playing cards at a local 1440p (2560×1440) decision. Nevertheless, the chipmaker did not make clear which graphics settings it had used for the assessments, which is a crucial piece of knowledge. However, AMD’s claims typically align with our personal outcomes so there would not appear to be any humorous enterprise occurring.
In our check suite throughout 9 video games (information from our up to date GPU benchmarks hierarchy (opens in new tab), utilizing a 13900K), the Radeon RX 6800 delivered 14.3% greater rasterization efficiency than the GeForce RTX 3070 at 1440p with Extremely settings. Nevertheless, the dimensions suggestions within the GeForce RTX 3070’s favor relating to ray tracing efficiency. That is most likely the explanation why AMD omitted that comparability. The GeForce RTX 3070 provided 17.2% and 14.9% greater ray tracing efficiency in our 1080p and 1440p assessments, respectively, throughout six demanding ray tracing video games.
Neither AMD’s numbers nor our personal testing outcomes embrace upscaling applied sciences like DLSS (opens in new tab) and FSR 2 (opens in new tab), which may additional muddy the waters. Maybe extra importantly, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su confirmed every week in the past that AMD’s mainstream Radeon RX 7000-series graphics playing cards (opens in new tab) will launch earlier than July. She did not explicitly state which lineup, so there is not any assure that we’ll se an RX 7800 or 7700 by then, however the Radeon RX 7600 (opens in new tab) is anticipated to reach throughout the subsequent month.
Should you’re principally involved with rasterization efficiency, sure, the Radeon RX 6800 can beat the RTX 3070. The RTX 4070 may also beat the 3070 in rasterization efficiency, by round 30%, which suggests it is also beats the RX 6800 by round 13%. Consider ray tracing and DLSS and the hole would solely develop. However actually, nobody needs to be buying a last-generation graphics card for $480 proper now when potential replacements are proper across the nook.