At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Excellent 1440p efficiency
• 16GB of reminiscence and a large bus
• Beats RTX 4070 efficiency for $100 much less
• Sapphire’s industrial design is impeccable
• Whisper quiet and icy chilly

Cons

• Relatively excessive energy draw
• Behind Nvidia in ray tracing efficiency
• FSR 3 hasn’t launched but

Our Verdict

AMD’s Radeon RX 7800 XT trounces the GeForce RTX 4070’s gaming efficiency for $100 much less, albeit with increased energy draw and slower ray tracing efficiency.

Price When Reviewed

$499

Ten lengthy months after the launch of the high-end Radeon RX 7900-series, AMD is lastly ending its next-gen graphics card lineup with the launch of the $450 Radeon RX 7700 XT and $500 Radeon RX 7800 XT. And their arrival implies that for the primary time this technology, there are 1440p gaming choices lastly price shopping for.

Nvidia’s choices on this value vary flatly aren’t compelling. The $400 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and $500 16GB model of the identical GPU are higher fitted to 1080p gaming due to their ultra-nerfed reminiscence configurations, which means it’s worthwhile to spend $600 on the RTX 4070 to get compelling 1440p efficiency from Team Green — a steep value for that decision.

Enter the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT. AMD’s new graphics playing cards ship nice 1440p gaming efficiency for a complete lot lower than its Nvidia rivals, although they aren’t as power environment friendly or pretty much as good at ray tracing because the GeForce GPUs. If you’re prepared to bend on these features, AMD’s new graphics playing cards are price a protracted, arduous look — although this a lot cash for 1440p gaming nonetheless feels dear.

We’ve put Sapphire’s customized Nitro+ Radeon RX 7800 XT to the take a look at in opposition to Nvidia’s RTX 4060, together with the corporate’s new all-white “Pure” Radeon RX 7700 XT. Let’s dig in!

Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700XT specs and options

We already lined the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT’s key technical features in our protection of their announcement. Hit that hyperlink for our full evaluation, or peruse the AMD-supplied chart of extra in-depth specs under.

AMD

AMD clearly constructed these new graphics playing cards for 1440p gaming, not like Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti. The Radeon RX 7800 XT wields 16GB of quick GDDR6 reminiscence and a large 256-bit reminiscence bus, whereas the cut-down Radeon RX 7700 XT drops to a still-respectable 12GB of reminiscence and a 192-bit bus. By distinction, the RTX 4060 Ti packs simply 8GB of reminiscence and a 128-bit bus — a setup extra ideally suited for 1080p gaming.

It’s additionally price evaluating AMD’s new graphics playing cards in opposition to their direct predecessors. The Radeon RX 6800 XT launched at $650 with 72 compute items again in 2020. The new Radeon RX 7800 XT is priced a lot decrease — at $500, it’s even lower than the $550 Radeon RX 6800 non-XT launched at — however packs simply 60 CUs, matching the 6800 non-XT’s compute unit rely.

Conversely, the $450 Radeon RX 7700 XT comes with 54 compute items, an enchancment of 14 over its predecessor, the Radeon RX 6700 XT, whereas costing $30 much less at launch.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

The new Radeon 7000 GPUs are constructed utilizing TSMC’s 5-nanometer course of, a leap ahead from the 7nm course of utilized in Radeon 6000 GPUs. The 7700 XT and 7800 XT additionally use a novel design launched this technology, splitting reminiscence controllers and the second-gen Infinity Cache off into discrete “Memory Cache Dies” constructed utilizing the 6nm course of. All Radeon RX 7000 graphics playing cards additionally assist AV1 encoding and DisplayPort 2.1, a extra superior DP model than you’ll discover on competing Nvidia GPUs.

Modern {hardware} is supercharged by superior software program nowadays. In addition to the same old suite of killer Radeon options like FSR, Radeon Super Resolution, and Smart Access Memory, AMD is rolling out two new software program options to bolster this launch. The AMD Adrenalin driver that provides Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT assist additionally folds in Hypr-RX, a long-awaited toggle that may drastically increase gaming efficiency by flipping on a number of different AMD options multi function fell swoop.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

Later this month, AMD’s just-as-long-awaited FSR 3.0 technology will make its debut in Forspokenand Immortals of Aveum. It’s pitched as a DLSS 3 different that may dramatically pace up visuals by inserting interpolated frames between rendered ones — however not like Nvidia’s tech, it doesn’t want devoted AI {hardware} and might run on any fashionable GPU, no matter producer. It stays to be seen how properly FSR 3.0 truly performs but it surely seems to be mighty thrilling on paper.

The Sapphire contact

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

AMD constructed a reference design for the Radeon RX 7800 XT, although not for the 7700 XT. Rather than utilizing that, nonetheless, we’re conducting our preliminary evaluations utilizing a pair of customized Sapphire playing cards: the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7800 XT, in addition to the all-new Sapphire Pure Radeon RX 7700 XT, the primary entry in a recent, all-white Pure collection of Sapphire GPUs.

We bought our first style of this technology’s refined Nitro+ design within the big, badass, and beautiful Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX. I fell in love with the modern metallic design, punctuated by a raised, illuminated full-length RGB gentle bar that’s so vibrant it must be seen to believed.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

Adam Patrick Murray examined these GPUs from PCWorld’s San Francisco workplace. Here are his ideas on the Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7800 XT and Sapphire Pure Radeon RX 7700 XT’s designs:

Both graphics playing cards are the identical size, however the Nitro+ is a thicker ‘true’ 3-slot card, with a full-length built-in bracket that screws into the PCIe slot for further rigidity. Both have 2x 8-pin energy however the Nitro+ additionally has PWM and ARGB headers and a 3-stage BIOS swap. The Nitro+ encompasses a full-length RGB strip and RGB Sapphire emblem on the again plate, whereas the Pure solely has a light-up crimson Sapphire emblem on the aspect with a {hardware} on/off swap in case you wish to disable it.

Both playing cards are well-built, provide distinctive design aesthetics (extra white builds please!), and are constructed with a combination of metallic and plastic. The Pure’s white metallic and white plastic match higher than the metal shroud and the metallic backplate of the Nitro+, however there may be simply extra plastic on the Pure and it’s apparent within the hand. Anti-sag brackets got here with each playing cards, however the Pure was gentle sufficient and the Nitro+ was inflexible sufficient that neither felt completely vital to make use of. It’s good to have, although.

I by no means expertise temps above the low 60s on both card and the followers by no means ramped as much as excessive sufficient speeds to be noticeable. Both really feel a bit overbuilt for the GPUs which can be featured in them, which might restrict their usefulness in smaller instances. Their premium positively feels justified.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

We’ve stated it earlier than and we’ll say it once more: Sapphire makes nice, extremely customized graphics playing cards. Onto the benchmarks!

Our take a look at rig

We’re taking a break from our traditional testing rig and full suite of video games for this overview. My home lately burned down and my GPU take a look at machine, in addition to its backup, have been each destroyed — a reality I couldn’t verify till mere days earlier than this launch. Fortunately, my pal and PCWorld lead video director Adam Patrick Murray had a high-end take a look at system in addition to an RTX 4070 available to assist out.

Here’s the rig he tested on:

• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• ID-Cooling IS-55 w/ Noctua fan
• Asus ROG Strix X670-I Gaming WiFi
• 32GB G.Skill Flare X5
• Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB
• SilverStone Extreme 850R Platinum
• Fractal Design Terra (all panels off throughout benchmarks)

How do the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT carry out?

Adam was solely capable of run half our traditional video games benchmark suite, and solely at 1440p — the decision AMD is focusing on with its new Radeon GPUs. He ran every benchmark at the very least 3 times and averaged the rating for every sport, whereas additionally retaining monitor of most GPU temperature and energy draw information for the runs. Per traditional, all vendor-specific software program options (like AMD’s FSR and Nvidia Reflex) have been disabled in sport, and the very best doable in-game graphics settings have been used for every title.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

Well, that’s a win for AMD.

The $500 Radeon RX 7800 XT manages to solidly beat the $600 GeForce RTX 4070 in each sport, at worst drawing even in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The step-down Sapphire Pure Radeon RX 7700 XT battles admirably, going toe-to-toe with the 4070 as a rule and hitting glorious body charges throughout the board. For graphics playing cards that price $100 to $150 lower than the RTX 4070, that’s a powerful success — and keep in mind that Sapphire’s customized designs ran inaudibly as properly.

It’s not a clear sweep although. The GeForce RTX 4070 pulls forward once you flip on Cyberpunk 2077’s strenuous, attractive real-time ray tracing results and FSR Balanced upscaling, although the 7800 XT solely falls a step behind. AMD’s duo additionally attracts significantly extra energy than Nvidia’s environment friendly 1440p GPU. Both have been anticipated outcomes given what we’ve already seen from the remainder of the fashionable AMD and Nvidia lineups, although it’s stunning how shut the 7800 XT manages to get to the GeForce card in ray-traced Cyberpunk.

Should you purchase the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT?

Definitely, in case you’re on the lookout for a contemporary 1440p graphics card that prices below $500. In that case, these are the one choices round.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

Nvidia’s $400 8GB RTX 4060 Ti and $500 16GB RTX 4060 Ti are finest fitted to 1080p gaming due to their pipsqueak reminiscence configuration, whereas the RTX 4070 begins at $600. As you noticed in our efficiency benchmarks, the Radeon RX 7700 XT meets or beats the 4070’s rasterization efficiency for a whopping $150 much less. We didn’t take a look at the RTX 4060 Ti on Adam’s rig, however the 7700 XT would completely obliterate it, particularly at 1440p. The Radeon RX 7800 XT is even quicker, surpassing the RTX 4070 in all however one sport (Shadow of the Tomb Raider), and by important margins.

That stated, there are legitimate causes to contemplate the RTX 4070 (although not the 4060 Ti). Nvidia’s extra superior ray tracing expertise continues to outpace AMD’s second-gen RT implementation, and the RTX 4070 consumes notably much less energy than each of the brand new Radeon playing cards — a key distinction in areas of the world the place electrical energy costs are skyrocketing. That decrease energy use additionally permits smaller RTX 4070s to exist. Nvidia’s arsenal of superior software program — like Reflex, Broadcast, DLSS, and DLSS 3 — additionally maintain true enchantment for individuals who faucet into these options. FSR 3, AMD’s DLSS 3 rival, is ready to launch this month however DLSS 3 is already supported in dozens of video games.

If you simply need your graphics card to be actually quick in video games, AMD’s Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT are a no brainer. Nothing else compares on this value vary.

That stated, we aren’t utterly enamored with the pricing AMD selected. The Radeon RX 7800 XT must be just some hairs quicker than the last-gen RX 6800 XT, which already goes for about $500 on the road. So whereas AMD hammers the worth proposition of Nvidia’s RTX 40-series, the 7800 XT doesn’t provide a lot of a value to efficiency benefit over what’s already out there. And if the Radeon RX 7700 XT was priced at $400, it will be hands-down the very best worth graphics card of this technology. As-is, at simply $50 lower than its greater brother, the 7700 XT nearly feels prefer it exists to upsell would-be patrons into choosing the 7800 XT, particularly contemplating that the 7700 XT has 4GB much less VRAM and a smaller reminiscence bus (whereas nonetheless being nice for 1440p gaming).

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

As such, if you have already got a Radeon 6000 or GeForce 30-series GPU, AMD’s new choices received’t make for a compelling improve. But in case you’re utilizing a 2-gen-old card or constructing new, the Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT are simply the very best 1440p choices out there. AMD is actually locking down the sub-$500 market this graphics card technology.

When it involves third-party choices, Sapphire’s design excellence continues with the Nitro+ 7800 XT and new all-white Pure 7700 XT. Either could be a wonderful match for any 1440p gaming construct, although their dimension may preclude them from small form-factor builds. They’re stunning, frigid, and whisper silent. Sapphire didn’t present pricing earlier than this overview was completed, however even when the ultra-swanky Nitro+ instructions a $100 premium, placing it in step with fundamental RTX 4070 fashions, its luxurious design and fierce efficiency makes it a worthwhile funding. You received’t discover an RTX 4070 card wherever close to its caliber for $600.