AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE overview: $549 competitors for Nvidia | Digital Noch

AMD is launching its Radeon RX 7900 GRE worldwide right now in a bid to compete with Nvidia’s RTX 4070. This new-ish GPU is priced on the identical $549 because the RTX 4070, but it surely gives higher efficiency and 16GB of VRAM as a substitute of simply 12GB.

The RX 700 GRE was beforehand restricted to the Chinese language market, designed primarily with 1440p gaming in thoughts. Now, AMD is opening it up worldwide in a bid to supply some stable competitors to the RTX 4070. The RX 7900 GRE is round 11 % quicker than the RTX 4070 at 1440p, making it one more choice to pair with the newest high-speed 1440p OLED displays at the moment hitting cabinets.

The $549 RX 7900 GRE arrives simply weeks after Nvidia reduce the pricing of the RTX 4070 after it launched the $599 RTX 4070 Tremendous. AMD’s RX 7900 GRE even trades blows in some video games with Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Tremendous, so this card will undoubtedly put value strain on Nvidia’s $549 RTX 4070 and even AMD’s personal $499 RX 7800 XT.

AMD is leaning on its board companion designs for the RX 7900 GRE. I’ve been testing XFX’s mannequin, which is predicated on AMD’s reference design. The cardboard has a triple-fan format that’s extremely lengthy at 13.2 inches. Sure, that’s longer than an RTX 4090, so undoubtedly examine to ensure your case can squeeze it in.

The whole board energy is 260 watts for the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, 60 watts greater than the full board energy of Nvidia’s RTX 4070. AMD recommends a 700-watt energy provide for this card, which is once more greater than the 650-watt suggestion for each the RTX 4070 and 4070 Tremendous.

The RX 7900 GRE comes with three DisplayPort 2.1 outputs and a single HDMI 2.1 port on the rear. Whereas this GPU received’t output the varieties of excessive body charges at 4K that you simply’ll have to reap the benefits of DisplayPort 2.1 at 4K (as much as 480Hz) with HDR enabled, it’s nonetheless good to see that AMD continues to futureproof its Radeon playing cards. Nvidia solely gives DisplayPort 1.4 on its 40-series GPUs.

AMD can also be sticking with the tried-and-true eight-pin connectors right here. You don’t have to fret in regards to the newest 12VHPWR energy connector or clunky adapters, as there are two eight-pin connectors on the RX 7900 GRE.

Among the best {hardware} elements of AMD’s RX 7900 GRE is the 16GB of VRAM. It operates at 18Gbps, slower than the 21Gbps on each the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Tremendous. However AMD has opted for a 256-bit reminiscence bus on the RX 7900 GRE, so the reminiscence bandwidth is 576GB/s as a substitute of the 504GB/s discovered on the RTX 4070 / 4070 Tremendous.

For 1440p testing, I paired the RX 7900 GRE with AMD’s newest Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor and Samsung’s 32-inch G7 monitor. This monitor can assist as much as 240Hz, so it’s best for prime refresh fee 1440p gaming.

I put the RX 7900 GRE head-to-head with the RTX 4070 and a set of different Radeon and GeForce playing cards. I’ve examined a wide range of video games at excessive or extremely settings, and the RX 7900 GRE was capable of attain 100fps or past in most — making this a perfect 1440p GPU.

The RX 7900 GRE is round 11 % quicker than Nvidia’s RTX 4070 at 1440p. It solely loses out in ray-tracing efficiency in Watch Canines: Legion as a result of there isn’t assist for AMD’s FSR upscaling tech on this explicit title. In any other case, the 7900 GRE comfortably beats Nvidia’s RTX 4070.

Even in Metro Exodus Enhanced, working at each extremely and excessive settings, the RX 7900 GRE simply beats out the RTX 4070 and even comes near matching the RTX 4070 Tremendous. Metro Exodus Enhanced is demanding even by fashionable requirements, significantly at these excessive settings.

General, although, the RX 7900 GRE loses to the RTX 4070 Tremendous in most titles, but it surely’s a very shut hole contemplating you’re paying $50 additional for Nvidia’s newest GPU. That additional $50 might be price it if you happen to’re curious about utilizing DLSS or any ray-traced video games, as AMD’s newest FSR 3 tech remains to be solely supported in a handful of video games and DLSS remains to be much better than FSR 2.

I paired the RX 7900 GRE with Acer’s 31.5-inch Nitro XV2 monitor that’s able to refresh charges as much as 144Hz. The RX 7900 GRE isn’t a card I’d advocate for 4K gaming, however with the 16GB of VRAM on board, it could possibly supply some entry-level 4K assist if you happen to’re keen to drop the settings down a notch.

On common, the RX 7900 GRE is 14 % quicker than Nvidia’s RTX 4070 at 4K. That’s a snug hole, and it makes it extra tempting for 4K, particularly if you happen to’ve already bought a 1440p monitor and also you’re pondering of going 4K quickly. Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Tremendous definitely closes the hole on the RX 7900 GRE at 4K, although, successful in most checks.

AMD has FSR 3 to enhance the 4K body charges, through the use of a mixture of temporal upscaling and body technology. Whereas there aren’t sufficient video games that assist this but, AMD has additionally launched Fluid Movement Frames, which brings body technology to all DirectX 11 and 12 video games.

We haven’t had sufficient time to include Fluid Movement Frames (AFMF) testing into our full benchmarks for the RX 7900 GRE, however some early testing in Forza Horizon 5 and Murderer’s Creed Mirage confirmed nice promise for improved body charges at each 1440p and 4K.

The RX 7900 GRE is a good 1440p card for $549. It comfortably beats Nvidia’s RTX 4070 on the identical value and even comes near the $599 RTX 4070 Tremendous. The 16GB of VRAM even offers you room for 4K gaming at decrease settings or simply the convenience of thoughts that you simply’re not going to undergo any points if you happen to crank up the graphics settings, even at 1440p.

We’ve already seen video games like Diablo IV and The Final of Us Half I push previous 12GB of VRAM utilization at 1440p, so there are sure to be extra this yr and past. That makes 16GB of VRAM at this efficiency goal far more important except you’re completely satisfied to drop the graphics settings barely.

The RX 7900 GRE does present that Nvidia’s RTX 4070 and even AMD’s Radeon RX 7800 XT are just a little overpriced. AMD is launching the RX 7900 GRE worldwide in the identical approach it does with lots of its different playing cards, with playing cards obtainable from Acer, ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte, PowerColor, Sapphire, and XFX.

If the $549 pricing holds, then it’s sure to place strain on Nvidia to reply as a result of the mix of Fluid Movement Frames and the RX 7900 GRE’s 1440p efficiency is a really tempting combo for anybody seeking to improve to 1440p.

Pictures by Tom Warren / The Verge