AMD Breaks Convention with Release of Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT at Gamescom 2023

AMD announced at Gamescom 2023 that they have completed their RDNA3 portfolio, which includes all the Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards they designed. The final additions to the lineup are the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT. These products faced controversy as they were introduced last, breaking the convention of releasing in order from the top list. As a result, Nvidia had a monopoly on the high-performance graphics card market in the $400 to $500 range. While the Radeon RX 6000 series provided a temporary solution, AMD wasted no time in responding. They increased performance and adjusted prices accordingly, unveiling the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT at Gamescom 2023.

One of the cards, the Radeon RX 7700 XT, belongs to the traditional 700 series line and features the NAVI 32 GPU. It is not a full chip, but a model with specific improvements to its structure, resulting in increased stream processors and computational performance. The Radeon RX 7700 XT also boasts improved textures and pixel processing capabilities that enhance gaming performance. Additionally, it is priced $30 cheaper, capturing the market’s needs effectively. However, compared to the Radeon RX 7800 XT, a full spec model of the NAVI 32, the price difference is only $50, making the 7800 XT a potentially better choice.

AMD positioned the Radeon RX 7700 XT as a competitor to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, offering higher performance at a lower price compared to the RTX 4070. This strategy targeted users who desired better performance than the RTX 4060 Ti but didn’t want to pay the high price of the RTX 4070. To avoid price controversy, AMD introduced a competing 16GB model of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, but the 8GB model remained the flagship in the real market.

Performance tests showed that the Radeon RX 7700 XT easily outperformed the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti on a QHD and WQHD basis, except when using ray tracing. Under ray tracing conditions, the performance gap between the two narrowed, revealing some limitations of RDNA3.

In terms of power consumption, the Radeon RX 7700 XT exceeded its specified TDP, consuming more power than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. However, it produced less heat, making it a favorable aspect.

Considering price, performance, and power consumption, the Radeon RX 7700 XT showed better performance than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, but it consumed more power and had a higher price. This raised concerns about the overall value proposition.

Despite the performance assurance of the Radeon RX 7700 XT, reducing the price seems unlikely due to the higher base cost of RDNA3’s structure and the higher base cost of GPUs in the $400 to $500 range. The chip sizes of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and NAVI 32 further highlight this difference.

AMD, which participated in Gamescom 2023, announced the completion of the RDNA3 portfolio. It means that all the Radeon RX 7000 series they designed have been released. And the products that decorated the end are the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT.

Both of these products are higher than the previously released RX 7600, but there was controversy because they were introduced last. This is because it broke the convention of releasing in order from the top list. As a result, the market of high-performance graphics cards in the range of 400 to 500 dollars was the monopoly of Nvidia, and the 6000 series bought some time, but it was not the only solution.

Still, AMD wasted no time. Nvidia’s hand was already open, so it was able to increase performance or adjust the price accordingly. Taking such time, the last cards prepared by AMD, the Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT, were unveiled at Gamescom 2023, and their official statement was published today, and I would like to introduce one of them from now on.

One of the last cards AMD has ready is the Radeon RX 7700 XT.

■ RDNA3 and chiplet, AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is part of the traditional 700 series line. This means that the GPU code name ends in 2, which is the 700th model. That GPU is NAVI 32.

The NAV 32 applied to the Radeon RX 7700 XT is not a full chip, but a model with a specific generation. The number of stream processors increased by 35% from 2560 to 3456, and the computational performance was more than doubled due to the improved structure of the RDNA3 CPU and the second generation Infinity Cache.

Textures and pixel processing capabilities that directly affect the game have also been greatly improved, making it a product that fully meets the justification for replacing the general generation. In addition, the price is 30 dollars cheaper, so it seems that AMD has captured the needs of the market properly.

However, it is not covered in this article, but compared to the Radeon RX 7800 XT, a full spec model of the NAVI 32, the price difference is only $50, so in some ways the 7800 XT can be said to be a better choice than the Radeon RX 7700 XT.

If the Radeon RX 7700 XT had been priced at $399 like the 8GB model of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, which was identified as a competitor, there would have been no such concerns…

■ Radeon RX 7700 XT, why GeForce RTX 4060 Ti?

AMD has highlighted the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti as a competitor to the Radeon RX 7700 XT.

This composition repeats the same strategy as the Radeon RX 6700 XT, which claimed cost-effectiveness between the RTX 3060 Ti and 3070. The Radeon RX 7700 XT is given as a product with a higher performance than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and it’s cheaper than the RTX 4070.

There are many gamers who want to buy a product with higher performance than the RTX 4060 Ti even if they pay more money, but they don’t want a graphics card as expensive as the RTX 4070, so I believe they have aimed well at that niche.

This is a strategy that is possible because Nvidia opened its hand first and the price difference between GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4070 widened too much.

AMD introduced the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB as a competing model to avoid controversy over the price of the Radeon RX 7700 XT, but in the real market, the 8GB model is the flagship, and gamers have no choice but to use the 8GB model as standard.

■ Radeon RX 7700 XT, real performance?

Before examining the actual performance test results, I will introduce the system and graphics card used in the test.

The test system used in this article was a combination of AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, DDR5 6000 EXPO 32GB memory, ASUS Crosshair X670E Extreme, and the latest version of Windows 11 was used.

It is difficult to call AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT reference data because there is no reference and only the partner’s AIC model is provided.

The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB comparison target is Nvidia’s AB model.

The performance benchmark used 3DMARK and 11 games.

3DMARK represents the game, but it is often different from the real thing, so it is recommended to see it only for reference and to look carefully at the actual game test results.

The results showed that the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT easily beat the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti on a QHD and WQHD basis.

There were cases where the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti recorded better FPS, such as the armored core 6 or the fake demo of P, but the Radeon RX 7700 XT was clear in the current rendering environment, known as kang performance, unless ray tracing uses.

In the state of using ray tracing, there were cases where the FPS difference was greatly reduced and RDNA3’s inevitable limitations were revealed, such as Cyberpunk 2077’s Overdrive mode with path tracing applied, but it was not enough to reverse the trend.

■ Radeon RX 7700 XT, heat and power consumption

A chip structure separated into GCD and MCD is not a very good choice in terms of overall power ratio. The traditional single chip structure integrated into one chip has better power efficiency.

So, looking at the TDP and TGP specs alone, it’s natural that the 245W Radeon RX 7700 XT uses more power than the 160W GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

However, the actual power consumption of the Radeon RX 7700 XT was measured at 298W, which is much higher than the 245W stated in the specifications.

It is not a general use environment called stress test, but even under such conditions, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti did not exceed the TGP of 160W, so I do not think that anything to say it.

Compared to the high power consumption, the heat production was low. Considering the difference in the size of the graphics card or the weight of the cooler, this is a natural result, but it’s fortunate that you don’t have to worry about heat.

■ Considering price, performance, and power consumption?

The chart above is a summary of the results tested so far. The data summarized in the chart is a comparison of the differences per item as a percentage, with favorable results for each product shown in blue and unfavorable results in red.

As mentioned earlier, the performance of the Radeon RX 7700 XT was one step higher than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, and was calculated to be about 15% ahead of the performance benchmark excluding RT.

It was about 3% slower when RT was enabled, but overall, there can be no disagreement that the Radeon RX 7700 XT outperformed the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB.

However, it is difficult to say that the power consumption is 71.5% higher and the price is 12.5% ​​higher, which is a complete victory for the Radeon RX 7700 XT as a negative.

If you have to pay 12.5% ​​more money for 15% higher performance and pay more electricity bills, everyone has no choice but to think about the choice.

DLSS and FSR were excluded from comparison. AMD and Nvidia have provided or will provide their own solutions that realize the same purpose, so the selection criteria due to specific technologies has become meaningless.

■ Radeon RX 7700 XT, it can’t be cheaper?

The performance of the Radeon RX 7700 XT is assured, but the price and power consumption are irrelevant. It would be nice if the price was reduced, but the reality is that the possibility of that is slim.

If the 32-chip NAVI structure was a cost-advantageous structure, it would be a possible choice, but it is not possible with RDNA3, which incurs the cost of producing GCD and MCD separately and packaging them into one GPU. Moreover, like the NAVI 32, GPUs in the $400-$500 range are harder to break in price because the base cost itself is high. This difference can be easily seen by comparing chip sizes alone.

The die size of the AD106 used in the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is 190mm2, while the NAVI 32 of the Radeon RX 7700 XT only has a GCD of 200mm2. If 150mm is added to the MCD and the cost of packing it into one is calculated, it is a known fact that the NAVI 32 is more expensive than the AD106. Even considering the fact that the production process of the two products is different between 4nm and 5nm, there is also a unit price difference.

That’s probably why AMD set the price for the Radeon RX 7700 XT at $449.

In fact, there is no reason for AMD to lower the price of the Radeon RX 7700 XT further. Competition itself is possible, so there is no reason to enter into a bloody competition. If the Radeon RX 7700 XT stays at $449, the Radeon RX 7800 XT also has the advantage of being more cost-effective, so don’t expect the cheaper 7700 XT.

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