AMD RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT GPUs are here – with a couple of drawbacks

Shortly after they were leaked online, AMD officially revealed its newest gaming graphics cards – the Radeon RX 7700 XT and the Radeon RX 7800 XT at Gamescom 2023. The gap between the 7600 XT and the 7900 XTX is finally being filled.

Built on the same RDNA 3 architecture as the high-end 7900 XTX, these two mid-rangers boast the ability to “deliver fully immersive 1440p (2560×1440 pixel resolution) gameplay at 60 Plus FPS”. Bold claim. The company goes on in the announcement to state that the 7700 XT and 7800XT sport 12GB and 16GB of “high-speed GDDR6 VRAM, respectively”. Because of this, they are said to have “50 percent [more] memory bandwidth than the competition”. Of course, there are a variety of software features to further boost the performances of these GPUs. 

Chief among these is the third generation of AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution. This is a type of upscaling tech providing high-resolution imagery while ensuring games maintain a high frame rate. It’s said to offer a massive overall performance boost. Super Resolution 3, as it’s also known, is limited to a few games like Cyberpunk 2077 and the upcoming Black Myth: Wukong. A full list of supporting titles can be found on AMD’s website.

Other notable software features include the AMD Radiance Display Engine for higher resolution on DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1-based monitors as well as improved encoders for better “streaming quality”.

Bang for your buck

One of the main aspects AMD is focusing on for the new graphics cards is their value as products. The company claims the two models offer “20 percent more performance-per-dollar on average” when compared to their Nvidia rivals. During the Gamescom presentation, AMD showed a graph comparing the RX 7800 XT 16GB model to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 12GB card at maximum settings. From what we can tell, titles like Cyberpunk 2077 perform 23 percent better on the 7800 XT compared to the RTX 4070.

It did the same thing with the 7700 XT by comparing it to its Team Green counterpart, the GeForce RTX 4060 TI. Like before, AMD’s card is said to perform better than Nvidia’s product on most of the listed PC games. 

There are a couple of drawbacks, however. As reported by TheVerge, reference designs indicate the 7800 XT will take “2.5 slots’ worth of width in a desktop” motherboard. The RTX 4070 only takes up two. Also, AMD’s cards have a bit of an appetite. The 7700 XT requires 245W of total board power whereas the 7800 XT needs 263W. Again, looking at their Nvidia rivals, the RTX 4060 TI needs 115W of total board power while the RTX 4070 needs 200W.

We won’t have to wait for very long to get our hands on one of these cards. Launching on September 6, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT will retail for $449 and $499, respectively. Stay tuned for our reviews. By the looks of things, we will have to update our list of the best 1440p graphics cards for 2023. 

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