AMD Radeon RX 6700 vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE and AMD Radeon RX 6700 represent two distinct generations of AMD’s Radeon lineup, with the former built on the newer RDNA 3.0 architecture and the latter on RDNA 2.0. Benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap: the RX 7900 GRE wins all ten head-to-head tests, with an average benchmark score of 32,456 versus 30,433 for the RX 6700. This places the RX 7900 GRE in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6700 sits at the 75th percentile, a narrow overall ranking difference that belies the substantial per-test deltas. The RX 7900 GRE’s nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro S10000 (0.2% ahead) and AMD Radeon Pro 570X (0.9% behind), while the RX 6700 competes closely with the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (-0.1%) and AMD Radeon RX 6800 (1.1% ahead).

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is the clear performance choice. It delivers a 139% higher score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (4,814 vs. 2,014), a 79.6% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL (175,758 vs. 97,841), and an 82.2% lead in Passmark GPU Compute (15,016 vs. 8,240). In every one of the ten head-to-head tests, the RX 7900 GRE wins outright, with deltas ranging from 18.9% in Geekbench Vulkan to 139% in 3DMark Steel Nomad. For users prioritizing raw compute throughput, ray tracing performance, or modern DX12 workloads, the RX 7900 GRE is the only logical pick from this dataset.

The RX 6700, however, is not without merit in specific contexts. Its average benchmark score of 30,433 places it just 6.2% behind the RX 7900 GRE’s 32,456, and its percentile rank (75th vs. 77th) shows it remains a competent performer relative to the broader GPU market. The RX 6700’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (1.6% behind) and NVIDIA Tesla M60 (-0.2%), indicating it holds its own against comparable products. For users constrained by power delivery or physical space, the RX 6700’s dual-slot design with a single 8-pin connector and 175 W TDP offers a lighter footprint than the RX 7900 GRE’s dual-slot, dual 8-pin, 260 W configuration. Yet, the data shows no workload where the RX 6700 outperforms the RX 7900 GRE, making the latter the definitive pick for pure performance.

Architecture Differences

The RX 7900 GRE is built on TSMC’s 5 nm process with a 529 mm² die containing 57,700 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 109.1M per mm². In contrast, the RX 6700 uses TSMC’s 7 nm process, with a 335 mm² die and 17,200 million transistors, resulting in a density of 51.3M per mm². This process advantage gives the RX 7900 GRE a 3.35x transistor count and a 57.9% larger die area, enabling significantly more compute resources.

The RX 7900 GRE features 5,120 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, 160 ROPs, and 80 ray tracing cores, while the RX 6700 has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 36 RT cores. These counts translate to a 2.22x increase in shading units and a 2.22x increase in RT cores. The RX 7900 GRE’s FP32 throughput is 45.98 TFLOPS versus 11.29 TFLOPS for the RX 6700, a 4.07x difference, and its FP16 output is 91.96 TFLOPS (2:1) compared to 22.58 TFLOPS (2:1). Memory architecture also diverges sharply: the RX 7900 GRE has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 6700 has 10 GB on a 160-bit bus at 320.0 GB/s. Clock speeds tell a different story—the RX 6700’s base clock of 1941 MHz and boost of 2450 MHz exceed the RX 7900 GRE’s 1287 MHz base and 2245 MHz boost—but the RX 7900 GRE compensates with far wider execution resources.

The RX 7900 GRE’s memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the RX 6700. Both support PCIe 4.0 x16, DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the RX 7900 GRE offers newer display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C, while the RX 6700 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RX 7900 GRE is still in active production, whereas the RX 6700 is end-of-life.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RX 7900 GRE delivers 45.98 TFLOPS FP32 and 91.96 TFLOPS FP16, versus 11.29 TFLOPS FP32 and 22.58 TFLOPS FP16 for the RX 6700. This is a 4.07x advantage in FP32 and a 4.07x advantage in FP16.

Q: How does memory capacity affect real-world workloads?

A: The RX 7900 GRE’s 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus provides 576.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 6700’s 10 GB on a 160-bit bus offers 320.0 GB/s. The 80% bandwidth increase and 60% capacity increase benefit high-resolution textures and compute tasks.

Q: What is the performance gap in DirectX 12 workloads?

A: In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 7900 GRE scores 4,814 versus 2,014 for the RX 6700, a 139% delta. Passmark DirectX 12 shows a 50.7% advantage (107 vs. 71).

Q: Which card is more power-efficient per unit of performance?

A: The RX 6700 has a 175 W TDP with 11.29 TFLOPS FP32, yielding roughly 64.5 GFLOPS per watt. The RX 7900 GRE’s 260 W TDP with 45.98 TFLOPS yields about 176.8 GFLOPS per watt, making it far more efficient despite higher absolute power draw.

Q: Are there any tests where the RX 6700 comes close?

A: The smallest delta is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RX 7900 GRE leads by 18.9% (99,850 vs. 83,974). In Passmark DirectX 9, the gap narrows to 24% (310 vs. 250), and in Passmark G2D it is 26.1% (1,180 vs. 936).

Q: What does the production status indicate?

A: The RX 7900 GRE is marked as Active, while the RX 6700 is End-of-life. This suggests ongoing availability for the former, but the data does not address future supply.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every core specification. The RX 7900 GRE uses a 5 nm process (TSMC) versus 7 nm for the RX 6700. Transistor count is 57,700 million versus 17,200 million, and die size is 529 mm² versus 335 mm². The RX 7900 GRE has 5,120 shading units, 320 TMUs, 160 ROPs, and 80 RT cores; the RX 6700 has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 36 RT cores. Clock speeds: base 1287 MHz vs. 1941 MHz, boost 2245 MHz vs. 2450 MHz, game 1880 MHz vs. 2174 MHz, memory 2250 MHz (18 Gbps) vs. 2000 MHz (16 Gbps). Memory: 16 GB vs. 10 GB GDDR6, 256-bit vs. 160-bit bus, 576.0 GB/s vs. 320.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Pixel rate is 359.2 GPixel/s for the RX 7900 GRE versus 156.8 GPixel/s for the RX 6700; texture rate is 718.4 GTexel/s versus 352.8 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 are 45.98/91.96 TFLOPS versus 11.29/22.58 TFLOPS. TDP is 260 W versus 175 W, with power connectors of 2x 8-pin versus 1x 8-pin, and suggested PSU of 600 W versus 450 W. Dimensions: 276 mm x 110 mm x 51 mm versus 267 mm x 110 mm x 40 mm. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DP 2.1, 1x USB-C versus 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DP 1.4a. Release dates are July 26, 2023 versus June 8, 2021. The RX 7900 GRE has a launch MSRP of 549 USD; the RX 6700 has no listed MSRP.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RX 7900 GRE dominates every benchmark in the dataset. The largest win is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 4,814 against 2,014, a 139% delta—the most extreme margin recorded. This test highlights the architectural advantage of RDNA 3.0’s wider execution resources. In Passmark GPU Compute, the RX 7900 GRE scores 15,016 versus 8,240, an 82.2% lead, indicating strong compute throughput for non-graphics workloads. Geekbench OpenCL shows a 79.6% advantage (175,758 vs. 97,841), reinforcing the compute gap.

Passmark DirectX 11 yields a 80.7% delta (300 vs. 166), while Passmark DirectX 12 shows a 50.7% difference (107 vs. 71). The RX 7900 GRE’s Passmark G3D score of 27,089 is 43.1% higher than the RX 6700’s 18,931, a substantial margin for gaming performance. In older API tests, the gap narrows but remains decisive: Passmark DirectX 10 shows a 20.9% lead (139 vs. 115), and Passmark DirectX 9 shows 24% (310 vs. 250). Even the 2D-focused Passmark G2D test favors the RX 7900 GRE by 26.1% (1,180 vs. 936).

The smallest delta is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RX 7900 GRE leads by 18.9% (99,850 vs. 83,974). This is notable because Vulkan overhead is generally low, yet the RX 7900 GRE still maintains a clear edge. Across all ten tests, the RX 7900 GRE’s win count is 10, and the RX 6700’s is 0, with zero draws. The average benchmark score of 32,456 for the RX 7900 GRE versus 30,433 for the RX 6700 reflects a 6.6% overall advantage, but the per-test deltas show that the RX 7900 GRE’s superiority is not uniform—it ranges from 18.9% to 139%, with compute-heavy and modern DX12 workloads seeing the largest gains. These results position the RX 7900 GRE as a generational leap, not merely a refresh, over the RX 6700.