AMD Radeon RX 6700 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti are both end-of-life graphics cards from 2021, but they represent fundamentally different design philosophies. The benchmark data shows a decisive overall victory for the NVIDIA card, which wins all ten head-to-head comparisons, yet the average scores of the two cards are remarkably close. The RTX 3070 Ti posts an average benchmark score of 30,849, while the RX 6700 sits at 31,112, a difference of only 0.9% in favor of the AMD card. This apparent contradiction—one card winning every individual test yet losing the aggregate—stems from the specific workloads tested and the architectural strengths each GPU brings to different types of compute.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 3070 Ti dominates in modern, graphics-heavy workloads. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the NVIDIA card scores 3,478 against the AMD card's 2,014, a massive 42.1% advantage. This is the largest gap in any benchmark and highlights the NVIDIA card's superior raw rasterization throughput in a demanding DirectX 12 scene. The delta is nearly double the next-largest margin, making this the clearest differentiator between the two products.

Compute-oriented benchmarks also favor NVIDIA substantially, though not to the same extreme. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3070 Ti scores 137,518 versus 92,672 for the RX 6700, a 32.6% lead. The Vulkan compute test shows a similar pattern: 130,778 against 96,619, a 26.1% advantage. PassMark GPU Compute tells the same story, with the NVIDIA card at 11,601 and the AMD card at 8,240, a 29% gap. These results indicate that the RTX 3070 Ti's higher shader count and dedicated tensor cores translate into significantly better general-purpose compute performance.

The gap narrows considerably in legacy DirectX tests. In PassMark DirectX 10, the NVIDIA card leads 155 to 115, a 25.8% margin. DirectX 11 shows a smaller delta at 13.5%, with scores of 192 versus 166. DirectX 9 is the closest contest of all: the RTX 3070 Ti scores 261 against the RX 6700's 250, a mere 4.2% difference. This suggests that for older API workloads, the architectural efficiency of RDNA 2.0 partially compensates for the AMD card's lower absolute hardware resources.

The 3DMark result deserves emphasis. A 42.1% deficit in Steel Nomad means the RX 6700 is not merely behind; it is substantially outclassed in the most demanding modern DirectX 12 scenario. Conversely, the 4.2% gap in DirectX 9 shows that the AMD card can nearly match its rival when the workload does not scale with the NVIDIA card's additional execution units. The PassMark G3D score of 23,356 versus 18,931 (an 18.9% delta) and the G2D score of 1,055 versus 936 (an 11.3% delta) round out a picture where NVIDIA wins every category, but the margin varies widely by API and workload type.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 31,112, compared to 30,849 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. This is a 0.9% difference in favor of the AMD card, despite the NVIDIA card winning every individual head-to-head test.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the most demanding DirectX 12 test?

A: In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 3070 Ti scores 3,478 while the RX 6700 scores 2,014. This represents a 42.1% advantage for the NVIDIA card, which is the largest margin across all benchmarks in the comparison.

Q: Are there any tests where the two cards are nearly equal?

A: Yes, the PassMark DirectX 9 test shows the closest result. The RTX 3070 Ti scores 261 and the RX 6700 scores 250, a difference of only 4.2%. This is the only benchmark where the delta is in single digits.

Q: How do the cards compare in compute workloads like OpenCL and Vulkan?

A: The NVIDIA card leads by 32.6% in Geekbench OpenCL (137,518 versus 92,672) and by 26.1% in Geekbench Vulkan (130,778 versus 96,619). PassMark GPU Compute shows a 29% advantage for NVIDIA as well, with scores of 11,601 versus 8,240.

Q: What do the percentile rankings indicate about each card?

A: Both cards have a percentile ranking of 74 against all GPUs. This places them in the same overall performance tier, even though the RTX 3070 Ti wins every head-to-head benchmark. The average scores of 31,112 and 30,849 confirm they sit very close in the overall distribution.

Q: In how many benchmarks does the RX 6700 win?

A: The RX 6700 wins zero benchmarks in the head-to-head comparison. The RTX 3070 Ti wins all ten tests, covering 3DMark, Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, and six PassMark subtests.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on different process nodes and microarchitectures. The AMD RX 6700 uses the Navi 22 chip on TSMC's 7 nm process, featuring RDNA 2.0 architecture. The NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti uses the GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, employing the Ampere architecture. The transistor counts are nearly identical—17,200 million for AMD and 17,400 million for NVIDIA—but the die sizes differ substantially. AMD's chip measures 335 mm², while NVIDIA's is 392 mm². This results in a transistor density of 51.3 million per mm² for AMD versus 44.4 million per mm² for NVIDIA, reflecting the denser 7 nm process.

The compute resources are starkly different. The RX 6700 has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 3070 Ti has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, roughly 2.7 times the shader count and 1.5 times the TMUs and ROPs. The AMD card includes 36 ray tracing cores, while the NVIDIA card has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The tensor cores are a unique feature of the Ampere architecture, enabling dedicated AI acceleration that the RDNA 2.0 card lacks entirely.

Clock speeds tell the opposite story. The RX 6700 has a base clock of 1,941 MHz and a boost clock of 2,450 MHz, with a game clock of 2,174 MHz. The RTX 3070 Ti runs at a base of 1,575 MHz and a boost of 1,770 MHz. Despite the NVIDIA card's higher shader count, its lower clocks mean the raw FP32 throughput is 21.75 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 11.29 TFLOPS for AMD. The FP16 rates also differ: AMD achieves 22.58 TFLOPS via a 2:1 ratio, while NVIDIA matches its FP32 at 21.75 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The pixel rates are close (169.9 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 156.8 GPixel/s for AMD), and texture rates are nearly identical (339.8 GTexel/s versus 352.8 GTexel/s), showing that the AMD card's higher clocks compensate for fewer units in these specific throughput metrics.

Specification Differences

The memory subsystems are fundamentally different. The RX 6700 uses 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3070 Ti uses 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 608.3 GB/s, which is nearly double the bandwidth. The memory clocks are 2,000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for AMD and 1,188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.

Power requirements differ significantly. The RX 6700 has a TDP of 175 W and requires a 450 W power supply, using a single 8-pin connector. The RTX 3070 Ti has a TDP of 290 W and requires a 600 W power supply, using a 12-pin connector. Physical dimensions are similar: both cards are 267 mm long and dual-slot, with heights of 110 mm for AMD and 112 mm for NVIDIA. The AMD card has a width of 40 mm, while the NVIDIA width is not specified. Both use PCIe 4.0 x16 and have identical display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The API support is also identical: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The release dates are close, with the RTX 3070 Ti launching on 2021-05-30 and the RX 6700 on 2021-06-08. The NVIDIA card has a launch MSRP of 599 USD; the AMD card's launch MSRP is not available. Both are end-of-life products, with the AMD card succeeding the Navi architecture and preceding Navi III, while the NVIDIA card succeeds GeForce 20 and precedes GeForce 40.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 Ti wins every benchmark in this comparison, but the degree of dominance varies. The NVIDIA card is the clear choice for modern DirectX 12 gaming and compute-heavy workloads. Its 42.1% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 makes it substantially faster for current-generation game engines. The 32.6% advantage in OpenCL and 29% lead in GPU compute also make it the superior option for general-purpose compute tasks, including those that can leverage its 192 tensor cores. The 26.1% Vulkan advantage reinforces this position across multiple compute APIs.

The RX 6700's case for selection is more nuanced. Despite losing all ten benchmarks, its average score is 0.9% higher than the RTX 3070 Ti, meaning that in some aggregate metrics it can appear competitive. The 4.2% deficit in DirectX 9 shows that for legacy titles, the AMD card is nearly on par. Its lower TDP of 175 W versus 290 W makes it a more power-efficient alternative, and its 10 GB of memory exceeds the NVIDIA card's 8 GB, which could matter in memory-constrained scenarios. The higher clocks and smaller die also suggest a more compact, efficient design.

For users prioritizing raw performance in modern APIs and compute, the RTX 3070 Ti is unequivocally the stronger product. For those focused on older games, power consumption, or memory capacity, the RX 6700 offers a closer contest. The benchmark data shows a card that wins every measured test against one that nearly matches it in aggregate average score—a split that reflects the AMD card's efficiency advantages against the NVIDIA card's raw execution resources.