AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Comparison

The Verdict

The data separates these two cards into clear use cases. The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT is the pick for users who prioritize raw compute throughput and legacy API performance, particularly in OpenCL and DirectX 11 workloads. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the stronger all-around choice for modern gaming and general GPU compute, winning 7 of the 10 recorded head-to-head benchmarks. If your workload leans on Vulkan, DirectX 9, or 3DMark Steel Nomad, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the obvious direction. If you need maximum OpenCL compute or play older DirectX 11 titles, the RX 6950 XT holds its ground. The RTX 4070 SUPER also carries a lower launch MSRP of 599 USD compared to 1,099 USD for the RX 6950 XT, though the AMD card still offers a higher overall benchmark average.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design generations. The RX 6950 XT uses the Navi 21 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 51.5M per mm². The RTX 4070 SUPER uses the AD104 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 35,800 million transistors on a smaller 294 mm² die, achieving a much higher density of 121.8M per mm². This density advantage reflects a newer design that packs more compute into less silicon.

Core counts differ significantly. The RX 6950 XT has 5,120 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units. It also carries 80 ray tracing cores. The RTX 4070 SUPER counters with 7,168 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, plus 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores. The NVIDIA card has 2,048 more shading units but fewer TMUs and ROPs. The RX 6950 XT compensates with higher pixel rate (295.7 GPixel/s versus 198.0 GPixel/s) and texture rate (739.2 GTexel/s versus 554.4 GTexel/s). However, the RTX 4070 SUPER leads in FP32 compute at 35.48 TFLOPS versus 23.65 TFLOPS. Notably, the AMD card achieves 47.31 TFLOPS FP16 with a 2:1 ratio, while NVIDIA's FP16 matches its FP32 at 35.48 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio.

Memory configurations also differ substantially. The RX 6950 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 576.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 SUPER has 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s. The AMD card has more memory and more bandwidth, though the newer GDDR6X type on NVIDIA's side runs at 21 Gbps effective versus 18 Gbps effective. Clock speeds favor NVIDIA: base 1980 MHz versus 1860 MHz, boost 2475 MHz versus 2310 MHz. Power requirements differ sharply, with the RX 6950 XT rated at 335 W TDP and the RTX 4070 SUPER at 220 W TDP. The AMD card needs a 700 W suggested PSU and two 8-pin connectors, while NVIDIA asks for 550 W and a single 16-pin connector. Physical size differs too: the RX 6950 XT is a triple-slot card at 50 mm wide, 120 mm high, and 267 mm long, while the RTX 4070 SUPER is dual-slot at 42 mm wide, 112 mm high, and 267 mm long.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4070 SUPER dominates the modern benchmark suite. It wins 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 8.5%, Vulkan by 19.7%, DirectX 10 by 1.8%, DirectX 9 by 11.9%, G2D by 10.2%, G3D by 6.4%, and GPU compute by 17%. These are broad wins across gaming workloads, compute tasks, and 2D rendering. The Vulkan and compute margins are particularly large, suggesting the Ada Lovelace architecture handles modern APIs much more efficiently. The Steel Nomad result (4627 versus 4235) indicates the RTX 4070 SUPER is the stronger card for current DX12 titles.

The RX 6950 XT wins 3 of the 10 head-to-head benchmarks. Its biggest victory comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 205,998 versus 172,795, a 19.2% lead. This is a decisive margin for compute-heavy applications that use OpenCL. It also wins DirectX 11 by 9.9% (300 versus 273) and DirectX 12 by 3.6% (114 versus 110). The DirectX 11 win matters for older game libraries, while the DirectX 12 lead, though small, suggests the AMD card still holds some advantage in legacy DX12 paths. The RX 6950 XT also has a higher average benchmark score overall (58,392 versus 43,223) and a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs (88th versus 83rd).

FAQ

Q: Which card has better overall benchmark performance?

A: The RX 6950 XT has a higher average benchmark score of 58,392 compared to 43,223 for the RTX 4070 SUPER. It also sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, versus 83rd for NVIDIA. However, the RTX 4070 SUPER wins more individual benchmarks, taking 7 of 10 head-to-head tests.

Q: Which card is better for Vulkan gaming?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER wins Geekbench Vulkan decisively, scoring 205,624 versus 165,212 for the RX 6950 XT, a 19.7% lead. This is the largest single benchmark gap between the two cards and points to NVIDIA's advantage in modern Vulkan titles.

Q: How do they compare for compute workloads?

A: It depends on the API. The RX 6950 XT wins Geekbench OpenCL by 19.2% (205,998 versus 172,795), making it the stronger choice for OpenCL compute. However, the RTX 4070 SUPER wins PassMark GPU Compute by 17% (17,108 versus 14,199), indicating NVIDIA's lead in that specific compute benchmark.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RX 6950 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 SUPER has 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card offers more capacity and higher bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The RX 6950 XT has a 335 W TDP with a suggested 700 W PSU and two 8-pin connectors. The RTX 4070 SUPER has a 220 W TDP with a suggested 550 W PSU and one 16-pin connector. The NVIDIA card is considerably more power-efficient.

Q: Which card has better legacy DirectX performance?

A: The RX 6950 XT wins DirectX 11 by 9.9% (300 versus 273) and DirectX 12 by 3.6% (114 versus 110). The RTX 4070 SUPER wins DirectX 9 by 11.9% (344 versus 303) and DirectX 10 by 1.8% (167 versus 164). For DirectX 11 and 12 specifically, the AMD card leads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The biggest win for the RTX 4070 SUPER is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 205,624 against 165,212, a 19.7% advantage. This is the largest delta in the entire comparison and highlights NVIDIA's strength in Vulkan-based applications and games. The second-largest NVIDIA win is in PassMark GPU Compute, where it scores 17,108 versus 14,199, a 17% lead. This suggests the Ada Lovelace architecture handles compute shaders and general GPU tasks more effectively. The RTX 4070 SUPER also wins DirectX 9 by 11.9% (344 versus 303), G2D by 10.2% (1,184 versus 1,063), and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 8.5% (4,627 versus 4,235). Smaller wins come in G3D (29,995 versus 28,070, a 6.4% lead) and DirectX 10 (167 versus 164, a 1.8% margin).

The RX 6950 XT's biggest win is in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 205,998 versus 172,795, a 19.2% lead. This nearly mirrors NVIDIA's Vulkan advantage in magnitude, showing that each card has one dominant API. The AMD card also wins DirectX 11 by 9.9% (300 versus 273) and DirectX 12 by 3.6% (114 versus 110). The DirectX 12 margin is small but consistent with the card's higher pixel and texture rates. Across the full suite, the RX 6950 XT wins 3 benchmarks and the RTX 4070 SUPER wins 7.

The average benchmark scores tell a different story than the head-to-head results. The RX 6950 XT averages 58,392 across all recorded tests, while the RTX 4070 SUPER averages 43,223. The AMD card's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA P102-100 (58,528, -0.2%), AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657, -0.5%), Intel Arc A570M (58,239, +0.3%), and AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM (58,085, +0.5%). The RTX 4070 SUPER's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (43,262, -0.1%), GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (43,268, -0.1%), Quadro M6000 (43,301, -0.2%), and GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (43,667, -1%). This gap in average scores likely reflects the RX 6950 XT's strong OpenCL result, which boosts its overall average despite losing most head-to-head tests.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The RX 6950 XT uses a 7 nm process with a 520 mm² die, while the RTX 4070 SUPER uses a 5 nm process with a 294 mm² die. Transistor counts differ: 26,800 million versus 35,800 million. Density is dramatically different: 51.5M per mm² versus 121.8M per mm².

Memory: the RX 6950 XT has 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 SUPER has 12 GB GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. Memory clocks: 18 Gbps effective versus 21 Gbps effective.

Compute units: the RX 6950 XT has 5,120 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The RTX 4070 SUPER has 7,168 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. Ray tracing cores: 80 versus 56. Tensor cores: none on AMD, 224 on NVIDIA.

Clock speeds: base 1860 MHz versus 1980 MHz, boost 2310 MHz versus 2475 MHz. The AMD card has a game clock of 2100 MHz; NVIDIA does not report one. Pixel rate: 295.7 GPixel/s versus 198.0 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 739.2 GTexel/s versus 554.4 GTexel/s. FP32: 23.65 TFLOPS versus 35.48 TFLOPS. FP16: 47.31 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 35.48 TFLOPS (1:1).

Power and cooling: TDP 335 W versus 220 W. The RX 6950 XT is triple-slot with two 8-pin connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU. The RTX 4070 SUPER is dual-slot with one 16-pin connector and a 550 W suggested PSU. Dimensions: the AMD card is 267 mm long, 120 mm high, and 50 mm wide. The NVIDIA card is 267 mm long, 112 mm high, and 42 mm wide.

Display outputs are nearly identical: both have 1x HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4a, but NVIDIA offers 3 DisplayPort connections versus AMD's 2. Both support PCIe 4.0 x16, DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Release dates differ: the RX 6950 XT launched on 2022-05-09, the RTX 4070 SUPER on 2024-01-16. Both are end-of-life products. Launch MSRP: 1,099 USD for AMD, 599 USD for NVIDIA.