AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT occupy adjacent positions in the average benchmark score hierarchy, with the RTX 2080 averaging 22,895 points and the RX 7700 XT averaging 22,549 points. That 346-point gap (1.5%) is statistically minor, yet the head-to-head results reveal a much more lopsided story: the AMD card wins 8 of 10 direct comparisons, often by double-digit margins, while the NVIDIA card’s two victories include one massive outlier in Vulkan. The data suggests these are not equivalent performers despite their similar aggregate scores; the RX 7700 XT is the stronger modern workload card, while the RTX 2080 retains a narrow edge in specific legacy and API scenarios.

The Verdict

The RX 7700 XT is the clear pick for anyone prioritizing raw compute, DirectX 12, and general 3D rendering performance. Its wins in PassMark G3D (22,547 vs 18,720, a 17% advantage), PassMark GPU Compute (12,912 vs 7,872, a 39% lead), and 3DMark Steel Nomad (3,316 vs 1,752, a 47.2% margin) show it dominates the RTX 2080 in modern, GPU-bound workloads. The GeForce RTX 2080 should only be chosen by users targeting Vulkan-specific applications, where it scores 107,797 versus 46,443 (a 132.1% advantage), or legacy DirectX 10 titles, where it leads 136 to 119 (14.3%). For all other use cases—especially compute, DirectX 11/12, and 2D tasks—the RX 7700 XT’s benchmark results are superior. The RTX 2080’s slightly higher average score (22,895 vs 22,549) is misleading because it is dragged up by that single Vulkan result; the median experience favors the AMD card.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies separated by five years of process advancement. The RTX 2080 uses the TU104 chip on TSMC’s 12 nm node, packing 13,600 million transistors into a 545 mm² die at a density of 25.0 million transistors per square millimeter. The RX 7700 XT uses the Navi 32 chip on TSMC’s 5 nm node, with 28,100 million transistors in a much smaller 346 mm² die, achieving 81.2 million transistors per square millimeter—more than three times the density. This density advantage translates directly to architectural efficiency. The RX 7700 XT has more shading units (3,456 vs 2,944), more texture mapping units (216 vs 184), and more raster output units (96 vs 64). It also carries 54 ray tracing cores versus the RTX 2080’s 46, and it supports PCIe 4.0 x16 compared to the older card’s PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 2080 does retain one exclusive feature: 368 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks entirely. The RTX 2080’s FP16 throughput is 20.14 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, while the RX 7700 XT’s FP16 is 35.17 TFLOPS at 1:1, indicating the AMD card treats half-precision as a first-class citizen. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is the starkest separation point. The RX 7700 XT scores 3,316 against the RTX 2080’s 1,752, a 47.2% delta that shows the AMD card delivering nearly double the performance in this modern DirectX 12 workload. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a generational leap. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7700 XT scores 138,383 versus 91,313, a 34% advantage, reinforcing the compute-oriented design of RDNA 3.0. PassMark GPU Compute shows a similar story: 12,912 for AMD versus 7,872 for NVIDIA, a 39% gap. The RX 7700 XT also wins PassMark G3D with 22,547 against 18,720, a 17% margin, and PassMark DirectX 11 with 232 versus 158, a 31.9% lead. Even in older APIs, the AMD card leads: DirectX 9 (294 vs 223, 24.1% ahead) and DirectX 12 (79 vs 72, 8.9% ahead). The 2D performance also favors AMD, with PassMark G2D at 1,161 versus 907, a 21.9% advantage.

The RTX 2080’s two wins are concentrated in specific areas. The Vulkan result is extraordinary: 107,797 versus 46,443, a 132.1% margin that is the largest delta in the entire comparison. This suggests NVIDIA’s Turing architecture has exceptionally strong Vulkan driver optimization or hardware scheduling that AMD’s RDNA 3.0 does not match in this test. The other win is PassMark DirectX 10, where the RTX 2080 scores 136 versus 119, a 14.3% edge. This is a legacy API, but the consistency of the NVIDIA advantage there suggests the architecture handles older fixed-function paths better. Notably, the RTX 2080 loses the aggregate benchmark comparison by only 1.5% (22,895 vs 22,549) despite losing most head-to-head tests, which underscores how the Vulkan outlier inflates its average.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 2080 has a base clock of 1515 MHz and boost clock of 1710 MHz, while the RX 7700 XT has a lower base of 1435 MHz but a much higher boost of 2544 MHz, plus a game clock of 2171 MHz. The RTX 2080’s memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus for 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 7700 XT uses 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) on a 192-bit bus for 432.0 GB/s—slightly lower bandwidth despite faster memory. The RTX 2080 has 8 GB of GDDR6, while the RX 7700 XT has 12 GB. Pixel rate favors AMD at 244.2 GPixel/s versus 109.4 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 549.5 GTexel/s versus 314.6 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 35.17 TFLOPS for AMD versus 10.07 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, a 3.5x difference. The RTX 2080 has a 215 W TDP with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin connectors, while the RX 7700 XT has a 245 W TDP with 2x 8-pin connectors; both recommend a 550 W PSU. The RTX 2080 is 267 mm long, 116 mm tall, and 35 mm wide, while the RX 7700 XT is 267 mm long, 135 mm tall, and 50 mm wide—taller and thicker. Display outputs differ: the RTX 2080 has 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, while the RX 7700 XT has 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. The RTX 2080 is end-of-life, released September 2018, with a launch MSRP of 699 USD. The RX 7700 XT is active, released September 2023, with a launch MSRP of 449 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 has an average score of 22,895, while the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT averages 22,549. The RTX 2080 leads by 346 points, a 1.5% margin.

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

A: In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 7700 XT scores 3,316 versus 1,752 for the RTX 2080, a 47.2% advantage. In PassMark DirectX 12, the AMD card leads 79 to 72, an 8.9% margin.

Q: Does the RTX 2080 win any benchmark tests?

A: Yes, it wins two of ten head-to-head tests: Geekbench Vulkan (107,797 vs 46,443, a 132.1% lead) and PassMark DirectX 10 (136 vs 119, a 14.3% lead).

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RX 7700 XT has 81.2 million transistors per mm² on a 346 mm² die, while the RTX 2080 has 25.0 million per mm² on a 545 mm² die. The AMD card has over three times the density.

Q: Which card has more memory and what is the bandwidth?

A: The RX 7700 XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 192-bit bus. The RTX 2080 has 8 GB of GDDR6 with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 256-bit bus.

Q: How do the FP32 compute figures compare?

A: The RX 7700 XT delivers 35.17 TFLOPS FP32, while the RTX 2080 delivers 10.07 TFLOPS. The AMD card is approximately 3.5 times faster in raw FP32 throughput.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7700 XT is the dominant card for modern gaming and compute workloads. Its 47.2% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 indicates that DirectX 12 titles will run significantly better, and the 34% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL plus 39% lead in PassMark GPU Compute make it the obvious choice for GPU-accelerated tasks like rendering, machine learning inference, and general-purpose compute. The 17% margin in PassMark G3D covers broad 3D rendering performance, while the 31.9% lead in DirectX 11 and 24.1% lead in DirectX 9 show that even older games benefit from the newer architecture. The 21.9% advantage in PassMark G2D means 2D desktop compositing and UI responsiveness are also better. For users with 12 GB memory requirements—particularly high-resolution texture packs or large datasets—the RX 7700 XT’s larger frame buffer is a clear benefit. The RTX 2080’s only meaningful wins are in Vulkan, where its 132.1% lead is substantial enough to matter for Vulkan-only applications, and DirectX 10, where the 14.3% edge is relevant for legacy titles using that API. The RTX 2080 also retains tensor cores, which may be relevant for AI workloads that use NVIDIA’s proprietary frameworks, though the benchmark data does not measure this directly. The RTX 2080’s lower TDP (215 W vs 245 W) and older PCIe 3.0 interface make it less demanding on motherboards, but the performance data overwhelmingly favors the RX 7700 XT for any modern workload. The aggregate score parity is a statistical artifact; the per-test results show a clear hierarchy.