AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE represent two distinct generations of GPU design, separated by process technology and architectural philosophy. The data shows the RX 7900 GRE holds a decisive lead in overall average benchmark score, posting 32,456 against the RTX 3070 Ti’s 29,945, a difference of roughly 8.4%. This places the AMD card in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card sits slightly lower at the 75th percentile. However, the RTX 3070 Ti demonstrates a significant advantage in specific API workloads, particularly Vulkan, where its score of 139,541 exceeds the RX 7900 GRE’s 99,850 by a substantial margin.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE leads with an average benchmark score of 32,456, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti’s 29,945. This represents a 7.7% advantage for the AMD card.

Q: In which benchmark does the RTX 3070 Ti achieve its largest win?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti’s biggest victory is in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 139,541 versus the RX 7900 GRE’s 99,850. This is a 39.8% delta in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: How do the two cards compare in DirectX 12 workloads?

A: The RX 7900 GRE wins the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test with a score of 4,814, while the RTX 3070 Ti scores 3,478, a 27.8% difference. In PassMark DirectX 12, the AMD card also wins with a score of 107 against NVIDIA’s 91, a 15% delta.

Q: What is the difference in memory capacity between the two cards?

A: The RX 7900 GRE has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the RTX 3070 Ti has 8 GB of GDDR6X memory. Both use a 256-bit memory bus.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RX 7900 GRE has a transistor density of 109.1M per mm², far exceeding the RTX 3070 Ti’s 44.4M per mm². This is due to the AMD card’s smaller 5 nm process node.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is listed as end-of-life, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is listed as active production.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and process nodes. The RTX 3070 Ti uses the NVIDIA Ampere architecture on a GA104 chip, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. In contrast, the RX 7900 GRE uses AMD’s RDNA 3.0 architecture on the Navi 31 chip, built by TSMC on a 5 nm node. This process advantage is reflected in transistor density: the AMD chip packs 57,700 million transistors into a 529 mm² die, yielding a density of 109.1M per mm², while the NVIDIA chip has 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, for a density of 44.4M per mm².

The compute layouts diverge significantly. The RTX 3070 Ti has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, the latter being absent from the RX 7900 GRE’s specification sheet. The AMD card, by contrast, has fewer shading units at 5,120, but compensates with 320 TMUs and 160 ROPs, along with 80 RT cores. This configuration gives the RX 7900 GRE a much higher pixel rate of 359.2 GPixel/s compared to 169.9 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA card, and a texture rate of 718.4 GTexel/s versus 339.8 GTexel/s.

Clock speeds and power characteristics also differ. The RTX 3070 Ti has a base clock of 1575 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while the RX 7900 GRE runs at a lower 1287 MHz base but boosts much higher to 2245 MHz, with a game clock of 1880 MHz. Despite the higher boost clock, the AMD card has a lower TDP of 260 W versus the NVIDIA card’s 290 W. The memory subsystems also differ: NVIDIA uses 8 GB of GDDR6X at 19 Gbps effective for 608.3 GB/s bandwidth, whereas AMD uses 16 GB of GDDR6 at 18 Gbps effective for 576.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data paints a clear picture of divergent strengths. The RX 7900 GRE wins 8 out of 10 head-to-head tests, establishing itself as the stronger all-round performer. Its wins span modern and legacy APIs alike, including DirectX 12, DirectX 11, DirectX 9, and OpenCL. The AMD card’s 22.7% advantage in PassMark GPU Compute (15,016 vs 11,601) suggests substantial raw compute throughput, consistent with its higher FP32 rating of 45.98 TFLOPS against the RTX 3070 Ti’s 21.75 TFLOPS. Its 13.8% lead in PassMark G3D (27,089 vs 23,356) reflects strong overall rasterization performance.

The RTX 3070 Ti’s wins are narrower but notable. Its 39.8% lead in Geekbench Vulkan is the single largest delta in any test, indicating a particular strength in Vulkan-based workloads. The NVIDIA card also wins PassMark DirectX 10 with a score of 155 versus 139, an 11.5% margin. These two victories suggest the Ampere architecture retains an edge in certain API paths, particularly where its tensor cores or driver optimizations come into play. However, the overall pattern is that the RX 7900 GRE is the more versatile card across a broader range of tests, while the RTX 3070 Ti excels in specific, narrower scenarios.

Specification Differences

The most obvious difference is memory capacity and type. The RX 7900 GRE ships with 16 GB of GDDR6, double the 8 GB of GDDR6X found on the RTX 3070 Ti. Despite the type difference, the NVIDIA card has higher memory bandwidth at 608.3 GB/s versus 576.0 GB/s, due to its faster 19 Gbps effective memory speed. Both cards use a 256-bit bus.

Compute resources differ in configuration. The RTX 3070 Ti has more shading units (6,144 vs 5,120) and includes 192 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks entirely. The RX 7900 GRE counters with more TMUs (320 vs 192), more ROPs (160 vs 96), and more RT cores (80 vs 48). This results in the AMD card having significantly higher pixel and texture rates, as noted earlier.

Power and physical specifications diverge. The RTX 3070 Ti has a TDP of 290 W and uses a single 12-pin power connector, while the RX 7900 GRE has a 260 W TDP and uses two 8-pin connectors. Both require a 600 W suggested PSU. The cards have similar dimensions, with the RTX 3070 Ti measuring 267 mm in length and 112 mm in height, while the RX 7900 GRE is slightly longer at 276 mm but shorter at 110 mm, and has a width of 51 mm. Display outputs differ: NVIDIA offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while AMD offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest single victory for the RX 7900 GRE comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 175,758 against the RTX 3070 Ti’s 119,718, a 31.9% delta. This is closely followed by 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where the AMD card scores 4,814 versus 3,478, a 27.8% advantage. In PassMark GPU Compute, the RX 7900 GRE leads with 15,016 against 11,601, a 22.7% delta, reinforcing its compute-heavy design. The card also wins PassMark DirectX 11 with a score of 300 versus 192, a substantial 36% margin, and PassMark DirectX 9 with 310 versus 261, a 15.8% lead. Its 15% win in PassMark DirectX 12 (107 vs 91) and 13.8% win in PassMark G3D (27,089 vs 23,356) round out its dominance. The smallest AMD win is in PassMark G2D, where it scores 1,180 against 1,055, a 10.6% margin.

The RTX 3070 Ti’s counter-attacks are sharp but isolated. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 139,541 dwarfs the RX 7900 GRE’s 99,850, a 39.8% delta that is the largest of any test in either direction. This suggests NVIDIA’s driver stack or hardware design is particularly well-suited to Vulkan’s explicit API model. The card also wins PassMark DirectX 10 with 155 points versus 139, an 11.5% margin. These two wins demonstrate that while the RX 7900 GRE is generally faster, there are specific API paths where the older Ampere architecture retains a clear edge, making the RTX 3070 Ti a relevant option for workloads that rely heavily on Vulkan or legacy DirectX 10 paths.