AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmarks split decisively in favor of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which claims 9 of the 10 head-to-head tests. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 secures only a single victory, but it is a significant one in a workload that flips the expected hierarchy.

The AMD card dominates across the PassMark API-specific suites. In DirectX 11, it scores 356 against 182, a 95.6% advantage. DirectX 12 shows a 54.1% lead (131 vs 85), while DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 produce leads of 10.7% (166 vs 150) and 33.6% (330 vs 247), respectively. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test reinforces this pattern, with AMD scoring 6841 to NVIDIA's 3162, a 116.4% gap. Vulkan performance is the most lopsided of all: 85612 vs 21022, a 307.2% margin that dwarfs every other comparison in the dataset.

The RTX 3070's lone win comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it posts 112821 against AMD's 50465, a 55.3% reverse. This is noteworthy because it runs counter to every other compute-oriented metric. In PassMark GPU Compute, AMD wins by 58% (17689 vs 11195), suggesting the OpenCL result is workload-specific rather than a general compute advantage.

For synthetic gaming workloads, the RX 7900 XTX is the clear pick. The PassMark G3D score of 31238 vs 22214 (40.6% ahead) and the 3DMark result both point to substantially higher rasterization throughput. The 2D test also favors AMD, 1267 vs 1001, a 26.6% margin.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the most benchmark categories?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins 9 of 10 head-to-head tests. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 wins exactly one, Geekbench OpenCL.

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

A: In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 7900 XTX scores 6841 versus 3162 for the RTX 3070, a 116.4% difference. In PassMark DirectX 12, the lead is 54.1% (131 vs 85).

Q: Is the RTX 3070 competitive in any compute workload?

A: Yes, in Geekbench OpenCL the RTX 3070 leads by 55.3% with 112821 against 50465. However, in PassMark GPU Compute the RX 7900 XTX leads by 58% (17689 vs 11195), so the OpenCL result does not generalize across compute tests.

Q: What does the Vulkan benchmark show?

A: The RX 7900 XTX scores 85612 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 307.2% higher than the RTX 3070's 21022. This is the largest single margin in the entire comparison.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 19410, while the RTX 3070 averages 17208. The AMD card sits at the 64th percentile among all GPUs, the NVIDIA card at the 61st.

Q: Are these cards close in overall performance?

A: The average scores differ by roughly 12.8% in favor of AMD, but the distribution is uneven. The RTX 3070's nearest rivals include the Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.7% delta) and GTX 690 (1% delta), while the RX 7900 XTX sits near the TITAN Xp (1.2% delta) and GTX 1060 3 GB (0.4% delta), placing it in a different performance tier.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single most striking result is the Geekbench Vulkan test. The RX 7900 XTX delivers 85612 points, more than quadruple the RTX 3070's 21022. A 307.2% delta is not a marginal improvement; it indicates a fundamental difference in how the two architectures handle Vulkan workloads. This is the kind of result that suggests the AMD card is not merely faster, but operating in a different class for that API.

3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 provides the second-largest gap. AMD's 6841 crushes NVIDIA's 3162, a 116.4% lead. This is a modern DirectX 12 test, and the margin closely mirrors the PassMark DirectX 11 result, where AMD leads 356 to 182 (95.6%). The consistency across DirectX versions suggests the RX 7900 XTX's rasterization throughput advantage is broad rather than test-specific.

PassMark G3D, which aggregates many DirectX scenarios, shows AMD ahead by 40.6% (31238 vs 22214). That is a substantial overall gaming performance lead in the database's measurements. The GPU Compute test adds another data point in AMD's favor, with a 58% margin (17689 vs 11195).

The RTX 3070's Geekbench OpenCL victory is the outlier. NVIDIA scores 112821, which is 123.6% higher than AMD's 50465 in that specific test. This is worth investigating because it contradicts the PassMark GPU Compute result where AMD leads. The delta in OpenCL is a 55.3% swing toward NVIDIA, yet the same card trails by 58% in a different compute benchmark. This split likely reflects driver or compiler differences in how OpenCL kernels are scheduled, rather than a raw hardware advantage.

Smaller margins still favor AMD consistently. DirectX 10: 166 vs 150 (10.7%). DirectX 9: 330 vs 247 (33.6%). DirectX 12 (PassMark): 131 vs 85 (54.1%). G2D: 1267 vs 1001 (26.6%). Even in the oldest API tests, the AMD card maintains a clear lead.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge sharply on memory configuration. The RX 7900 XTX carries 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. That is a 512 GB/s difference in favor of AMD, a 114.3% increase, which directly supports the higher resolution and texture-heavy workloads where the AMD card excels.

Compute unit counts follow the same pattern. The RX 7900 XTX has 6144 shading units, 384 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs. The RTX 3070 has 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The AMD card doubles the TMU and ROP counts, which explains its 959.2 GTexel/s texture rate versus 317.4 GTexel/s for NVIDIA, and its 479.6 GPixel/s pixel rate versus 165.6 GPixel/s.

Ray tracing hardware differs in count: AMD lists 96 RT cores, NVIDIA lists 46. NVIDIA also has 184 tensor cores, a feature AMD does not list, which means the RTX 3070 retains an architectural capability for AI-accelerated workloads that the RX 7900 XTX lacks in the recorded data.

Clock speeds favor AMD. The RX 7900 XTX has a base clock of 1929 MHz and a boost of 2498 MHz. The RTX 3070 runs at 1500 MHz base and 1725 MHz boost. Memory clocks also differ: AMD's memory runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective), NVIDIA's at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Power delivery is another split. The RX 7900 XTX has a thermal design power of 355 W and uses two 8-pin connectors with a suggested 750 W power supply. The RTX 3070 has a 220 W TDP, a single 12-pin connector, and a suggested 550 W power supply. Physical dimensions differ as well: the AMD card measures 287 mm long, the NVIDIA card 242 mm.

Architecture Differences

The RX 7900 XTX is built on the Navi 31 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die. The RTX 3070 uses NVIDIA's GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. The transistor density tells the story: AMD packs 109.1M transistors per mm², NVIDIA manages 44.4M per mm². This is a 2.45x density advantage for AMD, which explains how the larger chip fits more than three times the transistor count.

The architectural lineage also differs. AMD's RDNA 3.0 architecture, codenamed Plum Bonito, represents the Navi III generation, succeeding Navi II and preceding Navi IV. NVIDIA's Ampere architecture belongs to the GeForce 30 generation, succeeding GeForce 20 and preceding GeForce 40. The AMD card was released later in the database's timeline, which aligns with its more advanced process node.

FP32 compute figures reflect the architecture gap. The RX 7900 XTX delivers 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 and 122.8 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1 ratio). The RTX 3070 delivers 20.31 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio). AMD's FP32 output is 3.02 times higher, and its FP16 is 6.05 times higher, though NVIDIA's 1:1 ratio means it does not lose throughput when switching to half precision.

Display outputs also differ. The RX 7900 XTX offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. The RTX 3070 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API coverage is identical.

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to a clear performance hierarchy. The RX 7900 XTX wins 9 of 10 tests, with margins ranging from 10.7% in DirectX 10 to 307.2% in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 19410 places it at the 64th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3070's 17208 sits at the 61st. The AMD card is not merely ahead; it is ahead by margins that suggest a generational leap in rasterization and compute throughput.

The RTX 3070 finds its niche in Geekbench OpenCL, where it leads by 55.3%. For users whose workloads are specifically optimized for that test, the NVIDIA card has a measurable advantage. Its 184 tensor cores also provide an architectural feature the AMD card does not list, which may matter for AI-accelerated applications even though no tensor-specific benchmark appears in the database.

For gaming and general GPU compute, the RX 7900 XTX is the superior choice. Its 24 GB memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth provide headroom that the RTX 3070's 8 GB and 448.0 GB/s cannot match. The doubled TMU and ROP counts, combined with a 3.02x FP32 throughput advantage, translate directly into the PassMark G3D and 3DMark wins.

The RTX 3070's lower 220 W TDP and single 12-pin connector make it the more power-efficient option in the recorded specs, and its 242 mm length fits where the 287 mm AMD card might not. But for raw performance across the benchmark suite, the RX 7900 XTX is the clear winner, with only the OpenCL anomaly standing in NVIDIA's favor. Buyers prioritizing Vulkan, DirectX 12, or general compute should choose AMD; those with specific OpenCL dependencies should consider NVIDIA.