AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile Comparison

The benchmark data presents a stark contrast between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. These are GPUs from different eras and performance classes, yet the results are not a complete sweep. While the AMD card dominates in most tests, the NVIDIA mobile part secures surprising victories in specific compute workloads, making this a nuanced comparison of raw rasterization power versus specialized compute efficiency.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive win for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX comes in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, a modern, demanding workload. Here, the AMD card scores 6841, which is 65.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile's 2380. This is a massive gap that clearly illustrates the generational and performance-class difference in a DirectX 12 gaming scenario.

The pattern continues across the Passmark suite, where the AMD card is consistently ahead. In Passmark DirectX 11, the RX 7900 XTX scores 356, beating the RTX 3070 Mobile's 138 by 61.2%. The lead shrinks slightly in DirectX 12, with a 51.1% advantage (131 vs. 64), but remains substantial. Even in legacy DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 tests, the AMD card wins by 51.5% (330 vs. 160) and 31.9% (166 vs. 113), respectively. The Passmark G3D score tells a similar story: the RX 7900 XTX's 31238 is 51% higher than the RTX 3070 Mobile's 15309.

The AMD card also wins the compute-focused Passmark GPU Compute test, scoring 17689 against the NVIDIA's 6827, a 61.4% lead. In the 2D graphics test, the RX 7900 XTX takes a 49.4% win (1267 vs. 641).

However, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile has its own victories, and they are notable. In Geekbench OpenCL, the mobile NVIDIA part scores a staggering 92939, which is 84.2% higher than the RX 7900 XTX's 50465. This is a remarkable result that inverts the expected performance hierarchy. Furthermore, in Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3070 Mobile also wins, albeit by a much smaller margin of 1.4%, with a score of 86768 vs. 85612.

These results mean that while the RX 7900 XTX is the clear winner for traditional DirectX gaming and general compute, the RTX 3070 Mobile exhibits a significant edge in the specific OpenCL workload tested by Geekbench. The overall win count is 8 for the AMD card and 2 for the NVIDIA card, but the magnitude of the OpenCL win is so large that it cannot be ignored.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the superior GPU for the vast majority of tasks. It delivers substantially higher frame rates in DirectX 10, 11, and 12 benchmarks, and it is significantly faster in the Passmark G3D and GPU Compute tests. For anyone building a desktop system focused on high-resolution gaming or demanding graphical workloads, the data overwhelmingly favors the AMD card.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, despite being a mobile part with a much lower TDP, shows a surprising strength in Geekbench OpenCL. This suggests that for specific compute tasks that leverage OpenCL, this NVIDIA chip can outperform the much larger and more power-hungry AMD flagship. This is the only scenario in the data where the NVIDIA card is the clear choice.

The data does not support a general recommendation for the RTX 3070 Mobile over the RX 7900 XTX for gaming. Its wins are isolated to two specific benchmark tests. The AMD card's performance in all DirectX gaming tests is decisively higher. The choice is clear: the RX 7900 XTX for gaming and general compute, the RTX 3070 Mobile only if the specific OpenCL workload is the primary concern.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and process nodes. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It contains 17,400 million transistors on a die size of 392 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 44.4M / mm².

In contrast, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX uses the RDNA 3.0 architecture, with the chip codenamed "Plum Bonito" (Navi 31). It is fabricated by TSMC on a more advanced 5 nm process. This chip has 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, achieving a much higher transistor density of 109.1M / mm². This architectural and process advantage is a key reason for the AMD card's higher raw performance and efficiency in most tests.

Feature support also differs. The NVIDIA card is equipped with Tensor Cores (160 of them), while the AMD card's Tensor Cores are listed as null. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD card has a higher number of RT Cores (96 vs. 40), which likely contributes to its performance in modern ray-tracing workloads, though no specific ray-tracing benchmark is in the data.

Specification Differences

The specifications reveal the scale of the performance disparity. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, compared to the NVIDIA card's 5120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The AMD card's texture rate is 959.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate is 479.6 GPixel/s, both vastly higher than the NVIDIA's 249.6 GTexel/s and 124.8 GPixel/s.

Memory is another major divider. The RX 7900 XTX offers 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Clock speeds also favor AMD, with a boost clock of 2498 MHz and a game clock of 2365 MHz, versus the NVIDIA's 1560 MHz boost.

The power and physical characteristics are in different leagues. The AMD card has a TDP of 355 W, requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 750 W. It is a dual-slot card measuring 287 mm in length. The NVIDIA mobile chip has a TDP of 115 W and no power connectors, as it is designed for portable devices. The AMD card was released on 2022-11-02 with a launch MSRP of 999 USD. The NVIDIA card was released earlier on 2021-01-11.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in DirectX 12 gaming benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is significantly faster. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 6841, which is 65.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile's score of 2380.

Q: Does the NVIDIA RTX 3070 Mobile win any benchmark?

A: Yes, it wins two. It beats the AMD card by 84.2% in Geekbench OpenCL (92939 vs. 50465) and by a narrow 1.4% margin in Geekbench Vulkan (86768 vs. 85612).

Q: Which GPU has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile has 8 GB on a 256-bit bus, with 448.0 GB/s.

Q: How do their core counts compare?

A: The AMD card has 6144 shading units and 96 RT cores. The NVIDIA card has 5120 shading units and 40 RT cores. The AMD card also has 384 TMUs and 192 ROPs, compared to NVIDIA's 160 TMUs and 80 ROPs.

Q: What are the process node differences?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is built on TSMC's 5 nm process, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile uses Samsung's 8 nm process. The AMD chip has a transistor density of 109.1M / mm² versus NVIDIA's 44.4M / mm².

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 20534, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an average score of 19410.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the definitive winner across every DirectX gaming benchmark in the data. It secures wins in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Passmark DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12, with leads ranging from 31.9% to 65.2%. It also dominates in the Passmark G3D, G2D, and GPU Compute tests. This makes it the clear choice for a high-end desktop gaming rig, especially at high resolutions where its larger memory pool and bandwidth are advantageous.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile's wins are highly specific. Its 84.2% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is the single largest margin in the entire comparison. This suggests that for software or workloads that are heavily optimized for OpenCL and run on NVIDIA hardware, this mobile chip is exceptionally strong. Its narrow win in Geekbench Vulkan also shows it is competitive in that API. For a laptop user whose primary application is a specific OpenCL compute task, the RTX 3070 Mobile is the better choice. For everything else in this data, the RX 7900 XTX is the winner.