AMD Radeon RX 6800 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti are exceptionally close competitors, separated by a mere 0.5% in average benchmark score (30095 vs 29945). Despite this statistical tie, the data reveals a clear split in workload suitability: the RTX 3070 Ti dominates the majority of tested workloads, winning 9 of 10 head-to-head comparisons, while the RX 6800 secures a decisive victory in one specific API test and offers double the memory capacity. The RTX 3070 Ti is the more consistent performer across modern and legacy DirectX tests, but the RX 6800’s 16 GB frame buffer makes it the forward-looking choice for capacity-sensitive scenarios.

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti as the overall performance winner, though the margin is razor-thin. Its average benchmark score of 29945 trails the RX 6800’s 30095 by only 0.5%, placing both cards at the 75th percentile among all GPUs. In direct head-to-head testing, the RTX 3070 Ti wins 9 of 10 comparisons, with its largest victories coming in Geekbench OpenCL (119718 vs 24508, a 79.5% lead) and 3DMark Steel Nomad (3478 vs 3188, an 8.3% lead). The RX 6800’s sole head-to-head win is in Passmark DirectX 11 (214 vs 192, an 11.5% advantage), which suggests it has specific strengths in that legacy API.

For gamers targeting maximum frame rates in DirectX 12 and Vulkan titles, the RTX 3070 Ti is the safer choice based on its 2.2% win in Passmark DirectX 12 and 17.5% win in Geekbench Vulkan. However, the RX 6800’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory versus the RTX 3070 Ti’s 8 GB of GDDR6X is a significant capacity advantage that no benchmark score can fully capture. Users who prioritize memory headroom for high-resolution textures or compute workloads should favor the RX 6800, while those seeking peak performance across a broad range of tested APIs should select the RTX 3070 Ti.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures and fabrication processes. The RX 6800 uses AMD’s RDNA 2.0 architecture on a 7 nm TSMC process, featuring a massive Navi 21 chip with 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 51.5 million per mm². In contrast, the RTX 3070 Ti employs NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture on an 8 nm Samsung process, with the GA104 chip containing 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, for a density of 44.4 million per mm². The RX 6800’s larger, denser chip gives it more raw silicon, but the RTX 3070 Ti compensates with architectural efficiency.

The compute configurations differ dramatically. The RX 6800 has 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, alongside 60 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 3070 Ti counters with 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, plus 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. Despite having fewer shading units, the RX 6800 achieves a higher pixel rate of 202.1 GPixel/s versus 169.9 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 505.2 GTexel/s versus 339.8 GTexel/s. However, the RTX 3070 Ti leads in raw FP32 compute at 21.75 TFLOPS versus 16.17 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance matches its FP32 at 21.75 TFLOPS (1:1), while the RX 6800 offers FP16 at 32.33 TFLOPS (2:1).

Memory subsystems also diverge. The RX 6800 pairs 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 3070 Ti uses 8 GB of GDDR6X on the same 256-bit bus but achieves 608.3 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3070 Ti’s faster memory type provides 18.8% more bandwidth, but the RX 6800 offers twice the capacity. Clock speeds favor AMD: the RX 6800 has a 1700 MHz base and 2105 MHz boost, versus 1575 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost for the RTX 3070 Ti. Both cards are dual-slot, use PCIe 4.0 x16, and have identical API support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 3070 Ti’s most dominant performance comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 119718 against the RX 6800’s 24508. This 79.5% margin is the largest of any comparison and indicates a massive advantage in general-purpose compute workloads. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test also favors NVIDIA significantly, with the RTX 3070 Ti scoring 3478 versus 3188, an 8.3% lead. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3070 Ti wins by 17.5% (139541 vs 115107), confirming its strength in modern graphics APIs.

The Passmark suite shows narrower but consistent NVIDIA advantages. In Passmark G3D, the RTX 3070 Ti scores 23356 versus 22067, a 5.5% lead. Passmark GPU Compute gives the RTX 3070 Ti a 6.4% edge (11601 vs 10864). The DirectX 9 test is nearly tied at 261 versus 257 (1.5% NVIDIA lead), and DirectX 12 shows a slim 2.2% NVIDIA advantage (91 vs 89). Passmark G2D favors the RTX 3070 Ti by 6.2% (1055 vs 990), and DirectX 10 shows a 17.4% NVIDIA lead (155 vs 128).

The RX 6800’s single head-to-head victory is in Passmark DirectX 11, where it scores 214 against 192, an 11.5% margin. This is notable because it is the only test where AMD’s architecture decisively outperforms Ampere. The RX 6800 also holds the overall average score advantage at 30095 versus 29945, though the 0.5% delta is within noise. Its nearest rival positioning shows it edging out the RTX 3070 Ti by 0.5%, while the RTX 3070 Ti’s data shows it trailing the RX 6800 by the same margin, confirming the statistical parity.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 leads with an average benchmark score of 30095, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti scores 29945. The difference is 0.5%, placing both at the 75th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: How large is the RX 6800’s memory advantage?

A: The RX 6800 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, exactly double the RTX 3070 Ti’s 8 GB of GDDR6X. However, the RTX 3070 Ti has higher bandwidth at 608.3 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card wins in ray tracing performance?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has 48 ray tracing cores, while the RX 6800 has 60. The benchmark data does not isolate ray tracing performance, but the RTX 3070 Ti wins 9 of 10 overall benchmark comparisons.

Q: What is the most significant single benchmark difference?

A: Geekbench OpenCL shows the largest gap, with the RTX 3070 Ti scoring 119718 versus the RX 6800’s 24508, a 79.5% advantage for NVIDIA.

Q: Are the cards similar in power requirements?

A: Both list a suggested PSU of 600 W, but the RTX 3070 Ti has a TDP of 290 W versus the RX 6800’s 250 W. The RTX 3070 Ti uses a single 12-pin connector, while the RX 6800 requires two 8-pin connectors.

Q: Which card performs better in DirectX 11?

A: The RX 6800 wins Passmark DirectX 11 by 11.5%, scoring 214 against the RTX 3070 Ti’s 192. This is the RX 6800’s only head-to-head benchmark victory.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 Ti is the clear winner in compute-heavy and modern API workloads. Its 79.5% lead in Geekbench OpenCL makes it the preferred choice for OpenCL-accelerated applications, and its 17.5% Vulkan advantage (139541 vs 115107) indicates better performance in Vulkan-based games and applications. The 8.3% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (3478 vs 3188) further solidifies its position for DirectX 12 gaming. The RTX 3070 Ti also wins every Passmark test except DirectX 11, including G3D (23356 vs 22067, 5.5% ahead), GPU Compute (11601 vs 10864, 6.4% ahead), and G2D (1055 vs 990, 6.2% ahead). Its 192 tensor cores, absent from the RX 6800, provide additional compute capability for workloads that leverage them.

The RX 6800 wins decisively in DirectX 11, with an 11.5% margin over the RTX 3070 Ti (214 vs 192). This makes it the better choice for older games or applications that rely on DirectX 11 rendering. Its 16 GB memory capacity is the other major advantage, providing double the frame buffer of the RTX 3070 Ti. For users who play modded games, use high-resolution texture packs, or run memory-intensive creative applications, the 16 GB capacity offers headroom that the 8 GB RTX 3070 Ti cannot match. The RX 6800 also has a higher pixel rate (202.1 GPixel/s vs 169.9 GPixel/s) and texture rate (505.2 GTexel/s vs 339.8 GTexel/s), which may benefit certain fill-rate-bound scenarios.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every core specification. The RX 6800 uses a 7 nm TSMC process with 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, while the RTX 3070 Ti uses an 8 nm Samsung process with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. Transistor density favors the RX 6800 at 51.5 million per mm² versus 44.4 million per mm². Clock speeds differ significantly: the RX 6800 has a 1700 MHz base and 2105 MHz boost clock, while the RTX 3070 Ti runs at 1575 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost. The RX 6800 also lists a game clock of 1815 MHz, which the RTX 3070 Ti does not specify.

Memory capacity and type are the most notable differences: 16 GB GDDR6 for AMD versus 8 GB GDDR6X for NVIDIA. Despite the capacity gap, the RTX 3070 Ti has higher memory bandwidth at 608.3 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s. The compute unit counts diverge sharply: the RX 6800 has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 60 ray tracing cores, while the RTX 3070 Ti has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 48 ray tracing cores. The RTX 3070 Ti uniquely includes 192 tensor cores; the RX 6800 has none. The RX 6800 achieves higher pixel and texture rates (202.1 GPixel/s and 505.2 GTexel/s) versus the RTX 3070 Ti (169.9 GPixel/s and 339.8 GTexel/s), but the RTX 3070 Ti leads in FP32 compute at 21.75 TFLOPS versus 16.17 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications also differ. The RTX 3070 Ti has a higher TDP of 290 W versus 250 W for the RX 6800, though both recommend a 600 W PSU. The RTX 3070 Ti uses a single 12-pin power connector, while the RX 6800 requires two 8-pin connectors. Display outputs differ: the RX 6800 offers 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, while the RTX 3070 Ti provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both are dual-slot cards with identical 267 mm length, but the RX 6800 is slightly taller at 120 mm versus 112 mm, and its 40 mm width is specified while the RTX 3070 Ti’s width is not. The RTX 3070 Ti launched with a 599 USD MSRP, while the RX 6800 had a 579 USD launch MSRP.