Nvidia gave AMD’s RX 7800 XT a free win

3 weeks ago

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

AMD’s caller RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT are solid GPUs; let’s not get that twisted. However, they surely aren’t great, pinch nan RX 7700 XT coming successful $50 much costly than it should be, and nan RX 7800 XT occasionally being beaten by last-gen’s RX 6800 XT. Sounds for illustration a disaster.

So, why did I urge nan cards truthful highly successful my RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT review? That mostly comes down to Nvidia, and nan “tierflation” we’ve seen complete this procreation (thanks u/Convextlc97 for nan pointed description). It seems gamers agree, too, pinch nan RX 7800 XT sold retired astir everywhere.

‘Tierflation’ astatine its finest

RX 7900 XTX installed successful a trial bench.

Let’s commencement pinch AMD because this disapproval goes successful some directions. At nan commencement of nan generation, AMD released nan RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT. There was nary RX 6900 XTX, truthful nan other missive is simply a beautiful clear illustration of pushing a GPU up a measurement successful AMD’s lineup. Pure marketing. That wasn’t a problem, but pinch nan caller RX 7800 XT, location is an issue.

The RX 7800 XT isn’t a successor to nan RX 6800 XT, arsenic nan sanction would person you think, and that’s existent crossed some value and specs. The RX 6800 XT launched pinch a database value of $650, while nan RX 7800 XT is releasing astatine $500. In addition, nan RX 6800 XT has 72 RDNA 2 compute units, while nan RX 7800 XT has 60 RDNA 3 compute units. That disparity is why immoderate group are saying nan RX 7800 XT provides fundamentally nary generational improvement, mixed pinch nan truth that retailers are trading disconnected last-gen banal for bargain bin prices.

If you look astatine pricing and specs, nan RX 7800 XT is simply a successor to nan RX 6800, some of which person 60 compute units and were priced likewise astatine launch. The RX 6800 was a small much costly astatine launch, but that was mostly owed to nan rising tide of GPU prices during nan shortage of yesteryear. With nan RX 6800 astir 10% to 15% down nan XT model, yeah, nan RX 7800 XT is providing a generational improvement. Or, astatine nan very least, it’s providing 1 if you comparison database value and specs, not nan sanction AMD chose to slap connected nan box.

AMD has said it’s done pinch caller GPU dies, but thing for illustration an RX 7800 XTX (or, nan existent successor to nan RX 6800 XT) isn’t retired of nan question. The RX 7800 XT is $500, and that leaves a monolithic spread successful pricing up to AMD’s adjacent GPU successful its current-gen lineup, nan RX 7900 XT.

Charge more, sanction less

RTX 4060 Ti sitting adjacent to nan RTX 4070.

Nvidia has done a batch much sliding astir pinch its naming this generation, chiefly conscionable because it has released much GPUs than AMD has. The clearest illustration of that is nan RTX 4070 Ti. This card, if you don’t remember, was primitively announced arsenic nan 12GB RTX 4080 for $900. Understandably, location was an outcry, and Nvidia adjusted nan sanction down to much intimately align pinch nan capacity of nan card.

Similarly, pinch nan RTX 4060 Ti, Nvidia released an 8GB exemplary for $400 and a 16GB exemplary for $500. The capacity of nan 8GB RTX 4060 Ti was truthful mediocre that it was often beaten by last-gen’s RTX 3060 Ti. It’s a akin business arsenic nan RX 7800 XT, wherever nan sanction doesn’t align pinch nan capacity of nan card. In nan lawsuit of Nvidia, though, nan value doesn’t align either.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Both AMD and Nvidia person been messing pinch their naming conventions this generation. AMD has only moved their cards up a measurement successful naming, but astir of Nvidia’s lineup has done nan opposite: move nan sanction down while charging more. Here’s a speedy rundown of really Nvidia’s database prices for RTX 40-series compares to nan erstwhile generation:

RTX 3090 ($1,500) — RTX 4090 ($1,600)
RTX 3080 ($700) — RTX 4080 ($1,200)
RTX 3070 Ti ($600) — RTX 4070 Ti ($800)
RTX 3070 ($500) — RTX 4070 ($600)
RTX 3060 Ti ($400) — RTX 4060 Ti ($400 aliases $500)
RTX 3060 ($330) — RTX 4060 ($300)

Short of nan RTX 4060, each 1 of Nvidia’s current-gen GPUs person gone up successful price. They aren’t insignificant differences, either. The RTX 4080 is almost doubly arsenic costly RTX 3080, and nan RTX 4070 Ti is $200 much than nan RTX 3070 Ti. And remember, pinch nan RTX 4070 Ti, Nvidia primitively planned connected charging $900 for nan GPU.

Either Nvidia isn’t naming its cards correctly, aliases it has obscenely raised its prices (a small spot of both, I suspect). The consequence has been a lukewarm reception to fundamentally each caller Nvidia releases. The institution isn’t releasing bad GPUs — they’re very powerful and feature-rich — but they autumn short of expectations because they aren’t named aliases priced correctly.

A free win

AMD RX 7800 XT graphics paper connected an orangish background.

Now, AMD is hitting Nvidia wherever it hurts. AMD’s naming hasn’t aligned pinch performance, either, but it’s not raising prices. The RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT person a little database value than their last-gen counterparts, moreover erstwhile you comparison nan specs and capacity of nan cards, not conscionable nan names AMD ran with. And that’s bad news for Nvidia’s lineup.

In nan erstwhile generation, AMD’s RX 6800 XT was competing pinch Nvidia’s RTX 3080. Nvidia universally outperformed AMD by a hair, but AMD’s paper was a small cheaper ($650 compared to $700, astatine launch). This has been nan established move betwixt AMD and Nvidia for nan past fewer generations. AMD is simply a small cheaper, but Nvidia is simply a small faster, and pinch much features successful tow.

This generation, Nvidia fundamentally handed AMD a freebie pinch nan RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT. Due to really costly Nvidia’s current-gen GPUs are, AMD’s caller cards are capable to connection amended capacity while costing little than nan title from Nvidia. Of course, nan RX 7700 XT thumps an RTX 4060 Ti — AMD’s paper was apt built to compete pinch nan RTX 4070. The aforesaid is existent of nan RX 7800 XT, which would beryllium clobbered by thing much powerful than nan RTX 4070 it’s priced successful accordance with.

RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT capacity astatine 1440p.

You tin extrapolate pricing to get a consciousness of what AMD was reasoning here. If Nvidia kept nan RTX 4070 astatine $500 for illustration nan erstwhile generation, AMD’s RX 7700 XT astatine $450 would beryllium a small slower, but besides a small cheaper. It’s nan aforesaid move I laid retired pinch nan RX 6800 XT and RTX 3080 from past generation, conscionable leaning heavier successful Nvidia’s favor.

If it weren’t for Nvidia’s precocious pricing, nan RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT would beryllium middling astatine best, and downright bad astatine worst. They connection nan bare minimum successful generational upgrades, and Nvidia still runs distant pinch ray tracing. If you person $500 to walk connected a graphics card, though, it’s conscionable not worthy recommending thing else.

The manus gamers person been dealt this procreation isn’t great, which is why I (and different reviewers) person so often pointed to last-gen options for illustration nan RX 6700 XT for gamers looking to upgrade. The RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT break that trend, and not because they’re awesome GPUs connected their own. It’s conscionable that nan title from Nvidia doesn’t clasp up erstwhile you comparison value and performance. This clip around, astatine least, it’s a free triumph for AMD.