NVIDIA new RTX 4080 Super GPU It's finally here. In our RTX 4080 Super Review, we learned that its performance is not really “great.” It performed similarly to the discontinued (non-Super) RTX 4080. But the “super” thing about the RTX 4080 Super, aside from its brand, is its starting retail price of $999, a $200 price reduction from the base 4080. With a starting price of $999, this puts the RTX 4080 Super at the same starting price as AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. So, in this article, let's compare the RTX 4080 Super with the RX 7900 XTX and find out which GPU offers the best value.
GeForce RTX 4080 Super vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX
The super RTX 4080 GPU
The GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER uses an AD104 GPU, like the non-Super, with a slightly higher CUDA core count of 10,240 cores. Provides 52 FP32 Shader-TFLOPS of power for rendering traditional raster graphics. It also has 320 4th-generation Tensor cores delivering 836 AI TOPS with sparsity for AI and DLSS processing, 80 3rd-generation Ada RT cores capable of 121 RT-TFLOPS to power next-generation ray-traced graphics. Like most of its improvements, the 4080 Super also got a small increase in its clock speed.
It still has 16GB of GDDR6X for its VRAM, but clock speed, texture speed, data speed, and memory bandwidth also saw a small increase. The increase is so small that it seems like the RTX 4080 Super is just an overclocked RTX 4080.
The RX 7900 XTX GPU
On the other hand, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is based on AMD's RDNA 3 architecture and uses a chiplet design. AMD uses a fabulous 5nm process for the Graphics Compute Die and a 6nm process for the Memory Cache Die. It has a Navi 31 GPU with 6,144 Stream processors and 24 GB of GDDR6 memory. We can't directly compare GPU specs one-to-one, but they are comparable in some areas.
AMD's RX 7900 XTX GPU features second-generation ray tracing technology, a dual media engine that can decode and encode 8K60 for HEVC, and supports AV1 encoding. Meanwhile, NVIDIA is already using 3rd generation RT cores for ray tracing, NVIDIA 8th generation encoder (NVENC) with dual AV1 video encoders, features AI DLSS 3 frame-raising technology, and more.
NVIDIA has DLSS 3 AI Frame Generation and DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, in addition to DLSS upscaling technology. On the contrary, AMD has FSR enhancement technology and the newly released AMD Fluid Frame Movements (AFMF), a driver-level frame generation technology. It's still very new and NVIDIA is still leading the way when it comes to these graphics enhancement technologies.
Below are the specifications of the RTX 4080 Super and RX 7900 XTX GPUs. After that, let's go straight to the benchmark results.
RTX 4080 Super and RX 7900 XTX Specs Comparison
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GeForce RTX 4080 Super vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX Benchmarks
RTX 4080 Super vs RX 7900 XTX – Synthetic Benchmarks
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX outperformed the RTX 4080 Super in the Fire Strike test suite. However, its lead diminished during Time Spy's benchmark tests. And finally, the RTX 4080 Super was faster than the RX 7900 XTX in the Port Royal and Speed Way benchmarks. This is to be expected since the Port Royal and Speed Way benchmarks involve ray tracing, and AMD GPUs are still weak when it comes to ray tracing.
Next, let's see how the two GPUs compare in real games.
RTX 4080 Super vs RX 7900 XTX – Gaming Benchmarks
I only tested the RTX 4080 Super and RX 7900 XTX at 1400p and 4K 2160p resolutions. These graphics cards will perform better at higher resolutions. Most games are compared using traditional rasterization. But there are some games where I enabled ray tracing with enhancement technology set to quality. Below are the results I got:
In gaming titles running via traditional rasterization, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is on par with the RTX 4080 Super or performs slightly better than the latter. Call of Duty loves AMD GPUs and as seen in the results above, the RX 7900 XTX is substantially faster than the RTX 4080 Super in this game.
However, the RX 7900 XTX is noticeably slower when it comes to ray tracing than the RTX 4080 Super. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 Next Gen, the RTX 4080 Super ran faster than the RX 7900 XTX.
Reference Summary
Combining these results shows us that the RX 7900 XTX and RTX 4080 Super performed similarly. Note that I didn't include results from Witcher 3 running with ray tracing enabled. Instead, I used the results of rasterization. However, I included Cyberpunk 2077's output with ray tracing to balance out AMD's lead in Call of Duty Modern Warfare II.
Depending on the games tested, one GPU may run slightly faster than the other. But generally speaking, they both have a 1% to 3% difference, with the RX 7900 XTX being generally a bit faster in pure rasterization only.
But when it comes to ray tracing, AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX can't keep up with the RTX 4080 Super. Not only can the RX 7900 The difference in image quality is very noticeable.
Price and availability difference
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and GeForce RTX 4080 Super start at $999. However, the RTX 4080 Super was released a couple of days ago and I still don't see many 4080 Super cards on sale at MSRP. I think retailers want to get rid of old RTX 4080 stock first. Either way, don't buy an RTX 4080 Super if it costs more than $1,200 USD.
On the other hand, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX has been on the market for quite some time. There are many 7900 XTX cards on the market, and we can even see some models selling slightly below the asking price, around $930 to $950 (discounted price).
UPDATE: Several months have passed since the launch of the RTX 4080 Super. There is a lot of stock and most are sold at MSRP. Some RTX 4080 Super cards sell for between $970 and $990. Meanwhile, the most premium models sell for around $1,100, give or take. On the other hand, there are no considerable changes in the price of the RX 7900 XTX. Most RX 7900 XTXs sell for around $990, while premium models sell for around ~$1,030.
Conclusion of NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super vs AMD RX 7900 XTX
Since NVIDIA will launch the RTX 4080 Super at a lower starting price, matching the RX 7900 XTX, this will be a tough decision for potential buyers. Both are equally matched in terms of rasterization performance and retail price. The RX 7900 XTX has a slight advantage in raster games, but only by a few percent on average.
Since both GPUs have the same performance and price, I will highlight their advantages. From there, depending on your needs or applications, you decide which one will benefit you the most.
Advantages of the RTX 4080 Super over the RX 7900 XTX:
- The RTX 4080 Super has much better framing, scaling, and ray tracing technology.
- It is more energy efficient than the RX 7900 XTX.
- It also has a better video encoder, with dual NVENC and support for AV1.
- NVIDIA GPUs perform better and faster in AI, ML or DL applications.
Advantages of the RX 7900 XTX over the RTX 4080 Super:
- The RX 7900 XTX is slightly faster than the RTX 4080 Super in pure rasterization.
- It is a little cheaper than the RTX 4080 Super.
- Does not use the new 16-pin 12VHPWR connector.
So far, these are the things I can think of. Between the two GPUs, I would choose the RTX 4080 Super, as long as it sells at or near MSRP. Some would still prefer the RX 7900 XTX, as some cards are slightly discounted and performs better in pure rasterization.
AMD should also start discounting or lowering the price of the RX 7900 XTX to make it more attractive. NVIDIA's added technology or features are simply superior to AMD's. And it's quite difficult to justify the RX 7900 XTX at its current price if its gaming performance is similar overall.
Sure, some players don't care about ray tracing, scaling, or even fake frames. But fake frames aside, more and more games are adopting ray tracing or path tracing. And I don't think it's going to disappear. Think of it like PhysX back in the day. Some gamers don't like it because it consumes a lot of GPU. But now, can you imagine a game without PhysX?
At the end of the day, if you still want to get an AMD card, you can check out some of the The best RX 7900 XTX cards here.
Purchase options:
GeForce RTX 4080 Super graphics cards check in Amazon here.
Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards in Amazon here.
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