Are the New AMD Graphics Cards Worth It?
AMD completed their RDNA 3 lineup just a few days ago with their new Radeon RX 7700 XT and Radeon RX 7800 XT. Ever since AMD announced their new graphics cards at this year’s Gamescom in Germany, gamers everywhere have been waiting for its release on the 6th of September. Let’s discuss what these new GPUs do best and if they’re worth the (actually reasonable) price.
Boost Your Setup
Whether or not you’re considering purchasing one of the new AMD cards, it’s important to remember that updating your gaming setup, including your graphics card, is always beneficial. Updating your entire setup can involve paying for a premium internet package, buying a specific gaming laptop, or building your own desktop.
Many gamers use a virtual private network for gaming to take things to the next level. A VPN is a tool that encrypts a user’s IP address, blocking other players from accessing it. As such, services like ExpressVPN not only effectively help to reduce ping during playing sessions further, boosting the computer’s overall performance, but also prevent DDoS attacks, thus increasing security.
Check your PC for common issues like performance, memory, or general upgrades to ensure everything works in good order.
Features, Specs & Performance
Let’s start with specifications. In terms of memory, the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT come with 12GB and 16GB, respectively as well as require (245W for the 7700 XT and 263W for the 7800 XT) for desktop usage, so you’ll need a more powerful PC.
What’s more, the main thing to know about the Radeon RX 7700 XT and Radeon RX 7800 XT is that they were made for 1440p gaming. As proven by the specs alone, these GPUs offer a superior performance than AMD’s previous graphics cards right off the gate.
And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, both cards come with a free copy of Starfield, the highly anticipated action RPG by developer Bethesda Game Studios that gamers are dying to get their hands on – you can read our review here.
Because no GPU is perfect, there are two downsides worth mentioning: Nvidia, AMD’s biggest rival, still wins, and its current equivalent offer, the GeForce RTX 4070, is superior in both. Firstly, the Radeon RX 7700 XT and Radeon RX 7800 XT draw more power than the GeForce RTX 4070. Secondly, ray tracing slightly lowers these cards’ performance once enabled, which doesn’t happen with Nvidia’s RTX 4070.
Pricing
Lastly, what makes these cards worthwhile most of all is their cost. The Radeon RX 7700 XT is priced at £429, and the RX 7800 XT at £479. If we compare the costlier RX 7800 to Nvidia’s RTX 4070, which launched at £589 in April of this year, AMD’s product offers the same 1440p gaming for over £100 less.
Despite their capability to run many PC games, AMD’s top competitor is Nvidia. Nvidia’s graphics cards are considerably more expensive and known for their quality.
Nvidia recently dropped the RTX 4070’s price to compete with AMD’s latest. Still, AMD’s cards remain cheaper. And even with the ray tracing and power draw caveats, we’d say you’re getting a pretty good deal here.
All in all, this is a great release from AMD overall. We’d say both the Radeon RX 7700 XT and Radeon RX 7800 XT offer fantastic performance at a very reasonable price point, and which one you should get merely depends on how much you’re willing to pay for it. So, what are you waiting for to enhance your gaming setup?
