NVIDIA has always been the major dominator in the GPU market, but AMD has picked up its game, and the competition has been getting more and more interesting. Among the various high-end graphics cards released by both brands, you might have heard of the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. In this article, we’ll be comparing AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti to find which is the better choice to go in 2022.
Also read: RX 6700 XT Vs RTX 3070
Key Takeaways
- Looking at the AMD RX 6800 XT vs GeForce RTX 3070 Ti specifications alone, we can see that the RX 6800 XT has a higher VRAM, TMUs, ROPs, and RT cores compared to the RTX 3070 Ti, but the RTX 3070 Ti keeps up thanks to its higher CUDA core count.
- On all native resolutions, the AMD RX 6800 XT beats the RTX 3070 Ti with a 15-20% average lead in FPS. But with ray tracing and DLSS enabled, NVIDIA evens out the competition.
- The RX 6800 XT also has better thermals and was, on average, 18-20% cooler than the RTX 3070 Ti in all of the benchmarks.
- You can find both of these processors in a similar price range which is why it is recommended to go with the AMD card, as it provides better value for money.
RX 6800 XT vs RTX 3070 Ti Comparison Table
| Name | AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti |
| Node | TSMC 7nm | Samsung 8nm |
| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | Ampere |
| CUDA Cores | 4608 | 6144 |
| Core Clock | 1825 MHz | 1575 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2250 MHz | 1770 MHz |
| Memory | 16GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz | 1188 MHz |
| Memory Bandwidth | 512 GB/s | 608.3 GB/s |
| RT Cores | 72 | 48 |
| Tensor Cores | – | 192 |
| Transistors | 26,800 million | 17,400 million |
| TDP | 300 W | 290 W |
| Power Connector | 2x 8-pin | 1 x 12 pin |
| Launch Year | Oct 28, 2020 | May 31, 2021 |
| MSRP | $649 | $599 |
| GPU Die | Navi 21 | GA104 |
| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 256 bit |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
AMD RX 6800 XT Background
Before the AMD RTX 6700 vs RTX 3070 Ti comparison, let’s first go over the background of each graphics card. The AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT is a high-end graphics card that was released in October 2020 as part of the RX 6000 lineup. To quickly go over its specifications, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT is a 256-bit graphics card that is paired with 16 GB GDDR6 memory and built on the 7nm process and a die area of 520 mm² which allows it to hold 26.8 billion transistors.
Moreover, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT operates on a base clock speed of 1825 MHz which can be boosted up to 2250 MHz with the memory running at the 2000 MHz (16Gbps effective) clock speed.
To talk about its rendering capabilities, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT is fitted with 4608 CUDA cores, 288 texture mapping unit mapping units (TMUs), 128 render output units (ROPs), and 72 raytracing cores (RT cores). AMD has also fitted the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT with 4 MB L2 Cache and 128 MB L3 Cache.
Having a TDP rating of 300 W, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT requires a powerful PSU to support its huge power requirements. It’s fitted on a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and also requires 2x 8-pin power connectors for additional power. AMD set the MSRP for the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT at 649 USD.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Background
Released in May 2021, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is a powerful GPU launched by NVIDIA as part of the RTX 3000 lineup. NVIDIA has paired the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 8GB GDDR6X memory that’s running on a 256-bit memory bus and built on the 8nm process which allows it to hold 17.4 billion transistors on its 392 mm² surface chip.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti’s cores have a base clock speed of 1575 MHz that can go up to 1770 MHz when boosted and a memory clock speed of 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective).
Moreover, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is fitted with 6144 CUDA cores, 192 texture mapping units (TMUs), 96 render output units (ROPs), 48 raytracing (RT) cores, and 192 tensor cores along with 4 MB L2 Cache.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has a TDP of 290 W, powered through the 1x 12-pin power connector and connected to the rest of the system with the PCIe x16 slot. Its launch price was set at 599 USD.
Also read: RTX 3070 Ti vs RTX 2080 Ti
Differences In Specifications
If we compare the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti specifications side by side, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT has a slight advantage over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT has 8 GB of extra VRAM and is also built on the smaller process size with a large die area allowing it to hold more transistors. It has a higher number of TMUs, ROPs, and RT cores compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Moreover, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT has a higher base and boosted clock speeds.
On the other hand, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is more recently released and has a higher CUDA core count compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT. From the specifications, we can estimate the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT to have a slight lead over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Let’s get into the gaming benchmarks to find out if that’s true or not.
Gaming Benchmarks
For the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti comparison, we’ll be looking at the gaming benchmarks done by YT/Daniel Owen. We’ll discuss the optimization in games, the GPUs’ performances, and temperatures in detail.
Test System
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
- Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360
- Mobo: Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite
- RAM: Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL 16
- SSD: Samsung 980 Pro
- SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus
- Case: Phanteks Eclipse P600S
- PSU: Super Flower Leadex III Gold 850W
- GPU: AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti
- Monitor: LG C1 48-inch OLED
God of War
God of War is a 2018 action-adventure game that received critical acclaim on its release and still remains a very beautiful game to look at. It’s a mostly GPU-intensive game which is why it’s the perfect game to test both GPUs, as there’s a minimal CPU bottleneck. God of War was tested on 4K, and 1440p resolutions with DLSS and FSR 2.0 settings enabled and disabled on ultra settings.
To begin with the 4K resolution, the first benchmark shows the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti reaching approximately 62 FPS on average at native 4K resolution. Right beside that, you can see a massive boost in FPS coming from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at 82 FPS when the DLSS setting is enabled. Further to the right, we’ll find the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT reaching approximately 70 FPS on average at native resolution. Finally, the last benchmark shows the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT reaching 100 average FPS.
When both GPUs were tested at native 4K resolution, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT beat the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti by a margin of 16%. Moreover, if we compare both GPUs with their upscaling features turned on, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was performing 17% faster compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Moving on to 1440p tests, we can see that on native 4K resolution, both GPUs are performing quite well, with the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT reaching close to 87 FPS on average at native resolution. Then with DLSS turned on, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti jumps to 105 FPS on average. On the other hand, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT reached this similar frame rate at native resolution. Lastly, with FSR 2.0 enabled, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT rose up to 125 FPS on average.
Similar to the 4K tests, at 1440p native resolution, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was beating the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti by a margin of 17%. And, with DLSS and FSR 2.0 turned on, the difference was also stable at 16%.
We can also see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching much lower temperatures compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, with 14% cooler temperatures across all different settings with similar GPU usage. Overall, it’s a huge win for the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT as it is providing a better frame rate and temperatures compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti while also being in a similar price bracket.
Guardians of the Galaxy
The second game on the list is Guardians of the Galaxy, that’s a 2021 action-adventure game. It’s well-optimized, which is neither GPU nor CPU intensive, and can run on a wide range of different systems with specs ranging from mid to high-end. It also favors NVIDIA graphics more than AMD. Guardians of the Galaxy was tested at 4K, and 1440p resolutions with raytracing turned on and off.
Let’s take a look at how both GPUs perform on native 4K, and 1440p resolutions with ray tracing turned off. Firstly, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 132 FPS on average at 1440p resolution. Then at 4K, the average frame rate from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti drops to 76 FPS. After that, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT reached 142 FPS at 1440p resolution. Finally, at 4K resolution, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was achieving an average frame rate of 89 FPS.
To compare the performances of the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at native 1440p resolution, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching 8% higher average FPS compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Then at 4K, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was delivering a 15% higher average frame rate.
Now, if we look at the 1440p benchmarks with ray tracing turned on, we can find how much impact there is on the performance. When ray tracing is turned to high, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was scoring 97 FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT, which was reaching 85 FPS. Similarly, on maxed-out ray tracing, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 59 FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT, which was reaching 44 FPS.
On high preset ray tracing, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was giving a 13% higher frame rate compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT. When ray tracing was turned to max, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching a 26% higher frame rate.
In the case of the Guardians of the Galaxy, AMD RTX 6700 vs RTX 3070 Ti benchmark, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was 16% cooler compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 TI while consuming the same amount of GPU usage. Overall, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT beats the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at native resolutions but does fall behind once ray tracing is turned on.
Forza Horizon 5
The next game is Forza Horizon 5, one of the most popular games in the racing genre. It’s also another GPU-intensive game. It was tested at native 4K and 1440p resolutions at extreme settings in all of the benchmarks.
Looking at the benchmarks, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 91 FPS on 1440p resolution and 69 FPS on 4K resolution. Comparatively, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT is scoring much higher on both resolutions, with 122 FPS on 1440p and 93 FPS on 4K resolution.
So for 1440p, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was achieving a 26% higher average frame rate compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Then at 4K, that margin remains constant, with the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT again beating the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti by a margin of 26%. This huge difference is credited to the Smart Access Memory feature implemented by AMD into their graphics card, which Forza Horizon 5 takes advantage of. NVIDIA’s ResizeBAR was also enabled in the game, but Forza Horizon 5 wasn’t very responsive to this feature.
We can also observe that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching 20% cooler temperatures compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. All in all, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT completely crushed the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti in Forza Horizon 5 benchmark.
Cyberpunk 2077
2020 released Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most demanding games to play on PC. It’s both CPU and GPU-intensive games and very hard to run unless you have high-end hardware. Cyberpunk 2077 was tested on 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions with raytracing and upscaling settings enabled and disabled.
First, let’s look at the native 1080p and 1440p results. From the benchmark, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 98 FPS on average, whereas the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching 128 FPS. This means that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was 24% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at native 1080p resolution. Moreover, at 1440p resolution, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching a 22% higher frame rate compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
With native 4K, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 26 FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT, which was reaching 29 FPS. So, the game isn’t playable at 4K resolution for either GPU. But once the upscaling features of both GPUs are turned on, we can see that there was a considerable boost in FPS from both GPUs. Although Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t allow FSR 2.0, AMD’s FSR 1.0 is able to keep up with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Now let’s see the results with ray tracing turned on in shadows and reflections separately at 1440p resolution. In the case of the ray tracing test with local shadows, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti have very similar performance. But if we look at the benchmark with ray-traced reflections enabled, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti wins by a decent margin of 16%.
Next, we’ll see how the game runs with ray tracing preset modes of medium and ultra-settings at 1440p. For RT medium settings, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was running 10% better than the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT. Then for RT ultra-settings, both GPUs can be seen performing at very similar FPS, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti being in a slight lead.
Lastly, with upscaling turned on and RTX enabled at 1440p resolution, we can notice a lot of things. When using ray-traced reflections and DLSS set to quality preset, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was scoring 73 FPS.
On the other hand, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was scoring 55 FPS with the RT reflections and FSR 1.0 UltraQuality preset. This means that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was scoring 25% higher FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT.
Then after using ray tracing with ultra preset and DLSS with performance preset, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was scoring 69 FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT, which was scoring 40 FPS with FSR1.0 set to quality preset. This means that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was averaging a 43% higher frame rate than the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT.
Like other AMD RTX 6700 vs RTX 3070 Ti benchmarks, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was ahead in terms of the temperatures, with overall 19% cooler temperatures compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Overall, at native resolutions, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, but once we add upscaling and ray tracing to the mix, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti comes on top.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is another popular title known for its detailed world and marvelous graphics. It’s a mostly GPU-intensive game and hard to run on mid-tier hardware. Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested on 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions at the max preset setting with DLSS turned on and off. It’s worth mentioning that this game does not support AMD’s FSR features which is why they weren’t tested here.
For the RDR2 benchmark at 1080p, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was performing at an average of 112 FPS, whereas the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching 139 FPS. This means that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT had a 20% higher average frame rate compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Then at 1440p, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 88 FPS compared to the 106 FPS of the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT. With that said, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was performing 19% better than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Finally, with native 4K, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 63 FPS on average, whereas the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching 75 FPS. So, there was a difference of 16% between both GPUs. Even with DLSS turned on with the quality preset, the frame rate managed by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was comparable to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT at 72 FPS.
Looking at the temperatures, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was 16% cooler compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. In the case of the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT is the clear winner, with both higher frame rates and lower temperatures than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Horizon Zero Dawn
The final game on the list, Horizon Zero Dawn, was released in 2017 in the action RPG genre. It’s a mostly GPU-intensive game where you’ll need a decent graphics card to render all of its complex environments and character models. With that said, Horizon Zero Dawn was tested on 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions at ultra settings. Like before, Horizon Zero Dawn doesn’t support AMD FSR, which is why only NVIDIA’s DLSS was tested.
With the Horizon Zero Dawn benchmark on native 1080p resolution, we can see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was reaching 137 FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT, which was achieving 178 FPS. So, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was delivering a 24% higher frame rate compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at the same settings.
Moreover, with the 1440p benchmark, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti can be seen delivering an average of 117 FPS compared to the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT, which was reaching 148 FPS. In this case, the difference in FPS between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was 21%.
Now, if we look at the 4K tests, firstly, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti was scoring 76 FPS on native 4K resolution, whereas the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was reaching 98 FPS. With DLSS enabled, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti matched the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT at 99 FPS. At native 4K, the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was 23% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at rendering frames.
The AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was also ahead in the thermals factor, with it reaching 20% cooler temperatures compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. It takes the win again with more FPS at native resolutions and cooler temperatures compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
Which Is Best For You?
In this AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU comparison, we know that that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT has the overall advantage when it comes to native resolution gaming benchmarks. Especially in games that rely on VRAM, we can see that the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was clearly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. But with ray tracing and upscaling features, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti does close the gap and even surpasses the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT in some games.
Moreover, the comparison shows that NVIDIA’s DLSS feature has more support in many games compared to AMD’s FSR 2.0, which makes for a little unfair comparison.
But the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT does have an overall advantage when it comes to native performance. It’s also worth mentioning that ray tracing on higher resolutions with either of these GPUs doesn’t make a lot of sense, as the games are actually unplayable at such low frame rates.
The AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT was also performing 15-20% cooler compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti in all the gaming benchmarks. That said, it all comes down to pricing in the end. For gaming higher resolutions, the extra VRAM of the AMD RADEON RX 6800 XT will come in use and makes much more sense compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
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