RX 7700 XT Vs RTX 4070: Can AMD Win?

When comparing the RX 7800 XT and the 7700 XT, the latter is not a great option, as you can get significantly better performance for just an additional fifty dollars with the former. Nvidia has also had a bad value proposition, so we compared the RX 7700 XT vs RTX 4070 to see if either card makes sense for the average consumer.

Key Takeaways

• On average, the RTX 4070 was around 12% faster than the RX 7700 XT when gaming at 1440p.
• The RTX 4070 consumed around 12% less power than the RX 7700 XT despite its higher performance, according to the numbers reported by MSI Afterburner.
• The RX 7700 XT is around $100 cheaper than the RTX 4070 at launch.

Take a look at our video that visually compares the performance of both cards. It provides an easy-to-follow demonstration for your convenience.

RX 7700 XT Vs RTX 4070

Comparison Table

Architectural Differences

1. Process Size: The RTX 4070 uses very complex 4nm processing nodes for its board design, whereas the RX 7700 XT uses both 5nm and 6nm processing nodes to allow maximum power without a huge hike in cost.
2. Clock Speed: The base clock of the RTX 4070 is higher than its rival at 1920MHz vs the 7700 XT’s 1700MHz base. However, the win in boost clocks goes to the RX 7700 XT with a frequency of 2544MHz versus the 2475MHz boost clock of the RTX 4070.
3. VRAM: Both cards are equivalent in VRAM size at 12GB, whereas the RTX 4070 has faster GDDR6X RAM at a speed of 504GB/s, which is slightly faster than the RX 7700 XT’s speed. They both also use an identical 192-bit bus.
4. TDP: The RX 7700 XT has a higher TDP than Nvidia at around 245 watts, whereas the RTX 4070 is rated for a TDP of 200 watts.
5. Other Features: Both cards support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI upscaling. Nvidia’s earlier entry in both those fields has made the company an expert in these technologies, whereas AMD has not had the best reputation associated with these features.

Benchmarks

It isn’t easy to understand the difference in performance between two graphics cards using completely different architectures. To help evaluate the capabilities of the RX 7700 XT vs RTX 4070, we put both cards in our test bench with the following specifications:

• OS – Windows 11
• CPU – Intel Core i9-13900K
• Motherboard – ASUS ROG Strix Z690-E Gaming
• RAM – G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
• CPU Cooler – Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420
• SSD – 2xSAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB
• Power Supply – CORSAIR HX Series HX1200 1200W 

The games below were tested at the 1440p resolution.

Cyberpunk 2077

• To start off this comparison, we decided to push our cards hard with Cyberpunk 2077 at high to ultra settings while ray tracing was turned to Ultra. These settings resulted in the RX 7700 XT getting an average framerate of only 23 FPS, whilst the RTX 4070 was around 60% faster with a framerate of 37 FPS.
• As if the averages weren’t bad enough for the RX 7700 XT, the 1% lows put th final nail in the coffin. The framerate dropped to 19 FPS in demanding scenes on the RX 7700 XT, whereas the RTX 4070 had 1% lows of 29 FPS.

Also Read: RTX 4070 Vs RX 6950 XT

Hogwarts Legacy

• Hogwarts Legacy ran around 4.4% better on the RTX 4070 with a framerate of 70 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT got a framerate of around 67 FPS.
• The RX 7700 XT outperformed its brother in terms of 1% lows, going as low as 60 FPS, whereas the RTX 4070 got down to around 58 FPS. The lead AMD’s card has in this metric, along with the small victory of Nvidia in averages, means that the gaming experience is more or less equivalent on either card when playing Hogwarts Legacy at Ultra settings with ray tracing turned off.

Similar Comparison: RX 7900 GRE Vs RTX 4070

The Last Of Us

• The Last Of Us at Ultra settings ran about 10% better on the RTX 4070. The RX 7700 XT got an average framerate of around 77 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT could only get around 70 FPS.
• 1% lows hovered around 59 FPS for the RTX 4070, whereas the RX 7700 XT got lows of around 49 FPS. Such a large difference in 1% lows can be very stark, and the better lows of the RTX card make gaming on it a much more pleasant experience, at least when playing The Last Of Us.

Also Check: RTX 4060 Ti 16GB Vs RTX 4070

Hitman 3

• As we’ve come to expect out of this game, Hitman 3 ran without a hitch on either card, though the performance on the RTX 4070 was around 3.6% better than its competition. The RX 7700 XT got a respectable average of 166 FPS, whereas the RTX 4070 had an average framerate of around 172 FPS.
• 1% lows were identical between the two cards, with the RX 4070 getting down to 140 FPS at its lowest, whereas the RX 7700 XT got down to around 139 FPS.

Also Read: RTX 4060 Vs RTX 4070

Starfield

• The RTX 4070 also stayed around 12.5% ahead of the RX 7700 XT in Starfield at the Ultra preset. AMD’s card had an average framerate of around 54 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT got an average of around 48 FPS.
• 1% lows served to exaggerate the difference between the two cards, with the framerate of the 4070 falling to 43 FPS when rendering got tough, whereas the RX 7700 XT had a lower framerate of around 36 FPS as its 1% lows.

Similar Comparison: RTX 4070 Vs RTX 4070 Ti

Microsoft Flight Simulator

• Flight Sim 2020 drew out the difference in performance between these cards, with the RTX 4070 being in the lead by around 14.5%. The average framerate of AMD’s card was around 55 FPS, whereas the RTX 4070 managed to get around 63 FPS as its average.
• Unlike the other games tested, the 1% lows of both cards were very close in this test, with the RX 7700 XT going down to around 51 FPS occasionally, whereas the RTX 4070 saw a larger dip to around 53 FPS.

Also Check: RTX 4070 Vs RX 7900 XT 

Red Dead Redemption 2

• Rockstar takes its time making its games, which is why they are usually very well-optimized. RDR2 ran about 10% better on the Nvidia card at an average of around 130 FPS, whereas the AMD RX 7700 XT ran the game at around 118 FPS.
• 1% lows were also smoother on the RTX 4070, though the difference was not super noticeable at such a high framerate. The RTX 4070 throttled down to 110 FPS when needed, whereas the RX 7700 XT pumped out 98 FPS in the most difficult-to-render scenarios.

Similar Guide: RTX 4070 Vs RX 6900 XT

Remnant 2

• This newer title has gathered a reputation for relying heavily on upscaling to get decent performance, and we saw that with our cards. The RTX 4070 had an average frame of 52 FPS at the Ultra quality preset, whereas the RX 7700 XT was a hair behind with a framerate of 51 FPS.
• The difference in performance between the two cards was also pretty small in terms of their 1% lows. The RTX 4070 had a minimum framerate of 44 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT got a minimum of 43 FPS.

Also Check: RTX 4070 Vs RX 6800

Witcher 3 – Next Generation

• Finally, the biggest difference in performance we saw in our testing came from The Witcher 3 – Next Generation. The RTX 4070 was around 23% faster than the RX 7700 XT. The former got an average framerate of 74 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT averaged 60 FPS.
• The 1% lows were close despite the large difference in average framerates. The RTX 4070 got a minimum framerate of 60 FPS, whereas the RX 7700 XT lowered its framerate down to 54 FPS when needed.

Similar Guide: RTX 4070 Vs RTX 3090 

Forza Horizon 5

• Both cards could handle Forza Horizon 5 without a sweat, even with ray tracing turned on. The RTX 4070 had an average performance of around 130 FPS in our tests, whereas the RX 7700 XT performed around 10% worse with an average of 118 FPS.
• Finally, the 1% lows of the last game in our testing also showed a substantial difference between the two cards, with the RX 4070 nudging its framerate down to 110 FPS in intense scenes, whereas the RX 7700 XT got around 98 FPS at its lowest.

Also Read: RTX 4070 Vs RTX 3080 Ti

Overall Gaming Performance

Having mentioned the performance of each card on a per-game basis, we can encapsulate the average performance of these cards into metrics that can help us better process the performance difference. This evaluation of the RX 7700 XT vs RTX 4070 has been done in the sections below.

Framerate

• Throughout the 10 games tested in this comparison with ultra settings enabled, the RTX 4070 managed to get an average framerate of around 78 FPS.
• The RX 7700 XT, however, squared off around 70 FPS as its average framerate in the games we tested.
• The RTX 4070 was around 12% ahead of the AMD card on average.
• 1% lows showed a similar difference in performance between the two cards, with the RX 7700 XT getting down to around 63 FPS on average, whereas its competitor stuttered down to around 70 FPS.
• The difference between the two cards was most noticeable in titles using heavy ray tracing, meaning that the RTX 4070 is more adapted to dealing with this workload than its rival.
• Both cards enjoy their respective upscaling softwares. Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR can grant you around a 30-40% boost in framerate without a large drop in visual quality.
• Nvidia’s card offers one extraordinary feature that AMD is still catching up to; frame generation. With DLSS 3, you can potentially double your framerate in games that support frame gen, leaving every other card in the dust. AMD has announced their competitor to this technology called Fluid Motion Frames, but it is not clear how long it will be before that feature is available.

Similar Comparison: RTX 4070 Vs RX 7900 XTX

Power Consumption

• Even though Nvidia’s card has a superior performance to the RX 7700 XT, it still consumes less power than its competition at around 189 watts, instead of the 214 watts that the RX 7700 XT consumes on average, according to the numbers reported by MSI afterburner.
•  The power efficiency of the RX 7700 XT is around 22% lower than the RTX 4070, according to the performance-per-watt numbers we have accumulated from the average framerates and power draws of each card using our tests.

Also Read: RTX 4070 Vs RTX 3080

Temperatures

• In our testing, the RTX 4070 peaked at around 62°C on average, whereas the RX 7700 XT had a much lower average temperature of 56°C.
• This rather significant difference in temperatures can be attributed to our variant of the RX 7700 XT having an overbuilt cooler despite having a relatively lower TDP. This is a perfect example of how temperatures can shift from model to model, meaning these numbers will be taken with a grain of salt.

Also Check: RTX 4070 Vs RX 6700 XT

Price And Availability

• Though the RTX 4070 was launched with a $600 MSRP, it regularly goes down to around $549 on Newegg.
• The RX 7700 XT has a launch MSRP of $449, but the trends indicate that it will drop after the initial sales.
• Both cards are readily available at most computer parts retailers around the globe.

Also See: RTX 4070 Vs RTX 3070 Ti

RTX 4070 Vs RX 7700 XT: Which One Should You Go For?

From our analysis in this comparison, both cards have a lot to offer. The decision between the RX 7700 XT and RTX 4070 can be hard to make from the benchmark scores of each card, which is why this section of the comparison brings you the merits and demerits of each card.

• There is no denying that from a performance point of view, the RTX 4070 is significantly better than the RX 7700 XT in terms of raw performance and newer features like ray tracing and AI upscaling.
• The RX 7700 XT, however, tackles a very different problem. This card gives you enough prowess to play comfortably at 1440p without worrying about inadequate performance, costing around $100 less.
• At the moment of writing this article, the RTX 4070 is a better deal than the AMD card, but this might change if you read this at a future date. At launch, the RX 7700 XT seems to be positioned to make the RX 7800 XT look better, as it has significantly more performance for around $50 more. When the dust of initial sales settles, the RX 7700 XT can get significant price cuts, allowing it to compete much better with the rest of the market in terms of price to performance.
• Putting speculations aside, if you were to choose between these cards today, we recommend the RTX 4070 because of its robust feature set and extra bit of performance.

Pros And Cons

Abde Manaf

[Comparisons Expert]

Abdemanaf is a skilled creative writer who has been honing his craft since 2011. While initially working in different fields, he found a passion for technology and has been exploring the tech world since early 2015. Over the years, he has developed an in-depth knowledge of the latest tech trends and product offerings by various companies.

Abdemanaf’s writing reflects his analytical mindset and ability to think critically. He has a knack for breaking down complex technical information into easily digestible pieces, making his articles engaging and accessible to readers from all backgrounds. In February 2022, he joined Tech4Gamers as a blog and product comparison writer, where he has been able to hone his skills further.

As a writer, Abdemanaf is dedicated to staying up-to-date with the latest technological advancements and trends, enabling him to provide readers with the most relevant and accurate information. He is always eager to learn more and is constantly seeking new challenges to improve his skills.

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