RX 7900 GRE Vs RX 7600 [12 Games Tested]

The RX 7900 GRE is AMD’s attempt to launch a more affordable high-end graphics card than the RX 7900 XT and the XTX. This has consumers wondering how it performs against the lowest tier card in AMD’s lineup, and our analysis of the RX 7900 GRE vs RX 7600 will answer exactly that.

Key Takeaways

• The RX 7900 GRE performs over twice as well as the RX 7600 in our testing at 4k and 1440p.
• Our test bench drew about 151 watts more when it was fitted with the RX 7900 GRE in place of the RX 7600.
• Twice as much performance on the RX 7900 GRE also came with a price tag over double that of the RX 7600.

RX 7900 GRE Vs RX 7600

Comparison Table

Architectural Differences

1. Clock Speed: Despite the RX 7900 GRE being in a much higher tier than the 7600, it brings lower clock speeds than the latter. The base clock of the 7900 GRE is around 1500MHz, whereas it can boost to 2245MHz. The 7600 casually breaks both of these clock speeds, with the base being around 1720MHz and the boost reaching around 2655MHz.
2. Cores: The higher-end card has exactly 2.5 times the stream processors and RT cores of the RX 7600, promising to bring much more performance to the table.
3. Process Node: Both graphics cards use a chiplet design, using 5nm and 6nm manufacturing nodes in various parts of their architecture.
4. TDP: Despite having over twice the number of cores, the GRE only utilizes close to 57% more power than its brethren; at least, that’s what its 260-watt TDP would indicate against the 165-watt requirement of the RX 7600.
5. Bus Width: The RX 7900 GRE doubles the bus width of the RX 7600 with a 256-bit bus instead of the 128-bit bus of the 7600.
6. VRAM: The RX 7900 GRE also crushes the RX 7600 in terms of VRAM, doubling the 8GB capacity of the lower-end card to 16GB, both utilizing the GDDR6 technology. The lower VRAM of the 7600 is concerning in this age of memory-hungry games.

Gaming Benchmarks

The specifications on paper paint this comparison as a bloodbath for the RX 7600, but to find if the architectural gains of the GRE translate well to real-world gaming, we designed a test bench to take full advantage of both of these graphics cards, which comprises the Ryzen 7 7800X3D as well as 32GB of DDR5 memory.

We decided to test these cards at 4k to bring them to their knees and see the full extent of their performance difference, but halfway through the testing, we realized that 1440p would make for a more even playing field with our RX 7600, so we tested both resolutions.

The Last Of Us – 4k

• Both cards struggled in our run of The Last Of Us at 4k, with the 7900 GRE running at a playable average framerate of 45 FPS, whereas the RX 7600 had close to a third of the performance of its bigger brother with an average of only 17 FPS.
• The cards struggled with 1% lows as well, with the 7900 GRE getting a 35 FPS minimum, whereas the RX 7600 was indisputably unplayable with only 10 FPS, making the game look like a slideshow presentation.

Similar Comparison: RX 7600 Vs RX 6600

Resident Evil 4 – 4k

• Resident Evil 4 ran flawlessly on our RX 7900 GRE at an average of 79 FPS, whereas the RX 7600 had a barely playable framerate of around 35 FPS, under half of what the GRE could do.
• The RX 7900 GRE also breezed through the lows with a minimum of 70 FPS, whereas the 7600 had a “cinematic” framerate at best with a minimum of 25 FPS. This meant the RX 7600 was running at a minimum framerate close to a third of what the 7900 GRE could do.

Also Check: RX 7600 Vs RTX 3060 Ti

Forza Horizon 5 – 4k

• This racing simulator ran almost twice as fast on the 7900 GRE at 107 FPS than the 7600, which ran the game at 53 FPS.
• Even the 1% lows of the RX 7900 GRE were miles ahead of the average framerate of its competition at 86 FPS, whereas the 7600 got 1% lows of around 44 FPS.

Also Read: RX 7600 Vs RX 6650 XT

Fortnite – 4k

• Enabling Nanite and Lumen with the Epic preset in Fortnite with Nanite and Lumen enabled brought both of these cards back into uncertain waters, with the 7900 GRE managing 67 FPS on average, whereas the 7600 had a bit more than half the frames at 34 FPS.
• The RX 7900 GRE was only 20% faster than the 7600 in terms of 1% lows, managing only 35 FPS over the RX 7600’s 29 FPS.

Also Check: RX 7600 Vs RTX 2060 Super

A Plague Tale Requiem – 4k

• This game has garnered a reputation for being quite demanding, and the results of our testing agree with that. The GRE could only manage 54 FPS on average, whereas the 7600 got a framerate of around 28 FPS.
• Lows on the 7900 were acceptable, considering the averages, at 47 FPS, but the 7600 tanked with 1% lows of around 23 FPS in this title.

Similar Comparison: RX 7600 Vs ARC A750

Hogwarts Legacy – 4k

• As with the previous game, this title has a reputation for being hard to run on anything but the best hardware. The 7900 GRE could only pump out 55 FPS when this game was maxed out at 4k, whereas the 7600 performed much worse with an average of 27 FPS.
• The lows did not fair any better on either card, with the 7900 GRE getting minimums of 44 FPS, whereas the 7600 got a minimum framerate of around 21 FPS.

Also Read: RX 7600 Vs RX 6600 XT

Last Of Us – 1440p

• For the first game in our 1440p testing, we saw a 78 FPS average on the GRE, whereas the 7600 got an average performance of around 42 FPS. This brought the advantage the 7900 GRE had over its little brother to 85%.
• 1% lows were refreshing on the 7900 GRE at around 67 FPS, whereas the 7600 faltered with unplayable lows of 28 FPS. The performance of this game was not good in either resolution, meaning the Ultra settings are not fit for this little card.

Also Check: RX 7600 Vs RTX 3060

Resident Evil 4 – 1440p

• The 7900 GRE once again produced over double the framerate than the RX 7600. The higher mind card comfortably got 131 FPS on average, whereas the RX 7600 got an enjoyable framerate of around 63 FPS.
• 1% lows were also twice as good on the 7900 GRE at 122 FPS, compared to the 56 FPS lows of the 7600.

Similar Guide: Radeon RX 7600 Vs RX 6700

Forza Horizon 5 – 1440p

• Extreme quality at 1440p ran great on both cards, considering what we’ve come to expect out of each of them. The RX 7900 GRE got an average framerate of 147 FPS, whereas the 7600 came out with 80 FPS  on average.
• Lows were pretty playable on the 7600 at around 56 FPS in our testing, whereas the GRE smashed the competition with 1% lows of around 116 FPS.

Also Read: RX 7900 GRE Vs RTX 4070

Hogwarts Legacy – 1440p

• This game also faired much better on this lower resolution on the pair of these cards. The GRE got an average framerate of 93 FPS, whereas the 7600 got a moderately playable 51 FPS average.
• 1% lows brought down the framerate of the 7900 GRE to 66 FPS, whereas the 1% lows offered by 7600 were nudging 40 FPS.

Also Check: RX 7900 GRE Vs RX 6950 XT

Fortnite – 1440p

• Epic quality at 1440p on Fortnite gave the 7900 GRE an even performance of 120 FPS, whereas the 7600 was barely playable for a competitive shooter with an output of 63 FPS.
• Fortnite had its characteristics jitters at this resolution, bringing the lows of the RX 7600 to 53 FPS, whereas the GRE was not much ahead with 1% lows of 63 FPS.

A Plague Tale Requiem – 1440p

• Finally, bumping the resolution down on A Plague Tale Requiem surprisingly made it much more enjoyable, with the 7900 GRE getting 94 FPS on average, whereas the 7600 was touching 60 FPS.
• 1% lows were also very stable in this game, with the RX 7600 going down to around 51 FPS, whereas the GRE got down to 85 FPS.

Also Read: RTX 4060 Vs RX 7600

Overall Gaming Performance

Now that we have data on the performance of the RX 7900 GRE vs RX 7600 in not one resolution but two, this part of the comparison will analyze the average performance of these graphics cards.

Framerate

• At 4k, we saw that our RX 7600 could not keep up with modern games’ demands. It had an overall average of 32 FPS, whereas its lows hovered around the 25 FPS mark, making for an unpleasant performance. 
• The RX 7900 GRE could not stay above 60 frames all the time either at 4k with Ultra settings, averaging 68 FPS, whereas the lows were around 53 FPS.
• Moving to 1440p, the RX 7600 was still uncomfortable at this resolution, with games running at the highest settings. The card barely reached 60 FPS, with lows around 47 FPS.
• The RX 7900 GRE also performed much better on this resolution, averaging around 107 FPS, with lows around 78 FPS.
• In both resolutions, the RX 7900 GRE proved to be around twice as powerful as the 7600.
• From the performance data we gathered in our testing, the RX 7600 should not stray from its rated render resolution of 1080p, and you might have to lower the settings to get a smooth experience even at that resolution.

Power Consumption

• On average, in our testing, the RX 7900 GRE test bench had a total power consumption of around 425 watts, whereas the RX 7600 testbench consumed only 274 watts.
• The graphics cards are the only differentiating factor between the two builds; the 7900 GRE drew 151 watts more than its little brother. This can make a noticeable difference in your power bill, but given the power draw of both cards is decent compared to the years prior, you shouldn’t have to upgrade your power supply if you go for either of these offerings.

Price And Availability

• The RX 7600 has an MSRP of $269 and should be widely available at any big computer parts store of your liking, but the story with the RX 7900 GRE is more complicated.
• Currently, the RX 7900 GRE is a China-only launch, only available in prebuilt PCs in regions outside of China. AMD does state that this card has an MSRP of $650 in official marketing material, but this does not mean anything if you cannot buy the card separately.
• There is a possibility that the GRE will be re-released as a non-XT RX 7900 in the rest of the world, as the rumors for that card match up very well with the card at hand.

RX 7600 Vs RX 7900 GRE: Which One Should You Go For?

Now that we’ve rounded off our comparison by talking about the performance of both cards, this part of the comparison will highlight the user each of these graphics cards is suited for.

• Starting with the RX 7600, it embodies the promises of its marketing materials with precision but doesn’t venture beyond that realm. As it struggles to deliver a stellar performance at 1440p or 4K resolutions, we wouldn’t recommend you buy this card for anything more than 1080p gaming.
• As for the RX 7900 GRE, it’s a card not widely accessible to the masses, yet it delivers commendable performance relative to its price point. While it doesn’t quite ascend to the echelons of the RX 7900 XT or 7900 XTX in terms of sheer performance, it compensates with its considerably lighter price tag.
• Unlocking a substantial performance boost in both these cards becomes as simple as activating AMD’s FSR. This technology allows you to render games at a lower resolution and then upscale them to achieve a visually appealing, higher-resolution output.
• When it comes to choosing between these two graphics cards, the deciding factors come down to power efficiency and cost-effectiveness. If you seek a wallet-friendly option that won’t be too taxing on your power supply, the RX 7600 stands as AMD’s latest entry-level contender, offering sufficient performance.
• Conversely, the 7900 GRE caters to those craving a taste of Team Red’s near-peak performance capabilities. If your budget allows for it, this card provides a secure investment, ensuring your computer remains relevant for several GPU generations to come.

Pros And Cons