Skip to main content

AMD finally shares new RX 7900 XTX benchmarks, and it’s not all good news

AMD was light on performance data when it announced its upcoming RX 7900 XTX graphics card a couple of weeks back. It wasn’t that AMD didn’t share numbers — the presentation was packed with them — but that they were all from uncommon resolutions, esports titles that don’t stress the best graphics cards, or veiled by FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling. AMD is finally ready to share more information, giving us a better idea of how the new flagship will stack up — and there’s good and bad news.

The company shared performance data for the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT in four games: Resident Evil Village, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Watch Dogs: Legion. The data suggests the RX 7900 XTX could be competitive with even the Nvidia RTX 4090 in some titles. But the RX 7900 XT, despite being close in price to the flagship model, shows a wide performance gap.

Performance for the RX 7900 XTX in rasterized games.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Starting with the RTX 4090 comparison, AMD’s data suggests the RX 7900 XTX will be about 10% to 15% slower than the Nvidia flagship. The only data we have a direct comparison for is Cyberpunk 2077, where the RTX 4090 reached 78 frames per second (fps) in our testing. The RX 7900 XTX reached 72 fps based on AMD’s data — about 8% slower. It’s a loss, but the RX 7900 XTX is also $600 cheaper than the RTX 4090.

Recommended Videos

Although it’s important to wait for third-party testing, we have no reason to think AMD’s results are misrepresentative. In Cyberpunk 2077, we recorded almost the same result with the RX 6950 XT that AMD published. If AMD’s numbers are accurate, the RX 7900 XTX could offer somewhere around a 70% increase over the RX 6950 XT.

That’s exciting, but AMD’s data also comes mixed with disappointment. The RX 7900 XT, which is only $100 cheaper than the RX 7900 XTX, shows a performance gap of about 17% compared to the flagship card. It’s still far above AMD’s best GPU from the previous generation, but it looks like the XTX is shaping up to be the better buy.

Ray tracing performance for the RX 7900 XTX.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ray tracing performance is also a little disappointing. AMD talked up the improvements it made with ray tracing during the RX 7900 XTX announcement. The previous generation struggled with ray tracing compared to the competition from Nvidia. AMD’s numbers suggest that, although there is an improvement, AMD won’t be able to go toe-to-toe with Team Green.

In Cyberpunk 2077 with its Ultra RT preset, AMD said the RX 7900 XTX reached an average of 21 fps without FSR turned on. The RTX 4090 reached nearly 43 fps at this preset based on our testing. AMD’s numbers show that the RX 7900 XTX may be able to compete with the RTX 3090 Ti in ray tracing performance, though, which is a hopeful sign.

Although AMD’s new batch of benchmarks don’t show dominating performance across the board, they’re still impressive when compared against the competition from Nvidia. The main question is how the RX 7900 XTX will stack up to the RTX 4080, as only $200 separates these two high-end GPUs.

For now, all we can do is wait until the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT launch on December 13. We have no reason to think AMD’s numbers are off, but it’s still important to view first-party benchmarks with skepticism until independent reviews are out.

Jacob Roach
Former Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
AMD says that FSR 4 might not be an RDNA 4 exclusive after all
AMD announcing FSR 4 during CES 2025.

AMD will soon launch new graphics cards, although they were pretty much absent from its CES 2025 keynote. Fortunately, a new interview with Frank Azor, AMD's chief architect of gaming solutions and gaming marketing, gives us a little bit more information. One interesting tidbit from the interview is that FSR 4, currently an RDNA 4 exclusive, might still one day make it to older AMD GPUs.

Azor spoke to Michael Quesada in an interview that was later shared by El Chapuzas Informatico and VideoCardz. They spoke about FSR 4, but also the general price point and the predicted performance of the RX 9070 XT. Throughout the interview, it's made clear that AMD is angling for a value-oriented product this time around.

Read more
AMD’s RX 9070 XT might beat Nvidia’s $1,000 GPU
Gigabyte's RX 9070 XT GPU.

AMD unveiled its RDNA 4 architecture at CES 2025, but the announcement failed to generate much hype, as many questions were left unanswered. However, thanks to leaked benchmarks, we now have unofficial data that shows the card beating Nvidia's $1,000 RTX 4080 Super, which helps us figure out where it'll rank among some of the best graphics cards.

The benchmarks originated from the Chiphell forum, where admin user nApoleon shared 3DMark scores and GPU-Z details. The post also urged users to delay buying Nvidia's RTX 50-series, claiming the GPU market has "completely changed" based on the results.

Read more
New pricing leak shows AMD may have been right to wait for Nvidia
An Asus RX 9070 XT TUF GPU.

AMD's upcoming RX 9070 XT is still largely a mystery, but it won't be long before it's out there, competing against some of the best graphics cards. Many are wondering about how much it'll cost, and a reliable leaker just shared the rumored pricing of the RX 9070 XT. Reportedly, it's going to be cheaper than Nvidia's RTX 5070.

The information comes from zhangzhonghao on the Chiphell forums. This leaker has previously shared claims that turned out to be true, but still, it's important to take this with a healthy dose of skepticism, as it's not being presented as a fact -- and even if it was, it's never certain until AMD itself speaks up.

Read more