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These popular GPUs are head-to-head, so we consider the AMD’s RX 7900 XT vs RTX 3090, and ask if AMD’s flagship is really top dog.
It’s good to be curious about whether the new AMD cards are worth the money since their release. We’ve already established that the AMD’s brand new RDNA architecture outperforms the Nvidia’s RTX 30-series, so we’re here to ask by how much.
The choice is now based on the actual card and its performance rather than whether you can find one to buy. December has seen an abundance of last-gen GPUs which has driven down their price. So now, the question of RX 7900 XT vs RTX 3090 is even bigger than before.
It’s great if you’re tossing it up between the RX 7900 XTX vs RTX 3090. However, if you’re having second doubts, then understand the differences between RX 7900 XT vs RX 7900 XTX before launching into this article.
Similarly, your eyes may be on bigger things than the RTX 3090, especially because Nvidia’s RTX 4080 has seen a significant price drop in December. If that’s the case we’ve got you covered as we consider the RTX 4080 vs RX 7900 XT.
In this article we’ll be guiding you through the price, specs and other key features that separate these two graphics cards.
Read now: RTX 4070 Ti vs 3090
RX 7900 XT VS RTX 3090 – price
Before we start crunching current numbers for these GPUs, be aware that the cost of the RTX 3090 on release in September 2020 was an exorbitant $1,499.
In comparison, the RX 7900 XT has gone on sale with an initial MSRP of $899. Since it’s release, we’ve seen the popular GPU selling from between $899-$1000, making the initial price difference between the two graphics cards at around $600. This is no small number, and something to keep in mind as we consider the value of each of them in the specs section of this article.
If you want to jump the gun and buy the RX 7900 XT now, we’ve listed popular retailers below:
- Newegg: RX 7900 XT
- Amazon US: RX 7900 XT
- BestBuy: RX 7900 XT
Currently, you can bag the RTX 3090 for a sad old price just shy of $1,500 via Amazon. Although Gigabyte has their Gaming OC model for just $1,264, this is still significantly more than the RX 7900 XT.
Read More: Best RTX 3090 via WePC
For this round, we’re definitely choosing AMD’s RX 7900 XT. Not only is it the cheaper card, but it has a 50W difference, demonstrating how AMD is committed to providing the greatest performance per watt on the market. But we’ll save more of this discussion for the next section where we’ll be discussing the specs.
RX 7900 XT vs RTX 3090 – specs
We’ll dissect the specs next and discuss how they translate to overall performance. But first we’ll lay them all out on the table below:
| Spec | RX 7900 XT | RTX 3090 |
| Architecture | RDNA 3 | Ampere |
| Stream Processors / CUDA Cores | 5,376 | 1,0496 |
| Boost Clock (GHz) | 2.4 | 1.70 |
| Base Clock (GHz) | 1.5 | 1.40 |
| GDDR6X Memory | 20GB | 24GB |
| Memory Bandwidth | 3500GB/s | 936.2 GB/s |
| Maximum Resolution | 4K | 7680 x 4320 |
| Connectivity Support | 1 x HDMI 2.1, 2 x DP 2.1, 1x USB-C | HDMI 2.1a, 3 x DP 1.4a |
| Dimensions | 276 x 135 x 51mm | 313mm x 138mm |
| Minimum Overall Power Demand | 750W | 750W |
Perhaps obvious to some, AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture absolutely trumps Ampere, fitting around double the amount of transistors inside. This directly translates to a faster GPU performance since more transistors mean more threaded processes per unit of time.
You should also take notice of the clock speeds of each graphics card – the 7900 XT has almost 800 more MHz than the 3090 which means you’ll reach higher frames per second and higher resolution.
This is ideal for games like Modern Warfare 2 which demands a high fps if you want to have the edge over your opponents. In order to achieve this though, you’ll also need a monitor with the right connectivity and high refresh rates.
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We’ll also highlight the TDP which only varies by 50W which is convenient in terms of PSU requirements – depending on which way you were swinging, it means you wouldn’t need to invest in a new PSU. It also looks good for AMD, giving them the strong rep of delivering the best performance-per-watt graphics card on the market.
Final word – RX 7900 XT vs RTX 3090
It’s hard to get through this article without appreciating how much better AMD’s RX 7900 XT is. Not only does it perform better than the 3090, but it is far better value. It has a smaller power consumption which means its running costs are lower, whilst also costing at least $300 less than the previous generation graphics card.
Frequently asked questions
What AMD is equivalent to RTX 3090?
The closest comparison we can make is the RX 6900 XT in terms of performance, although it does not have support for ray tracing or DLLS.
What Nvidia graphics card is equivalent to RX 7900 XT?
The most similar graphics card in terms of performance is Nvidia’s RTX 4080 which has conveniently just seen a price drop of at least 100.
