How does AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT compare to AMD's RX 6950 XT? RDNA 3, specs, and more explained

A Radeon RX 7000 series GPU (Image via @BradChacos/Twitter)
A Radeon RX 7000 series GPU (Image via @BradChacos/Twitter)

The Radeon RX 7900 XT is the second among the two cards AMD will introduce in the first wave of RX 7000 series launches. This card is based on the new Navi 3 architecture and brings almost 60-70% performance gains compared to the last-gen products.

The RX 7900 XT will likely replace the last-gen Radeon RX 6950 XT. AMD introduced this graphics card as a slightly improved version of the flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT from 2020.

However, the company has not revealed a bunch of information on how much better the upcoming graphics card will be compared to the last-gen flagship. Gamers looking to buy a new graphics card are confused about whether to wait for the next-gen or buy the 6950 XT today.


How much of a jump is the Radeon RX 7900 XT over the RX 6950 XT?

The Radeon RX 7900 XT and the RX 6950 XT are pretty impressive on paper. The new graphics card is based on the flagship Navi 31 GPU, which comes with 5,376 stream processors, 336 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs), 192 Render Output Units (ROPs), 84 RT cores, and 20 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is based on a 320-bit bus.

The RX 6950 XT is quite close in terms of on-paper specs and is based on the flagship GPU from the last generation, the Navi 21. It packs 5,120 stream processors, 320 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs), 128 Render Output Units, and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory based on a narrower 256-bit bus.

Before delving into performance differences, it is worth noting that the new graphics cards in the market, including the RTX 40 series and RX 7000 series, are physically larger than last-gen equivalents, and some users might have trouble fitting them in their cases.

In terms of performance, the new graphics card is almost 40% faster than the RX 6950 XT. This GPU directly competes with the RTX 4080, which is much faster than the last-gen Nvidia flagship, the RTX 3090 Ti. The 6950 XT is already a bit slower than the RTX 3090 Ti.

However, gamers should take the numbers published by AMD with a grain of salt. Most of these test results are generated in an environment that cannot be regenerated in most people's setups. Thus, the performance metrics might vary in real life.

Gamers should wait for the RX 7000 series card reviews before making any final decisions. So, the best option right now would be to wait for a couple of weeks and hold the upgrade to a new graphics card.

Coming to the pricing, the RX 7900 XT costs less than the Nvidia equivalent, the RTX 4080, which will set users back by a hefty $1,199. However, it is $50 costlier than the 6950 XT, which recently got a price cut to $949.


Conclusion

The RX 7900 XT and the 7900 XTX are powerful graphics cards for gaming purposes. These GPUs can easily handle 4K gaming without any significant frame drops in today's major AAA titles and those that will be launched in the next couple of years.

The 7900 XT, being a next-gen card, is much faster than the RX 6950 XT. It achieves this performance overhaul while being slightly more power efficient than the last-gen GPU.

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Edited by R. Elahi
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