AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and 7900 XTX review: can RDNA 3 bring the value?

Ray tracing plus image reconstruction: Nvidia DLSS vs AMD FSR2

Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry

Published on 12 Dec 2022

Raw ray tracing performance is one thing, but the truth is that RT is usually used in combination with image reconstruction technology for a better balance of visual features and performance. This page seeks to show how these GPUs compare with both technologies in play, with the same (or very close) base resolutions engaged. It's not factoring in image quality - where Nvidia enjoys a noticeable advantage - just raw performance. We choose titles here that only support both DLSS and FSR2, though in terms of competitive analysis, there are many more DLSS games than there are FSR2 titles. It's a shame that FSR2 hasn't been retrofitted to RT showcases like Control and Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition.

Once again, if you're jumping straight to this page without looking at prior results, we should stress that our benchmarking system offers a number of ways to get to the data you want, the presentation varying according to the device you're using. You'll get a basic overview of our findings on mobile, with metadata from the video capture of each GPU being translated into simple bar charts with average frame-rate and lowest one per cent measurements for easy comparisons.

On a desktop-class browser, you'll get the full-fat DF experience with embedded YouTube videos of each test scene and live performance metrics. Play the video, and you'll see exactly how each card handled the scene as it progresses. Below the real-time metrics is an interactive bar chart, which you can mouse over to see different measurements and click to switch between actual frame-rates and percentage differences. All the data here is derived from video captured directly from each GPU, ensuring an accurate replay of real performance.

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt RED's epic received FSR2 support in its recent 1.61 update, making it an excellent candidate for inclusion in our RT/reconstruction line-up. Ultra RT settings in this game at native resolutions - especially 4K - delivers some highly depressed performance, so DLSS and FSR2 are definitely the way to go if you're looking to enjoy RT features on this title.

The bar charts speak for themselves here: the RX 7900 XT offers up performance a touch ahead of the excellent RTX 3080 - but unfortunately its MSRP is $200 higher. Meanwhile, the RX 7900 XTX is delivering frame-rates in the same region as the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090. Reconstruction in 4K performance mode adds a fixed cost to native 1080p rendering, and typically the lower the base resolution, the tighter performance differentials become - that's the case here, with the XT offering 90 to 91 percent of XTX frame-rates, in line with its price difference.

CYBERPUNK 2077, ULTRA RT, DX12, DLSS VS FSR2

Dying Light 2

Developer Techland may well have pivoted to multi-platform development but in common with many Eastern European studios, we know that their hearts still lie with PC gaming - hence the incredible range of RT features added for this platform when the consoles only received RT shadows and ambient occlusion. The developers pushed the boat out and it's only with the new generation of Nvidia GPUs that we can sustain performance well above 4K at 60fps thanks to image reconstruction - but what about RDNA 3?

Some reasonable results here from both RDNA 3 cards, with the 7900 XT broadly in line with the RTX 3090, while the XTX inches ahead of 3090 Ti, so gen-on-gen gains vs RDNA 2 also impress. The RTX 4080 and 4090 are still in a class of their own, however, as you may expect - even with image reconstruction usually reducing frame-rate differentials owing to the lower base resolution.

DYING LIGHT 2, ULTRA RT, DX12, DLSS VS FSR2

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

DLSS has established that image reconstruction is an essential technology in the PC gaming landscape, with competitors coming up with their own solutions in an attempt to match it. It's our contention at Digital Foundry that regardless of marketing deals etc, if a game developer supports one of these technologies, it should support them all - after all, they are fundamentally based on the same inputs. Few titles support XeSS, DLSS and FSR2, but Nixxes does them all in Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered... along with DLSS 3 frame generation too. It's the way it should be.

The impressive RT results seen without image reconstruction carry over here, with the RX 7900 XTX offering around 97 percent of the performance of the RTX 4080, while the cutdown XT model is ahead of the RTX 3090 Ti. The bar charts close up significantly at 1440p - almost certainly down to frame-rates being so high that we're hitting the CPU limit of the Core i9 12900K.