AMD RDNA 3 GPU leaked benchmarks disappoint some gamers
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AMD’s RDNA 3 graphics cards are just around the corner, and we’ve just seen leaked benchmarks that underline what Team Red claims in its pre-release marketing – namely that the flagship will be a close match for Nvidia’s RTX 4080.
video cardz (opens in new tab) picked up the leaked 3DMark scores for the RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT, which are based on data collected from multiple reviewers, the site tells us; but it is clear that we have to be careful with such leakage.
The results themselves show that in 3DMark Time Spy at a resolution of 4K (Extreme preset), the RX 7900 XTX scores 13,729 and the 7900 XT scores 13,687, very close behind the flagship. That compares to the RTX 4080 at 14,005, so both AMD graphics cards are pretty close to the Nvidia product.
With a resolution of 1440p in Time Spy, the RTX 4080 has more of an edge at 28,050 compared to the RX 7900 XTX at 25,473 and the 7900 XT at 23,897.
Switching to 3DMark FireStrike, the 7900 XTX overtakes the RTX 4080, scoring 18,853 compared to the Nvidia GPU at 17,294, with the 7900 XT trailing at 16,915.
And in 1440p for FireStrike, the 7900 XTX graphics card again beats the Nvidia card with a score of 37,702, with the RTX 4080 a bit behind with 33,932, and the 7900 XT not far behind with a score of 33,497.
Analysis: clumsiness of the driver?
If these benchmarks are accurate, it means the RX 7900 XTX is actually 9% and 13% faster than the RTX 4080 in FireStrike (4K and 1440p respectively), and the RTX 4080 turns the tables in TimeSpy at 2% and 10 % faster . So the idea that the two graphics cards are pretty close in terms of performance – which is the line AMD has pushed, or at least says its flagship RDNA 3 offering competes with the RTX 4080 and not the 4090 – seems very on the money (and broadly in line with other leaks we’ve seen lately).
Of course, aside from the leaked nature of these scores begging for skepticism, we should also keep in mind that these are synthetic benchmarks. A range of real-world gaming results is what is really needed to judge how the AMD RDNA 3 GPUs perform against the RTX 4080.
And the RTX 4090, by the way, and if you’re wondering, it’s in VideoCardz’s results table and unsurprisingly in the lead. Indeed, it’s about 20% to 40% faster than AMD’s 7900 XTX, depending on the benchmark and resolution you’re looking at.
While there’s something odd going on here, we should note that the Time Spy results show the 7900 XT to be very close to the flagship XTX model, and indeed practically equal to 4K. It looks like something isn’t quite right here, so if there’s no fault with the leak then maybe it could be a case of a wonky early graphics driver? Hopefully any wrinkles will be ironed out here before launch.
These benchmarks have led to some disappointed comments online, with people actually hoping the 7900 XTX would be faster – but given AMD’s positioning of the flagship as an RTX 4080 rival, we don’t see where any factor of surprise comes into the equation with this leak, really. (Keep that anomaly with the potentially shaky driver, which could mean the XTX runs faster than shown here).
Another area of potential concern is that if, as rumor has it, third-party custom models are significantly more expensive for RDNA 3 GPUs – as opposed to just a lot more expensive, which is to be expected – that could leave the 7900 XTX’s value proposition . not as convincing as we’d hoped, compared to the RTX 4080 (at least in these cases). The same is true if the stock is thin on the ground, as the vine has recently suggested, and scalpers reel in their belts and inflate prices as well. And don’t forget that it’s rumored that Nvidia could drop RTX 4080 prices, perhaps in part in response to the launch of RDNA 3.
We’ll see how this all plays out soon enough…