Nvidia RTX 4070 vs AMD RX 7900 GRE

If you want to enjoy the latest games at the best settings and resolutions, a decent graphics card is essential. Unfortunately, getting one remains a challenge. Nvidia may have released the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and recently the 5070 Ti, but these new cards are out of stock pretty much everywhere. This scarcity has led many gamers to look at last-generation offerings to get a capable gaming machine up and running.

Even when looking at these last-gen cards, you might be in for a shock as price hikes have affected these as well, often pushing prices above their original launch MSRPs. This makes value for money more important than ever, which might lead you to comparing two of the best options from the last generation: the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE.

The good news is that these cards are still relevant for today’s games and compete with some of the latest releases, especially at 1080p and 1440p. But which one should you go for? We’re here to help you decide. Let’s start by looking at the specifications for both.

We’ve included the launch and current pricing for these cards at the bottom of the table as a guide only. What you end up paying for such cards can be very different right now, due to the high demand for new builds.

Unfortunately, you can’t easily compare Nvidia’s GPU specs with AMD’s as they’re designed and built in different ways and offer wildly different capabilities. To actually compare them, we’re going to have to turn to real-world performance.

Both cards have been around for a while now, so there’s plenty of performance data and benchmarks available. You can check your preferred review sites or YouTube channels to see if they’ve done a direct comparison or at least included both cards in their benchmark graphs, helping you decide which one works best for the games you want to play. Since the 7900 GRE came out after the 4070, focus on reviews that tested it against the older GPU.

Overall, the AMD RX 7900 GRE generally has the edge, although performance varies depending on the game. AMD’s card typically performs better in rasterization, sometimes significantly so, while the RTX 4070 often leads in ray tracing. NVIDIA’s more advanced DLSS technology narrows the gap, but overall, the 7900 GRE has the advantage.

For more detailed benchmarks, check out reviews from the likes of Tom’s Hardware and PCWorld.

What if you’re interested in more than just gaming? In productivity tasks, the choice depends on the applications you plan to use. Nvidia has a clear advantage here thanks to CUDA, which is widely supported. That’s not to say AMD’s offering isn’t capable, but it may require more effort when working with AI or intense 3D workloads.

An important consideration for productivity is VRAM. The AMD RX 7900 GRE has 16GB, compared to the 12GB on the RTX 4070. That extra 4GB can provide more headroom in some applications. However, CUDA support still gives the RTX 4070 an edge in many productivity scenarios. If productivity is your main focus, though, you might need to look at higher-end cards.

Both cards require a 650W power supply for your system, but the AMD card draws more power, peaking at 260W compared to the RTX 4070’s 200W. This is the trade-off for the 7900 GRE’s higher performance.

Whichever card you choose, make sure you have a reliable power supply. Our RMe Series starts at 650W and natively supports the 12V-2x6 connector needed by the RTX 4070. If you want easier cable management, the RMx SHIFT Series is also worth considering, as its modular connectors are accessible from the side of the system, making installation simpler.

Both of these graphics cards are excellent choices. They deliver smooth frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, and 4K is achievable, especially with FSR and DLSS. Availability and price will likely determine which one you end up with. The AMD RX 7900 GRE generally delivers higher frame rates in more games, but DLSS, CUDA, and ray tracing features give the RTX 4070 its own appeal.