RTX 3090 DLSS quality vs 7900 XT native vs wait

[Vexr]

I believe I've narrowed down my next GPU choice to an RTX 3090 (will have to be used) vs a new 7900 XT.

As per my recent thread pointing out problems with FSR 2.1 in Cyberpunk, it seems I'm unable to tolerate that upscaling tech.

Display-wise I have a Freesync 3440x1440 @ 100 Hz and a 4K TV @ 60 Hz. I'm thinking DLSS 3 would be unusable on my high res but low refresh displays, and I'm becoming convinced having a mega amount of VRAM will be best for avoiding a headache a few years down the line, especially at the resolutions I play at. It therefore seems the entire RTX 4000 series is lost on me, unless willing to stretch to a 4090 (nope), or a 4080 and tolerate the VRAM of a Radeon 6800 @ £1k+, which is another nope.

Or maybe I should just chill and replay some classics, because better alternatives will soon be coming at the price point these two cards currently occupy?

 

[Vexr]

Have seen two stories: one of the 3090 vs the 7900 XTX, where the latter gives the former a kicking in rasterization. Then when it comes to upscaling tech (FSR vs DLSS) especially with any ray tracing, the 3090 edges ahead of even the 7900 XTX.

Later I saw benchmarks where even the junior bro of the XTX, the 7900 XT, beat the **** out of the RTX 3090 in pretty much all metrics.

 

[Vexr]

I'm still edging toward a dirty used 3090, especially if it hangs around £100 below the 7900 XT. Perhaps even the 4GB of extra VRAM may eventually mean something.

RIP the 3080 Ti cards I was considering a month ago, and my anticipation of the 4070, which I'd hoped would have come to the rescue of consumers, but then I learned of all these VRAM issues.

 

[Vexr]

Here's an early 3090 vs 7900 XTX review

Here's one of those youtuber randos doing benchmarks of the 3090 vs 7900 XT:

I don't think power guzzling has much to do with it - these are all over 300w+ cards. The 3090 is still supposed to draw slightly less than a 7900 XTX.

 

[Vexr]

Sounds like a vote in favour of wait

That the £600-£800 price range will soon be occupied by cards that will render the RTX 3090 - 7900 XT the hilarious meme cards that they deserve to be.

In the meantime my poor old 5700 XT is sweating bullets even thinking about games at the resolution I'm wanting it to display.

 

[Vexr]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'm just going to wait it out for now, but will be keeping a close eye on the 7900 XTs and 3090s for a deal I can't resist.

At least I'm not at all tempted by the 4070 or 4070 Ti given the likelihood they'd run out of VRAM on day one on my humble 4K60 and UW1440p displays.

 

[Vexr]

I'm coming around to the idea of a 7900 XT over a 3090. Largely because:

- Jitters about the used market for the 3090, and prices seem to be trending upward for 3090s since the VRAM apocalypse became apparent
- I have no use for CUDA as far as I know
- There are new games without DLSS (i.e. Dead Island 2), and in those scenarios the 7900 XT is easily head and shoulders above the 3090
- FSR may yet get better, and I heard somewhere that RDNA3 may have some as yet untapped potential for upscaling in its hardware, or maybe that's just for frame generation, or maybe I dreamt it
- Cyberpunk 2077 RT overdrive. Having seen how good that looks, making the old RT psycho settings look like a**, I'm thinking I should save my replay for another few years until cards can handle path tracing
On the other side of that coin:
- UE5 with its software RT. Hardware ray tracing is to now 'increases accuracy at the expense of performance' or some such. What sort of incentive is that for turning on hardware ray tracing at all?
- Sounds like all the 7900 XT non-reference models run quiet, which I like

 

[Vexr]

I couldn't resist any longer and went for a Sapphire Pulse 7900 XT. It's a phenomenal jump in performance over the 5700 XT, as it should be

 

[Vexr]

I hope it serves you well. I've been thinking about an 7900 XT myself but I cannot justify the price coming from a 6700XT. I paid 5000 DKK for it during all the craze after selling a 3070 for 6000 DKK. I would have to fork out around 7000 DKK for a 7900XT and considering the performance uplift I just don't consider it enough for the money. A 6950 would make more sense at 5200DKK for the red devil and still... it's just not good enough value in my book considering what I already have. Please BTW leave bench results here for the rest of us to go over.. I'm curious how it performs with that 5700x of yours.

I can see your dilemma regarding upgrading from a 6700 XT. At least it should have enough VRAM for now, so no cliff edge fall in performance due to memory yet.

I've just done the benchmark circuit on this forum for the games I have - feel free to check them out via my post history. Hopefully Kaapstad will update the scoreboards soon.

I only previously posted a couple of 5700 XT benchmarks here when paired with my O/Cd Ryzen 2700.

Comparing those results to the 7900 XT + Ryzen 5700X @ UWQHD, the difference is:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider:
5700XT + Ryzen 2700 = 37 FPS
7900XT + Ryzen 5700X = 100 FPS

Forza Horizon 4:
5700XT + Ryzen 2700 = 74.2 FPS
7900XT + Ryzen 5700X = 179.7 FPS

I'm pleased. The 7900 XT definitely feels more than double the power of the 5700 XT. Tech power up has the difference at 244%, which sounds about right