China built a gaming GPU: Lisuan's LX 7G100 performs like an RTX 3060 but costs almost $500

[midian182]

Why it matters: China's push to create a homegrown gaming GPU that can challenge Nvidia, AMD, and Intel has taken another step forward – with some caveats. A retail version of Lisuan Technology's LX 7G100 has now been tested, and while it's a lot more convincing than previous early samples, the card's price makes it a hard sell.

A review of the Founder Edition model on BiliBili shows the 12GB card running a range of modern titles, which is an achievement in itself for a new GPU vendor using its own hardware, architecture, drivers, and software stack. The problem is that while it can run these games, the card can't compete with similarly priced GPUs from other companies.

The LX 7G100 reportedly sells for around 3,300 RMB, or about $480, in China. That puts it close to far more powerful mainstream cards from established vendors, such as the RTX 5060 Ti.

Lisuan's card does have some modern specs on paper, including 12GB of GDDR6, four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, support for up to 8K60 HDR output, and API support covering DirectX 12, Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL 4.6, and OpenCL 3.0.

In 3DMark, the LX 7G100 often lands around or above the five-year-old RTX 3060 territory depending on the test. Games are much less flattering. Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p with FSR3 Quality and frame generation averaged 88 fps on the Lisuan card, compared with 232 fps on an RTX 4060 and 243 fps on Intel's Arc B580. Black Myth: Wukong reached 56 fps, while Forza Horizon 5 managed just 48 fps on the Low preset.

The reviewer found that many modern games actually launched and ran, and there were reportedly few major crashes. That alone makes the LX 7G100 a much stronger debut than some earlier Chinese GPU efforts, especially Moore Threads' MTT S80, which required a long series of driver updates before game compatibility improved.

But the software side clearly needs work. The driver panel is basic, overclocking behavior appears inconsistent, monitoring support is limited, and there's no hardware ray tracing. Lisuan reportedly told the reviewer that ray tracing is planned for its second-generation GPUs.

The result is a card that's more impressive as a milestone than as something gamers should buy. When an early Lisuan G100 listing appeared last year, it appeared to perform like a 13-year-old GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The LX 7G100 is a huge leap beyond that. Unfortunately for Lisuan, it's priced like a proper competitor before performing like one.

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China built a gaming GPU: Lisuan's LX 7G100 performs like an RTX 3060 but costs almost $500

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Is this why Nvidia is relaunching the RTX 3060 12GB cards? To make sure they can compete with this China card?

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

So apparently this Lisuan chip is being made at TSMC, on their N6 process (same as the Radeon RX 7600). Has anyone found out what the die size of this chip is? The RX 7600 is 204 mm2, would be interesting to see how competitive Lisuan is on that front.

 

[yRaz]

Not that bad and I doubt they will stay that far behind for long. China is catching up and limiting their access to our tech will only increase their ability to develop their own. We spent the last 40 years sending all or know-how over to them so I don't know how far behind they actually are. Performance per square mm is what really interests me. If it's the size of a 3090 but performs like a 3060, then there is an issue. But if it's the size of a 3060 and performs like a 3060, I don't really have an issue with it. 3060 still makes for a great entry level card today for people who want to start their journey into PC gaming.

 

[themastergoose]

The threat to Nvidia isn't the card available today, it's the one they'll have in 5 years' time.

 

[Peter Farkas]

Any info on TDP and actual power consumption in the above benchmarks?

 

[OortCloud]

Good to see China coming for another awful US duopoly.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Looks like the drivers are optimized for 3DMark but not really for games yet, though at least you can play them. Still, gotta walk before you can run.

 

[NumberNine]

I'm all about domestically produced durable goods, but China is filling every abandoned niche of the market and getting better at it every day.

 

[Hotdog1n]

Temu GPU?

 

[toooooot]

My theory: they were tasked by the government to make a gaming GPU that does not rely (directly) on Western tech.
They made it, got paid for successful task completion.
Whether it sells or not is not their problem. CCP pours
insane amount of money into the industries it sees important. Do I believe that this card cost to make is 400-500 dollars? Yes, definitely. But the development was not paid by Lisuan.

 

[mbk34]

Hopefully, in a couple of years when they produce their equivalent of the 6090, I'll actually be able to afford it.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

I'm all about domestically produced durable goods, but China is filling every abandoned niche of the market and getting better at it every day.

What abandoned niche does this card fill though? Nvidia, AMD and Intel all have better cards at the same price or less, and its not like its anything special form factor wise.

 

[Gars]

It was RGB, now we have sRGB

 

[Theinsanegamer]

What abandoned niche does this card fill though? Nvidia, AMD and Intel all have better cards at the same price or less, and its not like its anything special form factor wise.

There is a cohort that have bought into the "Nvidia has abandoned us" dogma, as in they seem to think GeForce cards just don't exist anymore?

I don't get it, but people like to feel oppressed.

 

[Hecate91]

Nvidia has largely abandoned the gaming market since crypto, gamers have yet to come to terms with them not caring and keep buying Nvidia anyway.
Now the jacket man finally admits they don't care with combining gaming revenue into "edge computing".
Anyway, this Lisuan card isn't about being faster than an Nvidia, AMD, or Intel card, it's about getting away from the duopoloy and near monopoly of the GPU market.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Nvidia has largely abandoned the gaming market since crypto, gamers have yet to come to terms with them not caring and keep buying Nvidia anyway.
Now the jacket man finally admits they don't care with combining gaming revenue into "edge computing".
Anyway, this Lisuan card isn't about being faster than an Nvidia, AMD, or Intel card, it's about getting away from the duopoloy and near monopoly of the GPU market.

Can you give an example? The entire geforce lineup remains available to purchase, Nvidia is still continuing driver support for 10 years of cards, DLSS 4.5 came out this year, ece ece.

Where, exactly, is this abandonment you speak of?

 

[Vanderlinde]

So apparently this Lisuan chip is being made at TSMC, on their N6 process (same as the Radeon RX 7600). Has anyone found out what the die size of this chip is? The RX 7600 is 204 mm2, would be interesting to see how competitive Lisuan is on that front.

They will stay years behind. Designing competing gaming chips is not easy.

 

[Rapob]

Ask Intel how hard this market is to enter.
Drivers/software is the biggest problem.

And now, getting memory chips.

Stuff like this is dead in the water, at 500 dollars. People won't even pay 200 dollars.

Intel sold 12GB Arc GPUs for 250 or so. Did not sell much. Mainly due to terrible drivers, game support and features.

 

[ZedRM]

Why would anyone outside China buy this? That cooling solution is terrible.

 

[jadwa]

I agree with your point. China is definitely closing the gap faster than most people expect, and restricting access to technology often speeds up domestic development rather than slowing it down.

At the end of the day, efficiency matters more than just raw performance. Performance per square mm and real-world value are what actually define a good product. If the output matches expectations for its class like you said with a 3060 level performance then it’s still a solid product for its segment, especially for entry-level gaming today.

The bigger concern is always balance between size, power efficiency, and real-world performance rather than just comparisons on paper.