GeForce RTX 3070 vs. Radeon RX 6800: 41 Game Benchmark

[Nargg]

If you are building a rig......and the money you have to invest.....if your worried about demanding games.....nightmare settings....ray tracing....dlss....ram.....just bite the bullet ....spend more....and get the 3080

And, Steve is worried about $80. Heck, get the RX6900 and still have all the above. Ray tracing is coming, but that tech is still over sold and really doesn't do enough to make it worth the hype.

 

[Nargg]

Instead of all the B.S. on ray tracing, I'd like to see numbers on HDR. HDR has done a heck of a lot more for games recently that ray tracing has.

 

[scavengerspc]

Instead of all the B.S. on ray tracing, I'd like to see numbers on HDR. HDR has done a heck of a lot more for games recently that ray tracing has.

Ray tracing has the worst hype\results factor I have seen in over a decade.

I have actually seen CP 2077 reviews that praise it as the best use of RT by far. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

To me its really simple. If you have to pause a game to see the lastest break through in GPU tech, its not a break through.

 

[Adi6293]

I forgot to mention that I got a parts bin upgrade from my 1700 and 16gb of ram. Went from 16gb of 2133 to 64gb of 2400 and an 1800x. Not bad at all for a free upgrade. I also did this recently, as in the last 2 weeks so I'm enjoying my noticeable increase in performance. I was considering going with the 3700x but it isn't as clear cut as a 50% increase in performance. Looking at benchmarks it's closer to 10-15% from a 1700 and even less from an 1800x. I also got a free upgraded cooler from the whole thing so my 1800x is running at a stable 4.4 in games and doing so at around 40C.

I've downloaded assassins creed unity and odyssey as those are two of my favorite periods in history and Horizons zero dawn so I'm going to see how those play on this setup. I really don't game that much to begin with but it's covid so I'm spending lots of time at home. I just dumped 140 hours into 2077 so I'm burnt out on that for the time being.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the free parts bin upgrade. I'm thinking I can make it another year or so with this setup and I might just have to with the state of the industry

You have a 1800X running at 4.4Ghz all core? These CPU's didn't really go past 4.0Ghz, 4.1Ghz was lucky and at only 40C? You sure you measuring it right? Plus that 2400Mhz memory is definitely holding you back. Steve done some benchmarks and the 3700X was a lot faster than the 1700X from what I can remember

 

[jbgtly]

Ray tracing has the worst hype\results factor I have seen in over a decade.

I have actually seen CP 2077 reviews that praise it as the best use of RT by far. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

To me its really simple. If you have to pause a game to see the lastest break through in GPU tech, its not a break through.

DLSS is even worse. Its just a check mark to lower your resolution when your ego wont allow you to do it manually. Want better performance at 4k, then just run the game at 1440p. That's DLSS logic, deception 101. DLSS is the biggest deception scam I've ever seen in PC tech. How they constantly get away with flat out lying to customers is beyond me. 4k with DLSS is not 4k and should not be advertised or reviewed as such. It should be 1440p with DLSS to artificially resemble 4k. And any performance comparison to it should be done at the same resolution, not the BS artificially upscaled resolution.

 

[Steve]

I wish Steve would drop his obvious bias. Other than that, good review.

Just so I know, who am I biased towards?

 

[yRaz]

You have a 1800X running at 4.4Ghz all core? These CPU's didn't really go past 4.0Ghz, 4.1Ghz was lucky and at only 40C? You sure you measuring it right? Plus that 2400Mhz memory is definitely holding you back. Steve done some benchmarks and the 3700X was a lot faster than the 1700X from what I can remember

not all 8 cores, I only have 3 cores that like to go that high. With the boost clock the highest the other cores will go is 4.05. I also have a large air cooler and it's very cold in my apartment in the winter. 40C was a bit of an exaggeration. Checking the hardware monitor, the highest my CPU got when playing 2077 was 43C so I'm calling this a win.

If you could cite some benchmarks for me I'd appreciate it. The benchmarks I was able to find didn't show any appreciable difference relative to what it would cost to upgrade to a 3000 series. Sure, I'd like a 3000 series and if I could find one in the parts bin for free, great, but I'm not paying for one.

 

[texasrattler]

There is no $80 difference so lets stop all that nonsense. Theres a good chance there never will be either, at least for this generation. Both cards are good if you can find one, end of story.

 

[EmBlaze]

I'd like to see how unfair SAM is myself.

 

[Bobbysixjp]

DLSS is even worse. Its just a check mark to lower your resolution when your ego wont allow you to do it manually. Want better performance at 4k, then just run the game at 1440p. That's DLSS logic, deception 101. DLSS is the biggest deception scam I've ever seen in PC tech. How they constantly get away with flat out lying to customers is beyond me. 4k with DLSS is not 4k and should not be advertised or reviewed as such. It should be 1440p with DLSS to artificially resemble 4k. And any performance comparison to it should be done at the same resolution, not the BS artificially upscaled resolution.

I couldn’t agree more with this - when I first got my 3070 I played Control with DLSS on and it looked very grainy and low res. This was one of the reasons why I sold my 3070 and was lucky enough to pick up a 6800. The other being ray tracing which absolutely killed performance in most games when enabled.

 

[Ren128]

Here in Australia RX 6800 is between $949 and $1169, while RTX 3070 is $929 to $1299. However, the $1299 3070s are the fancy Strix models, and there's only one 3070 @ $929 so if you exclude those the prices are pretty much the same here. Oh and they're in AU dollars.

Availability wise, 6800 had one model in stock while there were 3 3070s models, and yes that includes one of the $1299 Strix (the white one)

 

[nnguy2]

Repeat after me DLSS on 4k monitor is not gaming at 4k.

 

[PEnnn]

Would you please stop with the "paying a premium for the Radeon" over and over ad nauseum nonsense??

The 6800 beat the krap out and swept your floors with the 3070 in all but 3 games, And it has twice the VRAM and all that for a lousy $80!!

One would think you're talking about double the price or something, but it's again EIGHTY dollars and you're talking to an audience who is not afraid of paying $1500+ for the 3090!

DLSS is an advantage for 3070? Yeah sure...except one needs a 3090 to play above 60 fps!!

 

[Bobbysixjp]

"Without a DLSS equivalent on offer and weaker ray racing performance, it’s hard to justify paying a premium for the Radeon."

I'd say double the RAM justifies that $80. $50 would have been better though... But the same price as the 3070 would have indeed made it pretty much a 3070 killer.

The DLSS equivalent not being here is a fair point, although, one can easily run 80% resolution + sharpening and get similar results. Not quite as good, but if you need the performance bump for some reason, you can use it.

As for using the lower ray tracing performance as an argument to not pay a premium over the RTX 3070... Do me a favor. I don't want to see any change in your editorial direction. Walk the talk.

Opinions vary of course, but for me DLSS and ray tracing are not that big of a selling point. DLSS can make things look blurry and ray tracing has too much of a performance hit to be worthwhile. I ended up selling my 3070 and buying a 6800. This is all subjective of course - for some people DLSS and ray tracing are a significant factor in choosing Nvidia over AMD.

 

[Makste]

Just so I know, who am I biased towards?

Nevermind trolls. Thanks for the review. Congrats for the pc upgrade.

 

[Grinnie Jax]

What a crap is that DLSS in 4k. Had to get rid of 3070, now waiting until I can get my hands on 6800XT.

 

[madboyv1]

While my setup is showing its age(1800x, 64GB of ram, 1070ti), it still does a good enough job. I was looking forward to a complete rebuild but at current prices and lack of availability, I going to sit this round out. That is further backed up by the fact that DDR5 is right around the corner. Plus, the extra time will give me a chance to save up for some better hardware

I was looking forward to upgrading as well in the very near future (our systems are not too far separated, aside from the boatload of RAM lol), but for the same reason I think I'm going to sit out as well. Honestly I'd like to see how AMD can continue developing and maturing the platform with RDNA 3, and the pricing between both camps is kinda meh to me even at MSRP, never mind the crazy markup. In any case, I'm still only gaming in 1080p (well, three screens but I usually only game on center) on my 1080 so I'll be fine for some time yet.

 

[sreams]

DLSS is even worse. Its just a check mark to lower your resolution when your ego wont allow you to do it manually.

I don't totally agree with this. I run a 2160p 50" display. Cyberpunk 2077 looks far better using DLSS to upscale 1440p to 2160p than running at 1440p (which isn't the native resolution of the display). Even DLSS 1080p upscaled to 2160p looks better than 1440p for me.

 

[Ryuyan]

While my setup is showing its age(1800x, 64GB of ram, 1070ti), it still does a good enough job. I was looking forward to a complete rebuild but at current prices and lack of availability, I going to sit this round out. That is further backed up by the fact that DDR5 is right around the corner. Plus, the extra time will give me a chance to save up for some better hardware

Any reason why you chose to go with only 64GB of RAM?

 

[Ryuyan]

DLSS is even worse. Its just a check mark to lower your resolution when your ego wont allow you to do it manually. Want better performance at 4k, then just run the game at 1440p. That's DLSS logic, deception 101. DLSS is the biggest deception scam I've ever seen in PC tech. How they constantly get away with flat out lying to customers is beyond me. 4k with DLSS is not 4k and should not be advertised or reviewed as such. It should be 1440p with DLSS to artificially resemble 4k. And any performance comparison to it should be done at the same resolution, not the BS artificially upscaled resolution.

Sounds like someone who doesn't use DLSS. What's artificially upscaled mean? Isn't all upscaling artificial? I've done side by side comparisons and it's impressive the quality they manage to give you for the performance that you gain. Most commonly the people that rag on DLSS are the very same people that will praise FidelityFX Super Resolution.

 

[mosu]

First of all, we have to thank Steven W for the good and honest review and support him in the future to keep things that way. For the rest of us, readers and posters, and also the staff of Techspot (including Steven, of course), I wish you a happy New Year, a healthy New Year, and a better 2021 New Year to all of you!

 

[yRaz]

Any reason why you chose to go with only 64GB of RAM?

it was free from the parts bin, but I also do lots of virtualization as a hobby and play around with hosting game servers in linux. But, most importantly, it was free

 

[Lounds]

Hi Steve great article, it would be great to see how SAM increases performance for the 6800 and if that 11-14% average can be increased to say 20% might make the 6800 worth it's RRP Vs the 3070. The biggest problem for both is the lack of stock.

I will admit I'm always rooting for AMD to do better as they are the underdog in terms of financial investment in their products for R&D and overall marketing budget is much lower.

As for feature set Nvidia is knocking it out of the park DLSS and the overall better Ray Tracing (apart from Dirt 5?) Makes the RTX lineup more favourable to Radeon cards.

I myself tried to get a 3060ti at launch as it was impossible, I guess bots are that good these days. It will be interesting to see how well the RX 6700 XT performs seeing as the RX 5700 XT is around 20-30% slower than the 3060ti.

 

[yeeeeman]

I wouldn't choose any AMD GPU until I see an extensive driver test. the rx5000 series has a LOT of issues, but absolutely no reviewer had the balls to write about it.

 

[neeyik]

it would be great to see how SAM increases performance for the 6800 and if that 11-14% average can be increased to say 20% might make the 6800 worth it's RRP Vs the 3070.

You can see how well it impacts a couple of games in his RX 6800 review (scroll down):

AMD Radeon RX 6800 Review

Nvidia stunned us with the RTX 3070 only three weeks ago. Now the Radeon RX 6800 has arrived packing twice as much VRAM and faster overall performance,...

www.techspot.com

It'll be good to have Nvidia sort out this feature for their products - extra performance, especially at 4K, with a simple click is always welcome.