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Nvidia is the current king of graphics cards, especially if you’re looking for a high-end GPU for your gaming build. But Nvidia isn’t the only game in town.
While AMD isn’t as popular, it also makes great gaming video cards without the corresponding higher price due to demand. So, let’s look at the two top-billed GPUs from Team Red and Team Green to see which one offers the best performance.
GPU Specification Comparison
Before anything else, let’s look at what these GPUs have in terms of hardware and compare their specifications:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Architecture
Ada Lovelace
AI Upscaling
Boost Clock
Base Clock
Standard Memory Size
Memory Type
Memory Bus
10240 NVIDIA CUDA Cores
6144 Stream Processors
Ray Tracing Cores (NVIDIA)/Compute Units (AMD)
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs)
Render Output Units (ROPs)
Launch Date
July 14, 2025
June 11, 2025
As you’re able to see in the table above, the 7900 XTX technically has the edge over the 4080 Super, with its substantially larger VRAM (8GB more). However, Team Green has an advantage in both boost and base clock speeds.
While the 4080 Super has significantly more shaders than the 7900 XTX, the advantage shifts back to AMD when it comes to TMUs and ROPs. The latter also demands a little more power with its 355-watt TDP versus the former’s 320 watts.
Furthermore,both cards feature AI upscaling. The RTX 4080 Super started with DLSS 3.0, which has now beenupdated to DLSS 3.5. On the other hand,AMD uses FSR 3, which isn’t as good as what Nvidia offers but has taken strides in catching up in terms of quality and performance.
Nevertheless, these numbers still do not show a significant advantage between one card or another. So, it’s time to consider how these GPUs perform when benchmarked.
Benchmark Performance Numbers of the 7900 XTX and 4080 Super
Benchmarkingis when you run your PC hardware against a series of standardized tests to see how they perform. There are some popularfree benchmark programs, but the best ones usually are paid apps.
Nevertheless, if you don’t have the hardware yet and are just comparing, you can check out several benchmark websites that collate benchmark records across several apps. So, let’s see how these two GPUs stack against each other under artificial loads.
Performance Rating (3DMark 11 + Fire Strike + Time Spy)
3DMark 11 Performance GPU
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
Geekbench 6.2 GPU OpenCL
Geekbench 6.2 GPU Vulkan
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit Room GPU
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit Sala GPU
These numbers show that the RX 7900 XTX outperforms the 4080 Super in 3DMark tests. However, the latter shines better when tested with Geekbench and LuxMark apps.
Since both GPUs are neck and neck in benchmark results, we still cannot conclude which one is superior. Furthermore, one card besting the other in a specific test doesn’t necessarily mean that it is objectively better; it could just be an example of how one is optimized better for a given number of tests.
So, the best way to see how graphics cards perform is to play actual games and see the frame per second that they could deliver.
7900 XTX vs. 4080 Super Actual Gaming Comparison
For this comparison, we will look at NotebookCheck.net’s test results for the 7900 XTX and the 4080 Super. Let’s look at the results of 20 different games and see how these cards performed in 4K gaming.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super (Average FPS)
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (Average FPS)
4K Ultra + Quality DLSS
4K Ultra + Quality FSR
Skull & Bones
Helldivers 2
Enshrouded
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Ready or Not
The Finals
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
EA Sports WRC
Alan Wake 2
Lords of the Fallen
Total War Pharaoh
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Counter-Strike 2
Armored Core 6
Immortals of Aveum
Atlas Fallen
You can see from the average that both cards have similar performance, with an average of about 105 fps for 4K gaming. However, Nvidia’s more mature DLSS technology, which uses AI, allows the RTX 4080 to pull ahead of the 7900 XTX, especially as only three of the twenty titles listed above are compatible with FSR at the time of testing. Nevertheless, AMD could rectify this in the future as its FSR technology continues to mature.
How Much Do These Cards Cost?
With their benchmarks and raw performance numbers looking pretty similar, you might still remain undecided as to which GPU you should purchase. So, let’s look at the cost of these GPUs at launch and what they go for today. After all, even if one card is marginally better than the other, if their prices are miles apart, you might as well just go for the more affordable card and take the performance hit (of less than 1 fps anyway).
Price at Launch
Amazon Price at Time of Writing
Asus TUF Gaming RTX 4080 Super OC: $1,099.99
Asus TUF Gaming RX 7900 XTX OC: $1,150.88
BestBuy Price at Time of Writing
Gigabyte RTX 4080 Super Gaming OC: $1,099.99
Gigabyte RX 7900 XTX Gaming OC: $989.99
Newegg Price at Time of Writing
MSI Ventus RTX 4080 Super: $1,029.99
XFX Speedster Merc 310 RX 7900 XTX: $912.13
Although both GPUs were priced at $999 at launch, their different AIB partners and retailers priced them differently. Given the popularity of Nvidia’s products, it’s just natural to find these cards at a higher price. Nevertheless, their sticker prices aren’t that shocking, with Asus and Gigabyte asking for $100 more, while MSI is only priced at $30 above the launch price.
On the other hand, AMD’s GPUs are slightly cheaper, except for the Asus version, which is $150 over the launch price. Gigabyte’s and XFX’s offerings are cheaper than what AMD announced, with gamers who choose XFX able to save over $70.
Which High-End GPU Should You Buy?
The performance numbers you get on the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super aren’t that significantly different, with the advantage swinging in either direction multiple times throughout the different tests. The only clear winner between the two in 4K gaming is if you use Nvidia’s DLSS, which allows the 4080 Super to hit higher FPS numbers while being compatible with a much larger number of titles.
Given that, the Nvidia then becomes the obvious choice if you’re looking for a GPU for 4K gaming. However, if you want an all-AMD CPU, especially if you’re comparing (or already have) one ofthe latest Ryzen 7000 X3D chips, then the 7900 XTX is still a good bet.
