Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 vs. AMD Radeon 6950 XT: Which GPU should you buy?

The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT has been an fascinating GPU this era. It’s each cheaper than the competing Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090—and generally sooner, too. It’s now been refreshed with the RX 6950 XT, a late entrant into the tumultuous GPU market. Nvidia has additionally finished its half with the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, which brings spectacular efficiency, albeit with a excessive value and energy draw at 450W TDP.  

With the unique RTX 3090 worth lately reducing barely, it makes for an fascinating comparability towards the newer AMD RX 6950 XT. The RTX 3090 Ti gives extra efficiency, however is considerably exterior of the worth bracket of the RX 6950 XT. Is this AMD refresh sufficient to push efficiency for AMD forward of Nvidia, even within the murky waters of ray tracing? More importantly, does it transfer the needle for high-end players sufficient for them to change their allegiance from Nvidia to AMD? Let’s discover out!

Nvidia RTX 3090 vs. AMD 6950XT: Price

Relax. You can simply discover each GPUs in inventory now at most retailers, and customarily at near MSRP. The GPU market has skilled a big downturn over the past a number of months, with costs rapidly dropping from their stratospheric ranges. 

The AMD RX 6950XT is available in at a $1,099 MSRP for the reference mannequin, and a few third-party fashions vary from $1,199 to $1,299. A modest bump from the $999 6900XT pricing—nevertheless it doesn’t imply they’re a terrific deal. With the declining GPU market and murmurs of the next-generation GPUs popping out this 12 months, it has considerably dampened demand and enthusiasm for this degree of GPU. 

The Nvidia RTX 3090 has additionally skilled a lot decrease demand, leading to rapidly falling pricing. While you’re nonetheless unlikely to discover a $1,499 Founders Edition at MSRP, most fashions reminiscent of these from the EVGA RTX 3090 lineup have skilled a big worth drop, coming in as little as $1,609 for the Black collection. (The 3090 Ti debuted at $1,999, an enormous improve over the RTX 3090—and it’s already being discounted at many retailers, too) 

The pricing on the used market is even decrease, nevertheless, with RTX 3090s dipping near the $1,200 mark in lots of instances. 

Neither mannequin is a good price-to-performance alternative this late into the discharge cycle, nevertheless. Most high-end players who don’t have a top-tier GPU will doubtless be finest served by ready for the subsequent era this 12 months.

Thiago Trevisan

Nvidia RTX 3090 vs. AMD 6950XT: Performance

AMD actually threw in a shocking efficiency with the unique 6900 XT—it was in a position to match or beat the RTX 3090 in sure video games and eventualities. Has the RX 6950 XT lastly crossed the Rubicon in all efficiency areas? Not fairly. When it involves ray tracing efficiency, the RTX 3090 continues to be out forward. (Check out Brad Chacos’ review for a deeper dive on the brand new AMD refreshes.)

Thiago Trevisan

In video games reminiscent of Watch Dogs Legion with conventional rasterization, we will see the AMD RX 6950 XT performing as properly or higher than the RTX 3090 (particularly at decrease resolutions). This development continues in different video games reminiscent of Horizon Zero Dawn, the place it’s in a position to sustain with the RTX 3090. Game after recreation, each GPUs commerce blows and are extremely aggressive with one another. 

Both GPUs have social gathering methods up their sleeves for efficiency, too. AMD has Smart Access Memory that may enhance efficiency when coupled with a Ryzen CPU, together with Radeon Super Resolution. This will give it important boosts in lots of video games, besting the RTX 3090 in some instances, as proven beneath in Horizon Zero Dawn. Nvidia additionally has DLSS know-how that does wonders for retaining graphical constancy and excessive frames concurrently—which is a gamer changer when paired with ray tracing.

Thiago Trevisan

What occurs once we introduce ray tracing? That’s the place Nvidia’s RTX 3090 nonetheless holds a bonus over AMD. The 6950 XT doesn’t have upgraded ray tracing {hardware} when in comparison with the 6900 XT, retaining it behind the Nvidia RTX GPUs on this case. 

It could be argued that there are diminishing returns for ray tracing visuals and efficiency, with various outcomes. The know-how places insane pressure on efficiency, decreasing body charges considerably till you claw some again with the assistance of an upscaling know-how like DLSS or AMD’s FSR. The visible affect doesn’t all the time make dropping that efficiency worthwhile, both. But in terms of the “halo” GPUs like these, ray tracing could be a part of the rationale you get a high-end GPU within the first place; you need to flip all the attention sweet as much as Ultra, together with ray tracing. Paired with Nvidia’s DLSS, the efficiency penalty could be mitigated, and the visuals loved absolutely.

This is one huge benefit of the RTX 3090 versus the newer 6950 XT—most efficiency and visuals matter once you’re spending method over $1,000 for a GPU. AMD’s ray tracing {hardware} is a era behind Nvidia’s implementation, whereas its DLSS rival, FSR 2.0, is great however nonetheless in its infancy, with solely a handful of video games supporting the fledgling know-how at this level. That means ray tracing is finest skilled at 1440p decision on the 6950 XT, whilst you can normally crank ray traced video games even at 4K on the 3090. If you’re not considering ray tracing nevertheless, the 6950 XT is a mighty advantageous alternative for considerably much less value. 

Let’s not neglect that the RTX 3090 is actually higher geared in direction of content material creation and different workstation use instances, as properly. With a whopping 24GB of GDDR6x VRAM, it’ll handily beat the 16GB RX 6950 XT in most content material creation duties. The 3080 Ti can be a extra affordable competitor to the 6950 XT on this case as a pure gaming answer. 

Nvidia RTX 3090 vs. AMD 6950 XT: Power and different issues to know

The RTX 3090 packs a TDP of 350W, with many third-party fashions eclipsing 400W. The RX 6950 XT is available in a 335W TDP, which is affordable for the efficiency that it places out. Remember, the 3090 Ti is already as much as 450W TDP—so next-generation choices will doubtless go up considerably in necessities. 

You’ll need a minimal of a 750W energy provide for each, however we’d suggest you up that even larger for future proofing—as high-quality energy provides are likely to final a very long time. 

You’ll want a case with good airflow for each these choices, and higher clearance than lesser GPUs require. (They’re typically wrapped in a pleasant, thick, beefy air coolers to maintain their temperatures in verify.) 

Which is the higher choice for water cooling? We’d argue that the RTX 3090 is, because it doubtless may have a wider vary of water blocks accessible available on the market. Plus, with its steaming-hot VRAM, it typically advantages extra from taking a deep swim versus the sometimes cooler RX 6950 XT.

So, is the 6950 XT sufficient to finest the RTX 3090?

The 6950 XT is a barely extra highly effective addition to the high-end AMD lineup, placing up a powerful efficiency versus the RTX 3090. It’s easy: If you’re taking part in at larger resolutions and need to use ray tracing, Nvidia nonetheless holds a bonus right here. DLSS and the Nvidia encoders are additionally nice applied sciences that serve folks properly. 

If you’re after pure body charge goodness—with out as a lot ray tracing, the 6950 XT could be typically a significantly better alternative than the RTX 3090, particularly in sub-4K resolutions. AMD gives nice applied sciences reminiscent of FSR, Smart Access Memory to actually up the efficiency too. 

So, who wins? Unfortunately, the 6950 XT is available in too late within the launch cycle to be related within the quickly declining GPU market, making it an costly choice. The growing older RTX 3090 is an identical story. Its excessive worth was by no means an excellent choice for purely gaming—making higher use for hybrid content material creators/players as a substitute. The RTX 3090 Ti is a good worse worth proposition this late into the story, making it solely related for a number of high-end fans who don’t thoughts the worth tag. 

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The verdict: This is an effective ole’ original standstill. We’d wait out the market a number of months as each will expertise even steeper declines in worth with the introduction of the subsequent era. Otherwise, for those who actually will need to have one now, the choice will come all the way down to ray tracing choice and backbone you’re taking part in at. Both GPUs gives you good, all-around efficiency for years to return—however neither are a terrific alternative proper now because the GPU market is quickly altering this 12 months.