AMD is receiving plenty of praise for keeping the starting prices of the Radeon RX 7900 graphics cards under $1,000. But it turns out the products won’t compete against Nvidia’s flagship gaming GPU, the RTX 4090, which goes for $1,699.
Instead, the Radeon RX 7900 graphics cards are designed to compete against Nvidia’s lower-priced RTX 4080 16GB model, which goes on sale next week starting at $1,199.
“This card is designed to go up against the 4080,” AMD marketing chief Frank Azor said in an interview with PC World.
The topic was brought up when Azor was asked why AMD refrained from offering benchmarks comparing the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT models against Nvidia’s products, such as the RTX 4090, during the company’s unveiling of the GPUs.
“We don’t have benchmark numbers on the 4080 yet,” he said. “I think we’ll see those in a few weeks here. So that’s the primary reason as to why you didn’t see any Nvidia comparisons. Plus, we’re not in the business of giving [Nvidia] free marketing and advertising.”
Hence, consumers should tamp down their expectations for the Radeon RX 7900 XTX if they thought the product had the power to rival Nvidia’s top-tier GPU. “Let’s be realistic. It’s a $999 card, it’s not a 4090 competitor, which costs 60% more,” Azor added. “This is a 4080 competitor. Let’s be really crystal clear the class that we’re talking about.”
However, Azor said the Radeon RX 7900 XTX still represents an enticing buy for consumers looking for a high-end GPU. “You’re going to compete against a 4080 and be hundreds of dollars less expensive. I mean that’s a winning value proposition,” he said.
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT are slated to launch on Dec. 13 for $999 and $899, respectively. Stay tuned for our reviews. In the meantime, Nvidia has already canceled its lower-cost RTX 4080 12GB model, which was slated to arrive for $899, citing the product’s confusing name with the RTX 4080 16GB version.