Unlike previous generations, AMD and Nvidia trade blows point-for-point in 2024, and picking a brand to go with isn’t as easy as counting the dollars in your wallet.
The two missing GPUs are the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080, both of which have been replaced by a Super refresh. The RTX 4070, the only other GPU with a Super refresh, still lives alongside the refreshed model. Although the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti are technically discontinued, you can still find some models in stock at the time of writing.
Below, you can see a table showing how the options from AMD and Nvidia compare roughly. We’ll get into performance and pricing later, but this shows the rough equivalents from both brands. All but one of these GPUs are readily available at online retailers, either for list price or below list price. The RTX 4090 is the exception. The AI boom caused it to fly off the shelves, and even today, it’s hard to find one available for under $2,000. It’s not a great time to buy the RTX 4090, and it might never be.
These tests include our full suite, which has a handful of ray-tracing titles, too. We’ll take a closer look at ray tracing in the next section, but that’s an area where Nvidia normally holds a lead. Outside of ray tracing, the direct competition from AMD generally holds up better at the same price. You can see that in action above. In less demanding games like Returnal and Resident Evil 4, the RX 7900 GRE beats the RTX 4070 with ray tracing turned on, despite the fact that the two GPUs come in at the same price.
Starting with AMD, FSR compromises two components. The first part is upscaling, which works with any GPU and offers a performance boost by rendering your game at a lower resolution. A small set of games also support FSR 3, which adds frame generation into the mix. This compares two frames and generates one in between to boost your frame rate.
You can see in Hogwarts Legacy how AI makes a difference. On the shingles, DLSS is able to maintain much more detail than FSR. In addition, DLSS is much more stable. Both FSR and DLSS are subject to ghosting and flickering artifacts, but DLSS generally handles fine details better than FSR does. You get your standard suite of features, including a screenshot function, recording through Nvidia Shadowplay, and instant replay. Nvidia has a few unique features through Freestyle, though. With an RTX GPU, you can use RTX Dynamic Vibrance and RTX HDR, both of which use AI to enhance the look of your games.