Question Nvidia 4700 Super vs Sapphire RX 7900 XT Pulse

[Hyedwtditpm]

I need to add a video card to the new system I built. Nvidia 4700 Super and Amd 7900XT fit my budget and performance needs.

4700 Super looks like it has enough performance for my use. I will do 4k gaming but I'm not competitive or anything. Will the 12Gb ram be enough?
Sapphire RX 7900 XT Pulse is about the same price of 4700 Super, actually cheaper than most 4700 Super models.

Cpu is Amd 7900X. I don't use the GPU besides gaming but this is also my production machine, so driver stability and quality is important.

I dont know much about Sapphire brand and the recent quality of AMD gpu drivers.
I was about to buy 4700 Super but considering that Sapphire RX 7900 XT Pulse is about the same price, should I choose 7900XT?
Any recommendations ?

 

[dos_box]

The question would be how important are features like Raytracing or DLSS to you?

 

[Hyedwtditpm]

I never used Ray tracing, but from what I've read it makes a significant difference on the game play. but again, few games support it.

DLSS is important since I'll be using it with a 4k display. But the thing is in most games 7900XT is faster. So, isn't it better to choose the natively faster one instead of the one with the better DLSS support?

 

[artk2219]

Here the thing with ray tracing, the vast majority of games are not ray traced, and will likely not absolutely require ray tracing support for years. Its up to you, but the RX 7900 XT's ray tracing ability wont be a limiting factor for at least 4 or 5 years, by which point, its performance in general would be the biggest limiting factor. None of the current crop of cards, will offer acceptable ray tracing performance in a few years time with the exception of maybe the RTX 4090, the 4080 is a question mark, but everything on Nvidia's side is too memory limited on the 4070's and below. The 7900 XT is faster in everything else except for direct path raytracing, there the 4070 super pulls ahead for now. Those memory constraints will come into play sooner for the RTX 4070, and you'll be lowering settings on the 4070 super before you will have to for the 7900 XT. Also while DLSS and FSR can add frames, they can also increase input latency, which makes for an odd feeling when playing games with them enabled, personally i hated it, take the real frames when you can get them. Finally, yes ray tracing does make games look nicer, but it doesnt actually add anything to gameplay. Once you're actually playing the game, its basically background noise, at least that was my experience when I played with it previously on my RTX 2070 Super, RTX 3080, RX 6900 XT, and current RTX 7900 XTX. Occasionally i would stop and look around and think "oh that looks nice", but it isn't worth the drop in performance, i leave it disabled.

GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (founder edition) review (Page 30)

The GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (12GB) is released today, we have planned multiple reviews including our founder edition card. Targeted at ray tracing, DLSS, and AI-powered assists, the GeForce RTX 4070 SIUPER offers quite a bit of performance for 599 USD.

www.guru3d.com

 

[Hyedwtditpm]

Here the thing with ray tracing, the vast majority of games are not ray traced, and will likely not absolutely require ray tracing support for years. Its up to you, but the RX 7900 XT's ray tracing ability wont be a limiting factor for at least 4 or 5 years, by which point, its performance in general would be the biggest limiting factor. None of the current crop of cards, will offer acceptable ray tracing performance in a few years time with the exception of maybe the RTX 4090, the 4080 is a question mark, but everything on Nvidia's side is too memory limited on the 4070's and below. The 7900 XT is faster in everything else except for direct path raytracing, there the 4070 super pulls ahead for now. Those memory constraints will come into play sooner for the RTX 4070, and you'll be lowering settings on the 4070 super before you will have to for the 7900 XT. Also while DLSS and FSR can add frames, they can also increase input latency, which makes for an odd feeling when playing games with them enabled, personally i hated it, take the real frames when you can get them. Finally, yes ray tracing does make games look nicer, but it doesnt actually add anything to gameplay. Once your actually playing the game, its basically background noise, at least that was my experience when I played with it previously on my RTX 2070 Super, RTX 3080, RX 6900 XT, and current RTX 7900 XTX. Occasionally i would stop and look around and think "oh that looks nice", but it isn't worth the drop in performance, i leave it disabled.

GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (founder edition) review (Page 30)

The GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (12GB) is released today, we have planned multiple reviews including our founder edition card. Targeted at ray tracing, DLSS, and AI-powered assists, the GeForce RTX 4070 SIUPER offers quite a bit of performance for 599 USD.

www.guru3d.com

Thank you for the reply.

and driver wise, I see on forums users often complain about AMD's drivers, software problems. Is there a significant difference between the two?

I use AI image generators, but I use them on web, so I don't benefit from the GPU. I am not sure if I'll need any of the AI features of Nvidia.

 

[artk2219]

Thank you for the reply.

and driver wise, I see on forums users often complain about AMD's drivers, software problems. Is there a significant difference between the two?

I use AI image generators, but I use them on web, so I don't benefit from the GPU. I am not sure if I'll need any of the AI features of Nvidia.

On the drivers end, not really, not since 2016 or so. Most people complaining about AMD drivers haven't used a card from AMD, or haven't used an AMD card in a while. That said, AMD is often playing catch up to features that Nvidia offers, they have general feature parity for the time being. Everyone botches a driver release every now and then. Even as recently as this year, Nvidia's 551.23 caused micro stuttering and performance issues if Vsync was enabled, it was quickly patched with 551.46. Intel's Arc launch was notorious for its terrible drivers, they've worked out the major issues, but their drivers still aren't quite up to AMD and Nvidia's standards. At least we haven't had to deal with a driver from anyone that killed GPU's or messed up windows installations in a little while.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

At 4k I would go with the 7900XT. It beats the 4070 super in pure raster performance, has extra vram which you will require at 4k both now and in the future and FSR works quite well at higher resolutions should you require it.

In regards to Ray Tracing then outside of the 4090 then it is not really something that is worth making a decision on a card over in my opinion. It can look good in a few games (Cyberpunk, Alan Wake) but it is still a new feature and I feel we are still a couple of generations away from it being mainstream and used in a manner that will really set itself apart from rasterisation. At present it doesn't feel like the FPS cost is worth it for the visuals.

The AMD driver issues seem to still get thrown around as a complaint but this seems to be a thing of the distant past now. It feels more of an anti AMD sentiment rather than an actual issue from what I can see.

 

[Hyedwtditpm]

Ok. Thank yor the replies.
I'm going to buy the Sapphire RX 7900 XT Pulse.

Do I need that support bracket for this card?

 

[MEMOFLEX]

From looking at the reviews it seems to suggest that a bracket is included with the card. I would see if the included bracket is sufficient for your needs before spending additional money on an aftermarket bracket.

Just out of interest what PSU do you have as I didn't see it mentioned? I am sure you have this covered but worth checking

 

[Hyedwtditpm]

This. I'm rather sure this will be enough.

Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 850W, True 450W 12VHPWR Connectors on PSU & NVIDIA RTX 40 Series, ATX 3.0/PCI-E 5.0, 80+ Gold

 

[artk2219]

This. I'm rather sure this will be enough.

Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 850W, True 450W 12VHPWR Connectors on PSU & NVIDIA RTX 40 Series, ATX 3.0/PCI-E 5.0, 80+ Gold

Yep, that will do just fine for, well, anything hah. Some people will be nit picky about the particular model, but its fine, and that power supply should be a decent unit that will last you a while.