The final word:
The 7700 XT, a good compromise for 1440p rasterization:
It’s now time to give you our impressions of this TUF Gaming RX 7700 XT OC, which, let’s not forget, is intended for 1440p definition. One thing’s for sure: we’ve got a lot to say about this new AMD graphics card, too. Let’s start with 1440p rasterization performance, which is very good. Admittedly, there’s a real difference with its big sister, the RX 7800 XT, but the results are well up to scratch, especially when compared with the previous generation, the RX 6700 XT, with a gain of almost 25%.
Ray tracing, NVIDIA still ahead thanks to DLSS:
With ray tracing enabled, our TUF Gaming RX 7700 XT OC achieves 60 FPS if the game is equipped with FSR or XeSS, upscaling technologies that deliver significant FPS gains. Despite this, it’s still the RTXs that do best with DLSS. The RTX 3070 Ti thus manages to maintain a clear advantage. We’ll be repeating our 1440p ray tracing tests with the RTX 4060 Ti, as this is DLSS 3.0-compatible, enabling NVIDIA to crush the competition in games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Hitman 3. We would really have liked to see the potential of AMD’s FSR 3.0 land at the same time as this launch, given that NVIDIA is already working on version 3.5 of its DLSS.
A much less competitive card than the RX 7800 XT!
At present, the RTX 3070 Founders Edition is still our reference model for 1440p definition, which we recall was launched at 519 euros in October 2020. Here we are in September 2023, three years later, with a TUG Gaming RX 7700 XT OC priced at 564.99 euros, with admittedly far superior rasterization performance. For us, this is a less attractive price than that offered for the RX 7800 XT. Based on the RX 7700 XT’s MSRP of 499 euros, for 55 euros more you get the RX 7800 XT, with 20% more performance and 16 GB of memory. For TUF Gaming models, the difference between the RX 7700 XT and the RX 7800 XT is 60 euros. Our conclusion is the same: opt for the TUF Gaming RX 7700 XT.
We’re reliving the same situation as when the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX were launched. Let’s hope the price of this RX 7700 XT drops in the coming weeks, as it did with the RX 7900 XT.
NVIDIA’s reaction:
Well, it’s already begun, with the price of the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB dropping to 499.99 euros at certain retailers. This price cut will mainly serve to compete with our TUG Gaming RX 7700 XT OC, priced at 564.99 euros. So it’s NVIDIA that’s positioning itself more aggressively on this model. Admittedly, the TUF RX 7700 XT offers better rasterization performance than the RTX 4060 Ti, but the latter can count on support for DLSS3 and soon DLSS 3.5. It’s therefore more difficult to decide between the two competing cards, and you’ll have the last word, depending on your budget and whether or not you use ray tracing!
No overclocking?
No, we didn’t test overclocking, as current drivers restrict the frequency to 2700 MHz. AMD is aware of the problem, and will be proposing a fix with the next drivers. We’ll be offering you a dedicated test with ASUS’ GPU Tweak III software.
ASUS TUF Gaming RX 7700 XT OC:
We liked:
- A card that lets you take full advantage of 1440p without compromising on rasterization
- The sober design of the TUF Gaming series
- Classic 8-pin connectors
- Reliable noise levels
- The quality of the board’s design
- Good price/performance ratio
- FSR, which, when present, enables a gain in FPS
We would have liked :
- Power consumption has improved, but AMD still needs to do better
- An MSRP that’s more in line with the 450 euro mark
- FSR 3 to arrive at the same time as this TUF Gaming RX 7700 XT OC
This TUF Gaming RX 7700 XT OC is a very interesting card for 1440p definition, even if it suffers for us from a much less attractive price/performance ratio than its big sister, the RX 7800 XT. NVIDIA seems to be more responsive to the price drop of the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, which promises an interesting price war between these two models. Nonetheless, the TUF Gaming model is an excellent card, with a high-performance, very quiet cooling system. Let’s hope to see its price drop in the weeks to come, in line with the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB. Many thanks to ASUS France for making this card available.
