RTX 3070 vs RX 6700 XT – Which One Should You Choose?

The RTX 3070 and RX 6700 XT are currently two of the most attractive offerings on the GPU market, largely due to their exceptional price-to-performance ratio. Both cards are reasonably priced while also running coolly and silently. There really are no downsides to these cards.

However, as both are so remarkable and perform similarly, how can you know which one you should get? The rivalry between AMD and NVIDIA is ongoing, whether in terms of raw performance or advantageous features.

We have compiled an extensive collection of research, including benchmarks, user reviews, and features to help you make an informed decision.

Features

Before making this decision, you’ll need to determine which brand you should choose. Understanding where AMD and NVIDIA excel should simplify the decision-making process.

The current popular features are the cards’ ray-tracing capabilities and upscaling techniques.

DLSS

DLSS or Deep Learning Super Sampling is a technology that takes lower resolution images and upscales them to a higher resolution. This technology provides users with improved FPS while maintaining visual fidelity.

In most video games, DLSS offers several options, including Quality, Balanced, and Performance modes. The Quality mode provides visual fidelity similar to native resolution with a modest increase in FPS. Balanced offers a compromise between performance and image quality. Performance provides the user with the maximum FPS boost, but the decline in image quality might not be worth it.

Overall, DLSS is a remarkable piece of technology that provides RTX users with a “free” FPS boost.

However, even several years since its release, a relatively small number of games support this feature, so that is something to keep in mind.

FSR

AMD’s alternative to DLSS is called FSR or FidelityFX Super Resolution. This feature is also comparatively new, so game support is fairly uncommon.

At launch, FSR offered support for seven varied games, including Anno 1800, Evil Genius 2, Terminator Resistance, Godfall, Kingshunt, The Riftbreaker, and 22 Racing Series.

These aren’t exactly the most important titles, but any support is welcome.

Here are some games expected to launch with FSR or that will receive an update soon: DOTA 2, Far Cry 6, Resident Evil VII: Village, Vampire the Masquerade – Bloodhunt, and innumerable more.

AMD also announced multiple studios that it has partnered with to implement FSR. These include Electronic Arts, Valve, Gearbox, Rebellion, Frostbite, Unity, and Warner Bros.

The reason why so many studios are embracing this new upscaling solution is likely because the implementation process is remarkably simple. At the very least, it is easier than implementing DLSS.

However, there’s one more thing to consider: FSR is not exclusive to AMD GPUs. In fact, it’s possible to use FSR with an RTX 3070, while using DLSS on an RX 6700 XT is impossible.

Even so, AMD cards will probably see superior performance gains from FSR due to driver optimizations.

Ray Tracing

On the other hand, ray tracing reduces a game’s framerate to provide far more authentic and realistic graphics. To use ray tracing, GPUs need hardware designed specifically for the purpose.

At present, NVIDIA’s technology (RT Cores) is more efficient and robust compared to AMD’s technology (Ray Accelerators).

Still, we should keep in mind that AMD is relatively new to the ray-tracing sector, so any future driver and game improvements should help balance things out.

Performance

The most crucial factor of any GPU is its performance. We’re all looking to make the finest of our budget. As these two GPUs are priced very similarly, we can compare them directly.

In Watch Dogs: Legion, the RX 6700XT is around 10% to 11% slower than the 3070, making it closer to the 3060 Ti. The 3070 emerges as a clear winner.

As Watch Dogs appears to favor NVIDIA GPUs, let’s examine an AMD title, specifically Godfall.

At 1440p, maxed out, the RX 6700 XT is 17% swifter than the 3070 and is closer to the RTX 3080, according to several assessments.

We can see the same trend in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, another AMD-enhanced title, where it exceeds the RTX 3070 by 14% at 1440p.

However, that’s where the dominance of the RX 6700 XT ends. In several other titles, including Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, Hitman 2, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbox Six Siege, the RTX 3070 is at least 10% faster.

After comparing several titles, on average, the RX 6700 XT is 3% slower than the RTX 3070 at 1080p. That performance gap increases marginally if you bump the resolution up to 1440p.

Such a minor difference in FPS probably won’t be sufficient for you to make a decision.

Fortunately, there are a few supplementary factors we can look at.

Thermals/Power Consumption

As performance isn’t the essential factor between these two GPUs, we will take a closer look at their temperature, noise, and power consumption.

From looking at the TDP of the cards, we can see that they are alike, and actual measurements appear to confirm this. While gaming, both cards average around 220W.

Power consumption results tell us that these two cards will perform very similarly as far as the thermal aspect. For a fair comparison, we need to look at the same brand and model; there’s no point in comparing the basic designs.

In this case, we will examine Gigabyte’s Gaming OC model, as it is accessible for both the RTX 3070 and RX 6700 XT.

During prolonged intense loads, both cards averaged at around 70°C, with the fans stabilizing at around 1800 RPM.

If you want a silent PC, you can choose either of these GPUs, as they are virtually identical in terms of noise and heat.

Overclocking

Based on various professional and user reviews, the RTX 3000 and RX 6000 series GPUs are not exactly an overclocker’s dream. Even when increasing their power limits and clock speeds to the maximum, the gains in-game are no more than 10%.

Specifically, the RTX 3070 appears to gain about 8% FPS in particular games with an OC to 1805 MHz, while the RX 6700XT only gains about 6% FPS with an OC to 2.75 GHz.

These results are based on the reference design and Founders Edition. If you have an AIB card, your specific performance may differ.

Price

The essential factor when buying PC hardware is almost always the price. Unfortunately, in this case, the pricing of these cards is quite comparable, so it doesn’t do much to make your decision simpler.

The MSRP of the RX 6700 XT is $479, while the RTX 3070 is priced at $500. Twenty-one dollars’ difference is not a significant amount of money, so it is up to you to decide whether those few frames more on the RTX 3070 are worth the slight extra cost.

You should also consider the RTX 3070’s capacity to utilize DLSS and its handling of ray-traced graphics.

We can’t discuss GPU pricing without considering the GPU market in 2020 and 2021. As of writing, the cost of any graphics card is doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled. This means making a comparison with MSRP is not really practical.

Which One Should You Get?

Even after reading all this information, figuring out which GPU you should select will be demanding. Both cards are almost identical in terms of performance, with the RTX 3070 taking just a slight edge.

You won’t go wrong with either of these two choices. However, considering current GPU prices, you should go for whatever you can find closest to MSRP. If you find an RX 6700 XT that is considerably cheaper than the RTX 3070, you should go down the AMD path and vice versa.