AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti

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Combined performance score

RTX 3090 Ti
76.83
+5%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 6950 XT by 5% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking814
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money14.1719.45
ArchitectureAmpere (2020−2022)Navi / RDNA2 (2020−2022)
GPU code nameAmpere GA102Navi
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date27 January 2022 (2 years old)10 May 2022 (1 year old)
Launch price (MSRP)$1,999 $1,099
Current price$1251 (0.6x MSRP)$961 (0.9x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6950 XT has 37% better value for money than RTX 3090 Ti.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores107525120
Core clock speed1560 MHz1925 MHz
Boost clock speed1860 MHz2324 MHz
Number of transistors28,300 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology8 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)450 Watt335 Watt
Texture fill rate625.0743.7

Size and compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

InterfacePCIe 4.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length336 mm267 mm
Width3-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 16-pin2x 8-pin

Memory

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR6XGDDR6
Maximum RAM amount24 GB16 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed21000 MHz18000 MHz
Memory bandwidth1,008 GB/s576.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI++

API support

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 Ultimate (12_2)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.66.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL3.02.1
Vulkan1.31.3
CUDA8.6no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

RTX 3090 Ti 76.83
+5%
RX 6950 XT 73.18

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 6950 XT by 5% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

RTX 3090 Ti 29775
+5%
RX 6950 XT 28359

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 6950 XT by 5% in Passmark.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

RTX 3090 Ti 69481
RX 6950 XT 72228
+4%

Radeon RX 6950 XT outperforms GeForce RTX 3090 Ti by 4% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RTX 3090 Ti 53110
RX 6950 XT 59882
+12.8%

Radeon RX 6950 XT outperforms GeForce RTX 3090 Ti by 13% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RTX 3090 Ti 246319
+7.5%
RX 6950 XT 229172

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 6950 XT by 7% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

RTX 3090 Ti 564087
+13.4%
RX 6950 XT 497297

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 6950 XT by 13% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD210
−4.8%
220
+4.8%
1440p140
+0.7%
139
−0.7%
4K101
+14.8%
88
−14.8%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 219
+36%
161
−36%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 110−120
+4.5%
110−120
−4.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 160
+24%
120−130
−24%
Battlefield 5 160−170
+2.5%
160−170
−2.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 170−180
+1.1%
170−180
−1.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 201
+40.6%
143
−40.6%
Far Cry 5 160−170
−7.1%
181
+7.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 130−140
−9.4%
152
+9.4%
Forza Horizon 4 210−220
+5.3%
200−210
−5.3%
Hitman 3 210−220
+1.9%
210−220
−1.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+5%
160−170
−5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 130−140
+5.7%
120−130
−5.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 265
−4.2%
276
+4.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 171
+31.5%
130
−31.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 110−120
+4.5%
110−120
−4.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 138
+7%
120−130
−7%
Battlefield 5 160−170
+2.5%
160−170
−2.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 170−180
+1.1%
170−180
−1.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 173
+35.2%
128
−35.2%
Far Cry 5 160−170
−2.4%
173
+2.4%
Far Cry New Dawn 130−140
−5.8%
147
+5.8%
Forza Horizon 4 210−220
+5.3%
200−210
−5.3%
Hitman 3 210−220
+1.9%
210−220
−1.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+5%
160−170
−5%
Metro Exodus 178
−6.2%
189
+6.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 130−140
+5.7%
120−130
−5.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 251
−2.4%
257
+2.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 394
+4.8%
376
−4.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 154
+33.9%
115
−33.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 110−120
+4.5%
110−120
−4.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 123
−4.9%
120−130
+4.9%
Battlefield 5 160−170
+2.5%
160−170
−2.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 152
+24.6%
122
−24.6%
Far Cry 5 160−170
+3%
164
−3%
Far Cry New Dawn 130−140
+5.3%
132
−5.3%
Forza Horizon 4 210−220
+5.3%
200−210
−5.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 193
−11.9%
216
+11.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 130
+21.5%
107
−21.5%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 140−150
+5.2%
130−140
−5.2%
Hitman 3 170−180
+6.7%
160−170
−6.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 130−140
+7.2%
120−130
−7.2%
Metro Exodus 125
+4.2%
120
−4.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 75−80
+8.3%
70−75
−8.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 184
−1.6%
187
+1.6%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 85−90
+6.1%
80−85
−6.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 108
+16.1%
90−95
−16.1%
Battlefield 5 140−150
+5.8%
130−140
−5.8%
Cyberpunk 2077 104
+11.8%
93
−11.8%
Far Cry 5 140−150
−10.1%
163
+10.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 120−130
−7.3%
132
+7.3%
Forza Horizon 4 180−190
+6.9%
170−180
−6.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 140−150
+6.5%
130−140
−6.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 108
+4.9%
103
−4.9%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 85−90
+7.2%
80−85
−7.2%
Hitman 3 100−110
+8.3%
95−100
−8.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+8.3%
80−85
−8.3%
Metro Exodus 84
+9.1%
77
−9.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+8.3%
45−50
−8.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 106
+7.1%
99
−7.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 173
+20.1%
144
−20.1%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60−65
+6.8%
55−60
−6.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 73
+23.7%
55−60
−23.7%
Battlefield 5 100−110
+7.2%
95−100
−7.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 53
+15.2%
46
−15.2%
Far Cry 5 95−100
−30.5%
124
+30.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 95−100
−24.2%
118
+24.2%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+10.1%
120−130
−10.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70
+7.7%
65
−7.7%

This is how RTX 3090 Ti and RX 6950 XT compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • RX 6950 XT is 4.8% faster than RTX 3090 Ti

1440p resolution:

  • RTX 3090 Ti is 0.7% faster than RX 6950 XT

4K resolution:

  • RTX 3090 Ti is 14.8% faster than RX 6950 XT

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RTX 3090 Ti is 40.6% faster than the RX 6950 XT.
  • in Far Cry 5, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6950 XT is 30.5% faster than the RTX 3090 Ti.

All in all, in popular games:

  • RTX 3090 Ti is ahead in 54 tests (79%)
  • RX 6950 XT is ahead in 14 tests (21%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 76.83 73.18
Recency 27 January 2022 10 May 2022
Cost $1999 $1099
Maximum RAM amount 24 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 8 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 450 Watt 335 Watt

We couldn't decide between GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and Radeon RX 6950 XT. The differences in performance seem too small.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
Radeon RX 6950 XT

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