RX 7900 XT performs 42% better vs RX 6900 XT with Vulkan while putting up unexciting OpenCL figures in valid Geekbench entries

After getting some preliminary RX 7900 XTX Geekbench performance figures, we have our first look at the OpenCL and Vulkan performance of the RX 7900 XT courtesy of BenchLeaks. The RX 7900 XT is one-half of the RDNA 3 duo that is scheduled to release on December 13.

Before we move on to discuss the benchmark results, it is pertinent to mention that the GPU was running inside a PC with a Ryzen 9 7950X with a max boost clock of 5.5 GHz and 32 GB of 2,398 MHz DDR5 memory. Furthermore, during the run, the RX 7900 XT registered a max frequency of 2.025 GHz which is less than the max boost frequency of 2.4 GHz.

Just like we experienced with the RX 7900 XTX, this initial Geekbench run of the RX 7900 XT is a little less flattering. The board only scored 191,822 in the OpenCL benchmark during its debut on the site. Based on the Geekbench database, this maiden score is roughly 13% higher than the RX 6900 XT, almost 6% more than the RTX 3080, and about 8% less than the RTX 3080 Ti.

Based on the revised OpenCL result of the RX 7900 XTX that we mentioned previously, there is a 19% difference between the RX 7900 XT and the XTX in favor of the latter.

The RX 7900 XT was also tested with Vulkan albeit in a different machine with a Ryzen 7 7700X and 32 GB of DDR5 RAM. Here, the card scored 162,230 which is 15% better than the RTX 3090 Ti, 23% more than the RTX 3080 Ti, 30% ahead of the RTX 3080, and an astonishing 42% better than the RX 6900 XT. Finally, comparing the RX 7900 XT and the RX 7900 XTX results in the XTX coming out ahead by 10%.

We reported earlier that there may not be too many RX 7900 XT/XTX cards to go around on launch. One of the purported reasons for the supply crunch is driver issues. Sources have claimed that the driver problems are causing bad performance. Assuming that the rumors are true, take the aforementioned performance profile of the RX 7900 XT with extreme caution, as the retail version may end up performing noticeably better.

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