Introduction
AMD have proven with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D what great performance uplifts their 3D V-Cache provides. They have also demonstrated this again with their Ryzen 7000 3D SKUs that launched back in April 2023. These CPUs sport great improvements in performance and efficiency of Zen 4, and also offer solid gaming performance, making them ideal for a top-end gaming system. The Ryzen 9 7900X3D in particular is an excellent option, given its lower price over the Ryzen 7950X3D, while still providing a noticeable boost in many applications.
With so many highly competitive options on the market, in this article we’ve rounded up a range of powerful GPUs to pair up with this impressive processor. These graphics cards from both NVIDIA and AMD fit the Ryzen 7900X3D perfectly in performance and price, ensuring the final build is well balanced and performs to the best of its ability.
Suggested Article: Best Graphics Cards to Buy Under $400
Best GPUs for the Ryzen 9 7950X3D: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080
📸 View the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 gallery.
Despite its very high price, it is very much justified by the fantastic performance it delivers, not only in rasterized games but also in Ray-Tracing. While there are more budget alternatives available, which might be better pairing depending on what consumers decide to do with their PCs, with this graphics card, they can expect a near perfect experience across applications and workloads. For many, this feature-rich, high-performance package will be worth NVIDIA’s higher price.
Design: 4.4/5
Performance: 4.8/5
Value for Money: 4/5
Our Verdict: 4.4/5
Skip to the full testing, gallery and where to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 ⬇️
The Best GPUs for the Ryzen 9 7900X3D
1. AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
Best Value
AMD’s Radeon 6000 graphics cards were met with an overall great response, thanks to their highly competitive pricing and the great improvements that were made in performance. Whilst naturally not as modern or fast as the RX 7000 GPUs, last-gen models can still offer excellent value, especially high-end graphics cards for which performance still holds up very well.
The Radeon RX 6950 XT was, and still is, a fantastic graphics card, which offers top-tier performance at a very affordable price. Naturally, consumers may feel left out of technology that is exclusive to more current models, but in terms of performance and value, it’s very difficult to beat the RX 6950 XT.
It’s very important to note the high performance in rasterised games in particular however, as AMD’s RDNA architecture still does fall slightly behind NVIDIA in any games which use Ray-Tracing technology.
While AMD has been trying to keep with the various additional tools NVIDIA provide their customers, Radeon graphics cards are still behind in many of these features. Be it their encoder for recording, latency-reducing tools, or Ray-Tracing implementation, consumers may miss out of many exciting NVIDIA-only features.
Pros
- 16GB of VRAM.
- Great airflow.
- Great socket compatibility.
Cons
- Lacking AMD ecosystem.
- Last-gen GPU.
2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
Best Budget
While many of NVIDIA’s graphics cards have been controversially priced or lack strong performance metrics, the RTX 4070 was one card that we feel is a decent option, despite the price. This card was poorly positioned versus the rest of the market when considering the overall price point, but is actually one of NVIDIA’s decent GPUs to have released within the RTX 4000 range.
The RTX 4070 is a fantastic mid-range to high-end graphics card that is the bare minimum for a PC equipped with a CPU as powerful as the Ryzen 7900X3D. While it is outperformed by the other graphics cards we’ve tested, it still offers more than enough performance for demanding titles, even at higher resolutions.
The RTX 4070 is one of the most affordable graphics cards in this roundup. Despite being a current-gen product, the lower price mainly derives from it being a 70-tier card, rather than a flagship product. Despite this, consumers can still expect the great performance that the NVIDIA Lovelace architecture brings.
One of the largest downsides to the RTX 4070 is the mere 12GB of VRAM, even if it’s using faster GDDR6X modules. Based on the overall price of this GPU, we were expecting much more from this card.
Whilst this is one of the more affordable RTX 4000 cards, the RTX 4070 is somewhat outclassed when compared to some of AMD’s newer Radeon 6000 GPUs.
Pros
- Affordable for the performance.
- Nvidia's ecosystem.
- Relatively small.
Cons
- Only 12GB of VRAM.
- Controversial 16-pin connector.
3. AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Best for Performance
Despite the fact that AMD hasn’t released as many SKUs this generation as their competitor, the few they have released offer extremely strong performance and improvements over the last generation. AMD continues to try and challenge Team Green on pricing, and as a result, their current-gen graphics cards do feature much more appealing pricing than their RTX 40-series counterparts.
The current-gen AMD top-tier card, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is one of the fastest GPUs available. The advances made with the RDNA 3 architecture, combined with a whopping 24GB of VRAM makes this card a fantastic contender.
While consumers may miss out on many exciting NVIDIA-only features, any potential customers will also avoid many of NVIDIA’s other pitfalls this generation, such as the very large coolers, or the inflated prices. As such, this is a fantastic high-end option that offers unparalleled rasterised performance at its price.
One of the key downsides to AMD’s product line this generation is underwhelming Ray-Tracing performance when compared to their peers. While naturally not every game utilises this technology, it’s becoming much more prevalent.
At a TDP of 355W, it is by far the most power-demanding and hottest of all the graphics cards in this roundup. While still not very reasonable for the performance it delivers, it’s important to note its high TDP, especially if working in smaller cases with reduced airflow.
Pros
- Fast rasterization performance
- Plenty of VRAM
- Only dual-slot
Cons
- Much higher TDP
- Weaker Ray-Tracing than NVIDIA cards.
4. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080
Best Overall
Despite the many controversies suffered by NVIDIA this generation, it’s very difficult to deny the performance of their high-end offerings this generation. What’s more, the large amount of NVIDIA-exclusive features utilising their RT and Tensor cores, do certainly increase the value for consumers interested in the more holistic experience of running a particular graphics card.
Despite its steep price increase, the high performance increases and the high amount of video memory still makes the RTX 4080 a fierce high-end competitor. With a total of 16GB of GDDR6X VRAM, a large increase in CUDA cores, and very fast clock speeds, it’s a very appealing option for anyone interested in NVIDIA’s offerings this generation.
As with all RTX products, its versatility is one of its biggest strengths, even if it may not be very appealing on price alone. What’s more, it is by far the best card in this roundup by far in Ray-Tracing performance. As such it’s recommended for anyone wishing to experience games that support this technology.
Since launch, the card has been heavily criticised for its high price. It is significantly more expensive than current-gen AMD graphics cards that offer similar performance. While simply the pure performance of the card may not be worth the price for some, the good Ray-Tracing performance and other NVIDIA features may make it worth it for other consumers.
Unfortunately the RTX 4080 is one of the biggest cards within this roundup, which can be an issue for consumers looking to build a compact system. If you’ve got a smaller case, you may run into some clearance issues with this card.
Pros
- Competitive pricing
- Solid thermals
- Smaller size
Cons
- Minimalist design
- Power draw
What Are the Ryzen 3D SKUs?
The 3D SKUs are special variants of the existing chips with a proprietary 3D V-Cache. In terms of core counts, they share identical specs to the model they are based on, with the addition of much more cache, thanks to this new exciting technology from AMD. In practice, this results in the CPU having much more Level 3 cache, which alleviates a very large bottleneck in modern CPUs. This additional space on the CPU itself delivers great gains in gaming and many other workloads which benefit from large amounts of cache.
How We Tested Graphics Cards
In order to test and evaluate the best graphics cards for the Ryzen 9 7900X3D, there are a number of factors that we take into account, these are:
- Performance
- Compatibility
- Aesthetic
- Value for Money
Frequently Asked Questions
What Chipset Should I Choose for the 7900X3D?
While the Ryzen 7900X3D is compatible with X670, B650, and A620 chipsets, for the best results, higher-end chipsets are of course recommended. A good B650E, X670, or X670E motherboard will provide not only very stable power delivery for the CPU, but will also be a better fit for a PC at this price.
Can I Use the 7900X3D with my Ryzen 5000 Motherboard?
No, as Ryzen 5000, alongside previous Ryzen generations, are based on the AM4 socket. Ryzen 7000 chips use the very different AM5 socket, with no compatibility between them.
Can I Use DDR4 RAM with the 7900X3D?
Like all Ryzen 7000 CPUs, they require DDR5 memory, with no compatibility for DDR4 modules. All AM5 motherboards which support the 7900X3D and other X3D SKUs all use this newer standard for memory.
