Skip to main content

AMD’s new tool compares its GPUs to Nvidia’s, but there’s a catch

AMD has just launched its new GPU Comparison Tool, which is aimed at being a quick and easy way to determine which graphics card might be best for you based on your gaming needs.

The tool gives you insight into the performance of nearly all of the best GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia. However, a closer look at the tool raises questions as to how legit it is.

AMD GPU Comparison tool.
AMD

AMD’s new tool is simple to navigate and free to use, so you can check it out if you’d like to see the results for yourself. It’s easy — pick the game that interests you from a list of 11 titles, and then choose the settings that best apply to your ideal gaming scenario. You’ll be able to pick between one of the three most popular screen resolutions (1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, and 3840 x 2160), as well as the game settings and API used in the test. Then, based on AMD’s internal testing done in its own labs, the tool will tell you which GPU is the best for that given scenario.

Recommended Videos

The idea itself is pretty great. A lot of users don’t want to dig deep into benchmarks and just want to know whether a particular graphics card will excel in a particular game (or several). Seeing as the feature is easy to find your way around, it seems like a winner for AMD — except, there’s a catch. Or maybe even a couple.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

The first catch should come as no surprise — the tool seems to be skewed to favor AMD over Nvidia. It’s not that the benchmark results lie, it’s that the games AMD picked were just the right titles to make its own GPUs look good. Resident Evil Village, Deathloop, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are all AMD-promoted games, and as noted by Tom’s HardwareTiny Tina’s Wonderland and Forza Horizon 5 tend to shine when played on an AMD GPU. There are also some other, more “neutral” games on the list, such as Valorant and Fortnite.

Taking Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as an example, AMD wins in every single test. Only one setting option is available (ultra high), but there are three resolutions, and AMD wins in all of them. In Tiny Tina’s, AMD only surrenders to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti in the 4K gaming test, standing victorious in the other two. There are certainly other instances of Nvidia winning the test, such as in Valorant in 3840 x 2160, but AMD seems to be superior in the majority of the benchmarks.

An AMD Radeon RX 6000-Series graphics card in front of a black and red background.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s also interesting that AMD didn’t include its low-end GPUs in the tests. The (less-than-stellar) Radeon RX 6500 XT and the RX 6400 are both missing from the charts, even though in some of the esports comparisons, they could very well snag a mention alongside the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050. Instead, AMD moves right along to the Radeon RX 6600.

Was this an intentional omission or just an oversight in a still very fresh tool? Hard to say. It’s worth noting that the tool itself is still quite limited for what AMD seems to be trying to do. Most games only have one setting option, so realistically, you’re just changing the games and the screen resolution. The tool could also add more games to give a more comprehensive overview of the GPUs’ performance.

Given time, AMD will hopefully update the tool to include more benchmarks, as well as more titles and game settings. Right now, it’s more of a promotional tool than anything else, but it has so much potential that AMD could tap into if it’s not afraid of drawing realistic comparisons between its own GPUs and those made by Nvidia. For the time being, make sure you trust independent benchmarks and reviews if you’re looking into buying a new graphics card now that the prices are falling quickly.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Nvidia may release the RTX 5070 in March to counter AMD’s RDNA 4 GPUs
The RTX 5070 in a graphic.

Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5070 may now be launching in early March, according to industry analyst MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang on X). Initially expected to debut in February, the source suggests that the mid-range Blackwell GPU has been pushed back—potentially as a strategic move to counter AMD’s upcoming Radeon RX 9070.

Unveiled at CES 2025, the RTX 5070 is currently the most affordable GPU from the RTX 50-series lineup, at least till the RTX 5060 series goes official. It is powered by the GB205 GPU, featuring 48 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), 6,144 CUDA cores, and is equipped with 12GB of GDDR7 memory. The GPU utilizes a 192-bit memory interface, delivering a bandwidth of 672GB/s.
Nvidia has set the MSRP at $549, which is $50 less than its predecessor, the RTX 4070. While that may sound lucrative, it is important to consider that board partners will charge a premium over the MSRP and we cannot rule out scalpers and inflated retailer prices out of the picture.

Read more
AMD may have a solution for your VRAM hungry games
Gigabyte's RX 9070 XT GPU.

Following a rocky road to AMD's RX 9000 series GPU launch, rumors circulating on the Chiphell forums suggest that AMD is planning to release a Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card variant equipped with 32GB of GDDR6 memory. If true, this would make it one of the most VRAM-heavy GPUs in AMD’s next-generation lineup, catering to both gamers and AI enthusiasts who require large memory capacities. Reports indicate that this variant could launch by the second quarter of 2025, although AMD has yet to confirm any official details.

The standard RX 9070 XT is expected to feature 16GB of GDDR6 memory, which aligns with previous AMD GPUs in the high-end gaming segment. As pointed out by Techpowerup, to reach the rumored 32GB capacity, AMD would need to use 16 memory modules, each with a 2GB capacity, since there are no GDDR6 memory modules offering higher capacity.

Read more
AMD’s RX 9070 XT might be cheap, but that may not be enough
An Asus RX 9070 XT TUF GPU.

Over a month after the initial announcement at CES 2025 (if you can even call it an announcement), we still don't know much about the future of AMD's RDNA 4 lineup. We know the cards are set to launch sometime in March, but their specs remain a mystery. However, there's an even bigger secret that's still yet to be revealed: The pricing.

After a bumpy lead-up to the launch of the RX 9000 series, pricing is the one thing that AMD needs to get right. The latest leaks imply that AMD will price the cards "very aggressively," which could be good news -- but it might still not be enough for it to rival some of the best graphics cards.
A careful approach to pricing

Read more