Conclusion
In today’s review, we took a look at the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16GB GDDR6 video card, which you can find for $579 online. The PowerColor Hellhound model sits in-between the Red Devil and the Fighter model, with a generous factory overclock and custom build with custom cooling. 
The PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE is based on the Radeon RX 7900 GRE which was released mid-2023, but is now a globally available video card from AMD. With cut-down specs compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XT, and a shared memory subsystem from the Radeon RX 7800 XT, the Radeon RX 7900 XT fits nicely between both for a new SEP of $549. It squarely competes with the GeForce RTX 4070 and GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER in this space for 1440p gameplay.
Performance
We tested the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE at 1440p, with Ray Tracing, and also delved into FSR upscaling. We put it up against its main competition, the GeForce RTX 4070 and GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, but also had the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XT in as comparisons, and to see where this 7900 GRE falls in-line. 
Our biggest takeaway, is the dominance the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE has over the GeForce RTX 4070 in particular. The GeForce RTX 4070 is a bit cheaper, at $549, or even lower online these days around $530, so do keep that in mind. In performance, the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE was always faster than the GeForce RTX 4070, and in some games by a large degree. 
In Avatar it was 7% faster, but in Alan Wake 2 it was 22% faster. It was just 5% faster in Assassins’s Creed Mirage, but in Starfield it was 23% faster. It was just 3% faster in Dying Light 2, but in Cyberpunk 2077 it was 44% faster. All of this was at 1440p, and we tend to think this margin would grow at 4K.
When the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER enters the chat, the difference narrows a lot between it and the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE. Keep in mind that the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is more expensive than the PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 GRE. In Avatar the PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 GRE is 9% slower than the RTX 4070 SUPER, but in Alan Wake 2 the PowerColor Hellhound 7900 GRE is actually 7% faster than the RTX 4070 SUPER. 
In Assassins’s Creed Mirage the PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 GRE is 6% slower than the RTX 4070 SUPER but in Starfield it’s 8% faster. In Dying Light 2 the PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 GRE is 15% slower than the RTX 4070 SUPER but in Cyberpunk 2077 it’s 14% faster. As you can see, the video cards switch position, based on the game, sometimes the 7900 GRE is faster, and sometimes the RTX 4070 SUPER is faster. This again, may widen at 4K.
Even Ray Tracing performance is competitive with the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE, especially compared to the RTX 4070. Avatar, which has Ray Tracing on at all times has the PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 GRE above the RTX 4070 in performance. In Alan Wake 2 the PowerColor Hellhound RX 7900 GRE’s RT performance is faster than the RTX 4070 RT performance on par with the RTX 4070 SUPER, as long as you are on the LOW RT option, with Path Tracing it has no chance though. 
In Dying Light 2 the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE is just behind the RTX 4070 in RT performance, until it is overclocked. In Cyberpunk 2077 the RT performance is also behind the RTX 4070. However, the important thing here is that in a lot of these games, they are still unplayable with RT, you will need to use FSR upscaling to make them playable. 
Speaking of FSR upscaling performance, that will greatly help the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE to achieve very high framerates at 1440p, without RT. It will also allow games to be playable with RT at 1440p. A game like Avatar benefits even at 1440p with FSR since it is very demanding. We also found that FSR upscaling is necessary to play games at 4K on the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE. Therefore, 4K gaming is viable, but you will want to use some quality mode of FSR upscaling.
Final Points
What we said in the title is true, in a literal sense, and in an overall sense. The PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE has impressive cooling. It maintained a very cool running GPU temperature, and Hot Spot temperature. At its default overclock frequency it is able to boost beyond its factory overclock boost clock, which you typically do not see on AMD GPUs. This video card can maintain a very high boost clock, thanks to the cooling and power delivery, and that is good news for the performance out of the Radeon RX 7900 GRE. Once AMD fixes the overclocking bugs, it might even be able to overclock higher. 
The PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE is above the $549 SEP, but at $579 it’s still under the price of a GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, and for this premium, you get a great build and good factory overclock. The PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE was a solid video card and performed very well. 
Consider that the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE has 16GB of VRAM for gaming, compared to the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 SUPER. The RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 SUPER has DLSS, and overall better Ray Tracing performance and the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE has FSR, and with FSR RT is playable at 1440p, and 4K is playable with FSR upscaling.
PowerColor has put together a great video card, and this one has a nice visual, with appealing performance and price point combined with its specs. If you are in the market for a Radeon RX 7900 GRE, and the RX 7900 GRE tickles your fancy, check out the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE as an option.
