The AMD Radeon RX 9070 enters the graphics card market at a pivotal moment, directly competing with Nvidia's recently launched GeForce RTX 5070. Priced at $549, the Radeon RX 9070 not only outperforms its Nvidia counterpart but also offers a compelling choice for 1440p gaming enthusiasts. However, the situation is nuanced due to AMD's own Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is just $50 more expensive yet offers better performance. This slight price difference—8% slower and 9% cheaper than the XT—might push consumers towards the higher-end model for the marginal increase in performance. Nevertheless, when comparing two AMD cards, the Radeon RX 9070 still presents a strong option for Team Red supporters.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 launches on March 6, with a starting price of $549. Given the close pricing to the Radeon RX 9070 XT, it's advisable to purchase the RX 9070 at or near the starting price to maximize value.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 – Photos

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Specs and Features

Like its sibling, the Radeon RX 9070 XT, the RX 9070 leverages the innovative RDNA 4 architecture. This advancement significantly enhances performance, allowing the RX 9070 to surpass the last-gen Radeon RX 7900 GRE by a wide margin, despite featuring 30% fewer compute units.

Equipped with 56 Compute Units, each boasting 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), the RX 9070 offers a total of 3,584 shaders. Additionally, each compute unit includes one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, totaling 56 and 112, respectively. These enhancements not only improve ray tracing capabilities but also introduce AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, marking the debut of AI upscaling in AMD GPUs.

The RX 9070 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, matching the memory configuration of the RX 7900 GRE. This setup is well-suited for 1440p gaming for years to come, although adopting GDDR7 memory, like Nvidia, could have justified a higher price point.

AMD suggests a 550W power supply for the RX 9070, which operates within a 220W power budget. My testing showed a peak consumption of 249W, suggesting a 600W PSU for safety. Importantly, AMD has opted out of producing a reference design for the RX 9070, leaving the field to third-party manufacturers. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, with its triple-slot design and slight factory overclock, exemplifies the variety of options available.

FSR4

Since the rise of DLSS in 2018, AI upscaling has become a game-changer for performance without compromising image quality. FSR 4 marks a significant advancement for AMD, bringing AI upscaling to its GPUs. This technology uses previous frames and in-game data to enhance lower resolution images to native resolution, offering superior detail compared to the temporal upscaling of FSR 3.

While FSR 4 incurs a slight performance hit compared to FSR 3—dropping frame rates in games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Monster Hunter Wilds—it offers improved image quality. The Adrenalin software allows users to toggle between FSR 3 and FSR 4, providing flexibility based on gaming preferences.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks

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Performance

Priced at $549, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 directly challenges the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 and emerges as the superior choice in most scenarios. At 1440p, it delivers an average 12% faster performance than the RTX 5070 and a 22% improvement over the RX 7900 GRE, despite having fewer cores.

My testing utilized a factory overclocked version of the RX 9070, which, according to GPU-Z, has a boost clock of 2,700Mhz, roughly a 7% increase. This should translate to a 4-5% performance boost in frame rates.

All tests were conducted with the latest public drivers available at the time. The Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT were assessed using review drivers provided by AMD, as was the RTX 5070 with Nvidia's review drivers.

In 3DMark, the RX 9070 holds its ground, scoring 5,828 in Speed Way (with ray tracing) against the RTX 5070's 5,845. In Steel Nomad (without ray tracing), it outperforms Nvidia's card by 20%, scoring 6,050 to 5,034.

Test System

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero
• RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo @ 6,000MHz
• SSD: 4TB Samsung 990 Pro
• CPU Cooler: Asus ROG Ryujin III 360

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the RX 9070 achieves 165 fps at 1440p with FSR 3 set to Balanced, surpassing the RTX 5070's 131 fps and the RX 7900 GRE's 143 fps. Cyberpunk 2077 sees the RX 9070 outperforming the RTX 5070 by 3% at 1440p with Ray Tracing Ultra.

Metro Exodus, tested without upscaling, shows the RX 9070 leading with 71 fps compared to the RTX 5070's 64 fps. Red Dead Redemption 2 on Vulkan delivers a 23% performance lead for the RX 9070 over the RTX 5070.

In Total War: Warhammer 3, the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 are neck and neck at 1440p, but the RX 9070 pulls ahead at 4K. Assassin's Creed Mirage sees the RX 9070 with an 18% advantage over the RTX 5070, while Black Myth Wukong remains a close contest.

Forza Horizon 5 demonstrates the RX 9070's prowess, averaging 185 fps at 1440p, significantly outperforming both the RTX 5070 and RX 7900 GRE.

The Radeon RX 9070's launch timing against the RTX 5070 highlights its competitive edge, especially given its superior performance and larger VRAM capacity. Even if performance were equal, the RX 9070's 16GB of VRAM offers better future-proofing, making it a clear winner at the $549 price point.