For several generations, AMD has striven to match Nvidia's high-end performance. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT marks a strategic shift. Instead of directly challenging the RTX 5090 at the ultra-high end, AMD focuses on delivering the optimal graphics card for the majority of gamers—a goal it demonstrably achieves.

Priced at $599, the Radeon RX 9070 XT rivals the $749 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, immediately establishing itself as a top contender. AMD further enhances its appeal with the introduction of FSR 4, bringing AI upscaling to its GPUs for the first time. This makes it the ideal choice for 4K gaming, particularly for those unwilling to spend $1999 on the RTX 5090.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT launched March 6th, starting at $599. Expect price variations among third-party models; aim for a price under $699.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT – Photos

Specs and Features

Built on the RDNA 4 architecture, the Radeon RX 9070 XT boasts improved shader cores, but its standout features are the new RT and AI Accelerators. The AI Accelerators power FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4), AMD's first AI upscaling technology. While FSR 4 doesn't always surpass FSR 3.1 in raw framerates, it significantly enhances image accuracy and quality. Conveniently, Adrenalin software allows users to disable FSR 4 if framerate prioritization is preferred.

Beyond AI upscaling, AMD's enhanced shader cores deliver superior per-core performance. Despite possessing 64 Compute Units (fewer than the 84 in the Radeon RX 7900 XT), the 9070 XT achieves a substantial generational leap at a significantly lower price. Each Compute Unit features 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), totaling 4096, along with 64 ray accelerators and 128 AI accelerators.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT features 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus (compared to the RX 7900 XT's 20GB on a 320-bit bus). This reduction in memory capacity and bandwidth is noticeable, though generally sufficient for 4K gaming. The continued use of GDDR6, however, represents a missed opportunity for improvement.

While more efficient, the RX 9070 XT's 304W power budget slightly exceeds the 7900 XT's 300W. However, testing revealed the 7900 XT consumed more power (314W) than the 9070 XT (306W). This power budget is typical for modern graphics cards, simplifying cooling solutions. Unlike previous generations, AMD isn't releasing a reference design; users must rely on third-party manufacturers. My review unit, the Powercolor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper, maintained a temperature of 72°C during testing despite its compact triple-fan design.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT uses two standard 8-pin PCI-E power connectors, simplifying upgrades for most users with a 700W power supply (as recommended by AMD). Connectivity includes three DisplayPort 2.1a and one HDMI 2.1b ports. The absence of a USB-C port is a minor drawback.

FSR 4

AMD's FSR has long needed an AI upscaling solution to rival DLSS. While previous FSR versions offered performance benefits, they suffered from ghosting and fuzziness. The Radeon RX 9070 XT addresses this with AI-powered FSR 4.

Similar to DLSS, FSR 4 uses AI accelerators to analyze previous frames and game engine data to upscale lower-resolution images to the native resolution. While offering improved image quality compared to FSR 3's temporal upscaling, it does incur a performance penalty. In *Call of Duty: Black Ops 6* at 4K, FSR 4 reduced framerates by approximately 10%, and in *Monster Hunter Rise*, the drop was around 20%. This performance hit is expected due to the increased computational demands of AI upscaling. The improved image quality is a worthwhile trade-off for single-player games where visual fidelity is prioritized over raw frame rates. FSR 4 is an opt-in feature, easily toggled off in Adrenalin software.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks

Performance

The Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers impressive performance. At $599, it undercuts the RTX 5070 Ti by 21% while offering comparable, and sometimes superior, performance. Across various benchmarks, the RX 9070 XT showed a 17% improvement over the RX 7900 XT and a 2% advantage over the RTX 5070 Ti. Its 4K performance, especially with ray tracing, is exceptional, solidifying its position as a leading entry-level 4K card.

Testing utilized the latest drivers: Game Ready Driver 572.60 for Nvidia cards (except the RTX 5070, which used review drivers), and Adrenalin 24.12.1 for AMD cards (except the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, which used pre-release drivers). 3DMark benchmarks, while not representing real-world gaming perfectly, indicated a significant performance gain over the 7900 XT and, in some cases, the RTX 5070 Ti.

Game benchmarks showcased the RX 9070 XT's strengths and weaknesses. It outperformed the RTX 5070 Ti in several titles, including *Call of Duty: Black Ops 6*, *Red Dead Redemption 2*, and *Assassin's Creed Mirage*. However, it lagged behind in others, such as *Total War: Warhammer 3*. The results consistently demonstrated a significant performance leap over the previous generation RX 7900 XT.

The RX 9070 XT's performance in *Black Myth: Wukong*, a game with demanding ray tracing effects, was particularly impressive, surpassing the RTX 5070 Ti. This highlights the substantial improvements in AMD's Ray Accelerators.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT's release felt strategic, a response to Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs. At $599, it offers a compelling value proposition, providing high-end performance without the exorbitant cost of the RTX 5080 or 5090. It represents a welcome return to a more reasonable pricing structure in the high-end graphics card market, reminiscent of the GTX 1080 Ti's impact in 2017.

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