AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Performance Unveiled

For the last few generations, AMD has been pushing hard to compete with Nvidia at the high end of the graphics card market. However, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, Team Red has strategically shifted focus, conceding the ultra-high-end to Nvidia's RTX 5090. Instead, AMD is targeting the sweet spot for the majority of gamers, and with the RX 9070 XT, they've hit the mark perfectly.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is priced at a competitive $599, directly challenging the $749 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. This pricing alone positions it as one of the top GPUs available today. But AMD doesn't stop there; they've introduced FSR 4, marking the debut of AI upscaling on an AMD graphics card. This feature makes the RX 9070 XT an excellent choice for 4K gaming, especially for those who aren't willing to splurge $1,999 on the RTX 5090.

Purchasing Guide

----------------

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT will be available starting March 6, with a starting price of $599. Be aware that prices may vary, particularly with third-party models, which might be priced higher. Aim to purchase one for under $699 to get the best value.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT – Photos

4 Images

Specs and Features

------------------

Built on the RDNA 4 architecture, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT boasts significant enhancements, particularly in its RT and AI Accelerators. The AI Accelerators power FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4), AMD's first foray into AI upscaling. While FSR 4 may not boost framerates as much as FSR 3.1, it significantly enhances image quality. For those prioritizing framerates, the Adrenalin software offers a convenient toggle to disable FSR 4.

AMD has also improved the efficiency of its shader cores, allowing the Radeon RX 9070 XT to deliver a substantial performance leap over its predecessor, the Radeon RX 7900 XT, despite having fewer Compute Units (64 vs. 84). Each Compute Unit is equipped with 64 Streaming Multiprocessors, totaling 4,096, alongside 64 ray accelerators and 128 AI accelerators.

However, the RX 9070 XT comes with 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, a reduction from the RX 7900 XT's 20GB on a 320-bit bus. While this is sufficient for most 4K gaming, the downgrade in memory capacity and bandwidth is noticeable.

Despite the new architecture's efficiency, the RX 9070 XT has a slightly higher power budget than its predecessor, requiring 304W compared to 300W. Interestingly, in testing, the RX 7900 XT consumed more power, peaking at 314W versus the RX 9070 XT's 306W.

Cooling the RX 9070 XT is manageable, thanks to its standard power budget. Notably, AMD has opted not to release a reference design, leaving the market to third-party manufacturers. My review unit was the Powercolor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper, featuring a compact triple-fan design that maintained temperatures at a stable 72°C.

The RX 9070 XT uses standard power connectors, requiring two 8-pin PCI-E connectors, which makes it an accessible upgrade for most users with a recommended 700W power supply. It includes three DisplayPort 2.1a and one HDMI 2.1b port, though the addition of a USB-C port would have been a welcome feature for increased flexibility.

FSR 4

-----

For years, AMD has been in need of an AI upscaling solution to rival Nvidia's DLSS. While previous versions of FidelityFX Super Resolution provided solid performance, they were hindered by issues like ghosting and fuzziness. With the Radeon RX 9070 XT, AMD introduces FSR 4, an AI-powered upscaling technology.

FSR 4 uses AI accelerators to analyze previous frames and game engine data, upscaling lower-resolution images to native resolution with improved accuracy over FSR 3. However, this comes with a slight performance hit. For instance, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 4K Extreme settings, the RX 9070 XT achieved 134 fps with FSR 3.1 but dropped to 121 fps with FSR 4, a 10% decrease, though with enhanced image quality. Similarly, in Monster Hunter Wilds, the card managed 94 fps with FSR 3 and ray tracing enabled, but only 78 fps with FSR 4, a 20% performance drop.

This performance trade-off is expected, as AI upscaling is inherently more demanding than the temporal solutions of the past. AMD acknowledges this and hopes the improved image quality will outweigh the framerate reduction, particularly for single-player games where visuals are paramount.

Fortunately, FSR 3.1 remains available, and FSR 4 is an opt-in feature that can be easily disabled in the Adrenalin software, which was off by default in my review sample, likely due to early drivers.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks

11 Images

Performance

-----------

AMD has truly delivered with the Radeon RX 9070 XT. Priced at $599, it undercuts the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 21% while delivering an average 2% faster performance. Although the RTX 5070 Ti outperforms the RX 9070 XT in some games, the fact that they are closely competitive is a significant achievement for AMD.

Across my test suite, the RX 9070 XT was about 17% faster than the RX 7900 XT, which launched at $899 two years ago, and 2% faster than the new $749 RTX 5070 Ti. The RX 9070 XT excels particularly at 4K, maintaining its lead at this resolution, making it an outstanding entry-level 4K graphics card, even with ray tracing enabled.

All graphics cards were tested on the latest available drivers. Nvidia cards used Game Ready Driver 572.60, except for the RTX 5070, which was on review drivers. AMD cards were tested on Adrenalin 24.12.1, except for the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, which used pre-release drivers provided by AMD.

While 3DMark isn't a playable game, it offers valuable insights into a GPU's potential. The RX 9070 XT outperformed the RX 7900 XT by 18% in Speed Way but trailed the RTX 5070 Ti by the same margin. In Steel Nomad, the performance gap widened to a 26% improvement over the RX 7900 XT, and the RX 9070 XT even surpassed the RTX 5070 Ti by 7%.

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 XT outpaced the RTX 5070 Ti by 15%, demonstrating a clear preference for AMD hardware, as the RX 7900 XT only trailed by 6%.

Cyberpunk 2077, a game traditionally favoring Nvidia, showed the RTX 5070 Ti achieving a modest 5% lead over the RX 9070 XT at 4K with Ray Tracing Ultra preset and FSR 3 set to performance mode.

Metro Exodus, tested without upscaling at 4K, saw the RX 9070 XT closely matching the RTX 5070 Ti's performance, with 47 fps compared to 48 fps, while the RX 7900 XT lagged at 38 fps.

Red Dead Redemption 2 highlighted the RX 9070 XT's Vulkan performance, achieving 125 fps with all settings maxed out, surpassing the RTX 5070 Ti's 110 fps and the RX 7900 XT's 106 fps.

The RX 9070 XT's winning streak ended in Total War: Warhammer 3, where it fell 13% behind the RTX 5070 Ti, achieving 76 fps compared to the RTX 5070 Ti's higher performance.

In Assassin's Creed Mirage, the RX 9070 XT reclaimed its lead, achieving 163 fps, outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti's 146 fps by 12% and the RX 7900 XT's 150 fps by 9%.

The most impressive RX 9070 XT performance was in Black Myth Wukong, where it achieved 70 fps at 4K with the Cinematic Preset and FSR set to 40%, surpassing the RTX 5070 Ti's 65 fps by 8%. This game showcases the significant improvements in AMD's Ray Accelerators over the RDNA 3 architecture.

In Forza Horizon 5, the RX 9070 XT maintained its edge, achieving 158 fps compared to the RTX 5070 Ti's 151 fps, a 5% improvement.

Announced quietly at CES 2025, the Radeon RX 9070 XT feels like a strategic move by AMD to counter Nvidia's Blackwell graphics cards. At $599, it represents a return to more reasonable pricing in the graphics card market. While not as fast as the RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, those cards are overkill for most users and cost significantly more.

The last great flagship graphics card was arguably the GTX 1080 Ti, which launched at $699 in 2017. While the RX 9070 XT doesn't claim the title of the fastest consumer card, it feels like the first worthy flagship we've seen since then.