AMD Radeon RX 9070: In-Depth Review

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 arrives at a pivotal moment in the graphics card market, just as Nvidia has launched its latest generation. Priced at $549, the RX 9070 directly challenges the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, which has been somewhat underwhelming. In this head-to-head, AMD's new offering emerges as the clear winner, making it a top choice for gamers seeking high performance at 1440p.

However, the decision becomes more nuanced due to AMD's own product lineup. The Radeon RX 9070 is only $50 less than the superior Radeon RX 9070 XT. While the price difference aligns with an 8% performance gap and a 9% price reduction, the value proposition leans heavily toward the XT model, making it tempting to spend the extra $50 for better performance. Still, AMD's graphics cards continue to impress, offering strong options within their ecosystem.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 hits the market on March 6, with a starting price of $549. However, higher-priced models are expected. For the best value, I recommend opting for a version as close to the base price as possible, considering its close pricing to the Radeon RX 9070 XT.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 – Photos

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Specs and Features

Built on the new RDNA 4 architecture, the Radeon RX 9070 shares its foundation with the RX 9070 XT. This architecture delivers substantial performance boosts, allowing the RX 9070 to significantly outpace the previous generation's Radeon RX 7900 GRE, despite having 30% fewer compute units.

The RX 9070 boasts 56 Compute Units, each with 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), totaling 3,584 shaders. Each compute unit also includes one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, summing up to 56 and 112 respectively. These enhancements make the RX 9070 competitive in ray tracing and introduce AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, marking the debut of AI upscaling on AMD GPUs.

Like its XT counterpart, the RX 9070 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, matching the memory configuration of the 7900 GRE. This setup is well-suited for 1440p gaming for years to come, though the absence of GDDR7, which Nvidia has adopted, is a notable omission but likely helps keep costs down.

AMD suggests a minimum 550W power supply for the RX 9070, with a power budget of 220W. My tests showed a peak consumption of 249W, suggesting a 600W PSU for safety. Notably, AMD isn't releasing a reference design for the RX 9070; all models will be from third-party manufacturers. I reviewed the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, a triple-slot card with a slight factory overclock.

FSR 4

Since the advent of DLSS in 2018, AI upscaling has been a game-changer for performance and image quality, primarily exclusive to Nvidia. With FSR 4, AMD introduces this technology to its GPUs. FSR 4 uses AI to upscale lower resolution images to native resolution, reducing artifacts seen in FSR 3's temporal upscaling.

However, FSR 4 incurs a slight performance hit compared to FSR 3. For instance, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 1440p on the Extreme preset, FSR 3 yields 165 fps, while FSR 4 drops to 159 fps. Similarly, in Monster Hunter Wilds at 4K with ray tracing, the RX 9070 achieves 81 fps with FSR 3 and 76 fps with FSR 4. The Adrenalin software allows users to toggle between FSR 3 and FSR 4, choosing between performance and image quality based on their gaming needs.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks

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Performance

Priced at $549, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 outperforms the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 by an average of 12% at 1440p, and by 22% over the RX 7900 GRE. This is remarkable, especially considering the RX 9070 has 30% fewer cores than its predecessor.

My review unit was a factory overclocked Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC, with a reported boost clock of 2,700Mhz, which could add about 4-5% to the performance.

All testing was conducted with the latest public drivers: Nvidia's Game Ready driver 572.60 and AMD's Adrenalin 24.12.1, along with review drivers provided by both manufacturers.

In 3DMark, the RX 9070 scores 5,828 in Speed Way with ray tracing, closely matching the RTX 5070's 5,845. Without ray tracing in Steel Nomad, the RX 9070 leads with 6,050 points to the RTX 5070's 5,034, a 20% advantage.

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 at 1440p with FSR 3 set to Balanced, the RX 9070 achieves 165 fps, compared to 131 fps from the RTX 5070 and 143 fps from the RX 7900 GRE, showcasing a 26% and 15% lead, respectively.

Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with Ray Tracing Ultra sees the RX 9070 edge out the RTX 5070 by 3%, a significant achievement in a game traditionally favoring Nvidia.

In Metro Exodus without upscaling, the RX 9070 averages 71 fps, 11% ahead of the RTX 5070's 64 fps.

Red Dead Redemption 2 using Vulkan at 1440p sees the RX 9070 hit 142 fps, a 23% lead over the RTX 5070's 115 fps.

In Total War: Warhammer 3, the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 are neck-and-neck at 1440p, with 135 fps and 134 fps respectively.

Assassin's Creed Mirage at 1440p with the Ultra preset and FSR set to Balanced sees the RX 9070 at 193 fps, 18% ahead of the RTX 5070's 163 fps.

Black Myth Wukong at 1440p with the Cinematic preset shows a close race, with the RX 9070 at 67 fps and the RTX 5070 at 66 fps.

Finally, in Forza Horizon 5 at 1440p, the RX 9070 achieves 185 fps, compared to 168 fps from the RTX 5070 and 152 fps from the RX 7900 GRE, marking a 12% and 25% lead, respectively.

The Radeon RX 9070's launch timing against the RTX 5070 showcases AMD's competitive edge, especially considering both cards are priced at $549. With superior performance and 16GB of VRAM, the RX 9070 not only outperforms but also offers better longevity, making it a compelling choice for gamers looking to maximize value and performance.