The AMD Radeon RX 9070 enters the market at an interesting juncture for graphics cards. Following closely on the heels of Nvidia's latest generation, this $549 card directly challenges the underwhelming GeForce RTX 5070. AMD's Radeon RX 9070 currently holds a clear advantage in this competition, positioning it as a top choice for gamers seeking high performance at 1440p.
However, the situation is nuanced, and AMD's pricing strategy adds a layer of complexity. The Radeon RX 9070 is priced only $50 less than the superior Radeon RX 9070 XT. While the 9070's performance is about 8% slower and 9% cheaper than the 9070 XT, the small price gap makes the higher-performing model a tempting choice. Nonetheless, when choosing between AMD's offerings, Team Red presents a compelling case.
Purchasing Guide ----------------
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is set to launch on March 6, starting at $549. Keep in mind that various models might be priced higher. If you decide to purchase a 9070, aiming for one near the starting price is advisable, especially considering its proximity in cost to the Radeon RX 9070 XT.
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 advanced RDNA 4 graphics architecture. This cutting-edge technology significantly boosts performance, enabling the 9070 to outperform the previous generation's Radeon RX 7900 GRE by a wide margin, despite boasting 30% fewer compute units.
The Radeon RX 9070 is equipped with 56 Compute Units, each featuring 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), resulting in a total of 3,584 shaders. Each compute unit also includes one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, totaling 56 and 112, respectively. These enhancements to the Ray and AI Accelerators empower the card to excel in games utilizing ray tracing, while the improved AI Accelerators enable the introduction of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, marking the debut of AI upscaling on AMD graphics cards.
Mirroring the 9070 XT, 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 the foreseeable future. Although the adoption of GDDR7, as seen in Nvidia's latest offerings, could have enhanced performance, it might have also increased the price.
AMD suggests a minimum 550W power supply for the RX 9070, given its 220W power budget. My tests, however, showed peak consumption at 249W, slightly above the recommended budget. While this doesn't necessarily demand superior cooling, a 600W PSU would provide a safer margin.
Notably, AMD isn't releasing a reference design for the RX 9070, a departure from recent generations. Consequently, all versions of the Radeon RX 9070 will be produced by third-party board manufacturers. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, which I tested, is a robust triple-slot card with a modest factory overclock.
FSR4 ----
Since the advent of DLSS in 2018, AI upscaling has become a pivotal method for boosting performance while maintaining image quality. Previously exclusive to Nvidia GPUs, AI upscaling now comes to AMD with the launch of FSR 4.
FSR 4 employs AI to upscale lower resolution images to your native resolution by analyzing previous frames and in-game data. This differs from the Temporal upscaling of FSR 3, which lacked an AI model and often resulted in artifacts like ghosting.
However, the AI processing in FSR 4 incurs a slight performance cost. For example, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 1440p on the Extreme preset, FSR 3 delivers 165 fps, whereas FSR 4 drops this to 159 fps. Similarly, in Monster Hunter Wilds, the Radeon RX 9070 achieves 81 fps at 4K with ray tracing enabled, but this decreases to 76 fps with FSR 4.
The Adrenalin software offers a toggle to choose between FSR 3 and FSR 4, allowing users to prioritize either performance or image quality. As a fan of single-player games, I prefer FSR 4, but for fast-paced online games like Marvel Rivals, sticking with FSR 3 might be more beneficial.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks
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Performance -----------
Priced at $549, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 competes directly with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, frequently outperforming it. At 1440p, this mid-range GPU averages 12% faster than the RTX 5070 and boasts a 22% lead over its predecessor, the RX 7900 GRE, which also launched at $549 in 2024. This is a remarkable leap forward, especially considering the 9070's reduced core count.
It's worth noting that I tested a factory overclocked version of the RX 9070, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC. Although specific details haven't been released, GPU-Z indicates a boost clock of 2,700MHz, a 7% increase that should enhance performance by approximately 4-5%.
All graphics cards were tested using the latest public drivers available at the time of writing: Nvidia cards on Game Ready driver 572.60, AMD cards on Adrenalin 24.12.1, and both the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, as well as the RTX 5070, on review drivers provided by their respective manufacturers.
In 3DMark, which gauges potential performance, the 9070 scores 5,828 points in the Speed Way test with ray tracing, closely matching the RTX 5070's 5,845 points. However, in the non-ray tracing Steel Nomad test, the 9070 significantly outperforms Nvidia's card, scoring 6,050 to 5,034 – a 20% advantage at the same price.
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
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the game AMD showcased the 9070 at CES 2025, sees the card excel at 1440p with FSR 3 set to Balanced, achieving 165 fps compared to 131 fps from the RTX 5070 and 143 fps from the RX 7900 GRE. This translates to a 26% and 15% lead, respectively.
In Cyberpunk 2077, a title traditionally favoring Nvidia, the Radeon RX 9070 still manages a 3% lead over the RTX 5070 at 1440p with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset, a notable achievement for AMD.
Testing Metro Exodus without upscaling, as it only supports DLSS, the Radeon RX 9070 averages 71 fps, outperforming the RTX 5070's 64 fps by 11%, despite the game's Nvidia-centric branding.
Red Dead Redemption 2 using Vulkan shows the RX 9070 leading with 142 fps at 1440p, compared to the RTX 5070's 115 fps, marking a 23% performance edge, though the RX 7900 GRE also performs well at 113 fps.
In Total War: Warhammer 3, the RX 9070's advantage is most pronounced at 4K, but at 1440p, it's neck-and-neck with the RTX 5070, with scores of 135 fps and 134 fps, respectively.
Assassin's Creed Mirage sees the RX 9070 achieving 193 fps at 1440p with the Ultra preset and FSR set to Balanced, an 18% lead over the RTX 5070's 163 fps, affirming AMD's strength in this title.
Black Myth Wukong, a game that typically favors Nvidia, results in a close contest, with the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 achieving 67 fps and 66 fps at 1440p on the Cinematic preset.
Forza Horizon 5, despite its age, benefits from high frame rates, where the Radeon RX 9070 averages 185 fps at 1440p, surpassing the RTX 5070's 168 fps and the RX 7900 GRE's 152 fps by 12% and 25%, respectively.
Launching shortly after the RTX 5070 underscores AMD's competitive edge. Both cards are priced at $549, yet the Radeon RX 9070 consistently outperforms its rival across various tests. Moreover, with 16GB of VRAM, the RX 9070 is better equipped for future-proofing, even if its memory technology is slightly slower than the RTX 5070's GDDR7. Even if performance were equal, the RX 9070's greater VRAM capacity would make it the superior choice. Combined with its performance lead, the Radeon RX 9070 is the clear winner for value-conscious gamers.
