AMD Radeon RX 9070: In-Depth Review

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 enters the graphics card market at a curious juncture, following closely on the heels of Nvidia's latest generation of cards. Priced at $549, it directly competes with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, which has received a lukewarm reception. In this head-to-head, AMD's Radeon RX 9070 emerges as a clear winner, making it an excellent choice for 1440p gaming enthusiasts.

However, the decision isn't as straightforward as it seems, and AMD's pricing strategy plays a role in complicating matters. The Radeon RX 9070 is only $50 less than the superior Radeon RX 9070 XT. While this price difference aligns with performance—being about 8% slower and 9% cheaper—it's challenging to justify not spending the extra $50 for the enhanced performance of the XT model. Still, when it comes to choosing between two AMD options, the outlook remains promising for Team Red.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is set to launch on March 6, starting at $549. However, expect to see various models at higher price points. For the best value, aim to purchase a model as close to the starting price as possible, especially given its proximity in price 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 is built on the innovative RDNA 4 graphics architecture. This advancement delivers significant performance boosts, enabling the 9070 to surpass the last generation's Radeon RX 7900 GRE by a wide margin, despite having 30% fewer compute units.

The Radeon RX 9070 boasts 56 Compute Units, each equipped with 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), totaling 3,584 shaders. Each compute unit also features one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, resulting in 56 and 112 total, respectively. These enhancements significantly improve the card's ray tracing capabilities and enable the introduction of FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, marking the first time AMD GPUs support AI upscaling.

The RX 9070 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, mirroring the memory setup of the 7900 GRE. This should suffice for 1440p gaming for years to come, though the absence of GDDR7, which Nvidia has adopted, might have been a missed opportunity for AMD to keep up with the competition.

AMD suggests a minimum 550W power supply for the RX 9070, given its 220W power budget. My tests, however, showed peak consumption at 249W, suggesting a safer bet with at least a 600W PSU.

It's worth noting that AMD isn't releasing a reference design for the RX 9070. Instead, all versions will be manufactured by third-party board partners. I reviewed the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, a triple-slot card with a slight factory overclock.

FSR4

Since the advent of DLSS in 2018, AI upscaling has revolutionized performance without compromising image quality. Traditionally an Nvidia-exclusive feature, FSR 4 now brings AI upscaling to AMD GPUs for the first time.

FSR 4 utilizes previous frames and in-game data, processing them through an AI model to upscale lower-resolution images to your native resolution. This differs from the Temporal upscaling of FSR 3, which lacked an AI algorithm and often resulted in artifacts like ghosting.

The trade-off with FSR 4 is a slight performance hit due to the AI model's demands. For instance, in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 1440p on the Extreme preset, FSR 3 achieves 165 fps, while FSR 4 drops to 159 fps. Similarly, in Monster Hunter Wilds at 4K with ray tracing enabled, the RX 9070 achieves 81 fps with FSR 3 but drops to 76 fps with FSR 4.

Fortunately, the Adrenalin software offers a toggle to switch between FSR 3 and FSR 4, allowing users to prioritize either image quality or performance. As someone who enjoys single-player games, I prefer FSR 4, though players of fast-paced online games might opt for FSR 3.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks

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Performance

At its $549 price point, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 outperforms the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 in most scenarios. 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 represents a notable leap forward, especially considering the 9070 has 30% fewer cores.

It's important to note that I tested a factory-overclocked version of the RX 9070, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC. While exact specifications were unavailable at the time of writing, GPU-Z indicated a boost clock of 2,700MHz, roughly a 7% increase over the base model, which should translate to a 4-5% performance boost.

All graphics cards were tested using their latest public drivers at the time of writing: Nvidia cards on Game Ready driver 572.60, and AMD cards on Adrenalin 24.12.1. The Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, along with the RTX 5070, were tested on review drivers provided by their respective manufacturers.

The RX 9070 starts strong in 3DMark, which gauges potential performance rather than real-world gaming frame rates. In the Speed Way test with ray tracing enabled, the 9070 scores 5,828 points, nearly tying with the RTX 5070's 5,845 points. In the Steel Nomad test without ray tracing, the 9070 outperforms the RTX 5070 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, a game AMD showcased at CES 2025, the RX 9070 achieves 165 fps at 1440p with FSR 3 set to Balanced, outpacing the RTX 5070's 131 fps and the RX 7900 GRE's 143 fps by 26% and 15%, respectively.

Cyberpunk 2077, traditionally favoring Nvidia hardware, sees the RX 9070 edge out the RTX 5070 by 3% at 1440p with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset, which is a significant achievement for AMD.

In Metro Exodus, tested without upscaling, the RX 9070 averages 71 fps compared to the RTX 5070's 64 fps, marking an 11% lead in another Nvidia-favored title.

Red Dead Redemption 2, using Vulkan, sees the RX 9070 surge ahead with 142 fps at 1440p, compared to the RTX 5070's 115 fps, resulting in a 23% performance advantage.

In Total War: Warhammer 3, the RX 9070's lead is most pronounced at 4K, but at 1440p, it remains neck-and-neck with the RTX 5070, with scores of 135 fps and 134 fps, respectively.

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

Black Myth Wukong, another Nvidia-favored title, sees the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 in a close contest, with the RX 9070 achieving 67 fps and the RTX 5070 at 66 fps at 1440p on the Cinematic preset.

Forza Horizon 5, despite its age, benefits from high frame rates. At 1440p, the RX 9070 averages 185 fps, compared to 168 fps for the RTX 5070 and 152 fps for the RX 7900 GRE, yielding a 12% and 25% lead, respectively.

The Radeon RX 9070's launch timing, right after the RTX 5070, plays to AMD's advantage. Both cards are priced at $549, but AMD's superior performance across multiple tests, coupled with 16GB of VRAM, makes the RX 9070 a more future-proof and better value option. Even if performance were equal, the RX 9070's additional VRAM would make it the preferable choice.