AMD Radeon RX 9070: In-Depth Review

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 enters the market at a peculiar time for graphics cards, right after Nvidia's latest generation launch. Priced at $549, it directly competes with the underwhelming GeForce RTX 5070. In this face-off, AMD's Radeon RX 9070 emerges as the clear winner, making it an excellent choice for 1440p gaming. However, the situation is a bit more nuanced due to AMD's own pricing strategy. The Radeon RX 9070 is only $50 less than the superior Radeon RX 9070 XT, creating a challenging decision for buyers. Despite being 8% slower and 9% cheaper than the 9070 XT, the small price difference might push consumers towards the more powerful option. Nonetheless, AMD's offerings are strong, positioning Team Red favorably in the market.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is set to launch on March 6, with a starting price of $549. Be aware that various models may be priced higher. For the best value, aim to purchase a version as close to the starting price as possible, especially given its proximity to the RX 9070 XT's price point.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 – Photos

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Specs and Features

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, like its XT counterpart, utilizes the new RDNA 4 graphics architecture. This advancement significantly boosts performance, allowing the 9070 to surpass the last-gen 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), resulting in 3,584 shaders in total. Each compute unit also includes one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, totaling 56 and 112, respectively. These enhancements make the card competitive in ray tracing and enable the introduction of FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, bringing AI upscaling to AMD graphics cards for the first time.

Both the RX 9070 and 9070 XT feature 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, similar to the 7900 GRE, ensuring robust performance for 1440p gaming in the foreseeable future. Although GDDR7 memory would have been ideal, its inclusion would likely have increased the price.

AMD recommends a 550W power supply for the RX 9070, with a power budget of 220W. Testing 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 versions will be from third-party board manufacturers. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, with a slight factory overclock, was provided for review.

FSR4

Since DLSS became popular in 2018, AI upscaling has been a game-changer for improving performance without sacrificing image quality. Initially exclusive to Nvidia, FSR 4 now extends AI upscaling to AMD GPUs. FSR 4 uses previous frames and in-game data, processed through an AI model, to upscale lower resolution images to native resolution. This differs from FSR 3's temporal upscaling, which lacked an AI algorithm and could produce artifacts like ghosting.

FSR 4 may incur a slight performance hit compared to FSR 3 due to the AI model's demands. In games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 1440p on the Extreme preset, FSR 3 achieved 165 fps, dropping to 159 fps with FSR 4. Similarly, in Monster Hunter Wilds at 4K with ray tracing, the Radeon RX 9070 managed 81 fps with FSR 3, decreasing to 76 fps with FSR 4. However, the Adrenalin software allows toggling between FSR 3 and FSR 4, enabling users to choose between better image quality or slightly better performance 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 in most scenarios, delivering an average 12% higher performance at 1440p. It also surpasses its predecessor, the RX 7900 GRE, by 22%, despite having 30% fewer cores. The review unit was a factory overclocked Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC, with a reported boost clock of 2,700Mhz, which should enhance performance by about 4-5%.

All testing was conducted using the latest public drivers at the time: Game Ready driver 572.60 for Nvidia cards and Adrenalin 24.12.1 for AMD cards. The RX 9070 and 9070 XT were tested on review drivers provided by AMD, as was the RTX 5070 on Nvidia's review drivers.

In 3DMark's Speed Way test with ray tracing enabled, the RX 9070 scored 5,828 points, nearly matching the RTX 5070's 5,845 points. In the Steel Nomad test without ray tracing, the RX 9070 significantly outperformed the RTX 5070, scoring 6,050 to 5,034—a 20% lead.

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 achieved 165 fps, surpassing the RTX 5070's 131 fps and the RX 7900 GRE's 143 fps by 26% and 15%, respectively.

Cyberpunk 2077, traditionally favoring Nvidia, saw the RX 9070 outperform the RTX 5070 by 3% at 1440p with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset—an impressive feat for AMD.

Metro Exodus, tested without upscaling, showcased the RX 9070's raw ray tracing prowess, achieving an average of 71 fps compared to the RTX 5070's 64 fps—an 11% lead.

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

In Total War: Warhammer 3, the RX 9070's lead was significant at 4K but negligible at 1440p, with 135 fps compared to the RTX 5070's 134 fps.

Assassin's Creed Mirage at 1440p with the Ultra preset and FSR set to Balanced saw the RX 9070 achieve 193 fps, an 18% lead over the RTX 5070's 163 fps.

Black Myth Wukong, a game that typically favors Nvidia, showed a near tie at 1440p, with the RX 9070 at 67 fps and the RTX 5070 at 66 fps.

Forza Horizon 5 at 1440p delivered 185 fps for the RX 9070, compared to 168 fps for the RTX 5070 and 152 fps for the RX 7900 GRE, showcasing a 12% and 25% lead, respectively.

The Radeon RX 9070's release timing and competitive performance against the RTX 5070 are significant advantages for AMD. Both cards are priced at $549, but the RX 9070's superior performance, combined with 16GB of VRAM, makes it a better long-term investment. Even if performance were equal, the additional VRAM would tilt the value in favor of the RX 9070, solidifying its position as a top choice for gamers seeking high performance at 1440p.