The AMD Radeon RX 9070 enters the market at an intriguing time for graphics cards. Fresh off the heels of Nvidia's latest generation launch, this $549 AMD card directly competes with the underwhelming GeForce RTX 5070. In this head-to-head, AMD emerges as the clear winner, positioning the Radeon RX 9070 as the prime choice for 1440p gaming enthusiasts. However, the situation is nuanced. AMD's own Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is only $50 more expensive, offers superior performance that makes the additional cost hard to ignore. Despite the RX 9070 being about 8% slower and 9% cheaper than the 9070 XT, the close pricing makes the decision between the two a tough call. Nonetheless, AMD's competitive edge against Nvidia and within its own lineup underscores a strong position for Team Red in the graphics card market.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is set to launch on March 6, starting at $549. Given the close pricing to the Radeon RX 9070 XT, it's advisable to opt for a model as close to the starting price as possible to maximize value.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 – Photos

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Specs and Features

The Radeon RX 9070, like its XT counterpart, is powered by the new RDNA 4 graphics architecture, bringing significant performance enhancements. Despite having 30% fewer compute units than the last generation's Radeon RX 7900 GRE, the 9070 still outperforms it markedly. The card features 56 Compute Units, each equipped with 64 Streaming Multiprocessors, totaling 3,584 shaders. Additionally, each compute unit includes one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, with 56 and 112 in total, respectively. These advancements enable the RX 9070 to excel in games with ray tracing and introduce AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, marking the first time AI upscaling is available on AMD GPUs.

Equipped with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, the RX 9070 matches the memory configuration of the 7900 GRE, ensuring robust 1440p gaming capabilities for years to come. Although GDDR7, used by Nvidia, would have been preferable, its adoption might have increased the price. AMD recommends a 550W power supply, though my 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 manufacturers. I tested the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, a triple-slot card with a slight factory overclock.

FSR4

Since DLSS's introduction in 2018, AI upscaling has revolutionized performance enhancement without compromising image quality, a feature previously exclusive to Nvidia. FSR 4 changes the game by bringing AI upscaling to AMD GPUs. It utilizes previous frames and in-game data through an AI model to upscale lower resolution images to native resolution, improving upon the temporal upscaling of FSR 3 by reducing artifacts like ghosting. Although FSR 4 incurs a slight performance hit compared to FSR 3, the choice between the two can be toggled in the Adrenalin software, allowing users to prioritize either image quality or frame rate 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 its predecessor, the RX 7900 GRE. This impressive leap in performance is achieved with 30% fewer cores, showcasing the efficiency of the RDNA 4 architecture. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC, which I tested, has a slight factory overclock, with a reported boost clock of 2,700Mhz, contributing to a modest performance boost.

All testing was conducted using the latest public drivers available at the time: Game Ready driver 572.60 for Nvidia cards and Adrenalin 24.12.1 for AMD cards, with review drivers provided for the RX 9070, 9070 XT, and RTX 5070.

In synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark, the RX 9070 holds its own against the RTX 5070, with a near tie in the Speed Way test with ray tracing and a significant 20% lead in Steel Nomad without ray tracing. Real-world gaming benchmarks further highlight the RX 9070's prowess, with notable leads in games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Cyberpunk 2077, Metro Exodus, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Assassin's Creed Mirage. Even in titles traditionally favoring Nvidia, such as Black Myth Wukong, the RX 9070 remains competitive.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 9070's strong performance, especially at its price point, makes it a compelling choice over the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070. With 16GB of VRAM, it is well-equipped to handle future gaming demands, cementing its position as a top pick for 1440p gaming.