AMD Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT review: Hitting NVIDIA where it hurts

AMD finally did it. It has been trying to weaken NVIDIA with slightly cheaper but less functional video cards for years, e.g. Radeon 6700 XT and 7900 XT. Of course, the same strategy as the new Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT is still following the same strategy. However, this time AMD has produced powerful hardware, especially in terms of 4K and ray tracing performance. And hopefully it can eventually catch up with NVIDIA’s DLSS AI with its new FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR4) technology.

These are not perfect video cards. But for $549 and $599, the Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT are more attractive than AMD’s previous lineups. This is especially true because the 9070 XT ratio NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 TIin our tests, it is sometimes faster than this card.

AMD still has to prove that it can catch up with NVIDIA’s DLSS, which has been years to steadily improve its AI upgrade capabilities. In particular, AMD needs to match the performance of NVIDIA multi-frame generation in DLSS 4, which resulted in some surprising FPS numbers when testing the RTX 50 series GPU. AMD’s fluid motion frame technology is a start, but it is not enough at the moment.

hardware

The Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT are AMD’s first RDNA 4 GPUs, a new platform with more powerful and efficient computing units, third-generation ray tracing accelerators and second-generation AI accelerators. There is no huge technical difference between the two cards: the RX 9070 has 56 computing units, 56 ray accelerators and 112 AI accelerators, while the 9070 XT has 8 computing accelerators and 16 AI processors. As you would expect, the XT model has a slightly higher clock and also attracts more power (304W vs 220W). It is worth noting that both cards also come with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, while Nvidia reads slightly slightly, putting 12GB of RAM in the $549 RTX 5070.

When I compare ours Comment unit built by XFXBut it’s nearly impossible to tell the RX 9070 and 9070 XT separately without reading the exquisite prints on the label. This is quite typical for an AMD card with an XT variant, and since the technology is technically so similar, it makes sense. The XFX Swift GPU I tested brought a classy frost-white case with three large fans and a surprisingly large number of radiators. They are both 3.5 slot cards, so they take up more space than the RTX 5090, which is a dense two-slot beast.

Thanks to AMD’s effective RDNA design, you don’t have to rely on complex power dongles to drive these cards either. They both use two PSU connections directly, and the XFX recommends at least 800 watts of power supply. This is much higher than AMD’s minimum 650W specification, though, so it may be that the XFX is just trying to function safely with its massive cooling settings. (However, if you plan to overclock these cards, you may only need a 650W PSU.)

In use: AMD has made great progress

When I learned about the average 60 fps for the Radeon RX 9070, I knew AMD was a special thing Cyberpunk 2077 In 4K ray tracing overspeed mode. Of course, it requires an FSR 3 upgrade to get there, but it’s still better than the 50 fps I saw on the Radeon 7900xt a few years ago. The game occasionally drops below 60 fps, but is still very playable. The 1440p is generally smoother, with an average of 117 fps. The Radeon 9070 XT, meanwhile, the 4K averages 68 fps and 130 fps in 1440p.

Of course, these numbers lag well behind the original numbers of NVIDIA’s RTX 5070, which uses multi-frame generated magic to deliver 115 fps in 4K with ray tracing and maximizing graphics. The card also hits 205 fps at 1440p. But, like I was impressed in 5070, most of these frames were just to show smooth fantasy. In actual gameplay, I have a hard time seeing a slowdown in the 4K Radeon card, and the difference between Nvidia cards is actually removed in 1440p. Remember that even if Nvidia wants you to believe other stories, FPS is not the whole story.

I was surprised by the idea I kept in mind when I tested FSR 4 Call of Duty: War Zone On both GPUs. The Radeon 9070 XT hit 250 fps in 4K in 4K, using FSR 3, the crank makes up the generation of graphics and frames, while it hits 229 fps in FSR 4. AMD told me that this is not a mistake, which is expected because the AI ​​of FSR 4 AI is more focused on providing higher quality quality graphics than pure frame quality painting. I really can’t see the huge difference when hiding in the bullet Codbut I did notice that in FSR 4, better textures look sharper.

Currently, enabling FSR 4 is also a bit counterintuitive. You have to open it in AMD’s driver software and then flip FSR 3.1 in a compatible game. War Zone It also needs to be restarted to enable the feature completely, but the game didn’t prompt me to do so. And if you want to generate a framework, that’s another option that you have to switch outside the game. Hopefully, this process will be carried out over time, as well as the wider availability of FSR 4. Black Ops 6in the newly launched fragpunk,,,,, Civilization 7, Marvel competitor There are also a few PlayStation 5 ports Spider-Man game. But in Avoid or Dragon Age: Veilyou will be bothered by FSR 3.

For games that are completely unavailable with FSR, AMD’s adrenaline software also has “HYPR-RX” mode, enabling features like Radeon Super Super resolution upgrades (a separate drive-level technology) and generation of fluid motion frames from AMD. Anyway, they made me see 200 fps Forza Horizon 5 Use the RX 9070 XT to use the maximum graphics setting in 4K, from local 85 fps. However, these are just numbers for FPS – AMD points out that the Radeon Super resolution may not look as clear as the FSR alternative. (I didn’t notice Forzabut I may have been distracted by the beautiful Mexican racing far away. )

When it comes to benchmarks, the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT keeps its own on NVIDIA’s 5070 and 5070 TI in most 3DMark tests. exist Steel nomads Benchmark, the 9070 scored 1,100 points higher than the 5070, while the 9070 XT beat the more expensive 5070 Ti ti nearly 3,000 points in the extremes of time. I was also surprised to see the RX 9070 scored nearly 2,000 points in the Port Ray Ray tracking benchmark. Previously, any form of lightning tracking was AMD’s fatal weakness.

Our two XFX cards stay cool during both benchmark and extended game sessions. They never exceed 65 degrees Celsius under load and are usually idle below 40c. And since they’re never hot, I barely hear their fans spinning.

Should you buy a Radeon RX 9070 or an RX 9070 XT?

On the surface, both AMD’s new GPUs are convincing alternatives to NVIDIA’s Midrange cards, with occasional 1440p gaming players dabbling in 4K. The RX 9070 XT is particularly interesting because it’s significantly faster and is still $150 less than the RTX 5070 TI. But we are also dealing with chaos in the PC gaming world, where GPU stocks can quickly disappear and prices can rise quickly.

If you can include Radeon cards at listing prices, they will be a good deal. But it’s not worth paying too much at the moment. How the Trump administration’s aggressive tariffs will affect the pricing of PC hardware and electronics remains to be seen. Prices can easily rise by 20% or more to cover these fees.

Although NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 technology is more mature and will result in higher interpolation frame rates, there is also a good argument as AMD’s cards have 16GB of VRAM. They will be more suitable for handling larger textures in online games, and FSR 4 has the potential to improve as well.

wrap up

It’s obvious now why AMD is focusing on upgrading the Radeon card in the middle course in the first place. There is not much competition with NVIDIA at the extreme high end, just like it Radeon RX 7900 XT and XTX. It makes more sense to focus on cards that people can actually buy. The Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT also solved many of the problems I had in the past with AMD GPUs. They can use NVIDIA cards with toes, they have better ray tracing support, and finally, they have an AI upgrade. Whether AMD will actually be based on the promise of these features, but these cards are a promising start, and it remains to be seen.