For the last couple of generations, AMD has been striving to compete with Nvidia at the high end. However, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, Team Red has shifted its focus away from the ultra-high-end RTX 5090, instead aiming to provide the best graphics card for the majority of gamers—a goal it achieves remarkably well.
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, priced at $599, goes head-to-head with the $749 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, establishing itself as one of the premier GPUs available today. AMD enhances its appeal with FSR 4, introducing AI upscaling to an AMD graphics card for the first time. This makes the Radeon RX 9070 XT the ideal choice for 4K gaming, especially for those not ready to spend $1,999 on the RTX 5090.
Purchasing Guide
----------------The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT will be available starting March 6, with a starting price of $599. Be aware that prices may vary due to third-party cards, which might be more expensive. Aim to purchase one under $699 for the best value.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT – Photos
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Specs and Features
------------------Built on the RDNA 4 architecture, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT introduces significant upgrades to its shader cores, but the standout features are the new RT and AI Accelerators. The AI Accelerators are key to FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4), marking the first time AMD graphics cards incorporate AI upscaling. While FSR 4 doesn't necessarily boost frame rates beyond the previous FSR 3.1 model, it significantly enhances image quality. For those prioritizing performance, the Adrenalin software offers a toggle to disable FSR 4.
AMD has also improved the efficiency of its shader cores, allowing the Radeon RX 9070 XT to deliver a substantial generational leap despite having fewer Compute Units (64) than its predecessor, the Radeon RX 7900 XT (84). Each Compute Unit contains 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), totaling 4,096, along with 64 ray accelerators and 128 AI accelerators.
However, the Radeon RX 9070 XT comes with less memory than the RX 7900 XT, featuring 16GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus compared to 20GB on a 320-bit bus. This reduction affects both capacity and bandwidth, yet it remains sufficient for most 4K gaming needs. The retention of GDDR6, despite the downgrade, is a notable point.
The new architecture is more efficient, yet the RX 9070 XT has a slightly higher power budget of 304W compared to the 7900 XT's 300W. Interestingly, my testing showed the 7900 XT consuming more power, peaking at 314W, while the 9070 XT reached 306W.
Cooling the RX 9070 XT is manageable given its standard power budget. Notably, AMD has opted not to release a reference design for this GPU, leaving third-party manufacturers to fill the gap. I reviewed the Powercolor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper, which features a compact triple-fan design that maintained a temperature of 72°C during testing.
The Radeon RX 9070 XT uses standard power connectors, requiring two 8-pin PCI-E power connectors, and is compatible with a 700W power supply as recommended by AMD. It includes three DisplayPort 2.1a and one HDMI 2.1b port, meeting modern expectations, though the addition of a USB-C port would enhance its versatility.
FSR 4
-----For years, AMD has sought an AI upscaling solution to rival DLSS. While previous versions of FidelityFX Super Resolution offered strong performance, they were hindered by issues like ghosting and fuzziness. The Radeon RX 9070 XT introduces FSR 4, an AI-powered solution that addresses these concerns.
Similar to DLSS, FSR 4 leverages the AI accelerators within the Compute Units to analyze previous frames and game engine data, upscaling lower-resolution images to native resolution. While FSR 4 improves image quality over FSR 3, it does so at the cost of some performance.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 4K Extreme settings with FSR 3.1 set to "Performance," the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT achieved 134 fps. Switching to FSR 4 reduced this to 121 fps, a 10% performance drop, but with enhanced image quality, particularly in elements like grass and in-game text. In Monster Hunter Wilds, the 9070 XT managed 94 fps at 4K max settings with FSR 3 and ray tracing enabled, but dropped to 78 fps with FSR 4—a 20% performance decrease.
This performance hit is expected, as AI upscaling is inherently more demanding than the temporal solution used previously. AMD acknowledges this trade-off, emphasizing the improved image quality, which may be more appealing for single-player games where visual fidelity is paramount.
Fortunately, FSR 3.1 remains available, and FSR 4 is an opt-in feature that can be toggled off in the Adrenalin software. My review sample had FSR 4 disabled by default, possibly due to early drivers.
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & 9070 – Benchmarks
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Performance
-----------AMD has delivered a strong contender with the Radeon RX 9070 XT. Priced at $599, it undercuts the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 21% while being, on average, 2% faster. Although there are games where the RTX 5070 Ti outperforms the Radeon RX 9070 XT, their competitive performance is a significant achievement for AMD.
Across my test suite, the RX 9070 XT was about 17% faster than the RX 7900 XT, which launched at $899 two years ago, and 2% faster than the new $749 RTX 5070 Ti. The card excels at 4K, maintaining its lead at this resolution, making it an excellent entry-level 4K graphics card, even with ray tracing enabled.
All graphics cards were tested on the latest available drivers. Nvidia cards used Game Ready Driver 572.60, except for the RTX 5070, which was on review drivers. AMD cards were tested on Adrenalin 24.12.1, except for the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, which used pre-release drivers provided by AMD.
While 3DMark isn't a playable game, it provides a useful comparison of graphics card potential. The 9070 XT outperformed the 7900 XT by 18% in Speed Way, though it lagged 18% behind the RTX 5070 Ti. In the Steel Nomad benchmark, the performance gap widened to a 26% increase over the Radeon RX 7900 XT, and the 9070 XT even surpassed the RTX 5070 Ti by 7%.
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 360In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the Radeon RX 9070 XT led the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 15%, with the Radeon RX 7900 XT trailing by only 6%, indicating a preference for AMD hardware in this game.
Cyberpunk 2077 traditionally favors Nvidia cards, yet the RTX 5070 Ti only outperformed the Radeon RX 9070 XT by 5% at 4K with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset and FSR 3 set to performance mode, a significant improvement over previous generations.
Metro Exodus, tested without upscaling at 4K, saw the Radeon RX 9070 XT achieve 47 fps, nearly matching the RTX 5070 Ti's 48 fps, while the last-generation Radeon RX 7900 XT managed only 38 fps, a 24% improvement.
Red Dead Redemption 2 showcased the Radeon RX 9070 XT's Vulkan performance, achieving 125 fps with all settings maxed, outpacing the RTX 5070 Ti's 110 fps and the 7900 XT's 106 fps.
The Radeon RX 9070 XT fell 13% behind the RTX 5070 Ti in Total War: Warhammer 3, with 76 fps compared to the 7900 XT's 71 fps.
In Assassin's Creed Mirage, the RX 9070 XT regained its footing, achieving 163 fps, surpassing the RTX 5070 Ti's 146 fps by 12% and the 7900 XT's 150 fps by 9%, a game traditionally favoring AMD GPUs.
The most surprising victory for the RX 9070 XT was in Black Myth Wukong, where it achieved 70 fps at 4K with the Cinematic Preset and FSR set to 40%, outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti's 65 fps by 8%. This game features intense ray tracing effects, an area where AMD has historically lagged behind Nvidia, highlighting the significant improvements in the Ray Accelerators over RDNA 3.
Forza Horizon 5 saw the Radeon RX 9070 XT achieve 158 fps, slightly ahead of the RTX 5070 Ti's 151 fps, demonstrating its competitive edge.
Announced quietly at CES 2025, the Radeon RX 9070 XT feels like AMD's strategic move against Nvidia's Blackwell graphics cards. At $599, it represents a return to more reasonable pricing in the graphics card market. While it may not match the performance of the RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, those cards are overkill for most users and significantly more expensive.
The last great flagship graphics card was arguably the GTX 1080 Ti, launched at $699 in 2017. While the 9070 XT doesn't claim the title of the fastest consumer card, it feels like the first worthy flagship since then, offering exceptional value and performance for gamers.
