AMD Radeon RX 9070 Review

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 hits the market at an intriguing time for graphics cards, right on the heels of Nvidia's latest generation launch. Priced at $549, it directly competes with the less impressive GeForce RTX 5070, giving AMD a clear advantage in this head-to-head battle. This positioning makes the Radeon RX 9070 an excellent choice for gamers seeking top performance at 1440p.

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. While the 9070 is about 8% slower and 9% cheaper, the small price gap makes it challenging to justify not opting for the XT model for a modest increase in performance. Nonetheless, AMD's lineup remains strong, offering compelling options for gamers.

Purchasing Guide

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 launches on March 6, starting at $549. Expect a range of models at various price points above this base. For the best value, aim to purchase a model as close to the starting price as possible, especially given its close pricing to the Radeon RX 9070 XT.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 – Photos

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Specs and Features

Built on the cutting-edge RDNA 4 graphics architecture, the Radeon RX 9070 mirrors the RX 9070 XT in its foundational tech, delivering significant performance boosts. It surpasses 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), totaling 3,584 shaders. Additionally, each compute unit features one Ray Accelerator and two AI Accelerators, resulting in 56 and 112 of these units, respectively. These enhancements significantly improve ray tracing performance and introduce AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4, marking the debut of AI upscaling on AMD graphics cards.

Like its XT counterpart, the RX 9070 comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 256-bit bus, ideal for future-proofing 1440p gaming. Although GDDR7 memory would have been a welcome upgrade, it likely would have increased the price.

AMD suggests a minimum 550W power supply for the RX 9070, which has a power budget of 220W. My testing showed a peak consumption of 249W, suggesting a 600W PSU for safety. Notably, AMD is not releasing a reference design for the RX 9070; all versions will come from third-party manufacturers. I tested the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16G, a robust triple-slot card with a slight factory overclock.

FSR4

Since the rise of DLSS in 2018, AI upscaling has become a game-changer for enhancing performance without sacrificing much image quality. FSR 4 introduces this technology to AMD GPUs for the first time, utilizing previous frames and in-game data to upscale lower resolution images to native resolution through an AI model. This differs from FSR 3's Temporal upscaling, which lacked AI enhancement and could result in artifacts like ghosting.

However, FSR 4 incurs a slight performance hit compared to FSR 3 due to the computational demands of the AI model. For example, 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 max settings with ray tracing, the RX 9070 manages 81 fps with FSR 3 but falls to 76 fps with FSR 4.

Fortunately, the Adrenalin software allows users to toggle between FSR 3 and FSR 4, enabling a choice between better image quality and slightly higher performance. I prefer FSR 4 for single-player games, but FSR 3 might be better suited for fast-paced online games like Marvel Rivals.

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 many scenarios, averaging 12% faster at 1440p and boasting a 22% lead over its predecessor, the RX 7900 GRE, which was also priced at $549 in 2024. This impressive performance comes despite having 30% fewer cores.

Note that my test unit was the factory overclocked Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC, which has a boost clock of 2,700Mhz, roughly a 7% increase over the standard model. This should translate to a 4-5% performance boost.

All tests were 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. Review drivers were used for the Radeon RX 9070, 9070 XT, and GeForce RTX 5070.

In 3DMark, the RX 9070 demonstrates strong potential, achieving 5,828 points in the Speed Way test with ray tracing enabled, compared to 5,845 for the RTX 5070—a virtual tie. However, in the Steel Nomad test without ray tracing, the RX 9070 significantly outperforms the RTX 5070, scoring 6,050 to 5,034, a 20% difference.

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 shines at 1440p with FSR 3 set to Balanced, achieving 165 fps compared to 131 fps for the RTX 5070 and 143 fps for the RX 7900 GRE, a 26% and 15% lead, respectively.

Cyberpunk 2077, typically favoring Nvidia hardware, sees the RX 9070 edging out the RTX 5070 by 3% at 1440p with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset. This small victory is significant given the game's historical bias toward Nvidia.

In Metro Exodus, without upscaling technology, the RX 9070 delivers 71 fps compared to the RTX 5070's 64 fps, an 11% lead.

Red Dead Redemption 2 using Vulkan sees the RX 9070 achieving 142 fps at 1440p, well ahead of the RTX 5070's 115 fps, a 23% lead. The RX 7900 GRE also performs well here with 113 fps, suggesting AMD's engine optimizations.

Total War: Warhammer 3 shows a close race at 1440p, with the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 scoring 135 and 134 fps, respectively, within the margin of error. At 4K, however, the RX 9070 pulls ahead due to its larger frame buffer.

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

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

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

The Radeon RX 9070's launch timing against the RTX 5070 plays to AMD's advantage. Both cards are priced at $549, yet the RX 9070 consistently outperforms its Nvidia counterpart. With 16GB of VRAM, the RX 9070 also promises better longevity, making it an outstanding value proposition for gamers.