AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: In-Depth Review

For several generations, AMD has been striving to challenge Nvidia in the high-end graphics card market. However, with the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, Team Red has shifted its focus from the ultra-high-end, which is dominated by the RTX 5090, to delivering the best graphics card for the majority of gamers—a goal it undoubtedly achieves.

Priced at $599, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT goes head-to-head with the $749 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, establishing itself as one of the top GPUs available today. AMD enhances its appeal by introducing FSR 4, marking the first time AI upscaling is available on an AMD graphics card. This makes the RX 9070 XT an ideal choice for 4K gaming, especially for those who aren't prepared 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. However, be aware that prices may vary due to third-party offerings, which can 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 brings significant enhancements, particularly in its RT and AI Accelerators. The AI Accelerators power the new FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4), introducing AI upscaling to AMD graphics cards for the first time. While FSR 4 doesn't boost frame rates over FSR 3.1, it significantly improves image quality. For those prioritizing frame rates, a toggle in the Adrenalin software allows users to disable FSR 4.

AMD has also improved the shader cores, enhancing performance on a per-core basis. Despite having fewer Compute Units (64) compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XT (84), the RX 9070 XT offers a notable generational leap at a lower price. Each Compute Unit contains 64 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), totaling 4,096 SMs, along with 64 ray accelerators and 128 AI accelerators.

However, the RX 9070 XT comes with less memory than its predecessor, featuring 16GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, as opposed to 20GB on a 320-bit bus. This reduction impacts both capacity and bandwidth, though it remains sufficient for most 4K gaming scenarios.

Despite being more efficient, the RX 9070 XT has a slightly higher power budget of 304W compared to the 300W of the RX 7900 XT. Interestingly, my testing showed the 7900 XT consuming more power, peaking at 314W versus 306W for the 9070 XT.

Cooling the RX 9070 XT is manageable, given its standard power budget. Notably, AMD does not offer a reference design for this model, relying instead on third-party manufacturers. I reviewed the Powercolor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper, which features a compact triple-fan design and maintained a temperature of 72°C during testing.

The RX 9070 XT uses standard power connectors, requiring two 8-pin PCI-E connectors, which simplifies upgrades for most users, provided they have a 700W power supply as recommended by AMD. The card includes three DisplayPort 2.1a and one HDMI 2.1b ports, meeting expectations for modern graphics cards, though the addition of a USB-C port would enhance flexibility.

FSR 4

For years, AMD has sought an AI upscaling solution to compete with Nvidia's DLSS. The Radeon RX 9070 XT introduces FSR 4, an AI-powered upscaling technology that addresses previous issues of ghosting and fuzziness seen in earlier versions of FidelityFX Super Resolution.

FSR 4 uses AI accelerators to analyze previous frames and game engine data, upscaling lower-resolution images to the native resolution. While it offers improved image quality over FSR 3, it comes with a slight performance hit. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 4K with extreme settings, FSR 3.1 yielded 134 fps, whereas FSR 4 reduced this to 121 fps—a 10% drop, though with enhanced image quality. Similarly, in Monster Hunter Wilds, the RX 9070 XT achieved 94 fps with FSR 3 and ray tracing enabled, dropping to 78 fps with FSR 4—a 20% decrease.

This performance trade-off is expected, as AI upscaling is inherently more demanding than temporal upscaling. AMD acknowledges this, emphasizing that the improved image quality is intended to offset the performance loss, particularly beneficial for single-player games where visuals are paramount.

Fortunately, FSR 3.1 remains available, and FSR 4 is an opt-in feature easily toggled 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. While the RTX 5070 Ti may outperform the RX 9070 XT in some games, their competitive performance is a significant achievement for AMD.

Across my testing, the RX 9070 XT was 17% faster than the RX 7900 XT, which launched at $899 two years ago, and 2% faster than the $749 RTX 5070 Ti. Its performance at 4K is particularly impressive, maintaining this lead and making it an excellent entry-level option for 4K gaming, even with ray tracing enabled.

All graphics cards were tested with the latest available drivers. Nvidia cards used Game Ready Driver 572.60, with the RTX 5070 on review drivers. AMD cards were tested on Adrenalin 24.12.1, with the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 on pre-release drivers provided by AMD.

While 3DMark isn't a playable game, it provides valuable insights into graphics card potential. The RX 9070 XT outperformed the RX 7900 XT by 18% in Speed Way, though it lagged 18% behind the RTX 5070 Ti. In Steel Nomad, the RX 9070 XT's performance increased to 26% over the RX 7900 XT and even surpassed the RTX 5070 Ti by 7%.

Test System

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the RX 9070 XT led the RTX 5070 Ti by 15%, though the game favors AMD hardware, with the RX 7900 XT only 6% behind.

Cyberpunk 2077 has traditionally favored Nvidia, but the RTX 5070 Ti only beat the RX 9070 XT by 5% at 4K with Ray Tracing Ultra and FSR 3 set to performance mode, despite the significant price difference.

In Metro Exodus, tested without upscaling at 4K, the RX 9070 XT achieved 47 fps, nearly matching the RTX 5070 Ti's 48 fps. The RX 7900 XT lagged at 38 fps, representing a 24% improvement for the RX 9070 XT.

Red Dead Redemption 2 showcases Vulkan performance, where the RX 9070 XT reached 125 fps, outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti's 110 fps and the RX 7900 XT's 106 fps.

The RX 9070 XT fell 13% behind the RTX 5070 Ti in Total War: Warhammer 3, achieving 76 fps compared to the 7900 XT's 71 fps.

In Assassin's Creed Mirage, the RX 9070 XT regained its footing, outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti by 12% (163 fps vs. 146 fps) and the RX 7900 XT by 9% (163 fps vs. 150 fps).

The most surprising victory for the RX 9070 XT came in Black Myth Wukong, where it achieved 70 fps at 4K with the Cinematic Preset and FSR set to 40%, surpassing the RTX 5070 Ti's 65 fps by 8%. This is notable given the game's intense ray tracing effects, where AMD typically lags behind Nvidia.

In Forza Horizon 5, the RX 9070 XT achieved 158 fps, slightly outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti's 151 fps by 5%.

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 sensible pricing in the graphics card market. While it may not match the RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 in raw performance, 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 RX 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 the majority of gamers.