AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Review

For the past mates of generations, AMD has been desperately trying to vie with Nvidia astatine the precocious end. However, now, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, Team Red has ceded the ultra-high-end to the RTX 5090 and is alternatively focused connected making the best graphics card for the bulk of gamers – a extremity it perfectly achieves.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is simply a $599 graphics paper that trades blows with the $749 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. That unsocial sets it up arsenic 1 of the champion GPUs connected the marketplace contiguous – but AMD further sweetens the woody with FSR 4, yet bringing AI upscaling to an AMD graphics card for the archetypal time. Simply put, this is the graphics paper to get for 4K gaming, particularly if you don’t person $1,999 to mindlessly stroke connected the RTX 5090.

Specs and Features

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built connected the RDNA 4 architecture, and portion it brings improvements to its shader cores, the existent stars of the amusement are the caller RT and AI Accelerators. The AI Accelerators, successful particular, are the driving unit down FidelityFX Super Resolution 4, oregon FSR 4, which brings AI upscaling to AMD graphics cards for the archetypal time. This caller AI upscaling doesn’t needfully amended framerates implicit games utilizing the older FSR 3.1 model, but it greatly improves accuracy – meaning amended representation quality. Luckily, if you attraction much astir the framerates, there’s a bully small toggle successful the Adrenalin bundle that lets you crook disconnected FSR 4 entirely.

But it’s much than conscionable AI upscaling. AMD has besides made immense improvements to its shader cores, resulting successful amended show connected a per-core level. So, contempt the Radeon RX 9070 XT having 64 Compute Units, compared to 84 successful the previous-generation Radeon RX 7900 XT, AMD was capable to present a sizable generational leap – and with a overmuch little motorboat terms this clip around. Each of these Compute Units has 64 Streaming Multiprocessors, oregon SMs, making for a full of 4,096, on with 64 ray accelerators and 128 AI accelerators.

However, the Radeon RX 9070 XT besides has little representation than the RX 7900 XT, coming successful astatine 16GB of GDDR6 connected a 256-bit bus, alternatively than 20GB of GDDR6 connected a wider 320-bit bus. That’s a deed to some capableness and bandwidth, but it’s inactive enough to get by successful astir games astatine 4K. Still, fixed that AMD is inactive connected GDDR6, it would person been bully to not get this downgrade astatine all.

While the caller architecture is much efficient, the RX 9070 XT has a higher powerfulness fund than the 7900 XT that came before, though not by much. The 9070 XT needs 304W of power, compared to 300W with the older card. It’s an unusual increase, particularly due to the fact that successful my testing, I recovered that the 7900 XT inactive consumed much power, peaking astatine 314W, compared to 306W from the 9070 XT.

This is simply a beauteous modular powerfulness fund successful a modern graphics card, truthful cooling it won’t beryllium excessively challenging. Unlike immoderate different generation, though, AMD is not launching a notation plan for the Radeon RX 9070 XT, which means you’ll person to trust connected third-party manufacturers for this GPU. I received the Powercolor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper for review, with a amazingly constrictive triple-fan design. Despite its tiny footprint, though, it inactive kept the somesthesia astatine 72°C passim my trial suite.

AMD is inactive sticking with modular powerfulness connectors too, with the Radeon RX 9070 XT needing 2 8-pin PCI-E powerfulness connectors, with nary meltable adapters successful sight. This makes it an casual upgrade for beauteous overmuch anyone, provided you person the 700W powerfulness proviso AMD recommends. As for ports, you get 3 DisplayPort 2.1a and 1 HDMI 2.1b, which is precisely what you would expect from a modern graphics card. I bash privation AMD would adhd a USB-C port, though, conscionable for much flexibility.

FSR 4

For years now, AMD has needed an AI upscaling solution that could spell toe-to-toe with DLSS. Because portion the show was surely determination with the existing versions of FidelityFX Super Resolution, it has been plagued with ghosting and fuzziness from the connection go. AMD addresses that with the Radeon RX 9070 XT, with the AI-powered FSR 4.

Just similar DLSS, FSR 4 utilizes the AI accelerators successful the Compute Units to analyse erstwhile frames, on with different information from the crippled engine, successful bid to accurately upscale a lower-resolution representation up to your autochthonal resolution. The effect does look amended than FSR 3, which utilized a Temporal upscaling solution alternatively of AI, though it does travel with a spot of a show hit.

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 astatine 4K Extreme settings with FSR 3.1 acceptable to “Performance”, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT was capable to get 134 fps. However, swap that implicit to FSR 4, and that fig goes down to astir 121 fps, a 10% show loss, albeit with amended representation quality, particularly successful things similar writer oregon in-game text. Likewise, successful Monster Hunter Wilds, the 9070 XT was capable to get 94 fps astatine 4K max settings with some FSR 3 and ray tracing enabled, but dropped to 78 fps erstwhile utilizing FSR 4 – a 20% driblet successful performance.

That’s a bummer, I know, but truly it makes sense. By its precise nature, an AI upscaling solution is simply a much costly workload than the temporal solution AMD was utilizing successful the past. I adjacent checked successful with AMD and I was told the show driblet was wholly expected behavior, and that AMD is hoping the improved representation prime volition marque up for the show drop. That’s of people going to alteration idiosyncratic to person, but it’s worthy it if you chiefly play single-player games wherever representation prime is much important than earthy framework rate.

Luckily, it’s not similar FSR 3.1 is going distant immoderate clip soon. FSR 4 is an opt-in feature: you tin easy spell into the Adrenalin bundle and toggle FSR 4 off. In fact, it was turned disconnected by default connected my reappraisal sample, though that could person been due to the fact that of aboriginal drivers.

Performance

AMD truly came retired swinging with the Radeon RX 9070 XT. At $599, it undercuts the Nvidia Geforce RTX 5070 Ti by a whopping 21%, but ends up being, connected average, 2% faster. There are games wherever the RTX 5070 Ti beats the Radeon RX 9070 XT, but the information that these 2 graphics cards are trading blows astatine each is simply a triumph for AMD.

Across my full trial suite, I recovered that the RX 9070 XT was astir 17% faster than the RX 7900 XT – which launched astatine $899 2 years agone – and 2% faster than the caller $749 RTX 5070 Ti. But wherever this paper truly shines, particularly considering its cost, is astatine 4K. AMD maintains the aforesaid pb astatine that resolution, making the 9070 XT the eventual entry-level 4K graphics card, adjacent with ray tracing enabled.

I tested each graphics cards connected the astir caller drivers available. That means each Nvidia cards were tested with Game Ready Driver 572.60, but for the RTX 5070, which is inactive connected reappraisal drivers astatine the clip of writing. All AMD cards were tested connected Adrenalin 24.12.1, but for the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, which were tested connected pre-release drivers provided by AMD.

While 3DMark isn’t a crippled you tin really play, it inactive gives a bully look astatine however the imaginable of each graphics paper compares to 1 another. It’s uncommon that it reflects existent satellite performance, but it mostly gives you a bully thought what to expect. And, well, the 9070 XT beats the 7900 XT by 18% successful Speed Way, adjacent though it’s 18% down the RTX 5070 Ti. However, swap to the Steel Nomad benchmark, and the communicative shifts altogether. The show leap implicit the Radeon RX 7900 XT jumps to 26%, and the 9070 XT adjacent beats the much costly RTX 5070 Ti by 7%.

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the Radeon RX 9070 XT pulls up of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 15%. However, it’s wide that this crippled favors AMD hardware, with the Radeon RX 7900 XT lone losing to the caller graphics paper by 6%.

Cyberpunk 2077 has ever performed champion connected Nvidia cards, truthful it’s not a astonishment that the 5070 Ti beats the Radeon RX 9070 XT, but by little than successful erstwhile generations. The Radeon RX 9070 XT gets 71 fps astatine 4K with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset with FSR 3 acceptable to show mode. The RTX 5070 Ti with the aforesaid settings, but DLSS acceptable to show mode, gets 75 fps. That’s lone a 5% lead, contempt the immense terms gap.

Metro Exodus is different crippled with dense ray tracing, though this 1 is tested with nary upscaling astatine all. At 4K, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is capable to negociate 47 fps, which is wrong the borderline of mistake of the RTX 5070 Ti’s 48 fps. The last-generation Radeon RX 7900 XT truly struggles here, lone getting 38 fps, making for a 24% jump.

While it's old, Red Dead Redemption 2 is simply a large showcase of Vulkan performance, and it scales highly good connected the 9070 XT. In everyone’s favourite cowboy-em-up, the Radeon RX 9070 XT gets 125 fps with everything cranked, with the RTX 5070 Ti trailing down astatine 110 fps. The 7900 XT trails a spot further down astatine 106 fps.

Unfortunately, the winning streak can’t spell connected forever, with the Radeon RX 9070 XT falling 13% down the RTX 5070 Ti successful Total War: Warhammer 3. What’s worse is with 76 fps the 9070 XT besides doesn’t propulsion that acold up of the 7900 XT’s 71 fps.

In Assassins Creed Mirage, the RX 9070 XT gets backmost connected the close foot, with its 163 fps outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti’s 146 fps by 12% and the 7900 XT’s 150 fps by 9%. This is different crippled that has traditionally favored AMD GPUs, but it's inactive a immense leap implicit the competition.

The astir astonishing RX 9070 XT triumph is successful Black Myth Wukong, wherever it gets 70 fps astatine 4K with the Cinematic Preset and FSR acceptable to 40%. With those aforesaid settings and DLSS, the RTX 5070 Ti gets 65 fps, making for an 8% pb successful Team Red’s favor. Black Myth Wukong has a batch of aggravated ray tracing effects, thing AMD hasn’t bushed Nvidia astatine before. It’s unthinkable however overmuch the Ray Accelerators person improved implicit RDNA 3, excessively – the Radeon RX 7900 XT lone gets 60 fps, contempt having much Compute Units.

Forza Horizon 5 is besides getting up determination successful years, but the Radeon RX 9070 XT inactive beats the competition, getting 158 fps implicit the 5070 Ti’s 151 fps. That’s lone a 5% improvement, but it demonstrates conscionable however assertive the 9070 XT is.

Due to however it was announced nether the radar astatine CES 2025, it felt similar AMD was holding the Radeon RX 9070 XT arsenic immoderate benignant of concealed limb against Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics cards, and I’m gladsome it did. At $599, the Radeon RX 9070 XT seems similar a benignant of instrumentality to sanity for the graphics paper market. Sure, it’s not rather arsenic accelerated arsenic the RTX 5080 oregon the RTX 5090, but those cards are overkill for astir radical – and outgo astatine slightest $400+ more.

I cognize I’m not the lone 1 that feels similar the past large flagship graphics paper was the GTX 1080 Ti erstwhile it launched for $699 successful 2017. That was the fastest user paper of its time, and portion the 9070 XT can’t rather marque that claim, it inactive feels similar the archetypal worthy flagship we’ve seen since then.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra