Amazing value for money: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 take on the overpriced GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards

After more than two years, AMD is saying goodbye to its RDNA3 graphics cards and is launching a whole new generation, namely RDNA4. Still, the Radeon RX 9070 XT doesn't have it easy compared to the previous flagship. One of the biggest changes is the switch from the MCM design back to a monolithic chip, combined with a finer manufacturing structure. Both new models are equipped with 16 GB of VRAM, which is sufficient for most games. However, there are some games that benefit from more memory, which is also reflected in the benchmark results. Even so, if you are prepared to make some slight compromises when it comes to resolution and opt for 1,440p, then you can enjoy a smooth gaming experience with high frame rates.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is similarly impressive, although it is overshadowed by the faster XT variant. It offers solid gaming performance and only suffers a slight loss in performance compared to the RX 9070 XT. It does particularly well in terms of efficiency and quieter operation, delivering around 10 percent less performance but around 20 percent lower energy consumption. At the same time, it has the same advantages as the XT model. AMD's FSR4 is a strong alternative to DLSS4, particularly when it comes to upscaling, which is now AI-supported. However, FSR4 is reserved exclusively for RDNA4 graphics cards, which means that an upgrade is required to benefit from the latest features.

AMD's models are particularly attractive in terms of their pricing compared to Nvidia. The official MRSP of the Radeon RX 9070 XT is around $740, while the RX 9070 has an even lower MRSP of approximately $670. It remains to be seen how good the availability of these graphics cards will be. If AMD suffers no bottlenecks, then there's a good chance that it will be able to take market share from Nvidia in the broader mid-range segment.

In Germany which is where we conducted our testing, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT costs around $740, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 can be purchased for approximately $670.

A look at the synthetic benchmarks reveals the performance of the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC and the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming. It quickly becomes apparent that the new RDNA4 graphics cards don't quite match the top performance of the previous RDNA3 flagship. In comparison, the XFX Speedster MERC 310 Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers around 5 percent more performance than the MBA model of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. If you look further back in GPU history, you'll see a slight advantage over the MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition.
Nevertheless, one thing remains clear: Nvidia's high-end models are out of reach—the Gigabyte RX 9070 XT cannot compete in this league.

The two test models continue to offer solid performance for professional and semi-professional uses. In this area, AMD has already impressed in the past with strong computing power and efficient memory management. However, the results vary considerably depending on the application software and interface. In the SPECviewperf 2020 benchmark, which measures performance in CAD and visualization programs, the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC was around 20 % behind the XFX Speedster MERC 310 Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The gap was much smaller in SPECworkstation 4.0, indicating that the card performs more efficiently in certain workloads. The optimized RDNA4 architecture proved to have a particularly positive effect during HandBrake, where the GPU benefitted from the improved hardware-accelerated codecs and demonstrated high efficiency during video rendering and encoding.

First, let's take a look at the pure graphics performance of the new AMD graphics cards without the use of FSR. Directly compared with the XFX Speedster MERC 310 Radeon RX 7900 XTX, it quickly becomes apparent that the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC falls behind. While the synthetic benchmarks suggested a clearer gap, this was noticeably smaller in our gaming test course. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC was on average 13 percent behind the XT model, although the difference varied slightly depending on the game and resolution. Compared to Nvidia, both RX 9070 models offer higher performance on average than the GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition. In addition, newer games benefit more from the RDNA4 architecture than older ones. Overall, both variants are ideal for 2K gaming, while unrestricted 4K gaming is only possible with certain compromises.