Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs with Samsung memory slower than SK Hynix variants
Evidence suggesting AMD is transitioning to using Samsung developed memory modules for its Radeon RX 9070 XT surfaced about two months ago. Now, it has been reported that these models perform slightly worse than the ones with memory modules from SK Hynix, the original supplier. The real-world gaming performance may still be unaffected as the comparison is based on synthetic benchmarks.
The information comes from a Chinese tech reviewer who noticed some performance depreciation in some Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs. After some testing, the reviewer was able to identify that the GPU models using GDDR6 memory modules from Samsung were performing slightly worse than those using modules from SK Hynix. The reviewer shared a video where they compared over 20 different Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs and found that those using Samsung memory modules were 1% to 2% slower.
Furthermore, the reviewer spoke with an AMD team member in China who reportedly confirmed that the performance difference was in fact due to the Samsung modules.
Back when evidence of the transition to Samsung modules surfaced, it was believed that this is done to improve thermals. According to the report, the use of Samsung memory did yield noticeable thermal improvements. Interestingly, the Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs with Samsung modules used in the latest tests had higher power consumption and higher clock speeds, but still performed slightly worse.
The comparison was done using the 3Dmark Speedway test but it should be noted that this is not an accurate identifier of real-world gaming performance. In games, this 1% to 2% difference would probable not be noticeable.
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