AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 Series Dominates the RTX 5070 in Performance and Value

Nvidia’s recent entry into the mid-range graphics card market, the GeForce RTX 5070, has left many enthusiasts underwhelmed. Priced at $549, it presents a marginal generational upgrade, struggling to offer substantial improvements over its predecessor. Seizing this opportunity, AMD has unleashed its Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT graphics cards, setting a new benchmark for performance, value, and memory capacity in the 1440p gaming space.

Available at $549 for the RX 9070 and $599 for the RX 9070 XT, these AMD cards not only outperform the RTX 5070 but also offer a compelling proposition against the more expensive RTX 5070 Ti. The RX 9070 XT goes toe-to-toe with the RTX 5070 Ti in numerous gaming scenarios, providing exceptional value for its price point. A key advantage lies in their generous 16GB of VRAM, a stark contrast to the RTX 5070’s disappointing 12GB. Even in ray tracing, traditionally an Nvidia stronghold, AMD has made significant strides.

The Radeon RX 9070 series emerges as the new champion for 1440p gaming, presenting a compelling alternative to the RTX 5070. While Nvidia’s DLSS 4 technology offers advancements in visual smoothness, choosing the RTX 5070 entails making substantial sacrifices in other critical areas.

Our testing involved evaluating the XFX Swift Triple Fan Gaming Edition and Asus TUF Gaming OC models of both the RX 9070 and 9070 XT over the past week. The Asus card, a customized variant, features an additional power connector for enhanced overclocking potential.

Performance Benchmarks: AMD’s Clear Victory

The benchmarks reveal a clear performance advantage for the Radeon RX 9070 series. While testing was primarily conducted at 1440p resolution to accommodate multiple Radeon 9070 models in the graphs, the results speak volumes.

In overall gaming performance, the Radeon RX 9070 surpasses the RTX 5070 by approximately 8% at 1440p. Removing the outlier Black Myth Wukong, a game that heavily relies on complex ray tracing and poses a challenge for all Radeon GPUs, the performance gap widens to 11%. The RX 9070 XT further extends this lead, outperforming the RTX 5070 by 15% on average across the test suite. Excluding Black Myth Wukong, the RX 9070 XT boasts a remarkable 19% performance advantage.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT’s performance even rivals the more expensive RTX 5070 Ti. The 5070 Ti is only 6% faster than the Radeon 9070 XT, and that plummets to 3% if you omit Black Myth. Given the RTX 5070 Ti’s 25% higher price tag, the RX 9070 XT presents a much more attractive value proposition.

Ray Tracing: Closing the Gap

Previous Radeon generations struggled with ray tracing, but the RX 9070 series, powered by the next-generation RDNA 4 architecture, showcases substantial improvements. In games with moderate to heavy ray tracing, the RX 9070 series performs competitively with the RTX 5070. In titles like F1 24 and Returnal, both AMD GPUs actually outperform the RTX 5070.

However, in games that employ more complex ray tracing effects and features, such as path tracing, Nvidia’s GPUs maintain their lead. The RTX 5070 exhibits superior performance in Black Myth Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077’s RT Overdrive mode.

Memory and Future-Proofing

Beyond raw performance, the Radeon RX 9070 series excels in memory configuration, offering a more future-proof solution capable of handling 4K gaming. AMD has positioned the RX 9070 series as "4K gaming at a 1440p price," directly challenging Nvidia’s approach.

Nvidia equipped the RTX 5070 with only 12GB of memory and a narrow 192-bit bus. This configuration limits the card’s potential to 1440p gaming, making it less suitable for 4K resolutions.

In contrast, the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT boast 16GB of memory and a wider 256-bit bus. This provides the necessary bandwidth for 4K gaming and future-proofs the cards against the increasing memory demands of modern games, especially with ray tracing and frame generation enabled. The 12GB GeForce RTX 5070 already encounters memory-related issues in some games at maximum settings.

Software Enhancements: FSR 4 and Hypr-RX

Nvidia relies heavily on DLSS 4 and its Multi Frame Generation (MFG) feature, which uses AI to generate multiple frames between traditionally rendered frames. MFG enhances visual smoothness and frame pacing.

AMD counters with FSR 4, leveraging new AI accelerators built into the RDNA 4 architecture for upscaling. While initial experiences with FSR 4 have been inconsistent, the technology shows promise.

Hypr-RX, a one-click feature, activates multiple Radeon features to boost performance in modern games. It supports driver-level FSR, Frame Generation (AMD Fluid Motion Frames), and anti-lag technologies. Hypr-RX can significantly increase frame rates, but image quality may be slightly compromised due to the lack of developer integration.

Professional Workloads: Nvidia’s Advantage

In professional workloads, such as Adobe Premiere Pro and AI text generation, the RTX 5070 outperforms the Radeon RX 9070 series. For users who require their graphics card for both gaming and professional tasks, Nvidia remains the superior option.

Design and Availability

Unlike Nvidia’s Founders Edition models, AMD will not be releasing a reference version of the Radeon RX 9070 series. All models will be manufactured by AMD partners like XFX, Sapphire, and Asus.

The Radeon RX 9070 series typically utilizes two 8-pin power connectors, although some custom models may opt for a 12-pin connector or an additional 8-pin connector for overclocking.

Conclusion: AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 Series is the Clear Winner

The Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT establish themselves as the new leaders in 1440p gaming. They surpass the GeForce RTX 5070 in performance, memory capacity, and value.

While DLSS 4’s Multi-Frame Generation offers compelling visual enhancements, the Radeon RX 9070 provides a more compelling overall experience for the price, especially with its ample 16GB of memory and improved ray tracing capabilities. The RX 9070 XT, in particular, stands out as a highly desirable option, delivering performance comparable to the RTX 5070 Ti at a significantly lower cost.

Despite some software-related challenges with FSR 4 and occasional driver crashes, the Radeon RX 9070 series offers a compelling combination of performance, value, and memory capacity that outweighs these drawbacks. AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 series represents a significant leap forward in gaming performance, making it a worthwhile upgrade for gamers seeking the best 1440p experience.