The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: A 4K Gaming Revolution (If You Can Find One)
For gamers yearning to experience the visual splendor of 4K resolution, the path to achieving buttery-smooth framerates has often been paved with exorbitant price tags. The dream of truly budget-friendly 4K gaming has remained elusive – until now, perhaps. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT emerges as a compelling contender, a beacon of hope in a market often dominated by sky-high prices and limited availability. At a suggested retail price of $600, this graphics card delivers a performance punch that rivals more expensive options, potentially rewriting the rules of 4K gaming affordability. It’s a card so capable of delivering playable framerates at maximum settings in 4K, that it almost makes you question the allure of Nvidia’s DLSS 4 and its multi-frame generation wizardry – almost.
AMD’s aggressive pricing strategy is a clear shot across the bows of its competitors, directly challenging both Nvidia and its own product line. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, slated for a $750 MSRP, finds itself in the crosshairs. So too does AMD’s own $550 Radeon RX 9070 (a review of which is forthcoming), which occupies a similar performance tier to the rumored $550 RTX 5070. The RX 9070 XT, with its slightly higher price point, offers a tangible performance bump that makes it a compelling upgrade for gamers seeking the best possible 4K experience. If the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 offer similar levels of power, then the fifty dollar jump in price is a no-brainer for any PC gamer looking to push boundaries and experience 4K desktop gaming at the highest standards. The RTX 5070 Ti may hold a slight advantage in certain titles, but its practical value is undermined by persistent stock shortages, pushing prices well beyond the MSRP, often into the $800 to $1,000 range.
The true strength of the RX 9070 XT hinges on AMD’s ability to meet consumer demand. If the card remains readily available at its intended price point, it stands as one of the most compelling value propositions in the current GPU landscape. While it might lack the visual flair of a top-tier Nvidia RTX 5080 Founders Edition, the RX 9070 XT proves that achieving a satisfying 4K gaming experience doesn’t require breaking the bank. AMD’s apparent focus on the mid-range GPU market appears to be a calculated move, prioritizing accessibility and value over chasing the ultra-high-end segment.
However, the road to 4K gaming nirvana isn’t entirely smooth. During pre-release testing with early AMD drivers and the Adrenalin software suite, some technical hiccups surfaced. Buggy visuals, frame rate stuttering, and occasional game crashes were experienced in certain titles, issues that weren’t encountered with Nvidia’s latest cards, even when running beta drivers. While Nvidia’s offerings aren’t without their own quirks and issues, the initial testing phase revealed areas where AMD needs to refine its software support. These tests were run with an Intel CPU. While it is expected that AMD products play nicer with AMD products, it shouldn’t be an excuse for technical error.
Despite these early challenges, the potential of the Radeon RX 9070 XT remains undeniable. With further driver optimizations and software refinements, it could easily become the sleeper hit of this GPU release cycle. The very prospect of its popularity carries a hint of trepidation, as high demand could lead to yet another frustrating cycle of stock shortages and inflated prices.
The review unit provided by AMD was the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT. The card boasts a sleek three-fan design, accentuated by an angled edge that lends it a modern, almost architectural aesthetic. It’s a substantial card, occupying 3.5 slots on the motherboard, potentially obstructing an entire PCIe slot. Potential buyers should carefully assess their PC case dimensions and motherboard layout to ensure compatibility with this oversized GPU.
Both the RX 9070 and 9070 XT are equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, boasting a 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. Both cards are built upon the new RDNA 4 architecture, a significant departure from Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture used in the RTX 50-series. RDNA 4 features redesigned compute units, promising higher clock speeds and improved power efficiency compared to previous generations like the Radeon RX 7900 series.
Both the 9070 and 9070 XT utilize a PCIe 5.0 bus, but the more expensive XT model boasts a higher boost clock speed of 2.9 GHz. Despite sharing the same memory configuration, the two AMD cards differ significantly in terms of performance capabilities. The $600 RX 9070 XT packs 64 compute units, compared to the 9070’s 56. This translates to noticeable gains in both graphical and AI performance, making the XT a near-ideal choice for budget-conscious gamers looking to dive into 4K gaming.
At $600, the RX 9070 XT faces little competition in terms of 4K performance. It surpasses the $550 AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE from 2023 and even manages to deliver playable framerates that rival the $750 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti. Testing was conducted on an Origin PC Neuron 3500X system, equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU and 32 GB of DDR5 6400 MT/s RAM, providing a consistent platform for comparison against Nvidia cards.
Synthetic benchmarks like 3D Mark offer insights into the underlying hardware capabilities. In 3D Mark Steel Nomad, the RX 9070 XT scored slightly below the RTX 5070 Ti. However, the RX 9070 XT fell noticeably behind in ray tracing performance tests like 3D Mark Port Royal and 3D Mark Speed Way, scoring 1,260 and 1,535 points worse, respectively. In contrast, the RX 9070 XT excelled in AI performance, achieving a score of 26645 in Geekbench AI, outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti’s 22022.
Real-world gaming benchmarks reveal a more nuanced picture. In Cyberpunk 2077, the RX 9070 XT closely matched the RTX 5070 Ti’s performance in 4K tests without FSR, yielding comparable results with FSR 4 and DLSS 4 enabled. While the RX 9070 XT trailed slightly at 1080p, it remained fully playable. In Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, AMD’s $600 card edged out Nvidia’s sub-premium offering by a few percentage points, both with and without AI upscaling at 1080p and 4K resolutions.
However, not all games exhibited optimal performance on the RX 9070 XT. Black Myth: Wukong, a title known for its struggles on AMD hardware, continued to present challenges. Even with FSR enabled, the RX 9070 XT struggled to surpass 25 FPS at maximum settings and 4K, whereas the RTX 5070 Ti averaged 52 FPS in benchmarks.
Moving beyond synthetic benchmarks, the RX 9070 XT delivered commendable performance in recent titles. In Avowed, averaging 50 to 53 FPS at 4K and ultra settings within the resource-intensive Emerald Stair region was perfectly playable. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II achieved around 55 FPS during the game’s opening siege without FSR, with upscaling boosting performance to approximately 80 FPS.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 showcased the RX 9070 XT’s strengths, delivering a smooth experience above 60 FPS at 4K, even amidst the game’s performance fluctuations. This level of performance was unattainable on both the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti.
Despite these successes, some titles exhibited problematic behavior. Hogwarts Legacy experienced inexplicable FPS drops, regardless of location. Dragon Age: The Veilguard proved unplayable due to persistent frame hitching. While these issues were isolated to a few titles, their occurrence highlights the need for ongoing driver refinement. AMD support was unavailable to find the cause of these errors at the time of testing.
To counter Nvidia’s upscaling technology, AMD introduced FSR 4 (FidelityFX Super Resolution). This new version, exclusive to the RDNA 4 cards, leverages the GPU’s AI accelerators to reduce artifacting, ghosting, and enhance detail in upscaled frames.
The difference between FSR 2 and FSR 4 is stark. In Alan Wake II the upscaled quality of FSR 2 is far less significant than FSR 4 in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. On balanced settings Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 can be played at 4K, ultra settings, and ray tracing turned up to high settings at or above 60 FPS. This was an outcome that was difficult to achieve on Nvidia’s latest graphics cards.
While previous FSR iterations were hardware-agnostic, FSR 4 is specifically designed for RDNA 4. This exclusivity positions it as a direct competitor to Nvidia’s DLSS. The current number of games supporting FSR 4 is limited to just over 30, compared to the approximately 75 games that supported DLSS 4 at launch.
FSR support can be a deciding factor in game playability. Depending on the game and desired settings, owning an AMD or Nvidia GPU can determine whether playable framerates are achievable or not.
AMD has stated that it has "tested" a multi-frame generation model but finds it impractical and unnecessary. While Nvidia has aggressively promoted "fake" frames as the future of gaming, multi-frame generation remains a valuable tool for gamers with less powerful PCs to maximize the potential of high-refresh rate monitors. DLSS and FSR frame generation work best when framerates are already near or above 60 FPS. The RTX 5070 falls short of meeting the needs of gamers seeking consistent 4K performance. However, it remains a strong contender for 1440p gaming. The allure of using DLSS 4 to boost 60-70 FPS to 150 or higher is undeniable, an experience not currently offered by AMD’s latest GPUs.
AMD’s RX 9070 XT, priced $50 above the RTX 5070 and RX 9070, effectively renders those cards superfluous. The decision then rests on choosing between the RTX 5070 Ti and the RX 9070 XT, a decision that may ultimately hinge on availability. The future of AMD’s latest offering remains uncertain, but Nvidia’s GPUs continue to be plagued by inflated prices and stock issues.
For gamers seeking a new GPU now, the RX 9070 XT is more than a stopgap – it’s a viable 4K upgrade. While the absence of DLSS 4 and the potential for achieving over 100 FPS in some games may be a drawback, the $150 to $300 discount compared to inflated GeForce prices makes it a worthwhile trade-off.
