These new AMD graphics cards have impressed reviewers
Around two months after the first teaser dropped, the first graphics cards based on RDNA4 architecture are just around the corner. And it appears both the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT pack a punch.
The RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT are nothing less than «the best Radeon graphics cards ever built». At least that’s how PC Games Hardware puts it. Computerbase describes the cards as «revolutionary». And Techpowerup simply calls the RX 9070 XT a «fantastic card». After their reviews, it’s clear that while AMD is no longer in the top segment, it can still hold its own against the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti.
Competition for the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070
According to W1zzard from Techpowerup, the RX 9070 XT is three per cent behind the RTX 5070 Ti in classic Rasterizer games. Consequently, the new AMD card also lags three per cent behind its own previous flagship. With ray tracing, however, the new model has overtaken it. In a ray tracing comparison with the RTX 5070 Ti, the RX 9070 XT is behind by 14 per cent, though. Still, AMD is catching up in this area too.
Wolfgang Andermahr from Computerbase got similar results with the RX 9070 XT (review in German). The smaller RX 9070 is twelve per cent behind its larger sister in 1440p resolution. In rasteriser games, the RX 9070 delivers three per cent more fps than the RTX 5070 – in ray tracing games, it’s six per cent more.
These great results on AMD’s new cards are also attested by Raffael Vötter’s review at PC Games Hardware (article in German). In his tests, the RTX 5070 Ti is only one per cent ahead of the RX 9070 XT on average for gaming. The RX 9070, on the other hand, even speeds eight per cent ahead of the RTX 5070.
RRP – absolutely amazing value for money
When the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT are available at the recommended retail price (RRP), they deliver the best value for money among all new graphics cards – for rasteriser games and ray tracing, according to Vötter. The 9070 XT, for example, delivers a 26 per cent better ratio than the RTX 5070 Ti. The RX 9070, on the other hand, is «only» eleven per cent better than the RTX 5070.
Andermahr doesn’t consider the RX 9070 XT not quite matching the RTX 5070 Ti an issue. After all, the card compensates for its lesser performance with a lower price. Same goes for the RX 9070.
W1zzard also writes that the RX 9070 XT is by far the best option in this segment at the RRP.
A significant increase in efficiency
Andermahr believes the energy efficiency of these new cards has increased significantly, about on a par with the RTX-50 cards. The RX 9070 in particular delivers more fps per watt than any other graphics card.
W1zzard also attests to AMD’s improved energy efficiency compared to the previous generation. However, he still notes a gap to Nvidia’s graphics cards.
Vötter sees it differently. To him, AMD’s ahead of Nvidia in terms of efficiency. The fact that the new Radeon cards are finally also economical when idle also helps here.
FSR 4 is unrecognisable – in a good way
Alongside ray tracing, upscaling technology has been AMD’s biggest weakness to date. Here, too, the manufacturer seems to have caught up. W1zzard, for example, writes of significantly better image quality and stability. For Multi Frame Generation, however, Nvidia still offers a more potent feature set.
Andermahr also emphasises the great results of FSR4 Super Resolution. In performance mode, his five test games looked consistently better with FSR than in native mode. FSR no longer has to cower from DLSS.
Availability in our shop: the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT will go on sale on 6 March at 3 p.m. Note, we’ll only have a limited number of GPUs in stock at that time. More models should be arriving in the coming weeks. However, due to the high demand, we can’t promise you’ll be able to get your hands on one until the situation has calmed down.
Header image: Screenshot YouTube / Hardware Unboxed
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Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
