AMD Swings and Misses: Radeon RX 9070 Review, Benchmarks vs. RTX 5070

[Music] so AMD look as though they've hit it out of the park with the 970 XT and hopefully the 970 so we we're getting to that one now but yeah reviews yesterday were universally positive from based on what I saw anyway and reception from Gamers looked to be even better so all AMD has do now is execute on the next phase of this plan and that is to deliver these gpus into the hands of game is so I suppose you guys at the prices You're Expecting based on amd's own MSRP claims and this is something

we'll hopefully see happen over the next few days before then though we need to look at the cheaper option the RX 970 so the non XT model which quite oddly AMD has positioned at $550 us so the same alleged MSRP as the RTX 570 now the 9070 should generally be faster than the 5070 based what we saw from the XT version and as a bonus it does pack more vrm the minimum amount of vrm that we deem acceptable at this price point so 16 GB whereas the RTX 5070 is hamstrung by a py 12 GB

vram buffer Which is less than ideal if you want to take advantage of all those heavily marketed RTX features like frame generation and R tracing as we see it though the RTX 5070 is not really an issue for the RX 970 rather the issue is bigger brother the XT model which is fetching just $50 us more well that is of course according to the MSRP this means the 9070 is offering a mere 8% discount which on its own doesn't really mean too much I suppose but if we look at the specs we see that it

packs 13% fuel CES and texture mapping units so the 970 will almost certainly end up being a bigger downgrade than the price suggests anyway we have a lot of data to go over but before we do here's a look at how the aib models that we have on hand for testing perform now for all of our testing I use the sapphire pure RX 970 but I also have the powercolor hellhound and XFX Quicksilver so let's see how they all compare the hellhound saw a GPU Junction temperature of 59° while the Quicksilver was a degree cooler

at 58° and then the pure quite a bit cooler at just 53° that said when're looking at the Hotpot temperatures the quicks was the coolest model at 69° then the pure at 71° while the hellhound hit 76° which is still a very cool Hotpot temperature all three models are a peak memory temperature of 86° with the vrm temps below 70° so there's no issues there the hellhound operated with the lowest fan speed of just 930 RPM but the pure and Quicksilver were also quiet with fan speeds at between 1,000 and 1100 RPM now the hellhound

clocked the lowest averaging 2,745 MHz in our test and they saw the pure clock 4% higher on average at 2,840 MHz and the Quicksilver was very similar at 2,810 MHz so great results there for all three models now it's time to get into the FPS data first up let's take a look at performance in Marvel Rivals the 970 is basically on par with the 570 at 1440p rendering at 77 FPS on average and this made it 13% % slower than the 970 XT and 7% slower than the 7900 XT then when upping the resolution to

4K the 9070 slips behind the 5070 by a 7% margin rendering just 41 FPS on average the same performance as the old RTX 380 and then just 5% faster than the 7900 J next up we have stalker 2 and here the 9070 is just 5% slower than the 9070 XT at 14 40p and this allowed it to nudge ahead of the RTX 5070 by a slim 6% margin however jumping up to 4K really does hurt the 970 as here it becomes 18% slower than the XT version rendering just 32 FPS on average to roughly match

the RTX 5070 now as we saw previously these new rna4 gpus don't work particularly well in Counter Strike too and other reviewers such as debauer have confirmed this the 19970 it's not particularly impressive at 1440p and although it was just 6% slower than the XT version that also did make it 7% slower than the RTX 570 now increase in the resolution to 4K it didn't really help the 970 ends up being 10% slower than the 570 here and then 8% slower than the 9070 XT now the Space Marine 2 performance is quite impressive here the

9070 was just 5% slower than the XT version allowing it to match the likes of the RTX 47 super 7900 XT and very oddly the RTX 580 for whatever reason these new Blackwell gpus suck in this title and this is why the 9070 is seen to be 24% faster than the RTX 570 things get even worse for the Blackwell gpus at 4K here the 9070 is 57% faster than the 5070 so something is clearly wrong here and Nvidia will have to fix this at the driver level I imagine and I should note in the lightest

sections of the game the Blackwell gpus seem to perform okay but in the very demanding horde battle where we test they just fall in a heap the frame rate halves as soon as we kick off The Horde battle so I'm not sure what's happening there that cripples the Blackwell gpus but again something inidia is going to have to look at and probably fix with an updated driver next up we have cyberp Punk 2077 and this is a title where the radon gpus have always performed well as long as R tracing isn't enabled of course at

1440p the 97 70 was 10% slower than the XT version but 15% faster than the RTX 55070 so a very strong win here then at 4K that margin is extended to 20% making the 970 comfortably faster than the RTX 5070 Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is an AMD favorite and here we see why at 1440p the 9070 is just 8% slower than the 9070 XT but more crucially 40% faster than the RTX 5070 I know this sort of result doesn't quite seem possible but I assure you the data is accurate then at 4K the

970 Trails the XT version by a 10% margin but despite that manages to lead the 5070 by a whopping 44% margin the 970 was just 7% slower than the XT version and Dragon Age the valard and this s it matched the RTX 570 at 1440p with 79 FPS jumping up to 4K still saw the 5070 and 970 neck and neck this time with 53 FPS making both 7% slower than the 9070 XT interestingly testing Hogwarts Legacy at 1440p saw the 9070 coming in just 2% slower than the 9070 XT and that allowed it to beat

the RTX 5070 by a 7% margin and then at 4K does slip to an 8% margin relative to the 970 XT but also managed to beat the 5070 by a rather large 21% margin now the last game we're going to look at the individual results for is The Last of Us Part One though we do have some rracing data to go over in a moment at 1440p the 9070 is 15% slower than the 9070 XT which saw it match the RTX 5070 exactly then at 4K it was 23% slower than the XT version again matching

the 5070 this time with 48 fps okay so across the 18 games used for test ing the 9070 was on average 8% slower than the XT version so the 9070 XT so not bad at all that said it was also just 4% faster than the RTX 5070 for mostly raster based gaming so I'm not exactly sure if that'll be enough but work that out shortly then at 4K it ends up 12% slower than the 97 txt which is bad given that it's only 8% cheaper at least based on the MSRP it was also 8% faster

than the RTX 5070 which is a little bit better not a significant win given that they both should cost $550 us now when it comes to power consumption the 9070 consumes anywhere from 15 to 23% less power than the 970 XT andr testing so it's certainly a more efficient configuration when compared to the RTX 5070 consumption can be anywhere from a few extra watts to an additional 20% power draw a bad example was seen in Starfield where the 9070 consumed 20% more power than the 5070 FR aame mere 6% performance boost now time for some

rracing performance and we'll start with Metro Exodus at 1440p here the 19970 was 15% slower than the XT version which placed it right alongside the RTX 5070 so not a bad result really then at 4K it did end up being 15% slower than the XT model and 6% slower than the 5070 so not too bad and certainly much more competitive than the previous generation previously we saw in the 970 XT review that these new rdna 4 gpus can't quite cut at n and wake 2 using the high RT preset so obviously the 9070 it's not

going to work just 31 FPS on average and although that made it 21% slower than the RTX 5070 it's worth noting that the performance here also sucked with just 39 FPS as a result 4K is out of the question but because we have the data on to show it to you for those that are interested next up we have cyberpunk 2077 using the ultra R Racing preset with quality upscaling at 1440p and here the 9070 is 16% slower than the XT version roughly matching the RTX 5070 with 57 FPS then at 4K the 9070 rendered

31 FPS on average making it 14% slower than the 9070 XT and this once again s it matched the RTX 570 moving moving on to Spider-Man remastered the 1440p results are mostly CPU limited and as a result the 970 is able to match the 9070 XT along with the RTX 570 then if we increase the resolution to 4K this does reduce the CPU bottleneck and now the 9070 is 7% slower than the XT version but also 10% faster than the RTX 5070 so a good win here for AMD now it did Trail the 5070 and

Dying Light 2 at 14 40p coming in 6% slower and then 11% slower than the 970 XT still that did make it 10% faster than the 7900 XT then at 4K it slipped behind the XT model by a 133% margin and that also meant it was 11% slower than the RTX 5070 sadly the new rdna A4 gpus aren't that impressive in black myth Wukong with the very high raate tracing preset enabled and while the RTX 55070 is 46 FPS at 1440 with upscaling enabled is hardly impressive it is a lot better than the 25 FPS

the 9070 spitting out and that being the case we hardly need to go over the 4K upscale data but here it is anyway for those of you interested and lastly we have Indiana Jones and the great circle which we believe needs to be played using the full RT settings for a transformative experience so in that case RT isn't really worth using on either the 9070 or 5070 in this title for that you'd want a 5080 or 5090 which will no doubt make Nvidia very happy now across the six games tested for rate tracing performance the

9070 came in 133% slower than the 9070 XT and 16% slower than the RTX 570 so not bad for a radon GPU and it also means that the 9070 is 9% faster than the 7900 XTX the previous generation Flagship so that's a great result the 4K upscale data isn't that relevant given the 9070 and 5070 were often unable to deliver acceptable performance with raate tracing enabled but for those interested the 9070 was 28% slower than the 5070 here okay so time for the cost per Frame data and please note I've had time to add the

Space Marine 2 and Black Ops 6 results meaning this data is based on an 18 game average both titles are very positive for AMD though I expect at some point Nvidia will address the issues we're seeing in space SP Marine 2o though so far I've not heard anything anyway this data shows that the 970 XT is offering the best value making the non XT version 4% worse in terms of cost per frame value though it is still 8% better value than the RTX 570 so while the 9070 is probably better value overall when compared to

the very poor RTX 570 it still doesn't make sense and really should be priced at $500 US now when compared to the retail pricing from last year the 970 series still slots in quite favorably offering the best value but again the 1970s $550 us MSRP doesn't really make sense relative to the 970 XT so you'd probably just get the XT version at those prices so there you have it now the most obvious conclusion to make here is that if available at the MSRP you really should just ignore this model the RX 970 instead get the

XT version because it is offering slightly better value in terms of cost per frame it's about well it's $50 more you're getting so that's a 9% price I but you're getting 14% better performance on average so that's it really everything else is the same same vram all that good stuff so therefore we recommend again if the $550 and $600 us msrps are honored or you can get models at that price then just get the XT it's it's going to be better value now of course we're yet to see how pricing and availability all plays out

so it's difficult to make any solid conclusions about value just yet but we do know supply of these RX 99070 series gpus is very strong but we're also hearing a lot of wiring chatter about availability of MSRP models so we'll be sure to revisit this subject next week with a big GPU pricing update video and of course beyond that we will continue to monitor this closely as it stands right now though the RX 9970 is very odd though not unusually so for AMD I'm afraid to say for example last generation they priced the 7900 XT

at just $100 US below the 7900 XTX which was a 10% discount but it packed 177% less vram and was 17% slower to boot therefore it made no sense and as a result it was met with largely negative reviews but that didn't deter AMD they went on to repeat that play with the 7 800 XT and 7700 XT making the latter product just 10% cheaper despite packing 25% less vram and 16% weaker performance again resulting in mostly negative reviews this time for the 7700 XT so this is a repeat strategy from AMD a bold strategy

you could say but it's one they like to employ despite no one outside of AMD understanding the game plan and in fact it kind of seems like a lot of people at AMD don't get it either now if we ignore the obvious fact that you should just buy the 9070 XT instead so let's pretend that option doesn't exist at all making this a straight RX 970 versus RTX 570 battle under those conditions who wins well in terms of value the RX 970 is offering 8% better cost per frame value for mostly Ruster performance but when

it comes to heavy or rather transformative rate tracing performance the 5070 was on average 16 % faster and therefore is the better value option for it though that is assuming that you don't run over the 12 GB vram buffer as we did in Indiana Jones and the great circle you really have to question how much value the RT performance of the RTX 570 ads given the memory issues which almost certainly will become a bigger issue moving forward you could certainly argue at least right now that RT is a win for the RTX 5070 with dss4

upscaling being another win though based on what I've seen so far FSR 4 looks to be very good and certainly good enough for me though I personally believe the RX 970 is the better product simply because it is generally faster and with 16 gabt of vram it should age better over the next 3 to four years but ultimately as it stands right now doesn't really matter as you wouldn't buy either product at the proposed msrps You' just get the 97 txt and call it a day and speaking of which I'm going to call it a

day that's the end of my Rx 970 review um let me know what you think about this product I guess the review as well if you have any comments or concerns drop them below but yeah let me know what you think about the RX 997 was it a bit weird for AMD to make it only $50 cheaper it's probably going to lead to more negative reviews um than otherwise so seems like a bit of a miscalculation there just should have released it at $500 I think and then let the chips fall where they may anyway

again I want to hear your feedback so make sure you drop that below and I'll read it otherwise we have the join button patreon don't know why I'm doing lots of finger things here there's only there's only two things uh I'm just tired I guess it's been a busy week um so yeah lot of lot of work went into all of this content we had three GPU reviews in one week and we're also working on a CPU review for next week so plenty happening here anyway I'm rambling I really should wrap this up so I'm

your host Steve thanks for watching I'll see you again next time [Music] [Music]