How much more performance can $50 buy? That’s the question Radeon RX 9070 poses at $549, challenging the value Radeon RX 7800 XT offers with its $499 price tag. The answer may surprise you.
To explore how these two graphics cards stack up against one another, I’m isolating how each performs in the recently refreshed Club386 GPU test suite.
Specs
Radeon RX 9070 shares many similarities with its XT sibling but AMD cuts back on several of its Navi 48 GPU’s key specifications in a bid to make it more affordable. Meanwhile, the Navi 32 chip in Radeon RX 7800 XT makes no such sacrifices but it is a whole tier below the flagship Navi 31 die.
| Radeon | RX 9070 | RX 7800 XT | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released | March 2025 | Sep 2023 | – |
| Codename | RDNA 4 | RDNA 3 | – |
| GPU | Navi 48 | Navi 32 | – |
| Process | TSMC N4P (4nm) | TSMC N5/6 (5/6nm) | – |
| Transistors | 53.9bn | 28.1bn | 1.92 |
| Die size | 357mm2 | 346mm2 | 1.03 |
| Stream processors | 3,584 | 3,840 | 0.93 |
| Game clock | 2,070MHz | 2,124MHz | 0.97 |
| Boost clock | 2,520MHz | 2,430MHz | 1.04 |
| Compute units | 56 of 64 | 60 of 60 | 0.93 |
| RT accelerators | 56 (3rd Gen) | 60 (2nd Gen) | 0.93 |
| AI accelerators | 112 (2nd Gen) | 120 (1st Gen) | 0.93 |
| Peak FP32 TFLOPS | 36 | 37 | 0.97 |
| Peak FP16 TFLOPS | 72 | 75 | 0.96 |
| ROPS | 128 | 96 | 1.33 |
| Memory | 16GB | 16GB | 1.00 |
| Mem. type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | – |
| Mem. clock | 20Gb/s | 19.5Gb/s | 1.03 |
| Mem. interface | 256-bit (PCIe Gen 5) | 256-bit (PCIe Gen 4) | 1.00 |
| Mem. bandwidth | 640GB/s | 624GB/s | 1.03 |
| Board power | 220W | 263W | 0.83 |
| Launch MSRP | $549 | $499 | 1.10 |
Though similar in size, the number of transistors nestled within Navi 32 and 48 couldn’t be more different. While the former GPU boasts 28.1bn, the latter near-doubles that count at 53.9bn. AMD is able to do this thanks to its shift from TSMC N5/6 to the more-advanced N4P node.
Where Radeon RX 9070 giveth, it taketh away with 7% fewer compute units than RX 7800 XT. Naturally, this same deficit affects its RT and AI accelerators, as well its stream processor count. However, as will become clear during performance analysis, RDNA 4 accomplishes more with less and so this relative decline is nothing to worry about.
Comparing memory configurations, the only notable difference pertains to clock speeds. Radeon RX 9070 enjoys a 0.5Gb/s advantage, in turn boosting its bandwidth up to 640GB/s up from 7800 XT’s 624GB/s. Aside from this change, each model rocks 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM running on a 256-bit interface. RX 9070 does use PCIe Gen 5, a first for AMD, but it doesn’t notably move the needle in any respect given Gen 4 is plenty for this setup.
AMD produces a more efficient design with Radeon RX 9070, requiring 17% fewer watts than 7800 XT also beating the less-demanding 7700 XT to boot. The majority of designs for the new card only require two 8-pin PCIe connectors but some premium coolers swap in 16-pin 12V-2×6 headers in their place. Regardless, AMD recommends a 650W PSU to run RX 9070, down from 700W for RX 7800 XT.
Opting for Radeon RX 9070 comes with a $50 (10%) premium compared to RX 7800 XT, comparing their MSRPs. Despite incurring a greater cost, there’s a huge amount of value to extract from AMD’s new midrange offering.
Performance
Like all other graphics cards launched this year, I’ve measured Radeon RX 9070 and RX 7800 XT performance in a Club386 test bench. The Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor at its heart has more than enough grunt to keep CPU benchmarks at bay.
Our 7950X3D Test PCs
Club386 carefully chooses each component in a test bench to best suit the review at hand. When you view our benchmarks, you’re not just getting an opinion, but the results of rigorous testing carried out using hardware we trust.
Shop Club386 test platform components:
CPU:Â AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
Motherboard:Â MSI MEG X670E ACE
Cooler:Â Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB
Memory:Â 64GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5
Storage:Â 2TB WD_Black SN850X NVMe SSD
PSU:Â be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1,300W
Chassis:Â Fractal Design Torrent Grey
The sweet spot for these graphics cards is undoubtedly QHD (1440p), but I’ve also put them to the test at FHD (1080p) and UHD (2160p), given their 16GB buffer. Additionally, I’ve dabbled in some AI benchmarks as well.
Application & AI
Radeon RX 9070 starts off strong, outpacing RX 7800 XT by 38% in 3DMark Speed Way and 45% in 3DMark Steel Nomad. RDNA 4 is a far more competent architecture than RDNA 3 in terms of ray traced and rasterised rendering.
These are impressive generational improvements but RDNA 4’s impact is more variable in real-world rendering workloads as will become plain. Even with this caveat in mind, don’t expect these differences in performance to shrink too much.
AMD’s second generation AI accelerators come through big for Radeon RX 9070, besting RX 7800 XT’s half precision (FP16) compute capabilities by 42% in Geekbench AI.
A solid 24% generational bump in LLM performance is welcome but not enough to keep Radeon RX 9070 competitive within the broader graphics card landscape.
Gaming
Both Radeon RX 9070 and RX 7800 XT have the mettle to handle Assassin’s Creed Mirage. However, the newer card is leaps and bounds ahead of its precursor. Its average frame rates sprint ahead by 17-28%, delivering more pronounced gains as resolutions grow.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail curbs excitement for Radeon RX 9070 a touch but it’s difficult to feel disappointed with gains of 10-21% over RX 7800 XT.
Forza Motorsport highlights how much better RDNA 4 is at ray tracing with dramatic effect. Radeon RX 9070 leads RX 7800 XT by a whopping 32-44%, the former offering a playable experience at both FHD and QHD while the latter only hits north of 60fps at FHD.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord sees Radeon RX 9070 pull ahead of RX 7800 XT by 17-19%. Much as I’m happy to see average frame rates shift upwards, I do wish AMD’s new card was able to boost minimum fps in tandem. Instead, gains here are minor at best.
Rainbow Six Extraction cements Radeon RX 9070’s tendency to offer greater performance uplifts relative to RX 7800 XT as resolutions increase. The card is a mere 10% better than its predecessor at FHD but is a much healthier 25% ahead at UHD.
FSR
Transformative as FSR is, it isn’t a silver bullet and native frame rates ultimately limit its effect. With this in mind, Radeon RX 9070 provides a better base from which the upscaler can work its magic in Cyberpunk 2077.
Quantifying this, Radeon RX 9070 is 65% faster than RX 7800 XT at FHD, rising to 67% at QHD. However, UHD sees both cards buckle with single-digit frame rates. This doesn’t discredit either card, though, as path tracing at such a high native resolution is a monumental workload to manage.
Employing FSR’s ‘Quality’ mode, Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers 62fps on average at FHD, enjoying a lead of 59% over RX 7800 XT’s 39fps. In another win for the new kid on the block, it has enough grunt to deliver a playable experience at QHD with a 39fps average while its predecessor doesn’t cross that all-important 30fps threshold.
UHD is off the cards using FSR Quality but there is room to salvage frame rates if we opt for a lower base resolution. Sadly, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t yet support FSR 4 making this trade-off harder to swallow than it should be.
FSR Frame Generation calls for a base frame rate of 60fps to mitigate visual artefacts and maintain an acceptable level of latency. Radeon RX 9070 is the only graphics card to meet these requirements, referring back to its FHD performance bolstered by FSR. Interpolating single frames between each natively rendered one nets a doubling of average and minimum frame rates.
Vitals
23W separate Radeon RX 9070 and RX 7800 XT under load, with the former pulling fewer watts from the wall. Not only is RX 9070 more frugal with its power consumption but it emerges as the more efficient pick once you factor in relative performance.
Close as power consumption is, there’s simply no competition between Radeon RX 9070 and RX 7800 XT when it comes to operating temperatures. It’s not every day you see a 24°C gap across graphics card generations, let alone one where the newer pixel pusher emerges the cooler pick.
There’s an audible difference between Radeon RX 9070 and RX 7800 XT, but neither card kicks up an unruly fuss while under load. Still, if silence is golden then RX 9070 has the Midas touch.
Conclusion
Much as Radeon RX 7800 XT presents a more affordable option, it’s worth spending another $50 and opting for the more-expensive RX 9070 instead. In the grand scheme of things, it’s just 10% difference for a performance increase to the tune of 22%. That’s not forgetting welcome improvements to power consumption, temperatures, and noise.
If you already own a Radeon RX 7800 XT, then upgrading to RX 9070 will net you a noticeable bump in frame rate but will naturally hamper the amount of value you extract from your current card.
Radeon RX 9070
“Radeon RX 9070 readily scraps with its would-be rivals, dealing plenty of disrupting blows along the way.” Read our review.
Radeon RX 7800 XT
“Radeon RX 7800 XT is refined in every sense and a welcome competitor in the mid-range space.” Read our review.
For more graphics card comparisons, check out my Radeon RX 9070 XT vs. RX 7800 XT piece as well as Damien’s exploration of GeForce RTX 5070 vs. Radeon RX 9070 XT.
