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Extremely anticipated: AMD has lastly launched introduced the Radeon RX 9000 collection, headlined by the RX 9070 XT and its $599 MSRP. There are some attention-grabbing options and architectural particulars to discover, however we’re a bit unsure in regards to the worth based mostly on what AMD has proven thus far. On the floor, it seems extra like a continuation of AMD’s graphics card technique fairly than a big shift towards offering higher worth.
The Radeon RX 9070 XT shall be out there on March sixth at a $599 asking worth. It comes with a totally unlocked Navi 48 die that includes 64 RDNA 4 compute models, a lift clock of as much as 2.97 GHz, 16GB of GDDR6 reminiscence, and a 304W TDP. Whereas $600 is not an outright horrible worth for this mannequin – fortunately, AMD did not go along with one thing much more excessive – it lacks a sure wow issue.
Radeon RX 9070 XT Pricing, Efficiency and Worth
To grasp the worth proposition, we first have to have a look at how briskly AMD claims the RX 9070 XT is. They state it is 42% quicker on common than the RX 7900 GRE at 4K, although this general common of 30 video games contains each rasterized and ray-traced titles.
Trying on the common of the 11 raster examples on the left, we get a 37% uplift. For the 9 ray tracing examples, we see a mean enchancment of 53% – in different phrases, RDNA 4 offers an even bigger enhance to ray tracing than rasterization, as broadly rumored.
In comparison with our benchmark outcomes, a 37% enchancment over the 7900 GRE would make the 9070 XT about 10% quicker than the RX 7900 XT for rasterized gaming. With the 7900 XTX being 22% quicker than the 7900 XT, the 9070 XT is due to this fact anticipated to take a seat between these two RDNA 3 fashions – roughly on par with or barely beneath the RTX 5070 Ti, which we have measured as 14% quicker than the 7900 XT at 4K.
For ray tracing, a 53% enchancment in efficiency would place the 9070 XT about 10-15% above the RX 7900 XTX. Nonetheless, it will nonetheless fall effectively in need of the RTX 5070 Ti.
Primarily based on our present knowledge, this may put it barely behind the RTX 4070 Tremendous, which is predicted to be related in efficiency to Nvidia’s RTX 5070 based mostly on its {hardware} configuration. In the very best instances, the 9070 XT would possibly strategy RTX 4070 Ti ranges of ray tracing however would nonetheless be round 20% slower – or extra – than the 5070 Ti.
At $599, AMD seems to offer RTX 5070 Ti-level rasterization efficiency at a 20% cheaper price (MSRP vs. MSRP), with ray tracing efficiency prone to be 20%+ decrease.
That is based mostly on first-party knowledge (AMD’s benchmarks), which is probably going cherry-picked to a point. The Radeon 9070 XT does have FSR 4 going for it and some different options, however quite a bit hinges on the standard of FSR 4 vs. DLSS 4 and the variety of supported games.
Theoretically, a 20% higher worth than the 5070 Ti for rasterization is not horrible, nevertheless it’s additionally precisely what AMD has accomplished beforehand with playing cards just like the RX 7900 XTX versus the RTX 4080 and the RX 7800 XT versus the RTX 4070. These playing cards had been among the many higher fashions in AMD’s lineup, providing round 20% decrease value per body than their GeForce opponents, but they did not promote in giant numbers.
This is the reason we concluded earlier this 12 months that AMD in all probability wants to supply greater than that stage of worth to persuade present GeForce house owners (the overwhelming majority of PC avid gamers) to modify to Radeon with their subsequent improve.
This additionally would not account for elements like ray tracing, which is an actual consideration on this efficiency tier. It stays unsure whether or not the 9070 XT or the 5070 Ti will provide higher worth in ray tracing, and if the Radeon mannequin in the end falls brief on this space, it might be a deal-breaker for a lot of avid gamers. If these interested by ray tracing proceed to favor GeForce playing cards, AMD’s strategy might not be sufficient to shift the market.
The saving grace right here could be if Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti playing cards stay in restricted provide and proceed to promote for round $900. From AMD’s perspective, that is a dangerous wager – if Nvidia decides to extend provide and make the 5070 Ti broadly out there at MSRP, the RX 9070 XT would grow to be far much less compelling.
One other main concern with this pricing is the direct comparability to the RX 7900 XT. Whereas at the moment discontinued, the 7900 XT was out there for nearly all of 2024 at $700, with costs dropping to $650 between October and December.
Which means, for sensible functions, the 7900 XT’s worth was no increased than $700. With the 9070 XT, AMD is reducing simply 14% off this worth whereas providing round 10% extra raster efficiency, improved ray tracing, and FSR 4. That quantities to a 22% discount in value per body from one era to the following – not precisely groundbreaking. It is barely higher than the generational worth enchancment from the 5070 Ti in comparison with the 4070 Ti Tremendous, however not by a lot.
Radeon RX 9070 Pricing, Efficiency and Worth
Then now we have the Radeon RX 9070 beginning at $549. This mannequin is reduce right down to 56 compute models, with a diminished enhance clock of two.52 GHz and a decrease 220W TDP. Nonetheless, it nonetheless retains 16GB of GDDR6 reminiscence.
AMD appears to be pricing this according to their efficiency claims. With the 9070 XT slotting in 42% quicker than the 7900 GRE and the 9070 at 21% quicker than the GRE, that means the 9070 is 15% slower than the 9070 XT, nevertheless it’s solely 8% cheaper.
When separating the raster and ray tracing numbers, AMD exhibits a 19% enchancment in rasterized titles on common and a 26% enchancment in ray tracing.
A 19% rasterization enchancment over the 7900 GRE suggests the RX 9070 would fall in need of RX 7900 XT efficiency based mostly on our benchmarks of current playing cards. It might probably be quicker than the RTX 4070 Tremendous (which is predicted to carry out equally to the RTX 5070), probably by round 10%.
A 26% enchancment in ray tracing would place it between the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX, which in our testing is about 25% slower than the RTX 4070 Tremendous.
With a price ticket of $550, this appears underwhelming – only a 20% improve in worth in comparison with AMD’s personal RX 7900 GRE, which additionally launched at $550. Relative to the upcoming RTX 5070 with its $550 MSRP, we might be seeing simply 10% higher raster worth, with a lot worse ray tracing worth.
Sure, the 9070 crucially comes with extra VRAM at 16GB versus 12GB on the 4070 Tremendous and 5070, however this doesn’t precisely make it a must-buy.
Trying again on the RDNA 3 period, when AMD launched the RX 7800 XT at $500, its closest competitor was the RTX 4070 at $600. The 7800 XT was not solely barely quicker than the 4070 but additionally $100 cheaper, leading to a 21% decrease value per body in our day-one overview.
The RX 9070 priced at $550 suggests a card with worse value per body than RDNA 3 when in comparison with GeForce. That’s not the course we need to see.
Within the face of restricted graphics card provide and inflated pricing for GeForce GPUs, some individuals may even see these costs as affordable. And initially, gross sales would possibly replicate that. However the actual check will come if the GPU market stabilizes within the subsequent few months. If availability improves, these playing cards could battle to achieve traction. And if AMD’s efficiency claims turn into exaggerated, promoting these GPUs will grow to be much more tough.
We are going to see how that goes within the critiques.
