AMD Radeon RX 9000 series GPUs

[LucShep]

With the messy release of NVIDIA RTX 5000 series, the attention is now quickly going to its competition - AMD's upcoming GPU releases, with RDNA4 RX 9000 series.

After NVIDIA's RTX 5090 and 5080 supply issues, it's rumoured that RTX 5070 and 5060 series release has been delayed, as chip supply constraints also affect them.
It won't be wrong to say that AMD has a great chance to dominate the mainstream GPU segment, since the general sentiment is definitely against NVIDIA for now.


 

• The RX 9070 series (with the 9070 XT and 9070 models) will be the first and, perhaps, most important release of RDNA4.
  It is (supposedly) the rival to the NVIDIA RTX5070/Ti series, but at lower prices to be more competitive.
  It launches in March 6th and available worldwide imediately, or within same month in worst scenario.
   
• Performance of the RX 9070 XT has been rumoured to be on par with (or better than) the Nvidia RTX 4070Ti Super and the previous AMD RX 7900 XT. 
  Some suggest performance being actually closer to the RTX 4080 in rasterization. 
   
• The 9070 series will feature a 16GB GDDR6 (20 Gbps) 256-bit memory configuration. There are also rumours of a 32GB XTX version to be launched at a later date.
   
• The RX 9070 XT reference models are ~300W TBP and a 750W+ PSU requirement, while the RX 9070 reference models are ~220W TBP and a 650W+ PSU requirement.
  Of course, expect the TBP to be slightly higher on the OC models from AIBs.
   
• It will feature a new dedicated FSR 4 (AI algorithm, similar to Nvidia's DLSS), which may be added also to previous FSR 3 and FSR 3.1 game titles.
   
• The RX 9060 series has been confirmed for 2nd quarter 2025, to be competing with Nvidia's current RTX 4060 series and upcoming 5060 series.
   

AMD is confirming that the Radeon RX 9070 series will launch on March 6, exclusively. Officially, the RX 9070 XT costs $599 while RX 9070 will retail at $549.
That said, we all know that prices on new GPUs have been well above MSRP, and some level of scalping could ruin (once again) a very antecipated GPU launch.

Stock availability at launch is unpredictable, judging by latest GPU releases - maybe it's good, maybe it isn't.
Rumour has it that AMD has been shipping RX 9070 series since late December, a large stock is waiting at retailers, and already in hands of reviewers (for which you should wait).

 

Edited February 28 by LucShep
added links

[Mr_sukebe]

I can't help but think that the sensible route is to wait until the reviews start coming out.

Let's not forget how much BS we've been fed on capabilities of GPUs in the last few years. 

"We bring you 4090 performance for $500...".  Yeah, right.

Linked to the above, I don't know who Nvidia has had looking their software side recently, but their update to DLSS, allowing the use of upscaling in VR without making a complete hash of visuals is quite amazing.  FSR is going to need a similar smattering of magic to keep up.

Edited February 13 by Mr_sukebe

[LucShep]

3 hours ago, Mr_sukebe said:

I can't help but think that the sensible route is to wait until the reviews start coming out.

Let's not forget how much BS we've been fed on capabilities of GPUs in the last few years. 

"We bring you 4090 performance for $500...".  Yeah, right.

HEH true 
And agreed, wait for the reviews.

I'm actually more concerned about AMD's Radeon division abilities to unwillingly self-sabotage.....  it's been recurrent in previous releases.
First time in many years that the wind blows in their favor, it's all on them now to lose this.
 

Edited February 13 by LucShep

[bigdaddybones30]

I have a 6900xt and was thinking of upgrading. With all the not so real gains in actual performance and stupid cost of anything top tier, im hoping AMD comes out with a real banger. Sadly their past shows they always screw it up.

[Aapje]

AMD doesn't seem to learn their lessons, and if they just keep repeating their strategy of making their cards slightly more attractive than the Nvidia alternative in their own eyes, then they will make the following mistakes:

• Assuming that the Nvidia cards are attractively priced, which is probably not the case in the long term (when there is more supply than just a trickle)
• Assuming that buyers have the same pro-AMD bias that AMD has

But perhaps they'll surprise me and the cards will come out with a truly attractive price, but the general strategy with AMD is to wait until the prices drop to something that is more reasonable. They usually need some time to sort out their drivers anyway, although due to the delays the drivers may be better at launch than usual.

[LucShep]

Meanwhile...

- Gigabyte RX 9070 XT unboxed and pictured - Looks like scalpers or retailers got their hands on RDNA4 cards too early.

- Radeon RX 9070 XT confirmed to have 64 Compute Units; Powercolor Red Devil (overclocked model) with 900W+ PSU requirement

 

Edited February 16 by LucShep

[Tordox]

For 2d users amd could be a option but for VR still not worth it.  Fsr4 will most likely only work with dx12 (DCS still works under dx11) and the memory bandwidth will be slow for high resolutions.

[LucShep]

AMD introduces RDNA4 - Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB at $599 and RX 9070 16GB at $549 (MSRP)

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-introduces-599-radeon-rx-9070-xt-and-549-rx-9070-rdna4-gpus

 

AMD and some AIBs already list models that will be available soon (March 6th). There are some models using the 12V-2x6 power connector:
 

• AMD RX 9070 XT and RX 9070
   
• ASUS RX 9070 SERIES (TUF and Prime models)
   
• SAPPHIRE RX 9070 SERIES (Nitro, Pure and Pulse models)
   
• POWERCOLOR RX 9070 SERIES (Red Devil, Hell Hound and Reaper models)
   
• ASROCK RX9070 XT and RX9070 (Taichi, Steel Legend and Steel Legend Dark models)
   
• XFX RX 9000 SERIES (Mercury, Quicksilver and Swift models)

Acer, Gigabyte and Yeston should also announce and list their models sometime very soon.

 

Edited March 3 by LucShep

[EightyDuce]

Very much going to depend on street price and availability, though I expect availability to be better than NVidia. Unfortunately for AMD, they are so far down the market/mind-share that it's a hell of an uphill battle for them. Would be nice to have a strong FSR4 performance. 

I hope 9070XT does well (9070 at $50 less makes no sense). Sadly, many people just want AMD to put pressure on NVidia (bring down pricing and increase avaliability) so that they can buy an NVidia card. 

Given availability and MSRP pricing, 9070XT ($599) to 5070Ti ($749), I'd wager majority would pay $150 more to get the 5070Ti. 

[LucShep]

The RX9070 price is strange indeed. 
I'd expect a smaller price tag, but then it could be the case that the performance difference is not that far from the XT, that its price is justified (reviews will tell, I guess). 
 

10 hours ago, EightyDuce said:

Given availability and MSRP pricing, 9070XT ($599) to 5070Ti ($749), I'd wager majority would pay $150 more to get the 5070Ti. 

I believe so as well.  I think it'll all end up being based on two things:

1. FSR4 being trully equivalent in quality to DLSS (or not) and how previous FSR supporting games get to be updated for the new version.
   Upscaling being more and more important now, and a deciding factor for many investing on a new GPU for resource demanding games.
    
2. Price, and here I mean the "real price" on retailers (physical and online), because we all know MSRP has been kind of BS in the end.
   Here in Europe the RTX5070Ti is at ~950,00 EUR for a couple reference models, but much higher for the other OC models (usually ~1150,00+ EUR) and not selling well.
   Now, if given similar(ish) performance (not confirmed so far) and the RX9070XT ends up selling for ~730,00 EUR (and 850,00 EUR at max for the premium OC models), I think it may have a good chance to do well.

 

Edited March 1 by LucShep

[Blackhawk163]

Yeah the non XT version price makes no sense, the $600 price tag, I think is still too high for team red. The AIB’s aren’t going to stick to that. Oh well. 
 

Given the market conditions with scarce supply with all the gpu’s, I’m sure these will sell out no problem, whether or not that’s to regular consumers and not scalpers, remains to be seen.

 

Apparently AMD/Aib has been shipping these out to retailers since late last year. So supply should be good.

[Qcumber]

I am waiting for the independent reviews in the 5th and then will look at local pricing and availability. If I can find a 9070xt for £600 I might be tempted. So far it looks similar to the 5070ti. Another factor is overclocking. The 50xx series so far have good OC potential (10%+). I am hoping the 9070xt will be the same. 

The three options for me are: 5080, 5070ti and 9070xt. In the UK the cheapest 5080 with any chance of availability is £1200 and that's using a tracker bot for Amazon spot sales. Most are £1400-1500. If I wait I might be able to get one for £1050. The cheapest 5070ti is £779 but there is no stock. If the 9070xt is as well stocked as AMD are saying and they are close to MSRP then this might be a good option. Half the price of a 5080 with 85% of the performance. 

[Nate--IRL--]

I'm leaning toward the 9070XT myself, while I could afford something like a 5090, I just couldn't stomach it. The 9070XT is the closest thing to "decent" value this time around. My only concern is support for FSR4 in DCS. 

I rely heavily on DLAA for 2d and DLSS for VR (2070S) and would hope the FSR4 is supported by DCS so any gain isn't wiped away by having to use MSAA and FSR1 or something like that. I don't know enough about FSR in DCS really.

Nate

Edited March 1 by Nate--IRL--

[EightyDuce]

4 hours ago, Nate--IRL-- said:

I'm leaning toward the 9070XT myself, while I could afford something like a 5090, I just couldn't stomach it. The 9070XT is the closest thing to "decent" value this time around. My only concern is support for FSR4 in DCS. 

I rely heavily on DLAA for 2d and DLSS for VR (2070S) and would hope the FSR4 is supported by DCS so any gain isn't wiped away by having to use MSAA and FSR1 or something like that. I don't know enough about FSR in DCS really.

Nate

FSR4 ball is in ED's court to implement. Not sure what DCS has now, but FSR3.1 to FSR4 is doable per AMD. 

As for VR, I don't know that state of AMD in VR at this point, but in 2D 9070XT should be significantly more powerful than 2070S. Easily enough to beat 2070S w/ DLSS enabled and has double the VRAM. Something else, AMD typically has more headroom for OC as NVidia Boost algorithm squeezes pretty much all the performance there is and any gains are greatly limited by power limit and have large diminishing returns (power draw vs performance). 

Edit: Ofcourse this highly depends on street pricing/availability. 

Edited March 1 by EightyDuce

[Dragon1-1]

Also, power consumption, particularly in relation to how many wires they've got. I sure hope they'd seen enough melted connectors from out of the other team to make sure not to go down the same path...

[EightyDuce]

14 hours ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Also, power consumption, particularly in relation to how many wires they've got. I sure hope they'd seen enough melted connectors from out of the other team to make sure not to go down the same path...

From the the avaliable info there seems to be a mix of standard 2x8-pin and at least one MSI Saphire card using 12VHPWR. 

While 12VHPWR is not without issues, if plugged in correctly and  there is headroom between TDP and connector rating (~600W) shouldn't be a problem. 

Edited March 2 by EightyDuce
Saphire not MSI

[Aapje]

The TDP matters a lot. The 5090 has almost no safety margin with 12VPWR, but the 9070 XT has a solid margin.

I would still advise an undervolt with nearly all modern GPUs.

[LucShep]

Gigabyte now also lists their custom Radeon RX 9070 series:

• Gigabyte RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G
  https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070XTAORUS-E-16GD#kf
   
• Gigabyte RX 9070 XT GAMING OC 16G
  https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070XTGAMING-OC-16GD#kf
   
• Gigabyte RX 9070 GAMING OC 16G
  https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070GAMING-OC-16GD#kf
  
   

8 hours ago, EightyDuce said:

From the the avaliable info there seems to be a mix of standard 2x8-pin and at least one MSI card is using 12VHPWR. 

While 12VHPWR is not without issues, if plugged in correctly and  there is headroom between TDP and connector rating (~600W) shouldn't be a problem. 

MSI is no longer a board partner for AMD GPUs, there won't be any RDNA4 models from them.

The few models using the 12V-2x6 power connector are premium OC models (f.ex, Sapphire Nitro and Pure) and none surpasses 330W, so within safe margins.

 

Edited March 2 by LucShep

[EightyDuce]

9 hours ago, LucShep said:

Gigabyte now also lists their custom Radeon RX 9070 series:

• Gigabyte RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G
  https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070XTAORUS-E-16GD#kf
   
• Gigabyte RX 9070 XT GAMING OC 16G
  https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070XTGAMING-OC-16GD#kf
   
• Gigabyte RX 9070 GAMING OC 16G
  https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070GAMING-OC-16GD#kf
  
   

MSI is no longer a board partner for AMD GPUs, there won't be any RDNA4 models from them.

The few models using the 12V-2x6 power connector are premium OC models (f.ex, Sapphire Nitro and Pure) and none surpasses 330W, so within safe margins.

 

Yup, you're right. Had a brain fart and confused MSI and Saphire. 

[Aapje]

I would stay away from Gigabyte unless they have a really good deal. They have messed up too many times in the past. I'd take Asrock over them.

For AMD, Sapphire, Powercolor and XFX are usually considered to be the best AIBs for GPUs. But of course, it's always best to look at the reviews of the specific model if possible, since any company has stinkers now and then.

[EightyDuce]

11 minutes ago, Aapje said:

I would stay away from Gigabyte unless they have a really good deal. They have messed up too many times in the past. I'd take Asrock over them.

For AMD, Sapphire, Powercolor and XFX are usually considered to be the best AIBs for GPUs. But of course, it's always best to look at the reviews of the specific model if possible, since any company has stinkers now and then.

What is/are issues with Gigabyte? Legit want to know. I've got a Gigabyte 4090 and 4070, but both have been rock solid. 

[Aapje]

First of all, any brand that makes both AMD and Nvidia cards is to be avoided for AMD cards, since all the good technical guys will want to be on the Nvidia side that gets all the attention and praise, so the AMD side will have the losers. Similar to how these companies made great motherboards for Intel and poor ones for AMD, back when Intel was king.

For Sapphire, Powercolor and XFX, the AMD cards are the flagships. For the brands that make both, AMD cards are just a side hustle to make a few bucks on the cheap.

As for Gigabyte specifically, they made poorly designed cards for the 30-series and then refuses to warranty their cards, blaming consumers:

Their initial versions of the 4090 and 4080 had the same issue, until they released a revision that was strengthened. This slow response and unwillingness to honor warranties is not great.

They also used poor thermal pads in the past that would 'sweat' oil and there was the PSU debacle, where they also refuses to admit to poorly made PSUs that could catch fire. Instead they tried to force people to buy them by bundling them with GPUs, back when video cards were in short supply (as well). The practice of bundling poorly selling hardware with products that are in high demand, is already really scummy, but bundling dangerous products takes it to another level.

That said, all of these companies make products that work for most buyers, if only due to the strict rules from Nvidia and AMD, and them going bankrupt if they really take it too far. But the risks are quite a bit bigger that you get a bad experience with some companies than with others, although it is still a smaller chance vs a small chance.

[EightyDuce]

2 hours ago, Aapje said:

First of all, any brand that makes both AMD and Nvidia cards is to be avoided for AMD cards, since all the good technical guys will want to be on the Nvidia side that gets all the attention and praise, so the AMD side will have the losers. Similar to how these companies made great motherboards for Intel and poor ones for AMD, back when Intel was king.

For Sapphire, Powercolor and XFX, the AMD cards are the flagships. For the brands that make both, AMD cards are just a side hustle to make a few bucks on the cheap.

As for Gigabyte specifically, they made poorly designed cards for the 30-series and then refuses to warranty their cards, blaming consumers:

Their initial versions of the 4090 and 4080 had the same issue, until they released a revision that was strengthened. This slow response and unwillingness to honor warranties is not great.

They also used poor thermal pads in the past that would 'sweat' oil and there was the PSU debacle, where they also refuses to admit to poorly made PSUs that could catch fire. Instead they tried to force people to buy them by bundling them with GPUs, back when video cards were in short supply (as well). The practice of bundling poorly selling hardware with products that are in high demand, is already really scummy, but bundling dangerous products takes it to another level.

That said, all of these companies make products that work for most buyers, if only due to the strict rules from Nvidia and AMD, and them going bankrupt if they really take it too far. But the risks are quite a bit bigger that you get a bad experience with some companies than with others, although it is still a smaller chance vs a small chance.

Interesting about the GPU boards, I guess they we forced to make improvements for 40 series. The PSU thing I was aware of and its a shtshow; would never buy a Gigabyte PSU. 

All that being said, based in my own personal experience, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Gigabyte GPU or motherboard... Until they give me a reason not to. 

[LucShep]

15 hours ago, Aapje said:

For AMD, Sapphire, Powercolor and XFX are usually considered to be the best AIBs for GPUs. But of course, it's always best to look at the reviews of the specific model if possible, since any company has stinkers now and then.

Yes, because Sapphire, Powercolor, XFX and ASRock are direct AMD board partners, with no connection to Nvidia, they put more effort in AMD based GPUs.

Especially their premium models (Sapphire Nitro, Powercolor RedDevil, XFX Mercury, and ASRock Taichi) are usually the best AMD GPUs you can get for the time period and segment in place. Have better details and higher effort placed on custom PCB, components and power distribution (VRMs, etc), cooler/heatsink, thermal pads, quality fans.
Besides the higher clocks than reference, of course.
Comes at a price, but then it's no different for the premium Nvidia equivalents like Asus Strix or Astral, MSI Suprim, etc.
 

Edited March 3 by LucShep

[Aapje]

7 hours ago, EightyDuce said:

The PSU thing I was aware of and its a <profanity>show; would never buy a Gigabyte PSU.

They had two models at the time with a very similar name, where one had this issue and the other did not. Demand dropped like a stone for either one, so they discounted them and I did buy the good one for half price. But I like a good deal and quadruple checked that this was the good one.