1. Introduction
Before the release of the Radeon RX 9070 XT, there was a prevailing rumor that its performance would fall short of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5070 ($549), making it difficult to compete in terms of both performance and price.
However, the actual results were surprising: the Radeon RX 9070 XT’s performance was roughly on par with the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ($749). In this scenario, the true competitor to the GeForce RTX 5070 should be the Radeon RX 9070, as both are priced at $549.
This article compares the gaming performance of the GeForce RTX 5070 and the Radeon RX 9070. Based on currently available information, the Radeon RX 9070 appears to have the upper hand. The main purpose of this comparison is to assess the extent of its lead.
2. Specifications Comparison
The Radeon RX 9070 was released on March 6, 2025, featuring the Navi 48 GPU built on TSMC’s 4nm process. It has 3,584 shader units, 224 texture units, 128 raster units, 56 compute units, and 112 tensor cores. Its cache configuration includes 8MB of L2 cache and 64MB of L3 cache.
The standard clock speed is 1,330MHz, with a boost clock of up to 2,520MHz. It has a 256-bit memory bus, 16GB of GDDR6 memory running at 20.1Gbps, a memory bandwidth of 644.6GB/s, a power consumption of 220W, and a retail price of $549.
The GeForce RTX 5070 was released on January 6, 2025, utilizing the GB205 GPU built on TSMC’s 5nm process. It features 6,144 CUDA cores, 192 texture units, 48 streaming multiprocessors, 192 tensor cores, and 48 ray-tracing cores.
It has 40MB of L2 cache, a standard clock speed of 2,165MHz, and a maximum boost clock of 2,510MHz. The card comes with 12GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, with a memory speed of 28Gbps and a bandwidth of 672GB/s. Its FP32 floating-point performance reaches 30.84 TFLOPS, and its power consumption is 250W. The reference price is $549.
3. Test System Configuration
The main system specifications are as follows:
- Processor: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E CARBON
- Memory: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
- Graphics Cards: GeForce RTX 5070 and Radeon RX 9070
- Storage: Two Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSDs
- Operating System: Windows 11
4. Game Benchmark Tests
The following tests were conducted using seven different games, all running at 1440P resolution. In the images below, the left side represents the GeForce RTX 5070 platform, while the right side represents the Radeon RX 9070 platform.
Game 1: God of War
- GeForce RTX 5070:
- Avg FPS: 102
- 1% Low FPS: 97
- Frame Time: 9.7ms
- CPU Usage: 22%
- CPU Power: 54W
- CPU Temp: 57°C
- RAM Usage: 13.3GB
- GPU Utilization: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.3GB
- GPU Power: 201W
- GPU Temp: 53°C
- Radeon RX 9070:
- Avg FPS: 129
- 1% Low FPS: 124
- Frame Time: 7.7ms
- CPU Usage: 22%
- CPU Power: 62W
- CPU Temp: 49°C
- RAM Usage: 14.5GB
- GPU Utilization: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 8.3GB
- GPU Power: 238W
- GPU Temp: 51°C
- Analysis:
- Both platforms have identical CPU usage.
- Radeon RX 9070 consumes 1.2GB more RAM and 1GB more VRAM.
- Radeon RX 9070’s GPU power consumption is 37W higher but runs 2°C cooler.
- Performance Difference: Radeon RX 9070 is 27 FPS (1.3x) faster, with 27 FPS higher minimum FPS and 2ms lower frame time—a clear advantage.
Game 2: Ghostwire: Tokyo
- GeForce RTX 5070:
- Avg FPS: 84
- 1% Low FPS: 73
- Frame Time: 11.6ms
- CPU Usage: 10%
- CPU Power: 44W
- CPU Temp: 50°C
- RAM Usage: 10.6GB
- GPU Utilization: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 6.3GB
- GPU Power: 221W
- GPU Temp: 55°C
- Radeon RX 9070:
- Avg FPS: 115
- 1% Low FPS: 99
- Frame Time: 8.7ms
- CPU Usage: 13%
- CPU Power: 51W
- CPU Temp: 49°C
- RAM Usage: 12.7GB
- GPU Utilization: 98%
- VRAM Usage: 6.8GB
- GPU Power: 242W
- GPU Temp: 52°C
- Analysis:
- Radeon RX 9070 consumes 2.1GB more RAM, 0.5GB more VRAM, and 21W more GPU power, while running 3°C cooler.
- Performance Difference: Radeon RX 9070 is 31 FPS (1.4x) faster, with 26 FPS higher minimum FPS and 3ms lower frame time, a bigger lead than in the previous game.
Game 3: Cyberpunk 2077
- GeForce RTX 5070:
- Avg FPS: 86
- 1% Low FPS: 68
- Frame Time: 11.5ms
- CPU Usage: 28%
- CPU Power: 69W
- CPU Temp: 65°C
- RAM Usage: 13.7GB
- GPU Utilization: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 6.9GB
- GPU Power: 227W
- GPU Temp: 54°C
- Radeon RX 9070:
- Avg FPS: 101
- 1% Low FPS: 82
- Frame Time: 9.7ms
- CPU Usage: 32%
- CPU Power: 74W
- CPU Temp: 59°C
- RAM Usage: 14.2GB
- GPU Utilization: 96%
- VRAM Usage: 8.4GB
- GPU Power: 245W
- GPU Temp: 51°C
- Analysis:
- Radeon RX 9070 uses 0.5GB more RAM and 1.5GB more VRAM, while consuming 18W more GPU power but running 3°C cooler.
- Performance Difference: Radeon RX 9070 is 15 FPS (1.2x) faster, with 14 FPS higher minimum FPS and 2ms lower frame time.
Game 4: Horizon Forbidden West
- GeForce RTX 5070: Avg FPS: 98 | 1% Low FPS: 83 | Frame Time: 10.4ms
- Radeon RX 9070: Avg FPS: 117 | 1% Low FPS: 96 | Frame Time: 8.9ms
- Performance Difference: Radeon RX 9070 is 19 FPS (1.2x) faster, with 13 FPS higher minimum FPS and 2ms lower frame time.
Game 5: Black Myth: Wukong
- GeForce RTX 5070 & Radeon RX 9070: Both avg FPS = 45
- Performance Difference: Tie, though Radeon RX 9070 has 3 FPS higher minimum FPS and similar frame times.
Game 6: Silent Hill 2
- GeForce RTX 5070: Avg FPS: 64 | 1% Low FPS: 55 | Frame Time: 15.9ms
- Radeon RX 9070: Avg FPS: 60 | 1% Low FPS: 53 | Frame Time: 17.0ms
- Performance Difference: Radeon RX 9070 is 4 FPS slower with 2 FPS lower minimum FPS—a slight disadvantage.
Game 7: Starfield
- GeForce RTX 5070: Avg FPS: 54 | 1% Low FPS: 49 | Frame Time: 18.2ms
- Radeon RX 9070: Avg FPS: 75 | 1% Low FPS: 63 | Frame Time: 13.9ms
- Performance Difference: Radeon RX 9070 is 21 FPS (1.4x) faster, with 14 FPS higher minimum FPS and 4ms lower frame time—a significant lead.
5. Comparison Conclusion
Overall, the Radeon RX 9070 holds a clear and significant advantage over the GeForce RTX 5070. Its performance lead exceeds initial expectations, with an average 30% superiority across the tested games, securing a decisive victory.
Thus, the final conclusion is: For gamers, the Radeon RX 9070 is the better choice. However, for those who also need productivity performance or better ecosystem compatibility, the GeForce RTX 5070 (or RTX 5070 Ti) remains a viable alternative.
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