1. Introduction
From a product positioning perspective, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is designed to compete with the previous-generation Radeon RX 7700 XT. The Radeon RX 7800 XT is positioned a tier higher, but since the RX 9070 XT is a new release, it is expected to outperform the latter without question.
The key question worth exploring is how much of a performance improvement the Radeon RX 9070 XT offers over the Radeon RX 7800 XT. This article will provide test results to reveal the answer for those interested.
2. Specifications Comparison
The Radeon RX 9070 XT was released on March 6, 2025, featuring the Navi 48 GPU built on TSMC’s 4nm process. It has 4,096 shader units, 256 texture units, 128 raster units, 64 compute units, 128 tensor cores, 8MB of L2 cache, and 64MB of L3 cache.
It operates at a base clock speed of 1,660 MHz and a boost clock speed of 2,970 MHz. The memory bus width is 256-bit, equipped with 16GB of GDDR6 memory running at 20.1 Gbps, delivering a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The power consumption is rated at 304W, and the launch price is $599.
The Radeon RX 7800 XT was released on August 25, 2023, based on the RDNA 3 architecture, featuring the Navi 32 XT GPU manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process. It has 3,840 shader units, 240 texture units, 96 raster units, 60 compute units, 60 ray tracing cores, 4MB of L2 cache, and 64MB of L3 cache.
Its base clock speed is 1,800 MHz, with a boost clock speed of 2,430 MHz. It comes with 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, running at 19.4 Gbps, providing a memory bandwidth of 620.8 GB/s. The FP32 floating-point performance is 37.32 TFLOPS, and its power consumption is rated at 263W. The suggested retail price at launch was $499.
3. Test Platform Configuration (RX 9070 XT vs RX 7800 XT)
The test system is configured as follows:
- Processor: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E CARBON
- Memory: 32GB DDR5 6000 MHz
- Graphics Cards: Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 7800 XT
- Storage: Two Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSDs
- Operating System: Windows 11
4. Game Benchmark Tests
The following tests were conducted across seven games, all running at 1440P resolution. In the images below, the Radeon RX 9070 XT platform is represented on the left, while the Radeon RX 7800 XT platform is on the right.
Game 1: God of War
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 152
- Minimum FPS: 138
- Frame Time: 6.5ms
- CPU Usage: 21%
- CPU Power: 58W
- CPU Temperature: 49°C
- RAM Usage: 12.6GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.5GB
- GPU Power: 334W
- GPU Temperature: 54°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 103
- Minimum FPS: 93
- Frame Time: 9.5ms
- CPU Usage: 16%
- CPU Power: 51W
- CPU Temperature: 49°C
- RAM Usage: 14.1GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.4GB
- GPU Power: 274W
- GPU Temperature: 52°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT delivers 49 FPS (1.5x) higher on average.
- Minimum FPS is 45 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 3ms.
- Power consumption is 60W higher, and GPU temperature is 2°C higher.
Game 2: Red Dead Redemption 2
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 129
- Minimum FPS: 93
- Frame Time: 7.0ms
- CPU Usage: 23%
- GPU Power: 329W
- GPU Temperature: 53°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 98
- Minimum FPS: 75
- Frame Time: 9.5ms
- CPU Usage: 20%
- GPU Power: 262W
- GPU Temperature: 48°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT is 31 FPS (1.3x) faster on average.
- Minimum FPS is 18 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 2.5ms.
- Power consumption is 67W higher, and temperature is 5°C higher.
Game 3: Cyberpunk 2077
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 111
- Minimum FPS: 99
- Frame Time: 8.9ms
- CPU Usage: 41%
- GPU Power: 359W
- GPU Temperature: 53°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 81
- Minimum FPS: 73
- Frame Time: 13.2ms
- CPU Usage: 48%
- GPU Power: 250W
- GPU Temperature: 47°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT is 30 FPS (1.4x) faster on average.
- Minimum FPS is 26 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 4.3ms.
- Power consumption is 109W higher, and temperature is 6°C higher.
Game 4: Ghostwire: Tokyo
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 118
- Minimum FPS: 106
- Frame Time: 8.4ms
- GPU Power: 328W
- GPU Temperature: 51°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 81
- Minimum FPS: 72
- Frame Time: 12.3ms
- GPU Power: 255W
- GPU Temperature: 50°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT is 37 FPS (1.5x) faster on average.
- Minimum FPS is 34 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 4ms.
- Power consumption is 73W higher, with similar temperatures.
Game 5: Horizon Forbidden West
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 119
- Minimum FPS: 107
- Frame Time: 7.7ms
- CPU Usage: 43%
- GPU Power: 313W
- GPU Temperature: 47°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 77
- Minimum FPS: 70
- Frame Time: 12.5ms
- CPU Usage: 31%
- GPU Power: 234W
- GPU Temperature: 48°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT is 42 FPS (1.5x) faster on average.
- Minimum FPS is 37 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 5ms.
- Power consumption is 79W higher, with similar temperatures.
Game 6: Black Myth: Wukong
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 51
- Minimum FPS: 44
- Frame Time: 19.5ms
- CPU Usage: 11%
- GPU Power: 338W
- GPU Temperature: 48°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 36
- Minimum FPS: 32
- Frame Time: 26.8ms
- CPU Usage: 19%
- GPU Power: 266W
- GPU Temperature: 51°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT is 15 FPS (1.4x) faster on average.
- Minimum FPS is 12 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 7ms.
- Power consumption is 72W higher, with lower temperature (-3°C).
Game 7: Silent Hill 2
Radeon RX 9070 XT:
- Average FPS: 111
- Minimum FPS: 93
- Frame Time: 9.4ms
- GPU Power: 329W
- GPU Temperature: 52°C
Radeon RX 7800 XT:
- Average FPS: 73
- Minimum FPS: 64
- Frame Time: 13.3ms
- GPU Power: 251W
- GPU Temperature: 49°C
- Comparison:
- RX 9070 XT is 38 FPS (1.5x) faster on average.
- Minimum FPS is 29 FPS higher.
- Frame time reduced by 4ms.
- Power consumption is 78W higher, and temperature is 3°C higher.
5. Comparison Conclusion
The comparison results are clear: the Radeon RX 9070 XT shows a significant overall performance advantage over the previous-generation Radeon RX 7800 XT, delivering approximately 40% more performance on average. This improvement goes far beyond mere incremental upgrades. However, it also comes with a noticeably higher power consumption.
Overall, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is a worthwhile purchase. However, in the short term, market supply may be limited, and scalping could make it difficult to buy at MSRP.
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