AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT vs. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

It's only been two weeks since AMD launched the Radeon RX 9070 XT and to say it's been a popular release would be an understatement. Reports indicate that AMD has already shipped 200,000 RX 9070 series GPUs, and just days ago, AMD Japan claimed to have reached 45% market share. It's unclear how accurate either of these claims are, but we know through our own sources that AMD has already sold more 9070 series GPUs than Nvidia has sold of their entire GeForce 50 series, which is quite astonishing.

Despite having up to a two-month head start, Nvidia's poor availability of GeForce GPUs is starting to give AMD an angle to win back some market share in the PC market. This could bode well for AMD in the long term, but of course, we'll have to wait and see how this all plays out over time.

Why Compare the RTX 5070 Ti to the RX 9070 XT?

While a competitive market is great for consumers, we're more interested in which company is offering the better value product. For this comparison, we're taking a closer look at the RX 9070 XT and the RTX 5070 Ti.

You could argue – and some surely will – that the Radeon 9070 XT is priced closer to the RTX 5070 than the 5070 Ti, and that's true based on MSRP. However, since we don't recommend purchasing the RTX 5070, there's little point in making that comparison, at least not for our initial comparison.

We may include the RTX 5070 in this data set in the future, but we're currently far more interested in the 5070 Ti vs. 9070 XT match-up – and we suspect many of you are, too. As a side note, we'll continue providing periodic GPU pricing updates, like the we released last week, so be sure to cross-reference this data with future pricing trends.

Test System Specs

We've covered 55 games at 1440p and 4K, which has taken away the last week of work to put this mammoth benchmark together. We'll walk through the individual results for around 20 titles, and then present an aggregate comparison across all 55 games in a single graph. Let's dive in.

Benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced

We're starting with a rough spot for the Radeon GPU. The new Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced version doesn't run nearly as well on the RX 9070 XT compared to the 5070 Ti. As a result, it's 29% slower at 1440p and 24% slower at 4K. Not ideal, but hopefully AMD can improve performance with a future driver update.

Assetto Corsa Competizione

Performance in ACC was also underwhelming. It was certainly playable on the Radeon GPU, but significantly weaker compared to the 5070 Ti – 35% slower at 1440p and 37% slower at 4K. Again, we're hoping for improvement via drivers.

Counter-Strike 2

The RX 9070 XT was more competitive here, trailing the 5070 Ti by just 10% at 1440p and 13% at 4K.

Rocket League

The Rocket League results were unexpected. Somehow, the RX 9070 XT was 41% faster than the 5070 Ti at 1440p and 36% faster at 4K. This likely points to a GeForce driver issue, which is surprising given Rocket League's popularity and maturity. You'd expect Nvidia to have this one dialed in.

Hunt Showdown 1896

This title was another weak spot for AMD, with the 9070 XT running 35% slower at 1440p and 39% slower at 4K. This could be yet another case of driver optimization lagging behind.

Marvel Rivals

Marvel Rivals was far more competitive. The RX 9070 XT was just 7% slower at 1440p and 11% slower at 4K, which isn't bad considering it currently costs around 17% less.

Black Myth Wukong

With very high ray tracing disabled, the RX 9070 XT performs well in Black Myth Wukong. It trails the 5070 Ti by only 6% at 1440p and 10% at 4K, making this a solid result overall.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

The RX 9070 XT performs quite well in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and it's possible that Radeon performance has generally improved since we first benchmarked this title. In this case, the 9070 XT was 13% slower than the 5070 Ti at 1440p and 8% slower at 4K.

The Riftbreaker

The Riftbreaker has never been a strong title for AMD, and that trend continues here. The 9070 XT was 20% slower than the 5070 Ti at 1440p and 24% slower at 4K.

F1 24

Using the Ultra High preset in F1 24, which enables ray tracing, has traditionally hurt Radeon GPU performance. However, with RDNA 4, that's no longer the case. The 9070 XT matched the 5070 Ti exactly at both tested resolutions.

War Thunder

We tested War Thunder using the DX12 mode, which tends to benefit Radeon GPUs. Even so, the 9070 XT was still 18% slower than the 5070 Ti at 1440p and 13% slower at 4K.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Interestingly, the RX 9070 XT was faster at 1440p, beating the 5070 Ti by a modest 6% margin. At 4K, performance between the two was nearly identical.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

A similar result was seen in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, where the 9070 XT was 10% faster at 1440p, but delivered essentially the same performance at 4K.

Horizon Forbidden West

The 9070 XT delivered excellent performance in Horizon Forbidden West, outperforming the 5070 Ti at both resolutions. At 1440p, we saw a 10% uplift, and at 4K, an 11% improvement.

Total War: Warhammer III

Warhammer III is a strong title for AMD. Here, the 9070 XT led the 5070 Ti by 11% at 1440p and 12% at 4K – impressive margins, especially given the lower price of the Radeon GPU.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Disabling path tracing in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle significantly improves performance. Although the game still uses ray tracing, the 9070 XT was 15% slower than the 5070 Ti at 1440p, averaging 107 fps, which is quite good. At 4K, it was 21% slower, delivering 67 fps on average. Not great, but still very playable.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Nvidia has yet to address Blackwell's weak performance in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, although they have acknowledged an issue with this title. Currently, in more demanding scenes, GPUs like the 5070 Ti struggle more than they should, allowing the 9070 XT to take a 17% lead at 1440p and a 36% lead at 4K.

Gears 5

We spent considerable time investigating Radeon's performance issues in Gears 5. While the game was playable and overall performance was decent, the 9070 XT was significantly slower than the 5070 Ti – 32% behind at 1440p and 33% at 4K. We're unsure why, but this was a clear loss for AMD.

Rainbow Six Siege

Thankfully, performance in the popular Rainbow Six Siege was very good. The 9070 XT was just 7% slower than the 5070 Ti at 1440p, with both GPUs pushing well over 300 fps. At 4K, the Radeon GPU was only 6% slower, with both nearing 200 fps – excellent performance at this resolution.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

As usual, Call of Duty remains a strong title for Radeon, and Black Ops 6 is no exception. The 9070 XT beat the 5070 Ti by 22% at 1440p and 19% at 4K, marking a solid win for AMD.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

The 9070 XT trailed the 5070 Ti by 9% in Stalker 2 at 1440p and then just 5% at 4K, overall, fairly competitive results there, and we think that's enough individual game data,. Let's see how these GPUs stack up across all 55 games tested.

Performance Summary

50 Game Average @ 1440p

In our day-one review featuring 18 games, we found the Radeon 9070 XT to be 6% slower than the RTX 5070 Ti. The good news is that this data was representative of a broader sample, as this 55-game benchmark showed the 9070 XT coming in just 5% slower than the 5070 Ti.

The only significant outlier in favor of the Radeon GPU was Rocket League, where the 9070 XT was surprisingly 41% faster. On the other hand, there were a few titles where it was considerably slower, including Assetto Corsa Competizione, Hunt Showdown, Gears 5, and GTA V Enhanced.

For 65% of the games tested – 36 out of 55 – the performance margin was 10% or less in either direction, which aligns with the 5% average difference overall. Let's now take a look at the 4K data.

50 Game Average @ 4K

In our earlier review, we found the 9070 XT to be 1% slower than the 5070 Ti at 4K. With the expanded 55-game data set, it ends up 5% slower, reflecting a 4% variance, which is quite small.

The additional titles – Hunt Showdown, ACC, Gears 5, Gotham Knights, Homeworld 3, GTA V Enhanced, and The Riftbreaker – had a significant impact on the 9070 XT's overall performance. Still, a 5% loss isn't terrible, especially given that the Radeon GPU costs at least 17% less.

What We Learned

Across a wide range of games, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is, on average, about 5% slower than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. So, generally speaking, performance is quite close. Based on MSRP – $600 for the 9070 XT and $750 for the 5070 Ti – the Radeon GPU is priced 20% lower, offering around 15% better value.

Looking at recent retail pricing, we found the 9070 XT typically sells for $750, while the RTX 5070 Ti goes for around $900, making the Radeon GPU 17% cheaper and approximately 12% better value. Realistically, you'll likely purchase whichever model is available at a reasonable price, and that's more likely to be a Radeon GPU, as the 9070 XT is far more readily available than the 5070 Ti.

But in a world where both would be readily available, we believe the Radeon 9070 XT needs to be at least 15% cheaper to earn our recommendation over the 5070 Ti. At a 10% difference, the choice could go either way. And if the price gap is less than 10%, then the RTX 5070 Ti makes more sense, thanks to DLSS 4, superior ray tracing performance, and generally being a bit faster overall.

As for power consumption and thermals – since we often get asked about these in GPU comparisons – please refer to our day-one launch reviews. Power usage hasn't changed, and thermal performance varies greatly depending on the specific model, so we recommend checking individual partner card reviews for that information.

DLSS 4 vs FSR 4

Circling back to our mention of upscaling and DLSS 4 as a key selling point of the GeForce 5070 Ti, it definitely is. However, after extensive testing, we found AMD's new FSR 4 technology to be a major leap forward. It's significantly better than FSR 3 and, in most cases, outperforms DLSS 3. In fact, we found it generally sits between DLSS 3 and DLSS 4, which is a big win for AMD and boosts the appeal of its GPUs.

Nvidia still wins in game support though, so AMD will need to improve in this area if it wants to fully compete with DLSS 4. But as it stands, AMD's upscaling tech is definitely at a more competitive level than it was before.

As for ray tracing performance, Nvidia still has the edge, but the latest Radeons have narrowed the gap considerably. The 9070 XT is 26% faster on average than AMD's previous-generation flagship, the RX 7900 XTX, in terms of meaningful ray tracing performance. By "meaningful," we mean titles where ray tracing actually transforms the visual experience – games like Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, Spider-Man, and Metro Exodus Enhanced.

In those games, the 9070 XT was highly competitive with the 5070 Ti. However, when we include Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Black Myth Wukong, the Radeon GPU ends up 20% slower on average. Still, at 1440p with quality FSR upscaling enabled, the 9070 XT delivers very usable performance with ray tracing effects, so we're no longer in a situation where Radeon GPUs were near to useless for any serious ray tracing.

Taking everything into account, we feel the Radeon RX 9070 XT is quite evenly matched with the RTX 5070 Ti. That's why we recommend a 15% discount as the tipping point for choosing Radeon. And of course, this is a general recommendation – if you primarily play titles like ACC, Hunt Showdown, Gears 5, or GTA V, the GeForce GPU will likely deliver more consistent performance, barring future driver improvements from AMD, so as usual try to research performance for the games you play the most.

Shopping Shortcuts:

• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT on Amazon
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti on Amazon
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 on Amazon
• AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT on Amazon
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super on Amazon
• AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT on Amazon