Is the AMD RX 9070 XT capable of outperforming the RTX 5070 Ti?

      While AMD’s RX 9070 XT may not be a flagship graphics card, it could become one of the most thrilling launches of the year. This isn’t an exaggeration. Following the unsatisfactory performance of the RTX 5080 and the scarcity of both the RTX 50 and RTX 40 series cards, there is considerable excitement surrounding AMD’s forthcoming RX 9000 series.

      However, our enthusiasm hinges on the card's performance, both in standalone benchmarks and in comparison to rival products like the RTX 5070 Ti, which is also generating buzz leading up to its release.

      **Pricing and Availability**

      Currently, neither the RX 9070 XT nor the RTX 5070 Ti is available, but that is expected to change soon. The Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti is scheduled for a late February launch, with an estimated price of $750. In contrast, the release of the RTX 5090 and 5080 was accompanied by very low stock levels and inflated prices, leading to some second-hand listings being 2-3 times their original retail prices.

      According to Unikos Hardware, the RX 9070 XT is anticipated to debut in early March, with rumors suggesting a release date of March 6.

      At present, there is no confirmed pricing for the RX 9070 XT. However, AMD has denied rumors of a $900 price, indicating it will be lower than that. A leaked listing from the Philippines indicated a price around $520, which would significantly undercut the 5070 Ti — a move that doesn’t align with AMD's typical strategy, making it seem improbable.

      **Specifications**

      | | AMD RX 9070 XT | Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti |

      |--------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|

      | Cores | 4,096 shader units (rumored) | 8,960 CUDA |

      | RT Cores | 64 (rumored) | 70, 4th generation |

      | Tensor Cores | N/A | 280, 5th generation |

      | Boost Clock | 2,970 MHz (rumored) | 2.45GHz |

      | Memory Size | 16GB GDDR6 (rumored) | 16GB GDDR7 |

      | Memory Bus | 256-bit (rumored) | 256-bit |

      | Memory Speed | Unknown | 28Gbps |

      | Memory Bandwidth | 624 GBps (rumored) | 896GBps |

      | TBP | Unknown | 300W |

      AMD has not yet shared official specifications for the RX 9070 XT, leaving us with only rumored details from a Philippine retailer. These specifications align with what we would expect from a card that is meant to be a successor to the 7700 XT, assuming it fulfills that role.

      The expected shader unit and RT core numbers would be around 20% higher than the previous generation, and the 16GB of VRAM would represent a significant upgrade from the 12GB of its predecessor. However, the anticipated boost clock speed raises some questions.

      Nvidia has confirmed the specifications for the RTX 5070 Ti, and we don't expect any surprises on paper before its launch. The count of RT cores is higher and likely more capable than those of AMD, even though AMD promises significant improvements in ray tracing performance this generation. The quicker memory and potentially higher overall bandwidth might provide an edge in higher resolutions like 4K, although 16GB may still limit performance in demanding AAA titles.

      **Performance**

      Thus far, AMD has not revealed any details about the RX 9070 XT’s performance or architectural specifics, which we expect to learn during a press conference later in February. Until we have official confirmation and can conduct our own tests, it remains uncertain how these two cards will perform. However, we do have some rumored performance results to consider.

      In mid-January, some alleged benchmarking results for the 9070 XT in high-end games were released, showing it achieving 30 FPS at 4K in Black Myth: Wukong and 26 FPS at 4K with ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077. These figures are competitive with the RTX 4070 Ti but lag behind the RTX 4080 Super.

      We still don’t have a clear picture of the RTX 5070 Ti's performance; however, Nvidia’s promotional graphs suggest that it may perform significantly better than the RTX 4070 Ti in certain games, potentially being around 30% faster based on the left-most results in those graphs. If accurate, this would place it ahead of the RX 9070 XT, especially considering that, while FSR4 may be effective, it is unlikely to reach the level of DLSS 4 with frame generation.

      On the other hand, a set of performance results leaked