AMD’s RX 9070 XT might beat Nvidia’s $1,000 GPU

By Kunal Khullar Published January 9, 2025

AMD unveiled its RDNA 4 architecture at CES 2025, but the announcement failed to generate much hype, as many questions were left unanswered. However, thanks to leaked benchmarks, we now have unofficial data that shows the card beating Nvidia’s $1,000 RTX 4080 Super, which helps us figure out where it’ll rank among some of the best graphics cards.

The benchmarks originated from the Chiphell forum, where admin user nApoleon shared 3DMark scores and GPU-Z details. The post also urged users to delay buying Nvidia’s RTX 50-series, claiming the GPU market has “completely changed” based on the results.

Shortly after the leaks appeared, the screenshots were removed, but other forum members filled in the gaps. User Zhanghonghao highlighted a significant increase in the GPU’s total board power (TBP). Initially expected to draw 265W, new leaks suggest the RX 9070 XT now reaches 330W, comparable to the RTX 4080 Super’s 320W TDP.

@VideoCardz The original poster also said that because it is a beta driver, so the current score is low. pic.twitter.com/QOZQDF6kZd

— Wukongmyth (@Wukongmyth2460) January 9, 2025

In the leaked benchmarks, the RX 9070 XT achieved a graphics score of 14,591 in 3DMark Time Spy Extreme and 6,345 in 3DMark Speedway. The Time Spy Extreme score positions it on par with the RTX 4080 Super. However, the Speedway benchmark, focused on ray tracing, shows AMD trailing behind Nvidia in this area. Performance could improve as AMD finalizes its drivers for these GPUs.

GPU-Z data identified the card as an RX 7800 XT but showed differing specifications, hinting it could be an unreleased model. The card may feature a base clock of 2,520MHz and a boost clock of 3,060MHz, though these details remain unverified by AMD.

In the slides shared with the press prior to the keynote, AMD highlighted key updates to the RX 9070 series, including a 4nm process, improved ray tracing with third-gen RT accelerators, expanded media encoding via the second-gen AMD Radiance Display Engine, and enhanced AI performance through second-gen AI accelerators. However, the CES 2025 presentation made zero mentions of any of those things.

The standout feature of the RX 9070 series is expected to be FSR 4, available exclusively on RDNA 4 GPUs. Though official performance numbers are unavailable, Hardware Unboxed previewed the technology using Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The demo revealed sharper details and significantly reduced ghosting compared to FSR 3.1, offering a promising look at AMD’s next-generation upscaling technology.

These benchmarks are interesting. This is now the second test where we see RDNA 4 rival the RTX 4080 Super, as the non-XT model was spotted running Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 99 frames per second (fps). As the release date is still a mystery (although preorders are said to open on January 23), we will likely see more of these leaked benchmarks before AMD unveils the cards.