AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE Review - AMD Strikes Back

TweakTown's Rating: 94%

The Bottom Line

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a real disruptor at $599, thanks to AMD's massive improvements to ray-tracing and FSR 4's fantastic results with its new AI model for Super Resolution. The AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE is a premium model, however, so it will cost more.

Pros

• Excellent 1440p and 4K performance in all games
• Ray-tracing has leveled up big time for Radeon
• FSR 4 is a game changer for AMD's upscaling
• AORUS ELITE pushes clock speeds to 3100 MHz and runs cool
• Best value enthusiast GPU in a long time

Cons

• OC model, so it'll cost more than AMD's $599 price
• Limited FSR 4 support compared to DLSS
• FSR 4 is exclusive to RDNA 4 GPUs
• Path Tracing works but looks inferior to the competition

Should you buy it?

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Introduction

Pricing will always play an important role in evaluating a new GPU or PC component. People generally want to get good value for money, bang for their buck, and feel validated in spending a lot of money on what is ultimately a hobby, passion, or pastime. PC gaming sits at the forefront of the interactive medium we call video games because it offers cutting-edge hardware, software, and technologies that push performance and visual fidelity to new heights. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX is the dominant brand in this space. AMD's Radeon RX sits in the distant second, often offering decent value and faster raw performance, and everything else feeling like 'lesser than.'

Over the past five years, Radeon has fallen way behind GeForce RTX regarding features and technologies. With RDNA and the new Radeon RX 9000 Series, AMD is looking to level the playing field. And with the Radeon RX 9070 XT, AMD will offer the best value, bang for your buck GPU in 2025. Real competition has arrived.

A quick look around the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE

In recent years, we've seen the rise of real-time ray tracing, AI-powered upscaling, frame generation, and the arrival of Full Ray Tracing or Path Tracing. The latter is like RT on steroids in that it needs a beefcake of a GPU high on AI to run - like the GeForce RTX 4080. Radeon GPUs have featured dedicated ray-tracing hardware for a few generations, and FSR has been the company's answer to DLSS upscaling for a long time. But unless you were looking at the flagship $1000 RDNA 3 GPU, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, ray-tracing performance was lackluster. Even then, FSR's inferior image quality and the lack of new tech like the groundbreaking DLSS Ray Reconstruction means that games like Cyberpunk 2077 with ray-tracing looked worse running on Radeon hardware.

RDNA 4 is a game-changer for Radeon ray-tracing performance. The overclocked AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE reviewed here delivers 35% faster performance in Cyberpunk 2077 using the 'RT Ultra' preset in 4K. This is an impressive achievement because the Radeon RX 9070 XT is not the successor to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX but the Radeon RX 7800 XT - a card that barely runs Cyberpunk 2077 using the 'RT Ultra' preset. In addition to this, the new AI-powered FSR 4 delivers impressive image quality in titles like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 in 4K, so much so that it's finally catching up to NVIDIA DLSS as something you'll turn on because it's free performance that doesn't impact how the game looks.

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The new Radeon RX 9070 XT is the company's flagship RDNA 4 GPU, and starting from $599, it's a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti competitor. Unlike with RDNA 3, AMD is not competing with cards like the GeForce RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 this time around - instead, it's focused on cards that service the majority of PC gamers. And this time around, it's not simply looking to offer a slightly cheaper alternative to GeForce RTX 5070 Ti; the Radeon RX 9070 XT's pricing is aggressive and what you would call a disruptor - especially when you compare its performance to the $549 baseline Radeon RX 9070.

Let's dig in.

Best Deals: AORUS Radeon RX 6700 XT ELITE

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$699.99 USD	-	-	Buy
	$789 USD	-	-	Buy
	$3448.58 CAD	-	-	Buy
	$1309.98 CAD	$1309.98 CAD	-	Buy
	$699.99 USD	-	-	Buy
	$699.99 USD	-	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 3/15/2025 at 1:26 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

RDNA 4 - AMD Levels the Playing Field

Below is a summary of AMD's new RDNA 4 architecture, applicable to all models.

AMD's new RDNA 4 architecture presents a massive improvement over the chiplet design that we saw with RDNA 3. Returning to the monolithic design of RDNA and RDNA 2 might sound like a regression, especially when AMD CPUs have gone in the other direction, but this isn't the case. In a nutshell, RDNA 4 is built for 2025. This GPU architecture embraces ray-tracing performance as a key pillar, lays the groundwork for neural rendering, and supercharges AI performance for the new FSR 4 and complex AI workloads. Throw in a revamped media engine for creators and streamers and support for next-gen DisplayPort 2.1a displays, and RDNA 4 presents a new and revitalized direction for Radeon graphics.

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RDNA 4's overhauled Compute Unit, which houses all of the raster, ray-tracing, and AI hardware, has seen several enhancements over RDNA 3 and is one of the reasons why the Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers impressive performance gains. The RDNA 4 Compute Unit, or CU, features an enhanced memory subsystem, improved scalar units (for raw raster), dynamic register allocation to reduce latency and bottlenecks, and increased efficiency. The improvements also mean that Radeon RX 9000 Series GPUs can ship with much higher clock speeds than their RDNA 3 counterparts, hitting close to 3 GHz in several models, with OC variants pushing 3.1+ GHz.

The show's star, at least in terms of the massive improvement over what has come before, has to be the arrival of RDNA 4's 3rd Generation Ray-Tracing Accelerators. AMD is aware that game developers across PC and console are embracing ray-tracing, which presents a realistic depiction of lighting and related effects like shadows and reflections. The only problem is that real-time ray tracing is complex, requiring the right blend of raw performance and innovative technologies to enhance efficiency and deliver a playable experience.

One area RDNA 4's RT Accelerator delivers where RDNA 3's don't is the arrival of "Oriented Bounding Boxes," an innovative method of handling ray-tracing Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) data. Think of it as efficiently tracing rays through an environment and geometry with a lower memory cost and less hardware. RDNA 4's RT Accelerator also adds a second intersection engine to double the performance of specific raytracing workloads and calculations. The results can be seen in titles with heavy ray-tracing like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, where the Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a significant 30+% performance improvement over the previous gen flagship - the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. A card with 50% more RT Accelerators than the Radeon RX 9070 XT.

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RDNA 4 also fully embraces AI, with new AI accelerators that support FP8 while delivering double the FP16 and four times the INT8 performance compared to RDNA 3's AI accelerators. For gamers, this means the new AI-powered FSR 4 leverages AI to deliver a massive improvement in image quality over FSR 3. However, AMD's custom AI model, which was trained on powerful AMD Instinct hardware, is FP8-based, so it is exclusive to RDNA 4 hardware.

AMD is also looking to introduce its answer to NVIDIA's DLSS Ray Reconstruction for Path Tracing with Neural Supersampling and Denoising. However, it's currently only a tech demo, which means Path Tracing, although possible on RDNA 4, does not look anywhere near as good as it does running on a GeForce RTX GPU.

With improved raw performance and a massive boost to ray-tracing and AI performance, RDNA 4 presents an enormous leap forward over RDNA 3. However, catching up to GeForce RTX in these areas and offering a viable DLSS alternative does mean that early adopters will need to wait for game support and AMD to deliver its Path Tracing solution. With 30+ FSR 4-ready titles on day one and over 100 to arrive by the end of the year, there will still be a massive deficit compared to DLSS 3 and DLSS 4 as we head into 2026. Falling behind for over five years in these areas means there's a lot of catching up to do, and this will take time.

This brings us to RDNA 4's enhanced Media Engine, which offers creators and streamers a big improvement to H.264, HEVC, and AV1 encoding and decoding. NVIDIA's lead in this area has meant that few creators use Radeon hardware. With RDNA 4, AMD is looking to close the gap and offer a viable alternative - especially regarding image quality using popular settings in apps like OBS.

Specs and Test System

Specifications

Here's a look at the specs for the new Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 compared to the previous generation's Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XT.

The Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT, renamed to compete with the GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti, both feature a rather large 357mm die densely packed with an impressive 53.9 billion transistors. On paper, the flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT is the successor to the Radeon RX 7800 XT - however, the massive improvement to ray-tracing and new AI hardware make RDNA 4 feel like a refresh and reboot, in the best possible way.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a more-with-less GPU, which we always love to see. It features 24% fewer Compute Units and Ray Accelerators than the Radeon RX 7900 XT. Regarding 4K gaming, it's 19% faster, with the most significant gains seen in titles with ray-tracing enabled.

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However, with AMD pushing boost clock speeds by up to 25% compared to RDNA 3, the flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT - especially in OC models like the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE reviewed here - is just about as power-hungry as the previous generation flagship, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. RDNA 4 is a more efficient architecture than RDNA 3, however, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is all about sacrificing some of this efficiency to offer an impressive alternative to the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. Efficiency is not a significant concern for most gamers, however, it does mean that the flagship AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE requires three 8-pin power connectors and draws up to 340W thanks to its boost clock speed of 3100 MHz.

Both the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT include 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus to deliver bandwidth of around 640 GB/sec, which makes them GPUs capable of playing games in 4K with or without FSR upscaling or AMD's driver-based Super Resolution and Frame Generation HYPR-RX technologies. The Radeon RX 9070 XT is AMD's best desktop AI GPU, with 1557 TOPs of INT4 and 779 TOPs of INT8 performance. AMD is powerful enough to run local LLMs. It is already leveraging this by adding new AI features to its Adrenalin Software for RDNA 4 GPUs - including an AI chatbot that can offer real-time guidance on optimizing your system and performance alongside summarizing documents.

Kosta's Test System

Physical Design and Cooling

The AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE is GIGABYTE's flagship model and ships with a 3100 MHz boost clock speed, which helps deliver faster performance than reference-spec designs. Interestingly, AMD provided this model to us for review, which will carry a higher price tag than the $599 MSRP or SEP. How much higher remains to be seen; however, with the AORUS ELITE premium, you're getting a fantastically built card with a stylish design that includes RGB rings inside each fan, and WINDFORCE thermal performance that sees temperatures hover at around 55 degrees Celsius even under load.

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The AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE features GIGABYTE's Hawk Fans (inspired by the look and aerodynamics of an eagle's wings), which are low-noise fans with increased air pressure. The middle fan spins in an alternate direction, and all three turn off when the GPU load and temperature drop below a certain threshold. GIGABYTE's Hawk Fans also include 'graphene nano lubricant', which the company says is quieter and more efficient than a double ball bearing design. After gaming with the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE for several hours, it's safe to say that it's not only a powerful Radeon RX 9070 XT variant - but one that remains silent. And if you do end up hearing the fans spin (which we doubt), the Dual BIOS allows you to switch from Performance to Silent.

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Underneath the hood, you'll find server-grade thermal conductive gel on components like VRAM and MOSFETs, which will help improve thermal performance and extend the lifespan of the GPU. A large vapor chamber also makes direct contact with the GPU, with composite copper heat pipes and a generous heat sink. In addition to ring-lighting on the fans, the AORUS logos on the side and the metal backplate also light up. Visually, the AORUS ELITE design is fantastic, with little touches and flourishes throughout - and it's backed up with premium quality components and a sturdy build.

The Games and Tests

PC gaming not only covers a wide range of genres and styles, from indie games with simple 2D graphics to massive 3D worlds lit by cutting-edge real-time ray tracing technology. With that, the needs and requirements of each gamer vary. High refresh rates and latency reduction become more important than flashy visuals or playing at the highest resolution possible for those who live and breathe fast-paced competitive games. For those who want to live in a cinematic world and become a key player in an expansive narrative, ray-tracing and high-fidelity visuals are a stepping stone toward immersion.

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Our chosen benchmarks cover various games, engines, APIs, and technologies. For the Radeon RX 9070 XT, all tests are run at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K and include results for performance-boosting Super Resolution technologies like AMD's new AI-powered FSR 4, alongside older FSR 3 and FSR 2 versions. However, our benchmark results are still sorted using 'raw performance' or native rendering.

Here's the breakdown of games, settings, and what's being tested.

Games and Settings Benchmarked

Path Tracing Games and Settings Benchmarked

Gaming Performance Analysis - 1080p, 1440p, and 4K

Average Gaming Performance - 1080p Results

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With the arrival of RDNA 4 and the GeForce RTX 5070 Series, we'll be starting to add more 1080p results to our reviews. However, at this resolution, you're looking at performance that is limited by other hardware and GPUs that aren't given room to stretch their legs. Here the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE performs on par with the reference ASUS PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 Ti model, 9% faster than the GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 GAMING OC, and 13% faster than the GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition. Yes, the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE is an absolute beast at this resolution, but that's to be expected - so let's move on.

Average Gaming Performance - 1440p Results

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The AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE is a fantastic 1440p GPU, with the overclocked model delivering performance that is, on average, within 3.5% of a non-overclocked GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. It's 19.5% faster here than the GeForce RTX 5070, 15.4% faster than the Radeon RX 9070 XT, and even 2% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX for 1440p gaming. Compared to the non-XT GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 GAMING OC, it's 13.4% faster for 1440p gaming, with both cards offering impressive ray-tracing performance.

In 1440p, Cyberpunk 2077 with 'RT Ultra' settings running on the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE delivers performance that is 20% faster than the non-XT GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 GAMING OC and the GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition. The GeForce RTX 5070 losing here might be due to its VRAM limitation, as the RTX 5070 is faster when it comes to Path Tracing. Either way, this is a big win for RDNA 4's ray-tracing performance. However, without DLSS 4 Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction, Cyberpunk 2077's image quality suffers on RDNA 4. But when looking at titles with ray-tracing, the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE closes the gap and even takes the lead over the ASUS PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 Ti in games like F1 24 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Call of Duty gamers will want to take note of the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE, as it delivers faster performance than the GeForce RTX 5080 at this resolution. However, Counter-Strike 2 gamers might want to stick with NVIDIA, as the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE's performance falls behind the cheaper GeForce RTX 5070. In most of the games we tested, the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE and ASUS PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 Ti perform similarly, so the real difference between the two cards - outside of the Radeon RX 9070 XT being a lot cheaper - comes down to features like DLSS. With FSR 4 only available in a few of the games in our benchmark suite (Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel Rivals, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2), the DLSS advantage is clear.

Average Gaming Performance - 4K Results

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Like the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is a fantastic 4K gaming card. It brings a new performance tier to the $599 price point in a way that feels like a game changer - thanks to RDNA 4's impressive ray-tracing performance. Looking at 4K gaming averages covering our entire suite, the overclocked AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE delivers performance that is on par with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

However, on par means slower when it comes to traditional raster performance and faster when it comes to ray-tracing. Here it's 6% slower than a non-overclocked GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, 19% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XT, and still 13.4% faster than the non-XT GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 GAMING OC. We were expecting the Radeon RX 9070 XT to pull ahead of the Radeon RX 9070 when bumping up the resolution to 4K, however, this wasn't the case - which does make the baseline Radeon RX 9070 make a lot more sense at $549, even though the prices are still way too close.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent example of how far AMD has come regarding ray-tracing performance. When it comes to 4K, the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE is 35% faster than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX using the game's 'RT Ultra' preset and only 10% slower than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. 4K ray-tracing with FSR is fantastic on the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE and right up there with the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti regarding performance. The only thing missing is FSR 4 support in more games and AMD offering a DLSS Ray Reconstruction alternative.

Benchmarks - 3DMark Synthetic Tests

3DMark offers a suite of synthetic benchmarks built to test GPUs in various scenarios. 3DMark Steel Nomad is a cutting-edge DirectX 12 benchmark with newer, modern rendering techniques designed to push GPUs to their limit. The 'Light' version tests at 1440p, while the main Steel Nomad benchmark tests pure native 4K rendering. Port Royal is a benchmark focusing exclusively on real-time ray tracing for lighting effects like reflections, shadows, and more.

3DMark results for the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE are a little strange in that the 1440p-based Steel Nomad Light and 4K-based Steel Nomad synthetic benchmark results seem to present two different stories. The 4K score is 11.7% higher than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and 45% higher than the GeForce RTX 5070, and 30% higher than the baseline Radeon RX 9070. This doesn't indicate the in-game performance we're seeing outside of rare examples like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The 1440p score is a little closer to reality, sitting 18.6% higher than the baseline Radeon RX 9070, 17.8% higher than the GeForce RTX 5070, and 10% lower than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti - more significant margins than what you'd find in-game but closer to the mark.

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The ray-tracing-focused 3DMark Port Royal benchmark sees the overclocked AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE deliver a score that is roughly on par with the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. And yes, this is something you will find in several games with ray tracing. However, titles with Full Ray Tracing or multiple intensive RT effects will see the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE fall behind and drop to GeForce RTX 5070 or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER levels. The 3DMark Port Royal benchmark is another showcase for how much better RDNA 4 is for RT, with the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE's score sitting 20% higher than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

Benchmarks - 1080p Gaming

Benchmarks - 1440p Gaming

Benchmarks - 4K Gaming

FSR 4 and AMD Frame Generation

With the arrival of the Radeon RX 900 Series and the new flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT, AMD's new FSR 4 represents a massive improvement over FSR 3.1, FSR 3, and FSR 2. The shift to a custom and powerful AI model for upscaling shows that ML or AI is the definite way to maintain image quality that is on par or even superior to native rendering. As FSR 4 was explicitly designed for RDNA 4 and trained on powerful AMD hardware, it is exclusive to the Radeon RX 9000 Series due to the advanced AI hardware requirements. The good news is the games with FSR 3.1 are automatically upgraded to FSR 4 via AMD's Adrenalin Software, with a nice overlay showing a green FSR 4 tick when booting up a compatible game.

For this review, we decided to investigate two FSR 4 titles, Horizon Forbidden West and Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, a little more closely. Both titles offer the option to enable AMD Frame Generation to boost performance and smoothness. After playing both titles and analyzing screenshots, it's safe to say that FSR 4 is a big win for AMD, delivering a viable competitor to DLSS - especially in 4K. NVIDIA still has the edge thanks to DLSS 4, but the difference between FSR 4 and FSR 3 is night and day. FSR 4 Quality and Balanced modes offer far better results than previous versions (FSR 4 Performance is better than FSR 3 Quality in 4K). When paired with AMD's Frame Generation, you're looking at impressive image clarity and smoothness.

The good news is that the switch to an AI model now means that FSR 4 is a viable option when gaming in 1440p, as the loss in image quality or fidelity is nowhere near as pronounced as previous versions. There's noticeably less ghosting, more finer texture detail, and distant background objects like foliage in Horizon Forbidden West or towers in Space Marine 2 retain a lot more of their original detail. DLSS 4 is still the gold standard, especially in 1440p, but AMD has significantly closed the gap here - and that's awesome to see. The only real downside is that FSR 4 is limited to RDNA 4 GPUs, and there are exponentially more DLSS titles than FSR 4 titles out in the wild. And as there's no way to integrate it into older titles with FSR 2 or FSR 3 without a patch from game developers, it's a technology that will be limited to new releases.

Path Tracing Performance - 1440p

Path Tracing takes real-time ray-tracing and applies the concept of ray-traced effects to anything and everything - global illumination, shadows, reflections, indirect lighting, and more. With multiple bounces, it's a hardware-intensive and cutting-edge look at the future of PC gaming that is only possible thanks to AI tools and technologies. With RDNA 4 dramatically improving ray-tracing performance compared to RDNA 3, GPUs like the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT are capable of rendering stunning Path Traced visuals, however, it's more proof of concept than something practical.

Okay, so when it comes to Path Tracing or Full Ray Tracing performance, the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE is anywhere from 35% to 70% slower than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. It's also slower than the GeForce RTX 5070. However, it can still deliver a playable experience in games like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, thanks to FSR Super Resolution and some AMD Frame Generation. The only problem is that this is not FSR 4, and without a DLSS Ray Reconstruction alternative, Path Tracing on RDNA 4 feels like a 'Beta' or buggy 'Early Access' version compared to NVIDIA's fleshed-out AI-powered alternative.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle with Full Ray Tracing enabled and FSR 3 upscaling is impressive, and it's fantastic to see this level of ray-tracing on a Radeon GPU. It's a night and day difference compared to the game running on a console like the Xbox Series X, but it still needs a little love. With AMD baking neural rendering into RDNA 4, which includes AI denoisers and even ways to accelerate ray-tracing through AI technologies similar to NVIDIA's new RTX Neural Shaders, we hope to see this come to games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and the upcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages sooner rather than later.

Temperature and Power Efficiency

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The AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE's thermal performance is remarkable. It's an overclocked Radeon RX 9070 XT that pushes the boost clock speed to 3100 MHz and barely breaks a sweat with temperatures topping out at around 55 degrees. With three 8-pin power connectors, the 304W power rating increases to 340W, so it's less efficient than a reference spec model, but that's par for the course for OC models that raise the power limit. This is GIGABYTE's flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT, and it runs cool and quiet even when delivering 100+ FPS in 4K.

Final Thoughts

Starting from $599 (the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE reviewed here will cost more than this), the Radeon RX 9070 XT is an aggressively priced GPU backed up by AMD's best architecture in years. Ray-tracing performance has dramatically improved to the point where it can now be compared to GeForce RTX, but it's good enough for some entry-level Path Tracing. Looking at the overall 1440p and 4K gaming performance, you're looking at a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti competitor with a $150 lower starting price. Many have wanted to see this sort of competition from AMD for years, including us, as competition helps drive innovation.

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AMD's new AI-powered FSR 4 is also impressive, offering an alternative to DLSS that is comparable and in the same league regarding image fidelity. NVIDIA's new DLSS 4 is superior and a game-changer in its own right, and FSR 4 adoption will take a long time to catch up to DLSS - but it's a great start. With NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series only offering a modest generational raw performance uplift over the GeForce RTX 40 Series, this helps make RDNA 4's improvements look all the more impressive. As we're not living in a world where the GeForce RTX 5070 delivers RTX 4080 performance levels, the Radeon RX 9070 XT can carve a place for itself in a crowded mid-range market.

Bringing things full circle, pricing will always be essential in evaluating a new GPU or PC component. When it comes to the Radeon RX 9070 XT, the $599 price point, alongside the performance of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, makes it the GPU to get in 2025. You would have had to pay close to 40% more for this level of performance a year ago. The real kicker, though, is that ray-tracing performance is right up there. The only thing missing is the widespread adoption of FSR 4 and AMD's delivery of Path Tracing technologies in an actual game we can play. At the time of publishing, we were unable to get a price for the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE, but if the price is closer to $699 versus $599, the DLSS 4 advantage would probably swing the pendulum back in favor of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti.