- A purported benchmark has emerged for AMD’s RX 9070 XT
- It suggests that the incoming RDNA 4 GPU could match the RTX 4080
- This is another in a line of leaks indicating that this is the case
Another hint has been dropped that AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card is going to be more powerful than rumors previously indicated, and that it could be the equal of the RTX 4080.
Wccftech reports that a Gigabyte (Gaming OC) RX 9070 XT was highlighted in a benchmark by a user on the Anandtech forums (Gaav87). This was a FurMark score of 20,732 points (345 frames per second) in the OpenGL graphics stress test at 1080p resolution.
Now, take that with more than the usual skepticism reserved for any such purported leaks, but if correct, this score would mean that, as mentioned, the 9070 XT could offer a performance level similar to the RTX 4080 (actually, it’ll edge out the Nvidia GPU a smidge).
However, extra care is needed here because the benchmark was run on Linux, and those comparisons are drawn with the RTX 4080 on Windows, so that’s not an apples-to-apples affair.
That said, there’s another recent leak of the 9070 XT courtesy of FurMark which showed the GPU reaching roughly the same kind of performance (equivalent to the RX 7900 XTX, very much in the RTX 4080 ballpark, in other words). In that case, the graphics card wasn’t named, but it was easy enough to piece together the clues of what GPU it was.
On top of this, another piece of spillage – this time purportedly direct from AMD – also suggests that the 9070 XT is going to pitch in at around this same level, allowing it to be competitive against the RTX 5070 Ti, in theory.
This fresh leak brings with it some extra info, too, pertaining to thermals, with the 9070 XT seemingly coping very well considering that FurMark is a stress test, meaning it challenges the GPU with a very demanding workload that pushes the chip hard.
The 9070 XT apparently contains its heat levels to 55 degrees Celsius during this tough workout, which is commendably cool.
Analysis: Looking strong, albeit with hints of 'hopium' on the pricing front
The upshot is that the RX 9070 XT is looking very promising here, both in terms of raw performance and its ability to stay cool under pressure. It’s worth noting that the Gaming OC graphics card featured in this latest leak is a mid-tier model from Gigabyte, so this isn’t its best cooling solution in action (though it’s not an entry-level one either, that’s WindForce).
These are exciting revelations, albeit coming with caveats, and the fact that FurMark is definitely not 3DMark (and moreover, synthetic benchmarks only go so far in estimating the performance of a GPU). Still, it’s a more telling metric than Geekbench graphics tests, and speaking of those, it handily dispels notions recently presented via Geekbench that RDNA 4 won’t be all that much to shout about, frame rate-wise.
Finally, it's worth bearing in mind that last month, a rumor was aired by YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead that during development, AMD was targeting the RX 9070 XT to be just a touch faster than Nvidia’s RTX 4080 Founders Edition – which is the assertion we see in all these leaks.
It feels to me that there’s more than a grain of truth here, with all these rumors aligning, but as ever, let’s not get carried away with speculation, even if it does all seem to be lining up in a reasonably compelling manner.
Besides, as I keep banging on about, whatever the performance level of the 9070 models, AMD’s pricing of these new GPUs will be essential – and we’ll see the full picture tomorrow, with pricing going to be revealed at AMD’s press event for RDNA 4.
I can’t wait, and remain hopeful that Team Red will do the right thing, and not just deliver a minor price cut relative to Nvidia’s pricing and overall value proposition, but a major blow (an uppercut, so to speak, from the desktop GPU underdog).
However, I’ve got to acknowledge that there are rumors suggesting that AMD might push MSRPs disappointingly towards making profits rather than taking on Nvidia at the mid-range. Hopefully, those are wrong, and yes, there’s a lot of hoping going on, I fully admit.
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