INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Even though the latest Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT graphics cards by AMD based on their latest RDNA 4 architecture were announced earlier this year their official launch date is today and so everyone can finally see how these cards perform. As of now I don't really have access to the Radeon RX 9070, but Sapphire did send over their Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming model which I've been testing and user for almost a full week now.

    SAPPHIRE Technology continues to be a world leading manufacturer and global supplier of innovative graphics and mainboard products, delivering its AMD Radeon based products to the PC market addressing gaming and performance graphics hardware enthusiasts, as well as delivering an array of embedded technology solutions and commercial graphics products.

    The Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT cards are based on the brand new Navi 48 GPU by AMD (4nm lithography - there probably won't be a higher-end model than this, not in the near future) which supports their latest FSR 4 AI super resolution technology (neural rendering ready according to AMD), Hyper-RX (1-click solution enabling Radeon anti-lag, boost and super resolution), Fluid Motion Frames 2.1 (improved picture quality, reduced ghosting and improved temporal tracking), Image Sharpening 2 (improved picture detail) and Radeon anti-lag 2. In terms of specifications the Radeon RX 9070 XT packs 64 RDNA 4 compute units, 4096 stream processors, 128 raster units (or render output units), 64 ray accelerators (or ray tracing cores), 256 texture mapping units, 64MB of Infinity Cache and a total of 128 AI accelerators. VRAM amount for the Radeon RX 9070 XT series is set at 16GB 20Gbps GDDR6 based on a 256-bit wide bus interface and thanks to AMD's latest memory management system called Out-of-Order Memory Queuing RT performance gets a boost by eliminating memory request stream misses. Once again the Pulse model by Sapphire also features Dual-X Cooling equipped with Dual-Ball bearing fans featuring the newest AeroCurve blades, Honeywell PTM7950 Thermal Interface Material (TIM) for superior thermal conductivity, 12 Phase Digital Power for increased stability, fuse protection, accurate power control and power efficiency, 12-layer High TG Copper PCB for excellent reliability, Optimized Composite Heatpipes, Integrated Cooling Module and a metal backplate for additional rigidity. Regarding clocks the Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming sports a game clock of 2400MHz and a boost clock of 2970MHz and has a total board draw set at up to 304W. Finally in terms of available connectivity the Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT card by Sapphire features two DisplayPort v2.1a outputs and two HDMI v2.1 outputs.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAPPHIRE this time over ships the card inside a blue box that has their logo at the front along with the model name and available VRAM.

 

 

As usual the serial numbers and barcodes are all located on the right side.

 

 

Moving at the rear we find a product picture right next to the key features and system requirements.

 

 

Typically, the card is wrapped inside a static-free bag and placed between 2 pieces of foam.

 

 

Along with the Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming inside the box you’ll also find a L-shaped supporter bracket with its installation instructions and 3 mounting screws and the card’s quick installation guide.

 

 

 

THE PULSE AMD RADEON RX 9070 XT GAMING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming by Sapphire is a tri-slot card that measures 320mm in length, 120.25mm in height and 61.6mm in thickness.

 

 

This is a rather large card almost comparable to the GeForce RTX 4080/Super by NVIDIA.

 

 

Sapphire has placed 3 Dual-Ball bearing fans on the card that feature their latest AeroCurve blades.

 

 

For cooling the Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming features two large heatsinks with 5 optimized composite heatpipes passing through them.

 

 

Both the Sapphire and Radeon names are printed on top of the card (not illuminated).

 

 

Unlike with the Nitro+ model again released by Sapphire that used a hidden 12V-2x6 power connector the Pulse model requires two 8-pin (6+2) power connectors.

 

 

Roughly 70% of the cards rear is covered by a metal plate (again, no illumination here).

 

 

At the front of the card, we find the two DP v2.1a and two HDMI v2.1 video outputs.

 

 

Just like with past models the Pulse variant of the Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming by Sapphire doesn’t feature any RGB zones (as usual quick video showcasing the card is available both on YouTube and TikTok).

 

TRIXX V9.81

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The TriXX software is Sapphire's graphics card control software.

Information on the card is what you'll see on the very first tab.

 

 

Second tab is a somewhat detailed system monitor.

 

 

You can get a boost in performance for a slight decrease in image quality by using the features in the third tab.

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

    Since I changed my graphics card test rig i decided to tweak things a bit and so the entire testing methodology has changed. So, for the foreseeable future for tests, I’ll be using the EV3285 monitor by EIZO (later on I may also add tri-monitor results since I do have 2 cockpits here in the lab) for 2160p UHD (3840x2160p), 1440p (2560x1440p) and 1080p Full HD (1920x1080p) tests. Needless to say, since most of you voted for it, I’ll also be using the Intel Core I9-13900K (5.8GHz P/4.7GHz E/4.9GHz RING), EVGA Z790 DARK test rig which I’ve completed with the Kingston FURY RENEGADE 32GB DDR5 7200MHz CL38 dual-channel kit.

    Most games have also been changed so instead of manually testing every single one (and always allowing a small percentage of error) i chose all the latest ones to feature a built-in benchmark. In certain cases, built-in benchmarks may perform better than in-game, but my purpose is comparison and not what one can expect in terms of in-game performance. So, this list includes Chernobylite, Cyberpunk 2077, F1 2022, Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Horizon Zero Dawn CE, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Returnal. Also, since some of you have asked for Synthetic benchmarks in the past, I’ll also be using Speed Way and Port Royal from 3D Mark.

    As with the past options like power saving, sharpness, overlays and even zero fan mode are all disabled in the cards we’re testing (to achieve the purest and maximum performance) and all tests are repeated a total of 3 times in a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation with all updates installed until the day of our review (same as all the games used). Room temperature is as usual controlled and steady at 23 degrees Celsius for all tests and to record the temperatures of the cards we used AIDA64, and GPU-Z. Recording noise levels is done with an ExTech HD600 dBA meter from a distance of just 15cm away while power consumption is measured again using GPU-Z.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – SPEED WAY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3DMark Speed Way’s engine is assembled to demonstrate what the latest DirectX API (12 Ultimate) brings to ray traced gaming, using DirectX Raytracing tier 1.1 for real-time global illumination and real-time raytraced reflections, coupled with new performance optimizations like Mesh Shaders.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – PORT ROYAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3DMark Port Royal is the world’s first real-time ray tracing benchmark for gamers. It shows you how well your PC handles ray tracing effects in real-time.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – CHERNOBYLITE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chernobylite is a 1st person RPG set in the hyper-realistic, 3D-scanned wasteland of Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone. It's based on Unreal Engine 4 and will be used at Ultra graphics (RT Ultra/Off).

(As with past Radeon RX cards the RT setting was disabled so only non-RT tests were performed).

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – CYBERPUNK 2077

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cyberpunk 2077 is the latest game by CD Project and is based on their REDEngine 4. Graphics are set at Ultra/Psycho (RT Psycho/Off).

 

 

TEST RESULTS – F1 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F1 2022 is built on Codemasters' in-house engine, EGO, which has been upgraded to include DX12 and Raytracing. Graphics are set to Ultra High (RT is enabled in all tests).

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – FAR CRY 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far Cry 6 is based on the Dunia engine. Graphics are set to Ultra with DXR enabled.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – FORZA HORIZON 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forza Horizon 5 uses ForzaTech, a proprietary engine built by Turn 10. Graphics are set to Extreme (RT is always enabled at high).

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guardians Of The Galaxy is based on the Dawn Engine by EIDOS. Graphics are set to maximum (RT Ultra/Off).

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HORIZON ZERO DAWN CE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horizon Zero Dawn CE (Complete Edition) is based on Guerrilla Games' Decima engine. Graphics are set to Ultimate Quality.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - METRO EXODUS ENHANCED EDITION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition is based on the 4A Engine and contains huge graphical upgrades compared to the normal version, including Ray Traced Emissive Lighting. Graphics are set at Extreme quality.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Red Dead Redemption 2 Rockstar has used their RAGE engine (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). Graphics preset level slider is set to favor quality.

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – RETURNAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returnal is also based on Unreal Engine 4. Graphics are set to EPIC (RT EPIC/Off).

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - OVERCLOCKING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using 150MHz extra on the core and 282MHz on the VRAM resulted in a very good boost in performance (going higher is possible but not recommended – since the current version of GPUZ doesn’t show OC I am posting a screenshot of the Adrenaline software).

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - POWER CONSUMPTION / TEMPERATURES / NOISE LEVELS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    When AMD announced that they weren’t going to be competing with NVIDIA in the high-end segment of the consumer graphics market many people were disappointed, me included. It’s not just a matter of available choices at this point, competition also drives innovation, better performance and of course reduces prices. Still, I was very glad to see that the Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming was able to compete (and even surpass in some tests) with both the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the GeForce RTX 4080, even in raytracing (AMD did point out that they made leaps in RT performance, and I can confirm this – also do keep in mind that these are early drivers). Yes, these are all previous generation models but I’ve yet to test any of the new GeForce RX 5xxx series cards. Still but from what I see the RX 9070 XT should easily compete with the GeForce 5070/Ti variants so that’s a very good thing. FSR 4 AI is a clear step over FSR 3 (both in performance and image quality) and should be yet another incentive for people to get one of the new RDNA 4 cards. Overclocking potential is also very good and results in a good boost in performance across the board. Moving to power consumption things here are a bit more complicated than what I show in my charts. Yes, the Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Pulse went up to 346W during my tests but for the most part it sat around 260-300W (in Furmark which I always use for stress testing it didn't even surpass 270W) which again is not a bad number. That being said however almost 350W maximum power consumption is not something I was expecting, not after all this talk about energy efficiency (still, it could be worse). Finally, both temperatures and noise levels were kept relatively low during my tests so nothing really to point out here.

    The brand new Radeon RX 9070 XT cards will be making their debut tomorrow and as for the Pulse model which I reviewed today according to Sapphire it has an MSRP of USD599 (whether or not this will be the actual retail price remains to be seen). Overall, the Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming delivered very good performance and if it does make it to store shelves at around the provided MSRP it will offer an impressive price/performance ratio in which case the Platinum Award is in order.

PROS

- Build Quality (Materials / Backplate)
- Very Good Performance (RT Included)
- Overclocking Headroom
- Noise Levels & Temperatures
- Supported Technologies
- TRIXX Software

CONS

- Power Consumption (For Some)