Friday, February 28th 2025
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AMD RDNA 4 and Radeon RX 9070 Series Unveiled: $549 & $599
AMD today unveiled the highly-anticipated AMD RDNA 4 graphics architecture with the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards as a part of the Radeon RX 9000 Series. The new graphics cards feature 16 GB of memory and extensive improvements designed for high-quality gaming graphics, including re-vamped raytracing accelerators and powerful AI accelerators for ultra-fast, cutting-edge performance, and breakthrough gaming experiences.
In a YouTube livestream, David McAfee, CVP and GM, Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics AMD, was joined by Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP of GPU Technologies and Engineering and Chief Software Officer, AMD, as well as Andy Pomianowski, CVP of Silicon Design Engineering, AMD, to discuss the outstanding performance and value proposition of the Radeon RX 9000 Series. In a related event in Zhuhai, China, Jack Huynh, SVP of the Client and Graphics Group, AMD, led a regional event for the new products. Huynh was joined by David Wang, SVP of GPU Technology and Engineering, AMD, and Lanzhi Wang, Senior Director of Product Management, AMD. The celebration was also marked by a customer celebration with Darren Grasby, EVP and Chief Sales Officer, AMD; Spencer Pan, President of AMD China, and partners including Asrock, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, Tul, Vastarmor, Veston, and XFX."Today, we're thrilled to unveil the AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series, a significant leap forward in graphics performance powered by our next-generation AMD RDNA 4 architecture," said McAfee. "These GPUs are designed to meet the demands of today's games, delivering enthusiast-class gaming experiences to gamers everywhere, while ready to support tomorrow's innovations. Through the power of advanced AI and Raytracing accelerators, we're not just improving frame rates - we're fundamentally enhancing the gaming experience. Offering incredible performance, AI-powered features, and next-gen display support at competitive price points, the Radeon RX 9000 Series delivers exceptional value for gamers looking to upgrade their systems."
The RX 9000 Series, powered by the new AMD RDNA 4 architecture, offers gamers and creators a powerful blend of performance, visuals, and value. These advanced graphics cards redefine incredibly fast, high-resolution gaming with third-generation ray tracing technology enabling realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections to deliver immersive gaming experiences while integrating a suite of AMD features to maximize hardware utilization. Beyond gaming, the RX 9000 Series GPUs leverage new second-generation AI accelerators with up to 8x INT8 throughput per AI accelerator (for sparse matrices) to enhance creative applications and effectively run generative AI applications (vs. RDNA 3). The RX 9000 Series GPUs also implement the newly redesigned AMD Radiance Display Engine & Enhanced Media Engine for broad display support and elevated quality in both recording and streaming.
Gaming For Today and Tomorrow
The Radeon RX 9000 Series unlocks new levels of performance while delivering a suite of new and enhanced features that improve the gaming experience. The Radeon RX 9070 Series offers 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, allowing gamers to render the most exciting games of today and tomorrow at max settings. Compared to the previous generation RX 7900 GRE, the latest AMD Radeon RX 9070 is able to deliver over 20% more performance on average when gaming at 1440, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT extending that lead to over 40% on average.Both graphics cards make smart upgrades for gamers looking to future-proof their systems with a suite of next-gen features that will keep their experiences feeling fresh for years to come. Key features include:
AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics cards are expected to be available from leading board partners including Acer, ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, PowerColor, Sapphire, Vastarmor, XFX and Yeston beginning March 6th, 2025. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has an SEP of $599 USD, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 has an SEP of $549 USD.
Source:
AMD
In a YouTube livestream, David McAfee, CVP and GM, Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics AMD, was joined by Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP of GPU Technologies and Engineering and Chief Software Officer, AMD, as well as Andy Pomianowski, CVP of Silicon Design Engineering, AMD, to discuss the outstanding performance and value proposition of the Radeon RX 9000 Series. In a related event in Zhuhai, China, Jack Huynh, SVP of the Client and Graphics Group, AMD, led a regional event for the new products. Huynh was joined by David Wang, SVP of GPU Technology and Engineering, AMD, and Lanzhi Wang, Senior Director of Product Management, AMD. The celebration was also marked by a customer celebration with Darren Grasby, EVP and Chief Sales Officer, AMD; Spencer Pan, President of AMD China, and partners including Asrock, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, Tul, Vastarmor, Veston, and XFX."Today, we're thrilled to unveil the AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series, a significant leap forward in graphics performance powered by our next-generation AMD RDNA 4 architecture," said McAfee. "These GPUs are designed to meet the demands of today's games, delivering enthusiast-class gaming experiences to gamers everywhere, while ready to support tomorrow's innovations. Through the power of advanced AI and Raytracing accelerators, we're not just improving frame rates - we're fundamentally enhancing the gaming experience. Offering incredible performance, AI-powered features, and next-gen display support at competitive price points, the Radeon RX 9000 Series delivers exceptional value for gamers looking to upgrade their systems."
The RX 9000 Series, powered by the new AMD RDNA 4 architecture, offers gamers and creators a powerful blend of performance, visuals, and value. These advanced graphics cards redefine incredibly fast, high-resolution gaming with third-generation ray tracing technology enabling realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections to deliver immersive gaming experiences while integrating a suite of AMD features to maximize hardware utilization. Beyond gaming, the RX 9000 Series GPUs leverage new second-generation AI accelerators with up to 8x INT8 throughput per AI accelerator (for sparse matrices) to enhance creative applications and effectively run generative AI applications (vs. RDNA 3). The RX 9000 Series GPUs also implement the newly redesigned AMD Radiance Display Engine & Enhanced Media Engine for broad display support and elevated quality in both recording and streaming.
Gaming For Today and Tomorrow
The Radeon RX 9000 Series unlocks new levels of performance while delivering a suite of new and enhanced features that improve the gaming experience. The Radeon RX 9070 Series offers 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, allowing gamers to render the most exciting games of today and tomorrow at max settings. Compared to the previous generation RX 7900 GRE, the latest AMD Radeon RX 9070 is able to deliver over 20% more performance on average when gaming at 1440, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT extending that lead to over 40% on average.Both graphics cards make smart upgrades for gamers looking to future-proof their systems with a suite of next-gen features that will keep their experiences feeling fresh for years to come. Key features include:
- Unified AMD RDNA 4 Compute Units - Features up to 64 advanced AMD RDNA 4 compute units delivering up to 40% higher gaming performance than the previous-generation AMD RDNA 3 architecture.
- High-Performance Raytracing - With 3rd generation Raytracing Accelerators, AMD RDNA 4 is able to deliver over 2x the Raytracing throughput per compute unit when compared to our previous generation. Gamers with the latest AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series are ready for immersive gaming experiences with high-quality graphics, including realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections.
- Supercharged AI Acceleration - 2nd Generation AI Accelerators received several enhancements, allowing AMD RDNA 4 to efficiently process advanced AI models much faster than what was possible with RDNA 3,4 through a combination of additional math pipelines for AI calculations, expanding the capabilities of the AI
- Accelerator to support new emerging data types such as FP8, and support for inference optimization techniques such as structured sparsity. These changes deliver up to 8x INT8 throughput per AI accelerator (for sparse matrices) per compute unit vs the previous generation.
- AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution Technology 4 (FSR 4) - AMD's new cutting-edge ML-powered upscaling technology delivers high-quality boosted frames under even the most demanding workloads, such as 4K gaming with maximum ray tracing settings and will be supported in over 30 games at launch.
- Innovative suite of features through HYPR-RX - Gamers can instantly improve their experience by activating AMD HYPR-RX and the suite of features within AMD Software, including AMD Radeon Super Resolution, AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2.1, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag, and AMD Radeon Boost. These features can all be tailored to gamers' hardware and preferences within AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition to drive increased FPS, responsiveness and efficiency.
- AI-Enhanced AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition Application - A new suite of software and resources designed to deliver an industry-leading AI user experience with AMD Radeon RX 9070 Series graphics cards. Keep your drivers and AI software up to date with the new Software Manager. Find the answers to your questions about all things AMD or create free and private text and images with AMD Chat. Discover, download and install new and exciting AMD-partnered AI applications with the App Portal, and leverage AI to improve software quality with the AMD Image Inspector.
- Ready for Next-Generation Displays - AMD Radiance Display Engine supports the latest DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b connections, enabling ultra-high resolutions and refresh rates up to 8K 144 Hz, with 12-bit HDR and full REC2020 Color Space for incredible color accuracy. Paired with AMD FreeSync technology, gamers can enjoy tear-free, stutter-free gaming experiences on over 4000 compatible displays, including upcoming 4K 240 Hz and 8K 144 Hz DisplayPort 2.1 monitors.
- Available exclusively on AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics cards, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition adds a new easy-to-use AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (AMD FSR 4) Upgrade feature that helps maximize performance at maximum quality in over 30 games at launch, with 75 coming later this year. AMD FSR 4 delivers a substantial image quality improvement over AMD FSR 3.1 upscaling, with the new ML-based algorithm helping to improve temporal stability, better preserve detail, and reduce ghosting.
- Utilizing features already built into the AMD FidelityFX API added when game developers integrate AMD FSR 3.1 into their games, AMD FSR 4 enables an easy upgrade for supported FSR 3.1 games and can be combined with existing in-game AMD FSR 3.1 advanced frame-generation and AMD Radeon Anti-Lag 2 for ultra-smooth, ultra-responsive gaming at incredible frame rates on AMD Radeon RX 9070 Series graphics cards.
- The new ML-accelerated AMD FSR 4 upscaling algorithm is trained using high-quality ground truth game data on AMD Instinct Accelerators and uses the hardware-accelerated FP8 Wave Matrix Multiply Accumulate (WMMA) feature of the AMD RDNA 4 architecture to ensure maximum upscaling quality while still providing a substantial game performance boost.
- AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
- 64 Compute Units
- 16 GB GDDR6
- 2.4 Game Clock (GHz)
- Up to 3.0 Boost Clock (GHz)
- 256-bit Memory Interface
- 64 MB Infinity Cache
- 304 W TBP
- $599 Price (USD SEP)
- AMD Radeon RX 9070
- 56 Compute Units
- 16 GB GDDR6
- 2.1 Game Clock (GHz)
- Up to 2.5 Boost Clock (GHz)
- 256-bit Memory Interface
- 64 MB Infinity Cache
- 220 W TBP
- $549 Price (USD SEP)
AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics cards are expected to be available from leading board partners including Acer, ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, PowerColor, Sapphire, Vastarmor, XFX and Yeston beginning March 6th, 2025. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has an SEP of $599 USD, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 has an SEP of $549 USD.
188 Comments on AMD RDNA 4 and Radeon RX 9070 Series Unveiled: $549 & $599
I totally agree.
I *hope* people realize the limitations of <45TF and 12GB of ram, but it really does take certain ways of showing performance for people to understand. You can skew a lot of things depending on data shown.
Games used; DLSS used or not; minimum frame rates. W1zard sometimes has a problem in his reviews by choosing not to show these limitations, and why I've championed a testing overhaul.
For instance, RT mins, or games that require >12GB VRAM (especially at 1440p/4k). This is why you shouldn't take his reviews as gospel, even though they have a lot of good information, especially outside FR.
If you want more proof of how important these two metrics are, look at how 9070 will overclock. If it exceeds 45TF or so, consider my mind blown (as a low-tier product, not for this price).
45TF/7168 = 3139mhz. Watch for reviews...The point of this is because product segmentation. Many games need 45TF for many common scenarios.
That is why they (and nvidia) limit cards below this....and other scenarios...but those aren't important (right now). The next tier is >60TF and >16GB. This is why 5080 needs >16GB, but doesn't have it.
With 9070xt things are trickier, because you have to think in terms of actual usable raster performance.
As I've said before, regardless of if 64 ROPs or simply bandwidth, 9070xt is pretty much limited to ~45TF with 20gbps memory. Yes, you can overclock it, and you SHOULD. This card will then pass that threshold.
So does an OC 7900GRE...but we don't talk about that, IG, even though that is literally it's reason to exist. That little tiny bit over 7800xt that actually does make a difference.
Which is why 9070xt is a good card, especially with decent RT/up-scaling (unlike GRE) and many nVIDIA cards are not. Because nVIDIA (and sometimes AMD) put these purposeful limitations in place per product.
I can show it 37 different ways, but it's true, and are the 'tiers' of performance. This is why a 9070xt, even if slower, is as good as anything *up to* something that can exceed 60TF and/or 16GB.
7800xt/any 12GB 4070 sku/5070/probably 9070 are all limited to <45TF, pretty much, one way or another. This is why AMD didn't want people to overclock GRE, and 7800xt limited below this as well.
7900xt exceeds 16GB RAM, but purposely really not >60TF raster perf. 5080 can exceed 60TF it in compute, but 16GB. This limitation isn't understood by many for some reason, but will begin to make sense.
At some point I hope people get it, as it really bares out across a ton of game scenarios; just understand 9070xt fills a perfect market niche as cheaply as possible, right now. That niche is 1080pRT/1440p FSR.
Well, cheap for AMD. Hopefully for us eventually. :p
You can see why either are so hesitant to do this, because it is the bare minimum for a lot of things long-time. 4090 is also similar, but a different tier. Astonishingly (but not at all), it is literally double these thresholds.
90TF/24GB, where neither is a limitation and 90TF making the most out of 24GB of RAM.
Will they add features and/or update their software so this is no longer the case at some point? Hmm...Gonna say yes. BC that is what they do. It is performance regression, some people just don't understand it.
Now you have to overclock a 4090 to really get to the perf threshold I'm talking (bc DLSS4, was 60fps at stock in games like Wukong w/ DLSS3), but it will (just barely, on purpose) and that's the scale.
What about the next DLSS? For 24GB cards just a *little* faster than 4090, but 256-bit/cheaper for nVIDIA to make. What do you think will happen to 4090? What almost or has already, depending on if you oc.
Essentially, think 1440p->4k 'quality' upscaling 60fps mins in a game like Wukong. 45TF/16GB will probably get you 1080p60 mins in a game like Wukong, or at least 960p->1440p 'quality' with FSR4.
The next important tier is upscaling 1080p->4k, and that is the point of >60TF, best matched with >16GB. Like I say, next-gen 18GB.
The reason those 2GB are important are for things like the added RAM hit for things like mins, using the up-scaler, RT, and framegen vs running pure raster (which is all most cards currently account for).
This is why some will argue the next-gen 18GB cards that replace 5080 are 'amazing progress per card per generation'. The truth is they just fucked you out of the ram you needed to make it last on 5080 16GB. :p
Some will see it as 'less of a performance hit', 'better mins', or 'greater performance using those features'. It will
notbe those things; simply exposing the limitation they put in place by not giving 5080 >16GB.Other cards will not hit their former thresholds due to other 'feature improvements', that somehow is always just barely enough to relegate old cards to a lower tier. So, so, weird how that always happens.
This is why I say AMD should not focus on pure IQ this gen; they should focus on hitting the frames for each feature set/resolution; improve those things when they can make better options (on 3nm).
I know a lot of people don't understand this stuff...I truly do. But that's why you read this forum, right? How I explain everything isn't perfect, I know that, but hopefully as things progress you're prepared.
I could post a bazillion links to show this over the lifetime of nVIDIA cards, but it really is a pain in the ass, most don't care/get it, and at some point I hope people just be like "That makes sense".
IOW...Trust me, bro. It's easiest to show on the 12GB nVIDIA cards, but there are many more (sometimes more granular and difficult things to explain than pure VRAM limitations) instances in other cards as well.
If its beating the GRE at those margins, that essentially 7900 XTX/4080/4080S level perf? or better, no?
If $600 is the magic number - count me in! Scalp me at $700? Still in! But lets be real, these cards are probably going to hover between $800+. AMD clearly took notes from Nvidia's "How to rob em silly". Maybe, a lucky few will snatch one at $600 in an early drop, but not me, I don’t beta test hardware unless it comes with a free stress therapist.
Not because "feature wise".
3050 outsold 6600 that was:
1) a FULL TIER faster (there goes bazinga upscaling argument)
2) faster even at RT gimmick
3) ran cooler
4) wac CHEAPER
Not simply outsold, outsold 4 to 1.
Because lots of buyers are rater clueless.
Stop seeking rationale where there is none. Ollama developers support ROCm, I thought.
So your point should sound like "once ROCm suppports it".
Which it should. "Up to" 40%-ish. From 20%-ish.
So yeah, it's a matter of Ollama supporting the new generation, not only ROCm.
"We really need the most competitive offering for the XT"
"Well something's gotta give, 599 is going to eat into margins bigtime"
"Perhaps we'll recoup some of the lost margin on the XT, by pricing the non XT slightly closer to it? Market should eat up any cards we throw at it in this performance/price segment... right? Stores can set the gap straight"
So far Miscrosoft has only done an half assed Ml upscaler that doesn't compare and is still limited to snapdragon.
And then, many of them will also realize that 9070XT is even better for $50-70 more. So, 9070 has a role to play here.
Also, let's not forget, that these MSRP set by AMD are as fake as nVidia's ones. Hence, AMD this time does not make any MBA cards. Meaning the MSRP is an utter BS, as AIBs are about to charge whatever prices they want. And knowing how much AMD's partners keep the MSRP, and QA, this basically would end up in Sapphire, TUL, and XFX would end up $50-$150 on top of MSRP, sans the VAT/tarrifs, even for most basic "close-to-reference-design" cards. The "GPU vendor agnostic/neutral" AIBs like Asus, Gigabyte will end up with even more price hike, for even more inferior solutions.
Also, I don't get the everyone's hysteria and euphoria, while neither real performance reviews have been seen, nor the real, final AIB prices are set. It's clear, that any company's slides, be it (AMD, Intel or nVidia), are as good and trustful, as the "WC paper". It will! Do not even doubt, for even a second. How it will shake? Even if AMD will somehow "keep" the AIB prices within the MSRP, while having enough supply, they simply do not have enough supply, to "eclipse" nVidia's quickly dwindling previous gen cards stock. Once (if!?) nVidia would fix their issues with RTX5000 series, AMD once again will end up in the dire situation. Simply, because AMD have lost the perfect "window", a gap to fill, by releasing the cards earlier, before nVidia, and while they have basically a "paper" launch, and basically no stock. While AMD on the other hand, had the stock gathering dust, by some rumours, as early as the late december. But they didn't, due to waiting the nVidia's final pricing, on both 5070Ti, and 5070. Exactly! Lame and lazy upsell. Who knows, maybe the 9070XT has more "sufficient"/less deffective dies, so the supply of it is even better than the non-XT. Or... this is simply, just another cash grab. Indeed. People have too much hope and cope. At least for the last five to six years, people could build up the experience, regarding the GPU company's pricing tactics/strategy. How much more people need to suffer to understand this obvious thing? AMD just did "nVidia move" a "unleashed" themselves, to shift the "guilt" over gouging/overpricing to the AIBs instead. Who gonna know, how much of the end price it would go directly to AMD. The companies will just find another BS, like "these cards are expensive to make..." "the foudry time is expensive..." etc. Yep! $500 for 9070 is a nicer price, if the performance claims, are real.
However, 9070 is much superior to 7900XT, not only due to
fake framesFSR4, but due to potentially superior encoding/decoding capabilities, And presumably better power efficiency, regardless of TBD, and power connector amount. Also, the NPU CU amount is bigger, which means it's much more desirable for AI crowd. Which BTW (much like with crypto) is the crucial factor in (predatory) price formation.ROCm itself has a second grade support to consumer GPUs, their main focus is indeed on CDNA (and even that is far from good).
The move to UDNA should improve that by quite a bit.
I don't expect to see a price drop for the 9070, relative to the 9070XT. AMD might drop the price of both in the future depending on supply and demand, but the 9070 is deliberately priced to be less appealing than the 9070XT, it isn't because AMD are clueless. It is the exact same think Apple does with all its iPads, create a pricing ladder that encourages you to reach for the next model because the lower tier offers disproportionately less compared to the price differential.