ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC – Review

The ASUS Prime RX 9070 XT is a powerhouse GPU that pushes AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture to new heights. Designed for gamers who demand top-tier 1440p and even 4K performance, this card takes on Nvidia’s latest offerings while maintaining an aggressive price-to-performance ratio. Featuring ASUS Axial-Tech fans cooling system and factory overclocking, it aims to deliver both stunning visuals and rock-solid stability. But does it truly live up to the hype? Let’s dive into its design, performance, and features to find out.

It’s include reinforced metal backplate, which enhances the card’s durability while also contributing to thermal efficiency. The sleek aluminum design not only adds rigidity to prevent PCB sag but also helps dissipate heat more effectively. Additionally, the vented cutouts on the backplate improve airflow, allowing hot air to escape rather than getting trapped within the card. Beyond functionality, ASUS has integrated subtle Prime branding, giving the backplate a premium and stylish look. This makes the card a visually striking addition to any high-end gaming rig.

 

AMD RDNA 4 Architecture

The new Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs are powered by the 4 nm Navi 48 silicon, which differs from its predecessors, Navi 31 and Navi 32, by adopting a traditional monolithic die. Built entirely on TSMC’s N4P (4 nm EUV) process, the Navi 48 measures 356.5 mm² and boasts an impressive 53.9 billion transistors. For comparison, the previous flagship Navi 31, which powers the RX 7900 XTX, has 57.8 billion transistors—just 8% more—despite featuring 96 compute units (CU), a larger Infinity Cache, and a wider 384-bit memory bus. Navi 31’s total die area is 529 mm² (comprising a 304 mm² 5 nm graphics compute die and 6 nm memory cache dies), highlighting AMD’s advancements in die-area efficiency.

At the architectural level, the Navi 48 supports a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 interface and features a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory bus. The RX 9070 XT utilizes 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory, delivering 640 GB/s of bandwidth, complemented by a faster 64 MB Infinity Cache and AMD’s new Out-of-Order Memory Queuing technology, which enhances memory management.

Physically, the Navi 48 silicon consists of 64 CU spread across four shader engines. Each CU houses 64 stream processors, resulting in a total of 4,096 stream processors. The RX 9070 XT has all 64 CU enabled, whereas the RX 9070 has 56 active CU out of 64. The fully unlocked Navi 48 features 4,096 stream processors, 128 AI accelerators, 64 ray tracing accelerators, 256 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 128 render output units (ROPs). It also includes 64 MB of third-generation Infinity Cache and a 256-bit GDDR6 memory interface, driving 16 GB of 20 Gbps memory on both the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070. With 56 CU enabled, the RX 9070 has 3,584 stream processors, 112 AI accelerators, 56 RT accelerators, 224 TMUs, and retains the full 128 ROP count, along with the same memory configuration as the RX 9070 XT.

 

At the core of the RDNA 4 graphics architecture is the newly designed dual compute unit (CU), featuring significant advancements in memory management, scalar unit efficiency, and engine clock optimizations. Key innovations include a vastly improved memory sub-system, dynamic register allocation, and enhancements to CU efficiency.

Each CU consists of two scheduler blocks controlling a 192 KB general-purpose register (GPR), an 8 KB scalar GPR, 32 fused multiply-add (FMA) ALUs, and 32 FMA+INT ALUs, along with 8 transcendental logic units. RDNA 4 introduces dual SIMD32 vector units, enabling greater parallelism. The scalar unit now supports newer Float32 operations, while schedulers benefit from accelerated spill/fill operations and improved instruction prefetching.

The new generation AI Accelerator integrates two 16-bit and four 8-bit/4-bit dense matrix compute rates, supports 4:2 structured sparsity to double throughput, and enables matrix loads with transpose. AMD has incorporated multiple technologies from its CDNA 3 Radeon Instinct AI ML accelerators, including enhanced and power-optimized WMMA, increased operations per CU, and support for FP8, E4M3, and E5M2 formats, alongside 4:2 structured sparsity improvements.

The next-generation AI Accelerator in RDNA 4 features two 16-bit and four 8-bit/4-bit dense matrix compute rates, along with support for 4:2 structured sparsity, effectively doubling throughput. It also introduces matrix loads with transpose for enhanced efficiency. AMD has integrated several advanced technologies from its CDNA 3 Radeon Instinct AI ML accelerators into RDNA 4’s AI engines, including optimized and power-efficient WMMA, increased operations per CU, and expanded support for FP8, E4M3, and E5M2 formats, alongside 4:2 structured sparsity enhancements.

The Navi 48 features a dual media engine, with each engine capable of performing concurrent encoding and decoding. This implementation is similar to NVIDIA GPUs, which have dual NVENC and NVDEC units. The new-generation media engine delivers a 25% improvement in H.264 low-latency encode quality and an 11% boost in HEVC encode quality. Additionally, AV1 encode and decode now support B-frames, significantly enhancing bitrate efficiency. Overall, the media engine offers a 50% generational performance uplift in encoder/decoder frame rates, while also reducing memory overhead.

Specification

AMD Radeon RX 9070 / RX 9070 XT Specs
Feature	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX 9070 XT Gaming OC
Architecture	RDNA™ 4	RDNA™ 4
Manufacturing Process	TSMC N4P	TSMC N4P
Transistor Count	53.9 billion	53.9 billion
Die Size	357 mm²	357 mm²
Compute Units	64	64
Ray Accelerators	64	64
AI Accelerators	128	128
Stream Processors	4096	4096
Game GPU Clock	2480 MHz	2520 MHz
Boost GPU Clock	Up to 3030 MHz	Up to 3060 MHz
ROP	128	128
AMD Infinity Cache™	64 MB (3rd Gen.)	64 MB (3rd Gen.)
Memory	16GB GDDR6	16GB GDDR6
Memory Speed	20 Gbps	20 Gbps
Memory Bus Interface	256-bit	256-bit
PCIe® Interface	PCIe 5.0 x16	PCIe 5.0 x16
Recommended PSU	750 W	850 W

The card is equipped with three 8-pin power connectors, enabling a total power consumption of 450 W, in addition to the 75 W provided by the PCIe slot.

The card offers display connectivity with two DisplayPort 2.1b ports and two HDMI 2.1b ports.

The Axial-Tech cooling fans ensures exceptional thermal performance by incorporating several advanced technologies. It includes server-grade thermal conductive gel, innovative Hawk fans with alternate spinning for improved airflow, composite copper heat pipes for efficient heat transfer, a large copper plate for heat dissipation, 3D active fans for dynamic cooling, and screen cooling to enhance overall heat management.

Axial-Tech FAN

Three tried-and-true Axial-tech fans feature a smaller hub that facilitates longer blades and a barrier ring to increase downward air pressure for lower temperatures, less noise and higher performance.

ASUS Prime RX 9070 XT OC utilize phase-change thermal pad instead of traditional thermal pads on the VRAM and MOSFETs. This improvement ensures better contact, contributing to the cooler operation of the GPU. Additionally, the design features a large copper plate that directly contacts the GPU, coupled with composite copper heat pipes for efficient heat transfer to the heatsink, further enhancing the cooling performance.

Power Phase Design & Component

The power supply unit is a 13+3  phase configuration with teaming configuration and integrated MOSFETs. On this board, ASUS used Monolithic Power Systems integrated MOSFETs, which have a maximum continuous current of 50 A, which means that the GPU can receive a maximum of 650 amps of current. The VRM controller is a Monolithic Power Systems MP2868A design, and it is located on the right side of the board.

The GPU power supply circuit is designed according to the 13+3 scheme (a total of 16 phases: 13 on GPU (Graphics core) and 3 on Vram (Video Memory)

• Thirteen GPU Core phase channel has a superferrite choke and MPS MP87993  (50 A) from Monolithic
• Three VRam [Video Memory] phase channel has a superferrite choke and MPS MP87993 (50 A) from Monolithic

Each GPU and VRAM power phase is driven by two Monolithic Power Systems MP2868A PWM controllers.

The AMD Navi 48 GPU at the core of the Radeon RX 9070Xt is a monolithic die, manufactured using TSMC’s 4-nanometer N4P process in Taiwan. The die has an area of 357 mm² and houses a total of 53.9 billion transistors.

The ASUS Axial-Tech cooling system utilizes 3 FirstD 110mm Dual ball Bearing fans to efficiently cool the heatsink, ensuring optimal thermal performance and quieter operation.

Dual Bios

Performance mode lets the fans spin up to keep the card running cool all the time, and Quiet mode keeps the same power target and top-end settings while offering a less aggressive fan curve for quieter operation at moderate temperatures

How We Test ASUS Radeon Prime RX 9070XT OC 16G?

As such, our workstation, based on an ASUS TUF Gaming Z890-Plus WIFI motherboard and Intel Ultra 9 285K  24 cores 24 threads processor.  The ram we will be using KLEVV DDR5 7200Mhz memory kit and Lexar 790 PCIe 4.0 2TB SSD is used as well to run with benchmark. On the Comparison, we will be using same setup with ROG RTX4080OC and Gigabyte RX9070XT to run side by side to see perform better.

 

 

3Dmark Advanced Edition

3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your PC and mobile devices in one app. Whether you’re gaming on a smartphone, tablet, notebook, or a desktop gaming PC, 3DMark includes a benchmark designed specifically for your hardware.

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Fire Strike Ultra	17736	18278	17939
Time Spy Extreme	14485	14791	14146
Solar Bay	118571	122009	139980
Port Royal	18013	18791	18380
Steel Nomad	7016	7223	6743
Speed Way	6313	6364	7480

 

“Black Myth: Wukong”. It evaluates your hardware performance and system compatibility through the real-time rendering of an in-game sequence

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Average FPS	44	42	81
Maximum FPS	59	54	95
Minimum FPS	33	32	66
Low 5th FPS	36	36	70

FarCry 6

Far Cry 6 supports ray tracing at launch, with the ability to enable DXR reflections and DXR shadows. But because DXR shadows are kind of pointless and not worth the performance hit, we haven’t tested with them enabled, but I have taken a look at DXR reflections, so we’ll look at that shortly using supported hardware.

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Average FPS	137	143	125
Maximum FPS	167	219	150
Minimum FPS	113	117	103
Frames Rendered	8247	8606	7603

Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a military shooter set in a diverse, hostile, and mysterious open world that you can play entirely solo or in four-player co-op.

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Score	S	S	S
FPS	118	168	150
Frames Score	20313	28907	25953

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be?

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Average FPS	86.78	82.22	51.69
Minimum FPS	76.14	73.74	46.55
Maximum FPS	99.89	91.79	58.4
Frames Rendered	5574	5280	3318

SuperPosition 2017

Extreme performance and stability test for PC hardware: video card, power supply, cooling system. Check your rig in stock and overclocking modes with real-life load! Also includes interactive experience in a beautiful, detailed environment.

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Score	19949	18608	22634

BaseMark GPU

Basemark GPU is a professional assessment tool, enabling the evaluation and comparison of graphics performance on both mobile and desktop platforms, while supporting all major graphics APIs and operating systems. Consumers can evaluate their device performance for free with Basemark GPU and review and compare results online in the integrated PowerBoard

Benchmark	ASUS Prime RX9070XT OC	Gigabyte RX9070XT Gaming ELITE	ASUS ROG RTX4080OC
Average FPS	76	83	114
Minimum FPS	55	72	95
Maximum FPS	100	104	139
Score	7577	8281	11381

 

 

Should you buy ASUS Prime RX 9070XT OC 16G?

Purchase Click Here

The ASUS Prime RX 9070 XT OC Edition 16G delivers an exceptional blend of performance, thermals, and reliability — all wrapped in a refined, understated design. Thanks to AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture, it’s a formidable contender for 1440p, and even 4K gaming, edging close to the flagship RX 7900 XTX while matching or surpassing Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti in value and VRAM efficiency

What sets this card apart is ASUS’s engineering prowess. The 2.5-slot form factor combined with Axial-tech fans, phase-change thermal pads, MaxContact plate, and a vented backplate ensure cool, quiet, and consistent high performance. Dual BIOS profiles offer users the flexibility to switch between performance and quiet modes to adapt to any scenario. If you’re seeking a premium non-RGB card with quiet, efficient operation and top-tier results without breaking the bank, this one’s a winner.