Can Amethyst MX 9070 Outpower NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 and Steal the Show?
RX 9070 Performance vs. RTX 5070: AMD’s Mid-Range GPU Challenge
AMD’s RX 9070 models might just outgun Nvidia’s mid-range RTX 5070 Ti and 5070 graphics cards, if a YouTuber’s theory pans out. Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), a regular rumor peddler, has done some napkin math to estimate the performance of the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti GPUs, and compared it to internal benchmarks from AMD for its RX 9070 models.
The Upshot
According to MLID’s calculations, the RX 9070 XT could potentially outperform the RTX 5070 Ti by around 15%, and even come within 10% of the RTX 5080. The RX 9070 vs. RTX 5070 comparison might see a win for AMD, with a performance gap of around 10%.
Analysis: Performance Means Little Without Price
While these predictions make sense, a lot of this is still theoretical. The graphs used are only for rasterized performance, and don’t account for ray tracing or other factors. Moreover, AMD’s pricing strategy is still unknown, and could greatly impact the RX 9070’s competitiveness.
Pricing the RX 9070
My worry is that AMD will price the RX 9070 based on the Nvidia RTX 5070’s MSRPs, rather than its own competitive performance. If that’s the case, the RX 9070 might not be an RTX 5070 killer, even if it outperforms it. AMD’s pricing strategy will be crucial in determining the RX 9070’s success.
Will AMD Price the RX 9070 Aggressively?
If AMD wants to take Nvidia down in the mid-range space, it might price the RX 9070 competitively, around $499 and $649 for the XT and non-XT models, respectively. However, if maximizing profits is the priority, we might see higher asking prices.
The Verdict
The RX 9070’s performance is promising, but it’s not the only factor that matters. AMD’s pricing strategy will ultimately determine whether the RX 9070 is an RTX 5070 killer or not. We’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out.
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[Image: RTX 5080 Analysis | AMD RX 9070 XT Leak | Nvidia 5090 Supply Update – YouTube]
Analysis: Performance means little without price
Right, so is AMD set to own the GPU mid-range this year? Well, as I’ve already said a couple of times – but it bears another mention just to underline – a lot of this is up in the air theorizing, albeit workings-out that make sense to me. MLID lays some heavy caveats on all this himself, although the YouTuber does assert that he’s confident enough in these predictions on the whole.
We should bear in mind that the graphs used (from Hardware Unboxed) are just straight rasterized performance. Although MLID also notes he’s confident AMD has almost caught up to Nvidia with ray tracing in this generation, but another major piece of the puzzle is DLSS 4 and Team Green’s new frame generation. The latter MFG feature, and other improvements in DLSS 4, are actually huge – and that shouldn’t be underestimated. We don’t yet know how FSR 4, AMD’s rival next-gen tech, will shake out, and so that remains a fairly weighty question mark here.
Another critical point here is that it’s all very well analyzing (potential) relative performance levels in a theoretical exercise like this, but even if this proves correct as to the comparative frame rates we’ll get from the RX 9070 versus RTX 5070 models, there’s AMD’s pricing to consider. We know the rough value proposition of the RTX 5070 flavors as we have the MSRPs, but we don’t with the RDNA 4 graphics cards.
My worry, then, is that AMD will be calculating where to pitch RX 9070 asking prices based on the Nvidia RTX 5070 reviews when they arrive in February (well, if Team Green sticks to its promised launch timeframe for these mid-range graphics cards). It’s certainly been rumored that AMD is still very much weighing up pricing, and the question then becomes: how much does Team Red want to take Nvidia down in the mid-range space?
If that’s a strong motive here, AMD might come in with really competitive MSRPs for the RX 9070 models. But, if maximizing profits and return is higher up the priority list for RDNA 4, then we could get weightier than rumored asking prices.
Who knows, is really the point, and the RX 9070 will only be an RTX 5070 killer – assuming MLID’s napkin scribbling and GPU hypothesizing is in the right ballpark – if AMD prices it to be an RTX 5070 killer. Hopefully that’s the intent, and MLID suggests $499 and $649 (US) as possible price tags for a suitably aggressive move with the RX 9070 and its XT sibling respectively.
Previously, there were hopes of a sub-$500 price for the RX 9070, but if performance does shape up anything like as suggested here, there’s no reason AMD would need to dip lower than the mentioned $499. And again, this comes back to my worry that AMD might feel free to just push pricing harder than originally intended, perhaps, if the RX 9070 models are outmuscling the RTX 5070 in this vein.
