SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Video Card Review

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Gameplay Performance

In the section below, we are comparing performance at 1440p (2650×1440) as this is the primary target resolution for the Radeon RX 9070 XT. We are using stock reference clocked NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Founders Edition and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT video cards in addition to a factory-overclocked PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE. In games, we are selecting the highest preset.

Alan Wake 2

SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC: performance results:   alan wake2

In Alan Wake 2, we see playable results from each card. It gets even better with upscaling. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT is essentially even with the RTX 5070 Ti. It holds a 5% edge over the Radeon RX 7900 XT and a 20% uplift over the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE. Upscaling draws even across the board, excepting the 13% edge against the Hellhound 7900 GRE. When overclocked, you do gain 6%.

Black Myth: Wukong

 SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC: performance results:  Wukong

Black Myth is a graphically demanding game at the settings we chose. At native resolution, none of the cards show a 100% smooth game. Once again, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Founders Edition are essentially even, with a slight edge to the RTX 5070 Ti in upscaling. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC enjoys a 15% better performance versus the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and is 42% faster than the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE. The same holds true when upscaled. Overclocking is a +3%.

Cyberpunk 2077

 SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC: performance results:  cyberpunk 2077

We see fast results in this game with all cards, and the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT takes the top spot. The margin is 3% over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Founders Edition, 12% over the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, and 30% versus the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE. Upscaling widens the gap over the RTX 5070 Ti to 10%. Overclocking adds 5% in this game.

Horizon Forbidden West

 SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC: performance results:  Forbidden West

Here, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT really shines against the competition. The results are 13,22 and 42% uplifts in the order your eye follows downward. Upscaling duplicates the results. Overclocking adds 6%.

Kingdom Come: Deliverence II

 SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC: performance results:  Deliverence II

All the cards are nicely playable here. The game is quite graphically demanding, given the in-game locations. Overall, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Founders Edition has the edge by 12% and 33%. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT is quicker than the other two AMD video cards by 15 and 33%, respectfully, with upscaling, 16 and 20%. The overclocked card added 3%.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

 SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC: performance results:  STALKER 2

This is another pretty demanding game, given the settings. All the cards are playable. Once again, we see the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Founders Edition take the top spot by 10% and upscaled by 5%. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT is faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT by 7% and 10% and runs by the PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE by 25%. Overclocking did nothing in this game to increase performance.

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REVIEW OVERVIEW

Gaming Performance
9
Overclocking
8
Build Quality and Cooling
10
Value
9

SUMMARY

Todays review is evaluating the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC video card. This brand new RDNA 4 card from SAPPHIRE is a premium quality video card. The gaming performance matches the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Founders Edition in many plain rasterized games, but falls short in ray tracing performance. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT performs much better than the previous generation, but again its Achilles heel is ray tracing. Cooling design is excellent. For non-ray traced gaming the price of this card makes it quite a value as does the overall quality of the build. This is a top-tier, all-in build from SAPPHIRE, they knocked it out of the park with this NITRO+ series in the design.
Rick Patterson
Rick is an avid gamer that enjoys the latest and greatest video cards in his rigs. For the past few years, he's shared that expertise with The FPS Review's audience as a GPU reviewer.

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