Conclusion
In today’s review, we took a look at the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition video card which marks our introduction and launch for the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GPU. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 launched on March 5th, 2025 with availability on March 6th, 2025 alongside the Radeon RX 9070 XT and this was our first look at the Radeon RX 9070 performance specifically. We have previously evaluated the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, which launched with our review of the XFX Quicksilver AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Magnetic Air Edition video card.
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a cut-down version of the Radeon RX 9070 XT, aimed at the mainstream market, and has an MSRP of $549. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 has 56 CUs, 56 hardware RT accelerators, and 112 hardware AI accelerators, with 1165 peak TOPS, clocked at a boost clock of 2.52GHz with 16GB of GDDR6 with a total board power of 220W. Therefore, it does share the same memory configuration as the Radeon RX 9070 XT, with 16GB of VRAM capacity, and the same bandwidth, giving it a good base to work from at the $549 price point.
The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition that we reviewed today is among four different SWIFT-class video cards from XFX. Under XFX’s SWIFT lineup, you’ll find a Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 in both a black-themed color scheme and a white-themed color scheme. Interestingly, the two Radeon RX 9070 XT models do not have a factory overclock, they operate at stock clocks, but the two Radeon RX 9070’s do have a factory overclock and are known as “OC” models.
The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition model RX-97SWFB3W9 that we reviewed today has a factory overclock of the game clock set up to 2210MHz and the turbo boost clock set up to 2700MHz out-of-the-box. This is much higher than AMD’s reference specs which indicate 2070MHz for the game clock and 2520MHz for the turbo boost clock. That gives the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition a pretty big leg up in the clock frequency department from the get-go, and of course, it has a custom cooling solution and design from XFX.
Game Performance
We tested gameplay performance at 1440p as this is the target intended resolution for gaming on the Radeon RX 9070. Starting in Alan Wake 2, we found a playable experience at 1440p and max settings at a very high 90FPS without even needing upscaling. Performance was a lot faster than expected, compared to the GeForce RTX 5070 FE the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was 25% faster in this game. There was also a good leap over the Radeon RX 7900 GRE by 19% and the 7800 XT by 35%. Even in Black Myth Wukong, which typically favors NVIDIA had the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition performed 5% faster at 1440p. For this game, we do need to have FSR Upscaling enabled, however. The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was also 22% faster than the RX 7900 GRE and 38% faster than the 7800 XT.
In Cyberpunk 2077 the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition performed great without needing Upscaling, and was 11% faster than the GeForce RTX 5070, 15% faster than the RX 7900 GRE and 30% faster than the RX 7800 XT. In Dying Light 2 performance was a lot closer to the RTX 5070, but still led by a slight margin. The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was 17% faster than the RX 7900 GRE and 48% faster than the RX 7800 XT. F1 24 had a huge leap in performance over the RTX 5070 FE by 28% and was also 9% faster than the 7900 GRE and 26% faster than the 7800 XT.
There was also a big difference in Horizon Forbidden West with the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition performing 30% faster than the GeForce RTX 5070 FE, which is just huge. It was also 46% faster than the 7800 XT. Even in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which uses Ray Tracing, the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was 6% faster than the GeForce RTX 5070 FE! That’s pretty amazing. It was also 24% faster than the 7900 GRE and 36% faster than the 7800 XT.
Only in Kingdom Come Deliverance II did the GeForce RTX 5070 FE have a performance lead, but only by 6%. Otherwise, the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was very playable of course, even without Upscaling, and was 16% faster than the 7900 GRE and 41% faster than the 7800 XT. In Stalker 2 the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was playable very well and was 4% faster than the RTX 5070 FE, 19% faster than the RX 7900 GRE, and 29% faster than the 7800 XT. In Star Wars Outlaws the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was even within 2% of the GeForce RTX 5070 FE performance, and also 22% faster than the RX 7900 GRE and 35% faster than the 7800 XT.
When it comes to Ray Tracing the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition proved to be competitive. It actually performed the same in some games, while slower in some others, it was very game-dependent. In Alan Wake 2 the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was nearly the same performance as the GeForce RTX 5070 FE, which is impressive to say the least. The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition did suffer in Black Myth Wukong, that game leans heavily toward the RTX 5070 FE. But in Cyberpunk 2077 we are back to the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition is on par with the GeForce RTX 5070 FE in performance.
In Dying Light 2 the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was on par with the GeForce RTX 5070 FE in RT performance as well, and very playable. In F1 24 the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was actually faster than the GeForce RTX 5070 FE by a lot, 27%. In Star Wars Outlaws the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition was a bit slower than the GeForce RTX 5070 FE with Ultra RT, but not by much, 6%.
When it comes down to the Ray Tracing performance, you will have to use FSR Upscaling to get an enjoyable experience, but it is very real that you can have that experience with the Radeon RX 9070, and you could not in the previous generation.
Final Points
Let’s talk generally first about the AMD Radeon RX 9070 performance since this was our first look at the performance of this new RDNA 4-powered GPU from AMD. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 itself impressed us with the gameplay experience it provides at 1440p. It easily allows an enjoyable 1440p gameplay experience and at native resolution in a lot of games. There are some games where you will want to enable FSR Upscaling for the smoothest experience, or optionally lower graphics settings, but the fact remains that you can do so, and you can enjoy gaming at 1440p. For Ray Tracing, that is also doable, but FSR Upscaling will need to be used, but at least you can. The fact that it has 16GB of VRAM is a huge helper in this area of gaming at 1440p.
When we look at the AMD Radeon RX 9070 versus the new GeForce RTX 5070 we are left with a huge smile on our faces. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 competes extremely well with the GeForce RTX 5070 and beats it in performance in most cases. That’s right, the Radeon RX 9070 is faster than the GeForce RTX 5070 in gameplay performance overall. There are some instances where they provide the same or similar experience, but there are more cases than not where the Radeon RX 9070 takes the performance lead, and that is very exciting. It is even on par, mostly, in RT performance, depending on the game.
One of the biggest praises for the Radeon RX 9070 is the fact that it has 16GB of VRAM, compared to the GeForce RTX 5070’s paltry 12GB. This will give the Radeon RX 9070 a better lifespan over time in modern games, now and into the future. This should not be taken lightly, VRAM capacity matters for gaming, and games are increasingly using more and more at lower resolutions, it’s not all about resolution anymore, more features and graphics used in games have higher VRAM requirements, even at 1440p and 1080p.
When you look at the AMD Radeon RX 9070 versus the previous generation Radeon RX 7900 GRE and Radeon RX 7800 XT you see a pretty nice improvement generationally in performance. The Radeon RX 9070 is ~15-20% faster, some lower, some higher, than the Radeon RX 7900 GRE. The Radeon RX 9070 is even more, 30% or more, faster than the Radeon RX 7800 XT. Therefore, the Radeon RX 9070 is a great upgrade from the Radeon RX 7800 XT. If you upgrade from that, the RX 9070 is going to offer a really good uplift for you, especially in Ray Tracing performance! Plus, you get FSR 4 as well don’t forget. The RX 9070 can even be considered an upgrade from an RX 7900 GRE, though not to as great an extent, but still, it is there, and don’t forget FSR 4!!!
Now let’s talk about the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition itself. XFX has done a great job with the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition video card. We are impressed with the high factory overclock (OC model) that it has out-of-the-box. It’s clocked up to a boost clock of 2700MHz, and that shows in the performance. It’s a pretty substantial factory OC for the RX 9070 that makes a difference.
The XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition also runs extremely cool, XFX has done a great job with the cooling ability, and the card runs quiet. We are also impressed with the power efficiency, the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition runs at a lower power draw than the Radeon RX 7800 XT which it smashes in performance! It also beats the GeForce RTX 5070 FE, which consumes a lot more power. That’s right, the Radeon RX 9070 is EFFICIENT, put that in all caps, put a period at the end of that sentence, and done.
At the end of the day, the XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC White Triple Fan Gaming Edition offers a lot in this model, it will be closer in price to the MSRP, hopefully, and with the factory OC, cooling and power draw, it is an interesting video card for gamers and will offer a great experience.