AMD’s latest graphics card, the Radeon RX 9070 GRE, has launched in Asia, sparking a wave of performance reviews. Positioned as a strong contender in the mid-range GPU market, initial tests reveal its capabilities against both AMD’s previous generation and NVIDIA’s current offerings, particularly the RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 Ti.
AMD’s New Contender: The RX 9070 GRE Arrives
AMD has officially launched the Radeon RX 9070 GRE (Great Radeon Edition) in the Asian market, with initial reviews now available. This new RDNA 4-powered GPU is based on the Navi 48 chip, similar to the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, but features a cut-down configuration with 3,072 stream processors and 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 192-bit bus. While AMD initially claimed a 6% performance lead over the RX 7900 GRE at 1440p, early benchmarks suggest a more nuanced picture.
- The RX 9070 GRE is currently exclusive to the Chinese market, with no immediate plans for a global release.
- It features a reduced memory bandwidth compared to the RX 9070, which impacts its 4K performance.
Performance Benchmarks: How It Stacks Up
Reviews from various sources provide a comprehensive look at the RX 9070 GRE’s performance across different resolutions and game titles. Here’s a summary of its key performance metrics:
- Against NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070:
- On average, the RX 9070 GRE is approximately 4-5% slower than the RTX 5070 in 1440p gaming.
- In some titles, particularly those favoring Radeon hardware, performance can be on par with the RTX 5070.
- Ray tracing performance is surprisingly competitive, often matching the RTX 5070 in games like F1 24 and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, with Cyberpunk 2077 being an exception.
- Against NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB:
- The RX 9070 GRE is significantly faster, averaging around 27-28% better performance.
- Against AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE:
- Despite AMD’s claims, the RX 9070 GRE generally performs on par with the RX 7900 GRE at 1440p.
- In 4K benchmarks, the last-gen RX 7900 GRE can even slightly outperform the RX 9070 GRE, likely due to the latter’s 12GB VRAM limitation.
- Against AMD Radeon RX 9070:
- The RX 9070 GRE is about 15% slower than the RX 9070 at 1440p.
- At 4K, the performance gap widens, with the RX 9070 GRE being around 18% slower.
Pricing and Market Positioning
The RX 9070 GRE is priced at 4,199 RMB in China, which translates to approximately $582 USD. This positions it competitively against the RTX 5070, which has an MSRP of 4,599 RMB (around $638 USD) in the same market. While the performance difference is marginal, the lower price point makes the RX 9070 GRE an attractive option for gamers seeking high-performance RDNA 4 GPUs.
However, the card’s 12GB VRAM has been noted as a potential limitation, especially for 4K gaming, where it can fall behind its predecessor, the RX 7900 GRE, which features 16GB of VRAM. This VRAM constraint also affects its ray tracing performance at higher resolutions.
Future Outlook
While the RX 9070 GRE offers solid performance for 1440p gaming and presents a compelling alternative to the RTX 5070 in the Chinese market, its global availability remains uncertain. Should AMD decide to launch it in other regions, a strategic price adjustment would be crucial to ensure its competitiveness, similar to what was observed with the RX 7900 GRE’s eventual global release.
Via ComputerBase.de
