Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB: Which Is Better?

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is AMD’s best GPU in this generation, but can it beat the previous flagship graphics card, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX?

Picture of Radeon RX 9070 XT vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX — Radeon RX 9070 XT vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX (Image via ASUS | PowerColor)

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT received a lot of praise and positive reviews due to its solid gaming performance and MSRP. In fact, some users are calling it the best GPU AMD has released in the last five years. However, the Radeon RX 9070 XT has lower shader cores and memory than AMD’s previous flagship card, the Radeon RX 7900 XT. Can the former beat the latter?

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is powered by the new RDNA 4 architecture, which gives it a certain advantage over its predecessor. Therefore, it has the means to beat its predecessor, but whether it can remains to be seen. That’s why we are going to do a detailed comparison of the two GPUs in real-world games to find which is the better graphics card for gaming. Read on to learn more.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.

Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB: Detailed Comparison

Picture of PowerColor Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX — PowerColor Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (Image via PowerColor)

The Radeon RX 9070 XT launched on March 6, 2025, with mid-range specs and 16GB of memory. On the other hand, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX was released on December 13, 2022, and it has flagship-level specs and 24GB of VRAM. Let’s look at the specs of the two GPUs to have a better idea of what they are capable of:

Specs Comparison

Here are the specs of Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB and Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB:

Specifications	Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB	Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB
Architecture	RDNA 4	RDNA 3
Shader cores	4096	6144
RT cores	64	96
TMUs	256	384
ROPs	128	192
Base core clock speeds	1660 MHz	1929 MHz
Boost core clock speeds	2970 MHz	2498 MHz
Memory capacity	16GB GDDR6	24GB GDDR6
Memory bus width	256-bit	384-bit
Memory bandwidth	644.6 GB/s	960.0 GB/s
Manufacturing node	4nm	5nm, 6nm
Thermal design power (TDPs)	304W	355W

Performance Comparison

From the specs table above, it would appear as if the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the better GPU. It has more shader cores, RT cores, higher memory capacity, memory bandwidth, and other things compared to the Radeon RX 9070 XT. However, as we know, specs are not everything, and real-world performance can vary substantially.

With that said, here’s how the two GPUs compare in popular games:

Games	Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB	Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT)	89 FPS	63 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (Path Tracing)	54 FPS	40 FPS
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle (RT)	104 FPS	103 FPS
Silent Hill 2	94 FPS	83 FPS
Silent Hill 2 (RT)	55 FPS	45 FPS
Hellblade 2	78 FPS	70 FPS
Horizon Forbidden West	121 FPS	105 FPS
God of War Ragnarok	106 FPS	91 FPS
CoD: Black Ops 6	252 FPS	227 FPS
Final Fantasy 16	84 FPS	78 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima	126 FPS	116 FPS

Note: The two GPUs here were tested at 1440p resolution with High/Ultra Settings unless mentioned otherwise. All the FPS numbers were sourced from the Daniel Owen channel on YouTube. For the tests, the two graphics cards were paired with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU.

According to benchmarks of some popular games, the Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB is the best GPU. It scores about 12% higher FPS than the Radeon RX 7900 XT 24GB in rasterized games. However, in ray tracing, the new RDNA 4 GPU is about 25% faster than its predecessor.

Therefore, the Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB is better in both rasterized and ray-tracing games. It achieves such a remarkable result despite having lower memory, which says a lot.

Price Comparison

The Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB was originally launched at $599, while the Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB costs $999. However, they are currently selling for an inflated starting price of around $720 and $1,050.

Final Verdict on Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB

Picture of ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Edition — ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Edition (Image via ASUS)

The Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB is better than the Radeon RX 7900 XT 24GB in gaming. The former is about 12% faster in rasterization and 25% faster in ray tracing. The new Radeon GPU is also much cheaper, making it the de facto choice for gaming.

However, if you are into AI development, inferencing, or professional video editing, then the 24GB of Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card may come in handy. However, for strictly gaming, go with the new AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT.

We provide the latest news and “How To’s” for Tech content. Meanwhile, you can check out the following articles related to PC GPUs, CPU and GPU comparisons, mobile phones, and more:

Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB vs Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB: Which Is Better?