After AMD let NVIDIA steal the spotlight at CES 2025, it seemed like we were heading into another year of NVIDIA dominating the GPU space, stock market, and just about everything else.
However, NVIDIA's path to total dominance hasn't been without hiccups. The 50 Series has seen little to no availability, missing ROPs, and MSRPs that don't reflect the actual cost of the graphics cards, especially in certain regions. As a result of all of this, many have been hoping that AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT GPUs will be competitive in price, performance, and availability.
Happily, these hopes seem to have been answered, at least in the middle-upper price bracket, which brings us to the point of this page. We’re comparing the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and the Radeon RX 9070 XT, as these two are almost certainly going to be the most popular GPUs this year. Let’s start with the specs.
Straight up, we’re going to tell you that you can’t get much out of directly comparing the specs of an NVIDIA GPU to an AMD GPU. They are designed differently, work differently, and use different components. This means that X number of CUDA cores on the 5070 Ti does not have any real meaning compared to Y number of Stream Processors on the RX 9070 XT. However, we must have the specs because even if they can’t be compared, you still want them for the most complete information.
RTX 5070 Ti | RX 9070 XT | |
CUDA Cores | 8,960 | 4,096 |
Base Clock | 2,300 MHz | 2,400 MHz |
Boost Clock | 2,450 MHz | 2,970 MHz |
AI Tensor Cores / AI Accelerators | 280 | 128 |
RT Cores / Ray Accelerators | 70 | 64 |
Memory | 16 GB GDDR7 | 16 GB GDDR6 |
Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit |
TMUs | 280 | 256 |
ROPs | 96 | 128 |
TGP/TDP | 300 W | 304 W |
Required System Power | 750 W | 750 W |
Power Connector | 12V-2x6 | 2x or 3x 8-pin (Aside from some models) |
It’s worth quickly taking a look at the video outputs of these two graphics cards as it’s one of the only aspects than CAN be directly compared.
RTX 5070 Ti | RX 9070 XT |
3x DisplayPort 2.1b, 1x HDMI 2.1b | 3x DisplayPort 2.1a, 1x HDMI 2.1b |
NVIDIA has an edge here with supporting for the slightly newer DisplayPort 2.1b as opposed to 2.1a. We've already covered DisplayPort 2.1b and HDMI 2.1b in detail, so that article is worth checking out for more info. The TL;DR is that the RTX 5070 Ti offers a higher bandwidth connection, though it's unlikely to be too relevant in actual games.
We can’t directly compare the specs, but we the real-world performance. From there you can evaluate performance, pricing, and availability of both of these cards to make your own decision.
It’s also worth noting that both graphics cards come in a variety of AIB models. This means physical size, cooling, and in some cases even performance can vary slightly, as different brands apply their own tweaks, such as slight factory overclocks. As a result, some 9070 XTs may perform a little better than others, and the same applies to the RTX 5070 Ti.
When it comes to real-world performance, gaming benchmarks from the likes of Gamer’s Nexus and Digital Foundry show some very close numbers. We won't republish the data these guys have worked to attain, so for the full breakdown, you’ll have to check out their videos.
That being said, even though the 5070 Ti wins almost all the time, the amount by which it beats the 9070 XT is sometimes so small it would be inconsequential to the actual gameplay experience. Additionally, the 9070 XT does win sometimes. Not by much, but small victories become larger in magnitude when the price difference comes into play.
To summarise, the RTX 5070 Ti is the stronger GPU in almost all instances (especially when ray tracing is involved), but the AMD 9070 XT is close behind.
Close might not seem like much, but if you bear in mind the price delta of $150, suddenly the AMD card gets you 99% of the way there, at 80% of the price. (The 99% number being just a turn of phrase, but not always an inaccurate one.) Speaking of prices, let's look at what you can expect to pay for these graphics cards.
The RTX 5070 Ti has an MSRP of $749 / €870 / £729, while the RX 9070 XT comes in with an MSRP of $599 / €689 / £569.
With performance so close and such a large price difference, you’re probably starting to make up your mind here. Unfortunately, MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) doesn’t mean much when it comes to graphics cards right now.
Not only can different brands set their own prices, but availability is so unpredictable that finding a new graphics card anywhere near these figures can be a real challenge. Sorting through this particular mess is something you’ll have to navigate on your own.
Here we find the numbers to be refreshingly straightforward. The RTX 5070 Ti has a TGP / TDP of 300W and needs a 750W minimum PSU, whereas the RX 9070 XT has a TGP / TDP of 304W and needs the same 750W minimum PSU.
Basically, if you were on the fence trying to decide between these two GPUs, you’re in luck as the PSU you have or were going to buy can remain the same regardless of whether you go with the 9070 XT or the 5070 Ti.
There is still a benefit to be had here, though. The AMD RX 9070 XT uses standard 8-pin power connectors for almost all brands, with the curious exception of the SAPPHIRE RX 9070 XT NITRO and the ASRock RX 9070 XT TAICHI OC.
So, if the confusion and controversy surrounding the 12V-2x6 / 12VHPWR connector is something you wish to avoid entirely, then the 9070 XT is the card for you, those two previously mentioned cards notwithstanding. However, even though there is no real disadvantage to a non-native 12v-2x6 connection if you do opt for the RTX 5070 Ti, you might prefer a newer PSU with a 12V-2x6 connection, such as the CORSAIR RM1000e as it does make cable management easier.
Looking to upgrade to an NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti or an AMD RX 9070 XT? We have a ton of useful tools and information to help get you started:
We also offer Prebuilt Gaming PCs, including a range of RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PCs. All CORSAIR PCs are built with world-class CORSAIR components to help you instantly get the most out of the next-generation of GPUs.
Note - our prebuilt 50-series PCs are only available in the US.
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