RX 9070 XT vs RTX 5080
A $400 gap between AMD's fastest RDNA 4 card and NVIDIA's second-tier Blackwell. Worth examining because the rasterisation gap is much smaller than the price gap, and the ray tracing gap is much larger.
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AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
$599 MSRP · 16 GB · 304 W · index 63 at 1440p
AMD's fastest RDNA 4 card and the strongest argument for Radeon at the high end: 16 GB of memory and rasterisation performance that trades blows with far more expensive NVIDIA cards. Ray tracing improved sharply this generation but still trails NVIDIA at the same price.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
$999 MSRP · 16 GB · 360 W · index 74 at 1440p
A capable 4K card with the full RTX 50 feature set at roughly half the price of the flagship. The 16 GB memory pool is the one specification that invites debate at this price point.
Full specification comparison
Every row that can be compared marks a winner. Rows where the two cards match, or where a figure is not published, say so.
| Specification | RX 9070 XTAMD | RTX 5080NVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| Price and value | ||
| Launch MSRP | Best in this row: $599 | $999 |
| Current priceCompareYourGPU does not publish a price it has not verified. | Check current price | Check current price |
| Performance per $100Performance index at 1440p per $100 of launch MSRP. | Best in this row: 10.5 | 7.4 |
| Performance | ||
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 70 | Best in this row: 82 |
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 63 | Best in this row: 74 |
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 57 | Best in this row: 69 |
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 53 | Best in this row: 72 |
| Measured suite average at 1440pThird-party geometric mean across their game suite, run with vendor upscaling at Quality. A different test from the estimated row below, not a check on it. | 88.8 FPS (ComputerBase) | Best in this row: 105.4 FPS (ComputerBase) |
| Estimated FPS at 1440pModelled estimate for a typical modern AAA game at High settings with no upscaling. Not a measurement. | 115-165 FPS | Best in this row: 135-190 FPS |
| Memory | ||
| Essentially tied | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| GDDR6 | GDDR7 | |
| Essentially tied | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| 640 GB/s | Best in this row: 960 GB/s | |
| Memory speed | 20 Gbps | Best in this row: 30 Gbps |
| Graphics processor | ||
| Architecture | RDNA 4 | Blackwell |
| GPU die | Navi 48 | GB203 |
| Only comparable within one manufacturer. | 4,096 | Best in this row: 10,752 |
| Not compared: data missing for at least one card | 64 | Data unavailable |
| 64 | Best in this row: 84 | |
| 128 | Best in this row: 336 | |
| Not compared: data missing for at least one card | Data unavailable | 2,295 MHz |
| 2,970 MHz | 2,617 MHz | |
| Game clockNot compared: data missing for at least one cardAMD only. | 2,400 MHz | Data unavailable |
| Power | ||
| Best in this row: 304 W | 360 W | |
| Vendor figure where published, otherwise board power plus 300 W of headroom. | Best in this row: 750 W | 850 W |
| Performance per 100 WEssentially tied | 20.7 | 20.6 |
| Power connectors | 2x 8-pin | 1x 16-pin (12V-2x6) |
| Technologies | ||
| 3rd-generation ray accelerators | 4th-generation RT cores | |
| FSR 4, FSR 3.1, XeSS | DLSS 4 Super Resolution, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, FSR 3.1, XeSS | |
| FSR 3.1 Frame Generation, AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 (driver-level) | DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation | |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Video encoder | AMD Radeon media engine with AV1, HEVC and H.264 encode | 9th-generation NVENC with AV1 and HEVC encode |
| Video decoder | AV1, HEVC and H.264 decode | 6th-generation NVDEC with AV1, HEVC and H.264 decode |
| Display outputs | ||
| DisplayPort | 3x 2.1a | 3x 2.1b |
| HDMI | 1x 2.1b | 1x 2.1b |
| USB-C | None | None |
| Physical | ||
| LengthNot compared: data missing for at least one card | Data unavailable | 304 mm |
| Height from bracketNot compared: data missing for at least one card | Data unavailable | 137 mm |
| Not compared: data missing for at least one card | Data unavailable | 2 slots |
| Release | ||
| Launch date | March 6, 2025 | January 30, 2025 |
| Generation | RX 9000 | RTX 50 |
| Availability | In production | In production |
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Winner by category
Each category is decided by the same numbers used everywhere else on the site. A category with no clear leader says so rather than picking one.
Performance at 1440p
Performance index 74
Ray tracing
Ray tracing index 72
Price
$599
Performance per dollar
10.5 index points per $100
VRAM
Essentially tied
Memory bandwidth
960 GB/s
Efficiency
Essentially tied
Lowest power draw
304 W board power
The shape of the trade-off
All six axes are normalised to a 0-100 scale so they can share one chart. Performance and ray tracing are CompareYourGPU’s estimated indices; value, VRAM, efficiency and features are each card’s standing relative to every other card tracked here.
- RX 9070 XT
- RTX 5080
| Criterion | RX 9070 XT | RTX 5080 |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 63 | 74 |
| Ray tracing | 53 | 72 |
| Value | 96 | 58 |
| VRAM | 80 | 80 |
| Efficiency | 67 | 65 |
| Features | 100 | 100 |
Performance, memory and value
- 63
- 74
CompareYourGPU estimate aggregated from public review coverage, not a measurement.
- 115-165 FPS
- 135-190 FPS
Modelled from the performance index. Not a measured benchmark. Real results vary widely by title.
- RX 9070 XT256-bit bus16 GB
- RTX 5080256-bit bus16 GB
Capacity alone is not the whole story: memory bus width and bandwidth decide how much of it the GPU can actually use.
- $599
- $999
CompareYourGPU scores value from launch MSRP because it does not carry a verified live price feed. Street prices differ.
Which one should you buy?
The short version: the RTX 5080 is faster, but the RX 9070 XT offers better value at the prices on record. Which of those matters more is the decision.
Highest estimated performance index at 1440p of the cards compared here, at 74. It is the right answer if frame rate is the only thing you are optimising for.
Delivers the most performance per dollar of the cards compared, at $599. Choose this if the difference in price matters more to you than the difference in frame rate.
Strongest ray-traced performance here, with an estimated ray tracing index of 72 at 1440p. It also carries DLSS 4 Super Resolution, which is how ray tracing becomes practical.
Carries 16 GB, the most headroom of the cards compared at 1440p. Memory is usually what dates a card before raw speed does.
Best performance per watt of the cards compared, drawing 304 W. That means less heat, quieter fans and less pressure on your power supply.
Best balance of speed, price and memory of the cards compared: 50% performance at 1440p, 30% performance per dollar, 20% memory headroom. Not necessarily the fastest.
RX 9070 XT vs RTX 5080: common questions
Does the RTX 5080 justify $400 more than the RX 9070 XT?
Which has more VRAM?
Which is the better 1440p card?
Where to go next
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