AMD Instinct MI300X vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Instinct MI300X compare to the AMD Radeon RX 9070 in OpenCL performance?

A: The MI300X scores 317994 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 141.7% higher than the RX 9070's 131539. The database records a single head-to-head benchmark win for the MI300X.

Q: What is the transistor count difference between the two GPUs?

A: The Instinct MI300X uses 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die, while the Radeon RX 9070 uses 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. The transistor density is nearly identical: 150.4M per mm² for the MI300X versus 151.0M per mm² for the RX 9070.

Q: Which GPU has more memory bandwidth?

A: The Instinct MI300X offers 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth through an 8192-bit HBM3 interface, compared to the RX 9070's 644.6 GB/s over a 256-bit GDDR6 bus. The MI300X provides roughly 8.3 times the bandwidth.

Q: What are the API support differences?

A: The Radeon RX 9070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Instinct MI300X lists N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan, reflecting its compute-oriented design with no display outputs.

Q: How does the RX 9070 rank among all GPUs?

A: The RX 9070 sits at the 69th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 23877. Its nearest rivals include the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (1.2% behind) and the Radeon RX 6800S (0.8% ahead).

Q: What is the power requirement difference?

A: The MI300X has a 750 W TDP with a suggested 1150 W power supply, while the RX 9070 has a 220 W TDP with a suggested 550 W power supply. The MI300X uses an OAM module form factor with no power connectors, whereas the RX 9070 is a dual-slot card using two 8-pin connectors.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Instinct MI300X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 represent two fundamentally different architectural directions from the same manufacturer. The MI300X uses the CDNA 3.0 architecture on the Aqua Vanjaram chip, built for datacenter compute workloads. The RX 9070 uses the RDNA 4.0 architecture on the Navi 48 chip, designed for client graphics.

The process nodes differ slightly despite both using TSMC fabrication. The MI300X is built on a 5 nm node, while the RX 9070 moves to 4 nm. The MI300X is a massive accelerator die at 1017 mm², nearly three times the area of the RX 9070's 357 mm² die. Transistor counts scale accordingly: 153,000 million versus 53,900 million, though density per square millimeter remains almost equal at 150.4M versus 151.0M.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The MI300X packs 19456 shading units and 1216 texture mapping units, while the RX 9070 has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The MI300X lists zero ROPs and zero pixel rate, indicating it does not perform traditional rasterization. The RX 9070 includes 56 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the MI300X's specification sheet.

Memory architecture reflects their different missions. The MI300X uses 192 GB of HBM3 on an 8192-bit bus, delivering 5.32 TB/s. The RX 9070 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 644.6 GB/s. Clock behavior also differs: the MI300X runs at a 1000 MHz base and 2100 MHz boost, while the RX 9070 has a 1330 MHz base, 2070 MHz game clock, and 2520 MHz boost.

The MI300X offers no display outputs and no graphics API support, confirming its role as a compute accelerator. The RX 9070 provides 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a outputs, with full DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 support. The MI300X uses an OAM module slot width with no power connectors, while the RX 9070 is a dual-slot card requiring two 8-pin connectors.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one direct comparison between these two GPUs: the Geekbench OpenCL test. The Instinct MI300X scores 317994 against the RX 9070's 131539, a margin of 141.7%. This is the only recorded head-to-head benchmark, and the MI300X wins it.

To contextualize the MI300X score, its nearest rivals in the database are all NVIDIA datacenter parts. The NVIDIA H200 NVL scores 334891, putting the MI300X 5% behind. The NVIDIA B200 scores 345482, an 8% gap. The MI300X leads the NVIDIA L40S (295763) by 7.5% and the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation (287237) by 10.7%. The MI300X sits at the 100th percentile of all GPUs in the database.

The RX 9070's competitive position is entirely different. Its nearest rivals are consumer and mobile parts: the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, 1.2% ahead of the RX 9070), the Radeon RX 6800S (24063, 0.8% behind), the GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile (23628, 1.1% ahead), and the GeForce GTX TITAN Z (23736, 0.6% ahead). The RX 9070's average benchmark score of 23877 places it at the 69th percentile.

The RX 9070 shows additional benchmark results across graphics workloads. It scores 6290 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 58705 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 25381 in Passmark G3D. Compute-oriented Passmark results include 14737 in GPU compute, 1280 in G2D, and lower scores in legacy DirectX tests: 343 in DirectX 9, 281 in DirectX 11, 141 in DirectX 10, and 74 in DirectX 12.

The MI300X's 141.7% OpenCL advantage over the RX 9070 reflects the scale difference between a 750 W datacenter accelerator and a 220 W consumer graphics card. The MI300X's FP32 throughput of 81.72 TFLOPS versus the RX 9070's 36.13 TFLOPS, combined with the massive memory bandwidth advantage, explains the benchmark gap.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every measured specification.

Process and die: The MI300X uses a 5 nm process with 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die. The RX 9070 uses a 4 nm process with 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. Transistor density is nearly equal: 150.4M versus 151.0M per mm².

Clocks: The MI300X has a 1000 MHz base and 2100 MHz boost. The RX 9070 has a 1330 MHz base, 2070 MHz game clock, and 2520 MHz boost. The MI300X memory runs at 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective), while the RX 9070 memory runs at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective).

Memory: The MI300X has 192 GB of HBM3 on an 8192-bit bus with 5.32 TB/s bandwidth. The RX 9070 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute units: The MI300X has 19456 shading units and 1216 TMUs, with 0 ROPs. The RX 9070 has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The RX 9070 includes 56 ray tracing cores; the MI300X lists none.

Rates: The MI300X has a texture rate of 2553.6 GTexel/s and 0 MPixel/s, with 81.72 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The RX 9070 has a texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s, with 36.13 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1).

Power and cooling: The MI300X has a 750 W TDP with a suggested 1150 W PSU, in an OAM module form factor with no power connectors. The RX 9070 has a 220 W TDP with a suggested 550 W PSU, in a dual-slot form factor using two 8-pin connectors.

Interfaces: Both use PCIe 5.0 x16. The MI300X has no display outputs; the RX 9070 has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a.

API support: The MI300X lists N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan. The RX 9070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Release timing: The MI300X released on 2023-12-05; the RX 9070 released on 2025-03-05. The RX 9070 has a launch MSRP of 549 USD. The MI300X has no recorded launch MSRP.

The Verdict

The recorded data draws a clear separation between these two AMD GPUs. The Instinct MI300X is a compute accelerator with a 100th percentile ranking, 192 GB of HBM3 memory, 81.72 TFLOPS FP32, and a 141.7% OpenCL advantage over the RX 9070. It competes against NVIDIA datacenter accelerators like the H200 NVL and B200, trailing them by 5% and 8% respectively while leading the L40S by 7.5% and the RTX 6000 Ada by 10.7%.

The Radeon RX 9070 is a client graphics card at the 69th percentile, with 16 GB of GDDR6, full DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan support, ray tracing hardware, and display outputs. Its nearest rivals are consumer GPUs from the previous generation, with margins under 1.2% in either direction. It delivers 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 at a 220 W TDP with a 550 W suggested power supply.

The selection between them depends entirely on workload requirements. The MI300X suits compute environments that need massive memory capacity, extreme bandwidth, and maximum FP32 throughput, and that do not require graphics output or rasterization. The RX 9070 suits graphics workloads, gaming, and applications that need modern API support, ray tracing, and display connectivity, at a fraction of the power draw.

The 141.7% OpenCL gap, the 5.32 TB/s versus 644.6 GB/s bandwidth difference, and the 750 W versus 220 W TDP spread define the gulf between datacenter compute and client graphics. Both parts hold clear leadership positions within their respective categories as measured by the database.