AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 and the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 are both built on the Navi 48 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, yet they serve clearly different purposes. The data shows the R9700 is the higher-specification part, with more shaders, higher clocks, and double the memory, but the RX 9070 counters with a significant win in one major compute benchmark. This analysis breaks down where each card excels, based strictly on the benchmark results and technical specifications provided.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 has 4096 shading units, compared to 3584 on the AMD Radeon RX 9070.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 has 32 GB of GDDR6 memory. Both use a 256-bit bus and share the same 644.6 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the difference in boost clock speed?

A: The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 boosts to 2920 MHz, which is 400 MHz higher than the RX 9070's boost of 2520 MHz. The base clocks are 1660 MHz and 1330 MHz, respectively.

Q: Which card wins in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 wins with a score of 7006, which is 10.2% higher than the RX 9070's 6290.

Q: Does the RX 9070 win any benchmark?

A: Yes, the RX 9070 wins in Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 131539, which is 11.3% higher than the R9700's 118202. It also edges out the R9700 in Passmark DirectX 11 and Passmark G2D.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 has a launch MSRP of 549 USD, and the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 has a launch MSRP of 1,299 USD.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results paint two distinct profiles. The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 is the clear winner in raw graphics throughput, taking 7 of the 10 head-to-head tests. Its victories are concentrated in modern and legacy DirectX workloads: it leads by 10.2% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, by 10.8% in Passmark DirectX 12, and by 9% in Passmark DirectX 10. It also wins in Passmark DirectX 9 (5.5% ahead), Passmark G3D (5.9% ahead), Geekbench Vulkan (7.6% ahead), and Passmark GPU Compute (3.7% ahead). This pattern suggests a card optimized for sustained, high-throughput rendering across a broad spectrum of API generations.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, despite its lower specifications, claims victory in 3 tests. Its most significant win is in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 131539 versus 118202, a decisive 11.3% margin. This indicates a particular strength in OpenCL compute workloads that the R9700 does not match. Additionally, the RX 9070 wins in Passmark DirectX 11 (3.3% ahead) and Passmark G2D (3.6% ahead), which are more modest margins but still show its competitiveness in those specific areas. For users prioritizing OpenCL compute, the RX 9070 is the surprising choice despite its lower overall spec sheet.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs share the same fundamental architecture: RDNA 4.0 on a 4 nm TSMC process. The die size is identical at 357 mm², and both pack 53,900 million transistors, resulting in the same transistor density of 151.0M / mm². They also share the same number of ROPs (128) and the same memory bus width (256 bit). The core difference lies in the execution resources and clock speeds. The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 is a fully-enabled variant, featuring 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 RT cores. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a cut-down version, with 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 56 RT cores. This 12.5% reduction in shading units and RT cores, combined with lower clocks, explains the R9700's performance advantage in most tests. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and neither features dedicated tensor cores.

Specification Differences

The specification gap between the two is substantial. The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 operates at a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2350 MHz, and a boost clock of 2920 MHz. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is significantly slower, with a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The memory configuration differs in capacity: the R9700 has 32 GB of GDDR6, while the RX 9070 has 16 GB. Both run at the same memory speed of 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective) and achieve 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. The R9700's higher clocks and additional execution units lead to a pixel rate of 373.8 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 747.5 GTexel/s, compared to the RX 9070's 322.6 GPixel/s and 564.5 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is also higher on the R9700 at 47.84 TFLOPS versus 36.13 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance matching FP32 at a 1:1 ratio on both. Power requirements differ, with the R9700 drawing 300 W and requiring a 700 W PSU with a 1x 16-pin connector, while the RX 9070 draws 220 W and requires a 550 W PSU with 2x 8-pin connectors. Both are dual-slot cards with PCIe 5.0 x16 interfaces and identical display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1a). The R9700 has published dimensions of 267 mm x 111 mm x 40 mm, while the RX 9070's dimensions are not specified.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result in the head-to-head data is the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the AMD Radeon RX 9070 scores 131539, defeating the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700's 118202 by a margin of 11.3%. This is the largest delta in either direction and is counterintuitive given the R9700's superior hardware. This suggests that the RX 9070's driver or firmware configuration is more optimized for OpenCL compute, or that the R9700's higher clocks are not beneficial in this specific workload.

In contrast, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows the R9700's raw power advantage, with a score of 7006 versus 6290, a 10.2% lead. This is a modern DirectX 12 benchmark, and the R9700's 4096 shading units and 2920 MHz boost clock clearly pay off. The Passmark DirectX 12 test reinforces this, with the R9700 winning 83 to 74, a 10.8% advantage. The R9700 also wins in Geekbench Vulkan (63550 vs 58705, a 7.6% lead) and Passmark DirectX 10 (155 vs 141, a 9% lead), showing consistent strength across API generations.

The RX 9070's other wins are narrower. It takes Passmark DirectX 11 with a score of 281 versus 272, a 3.3% lead, and Passmark G2D with 1280 versus 1236, a 3.6% lead. The R9700's win in Passmark G3D is 26979 versus 25381, a 5.9% margin, and its win in Passmark GPU Compute is 15300 versus 14737, a 3.7% margin. The R9700 also wins Passmark DirectX 9 (363 vs 343, a 5.5% lead). The overall benchmark score averages reflect this split: the RX 9070 has an average of 23877, while the R9700 has a slightly lower average of 23315, due to the RX 9070's massive OpenCL score skewing its average higher. Both cards sit at the 69th percentile of all GPUs, but their nearest rivals differ, with the RX 9070 competing near the NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER and the R9700 matching the Radeon RX 6600M in average score.