AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records a single direct comparison between these two accelerators: the Geekbench OpenCL compute benchmark. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE posts a score of 109,309, while the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 records 68,562. This translates to a 37.3% advantage for the RX 9070 GRE, a substantial margin that reflects the generational shift between the two architectures.

The MI25's score of 68,562 places it at the 90th percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals in the aggregate rankings are the Intel Arc A770 at 68,809 (0.4% ahead), the NVIDIA CMP 90HX at 69,000 (0.6% ahead), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 at 69,870 (1.9% ahead), and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 at 69,986 (2.0% ahead). This clustering indicates that the MI25 sits within a tight performance band, with its closest competitors all within roughly two percentage points.

The RX 9070 GRE, by contrast, achieves a Geekbench OpenCL score of 109,309, which is far above the MI25's result. In the aggregate average benchmark score, however, the RX 9070 GRE records 57,367, which is lower than the MI25's 68,562. This discrepancy arises because the RX 9070 GRE's average includes its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 5,424, a test that the MI25 has no recorded entry for. The aggregate percentile for the RX 9070 GRE is 87, three points below the MI25's 90th percentile standing.

The RX 9070 GRE's nearest rivals in aggregate scoring are the Intel Arc A580 at 57,756 (0.7% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM at 58,085 (1.2% ahead), the Intel Arc A570M at 58,239 (1.5% ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT at 58,392 (1.8% ahead). The RX 9070 GRE trails each of these by less than two percent in the combined benchmark average, a narrow gap that underscores how the aggregate metric can obscure the OpenCL-specific result where the RX 9070 GRE leads by a wide margin.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent opposite ends of AMD's architectural timeline. The MI25 is built on the Vega 10 chip using the GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The RX 9070 GRE uses the Navi 48 chip with the RDNA 4.0 architecture, produced on a 4 nm process at TSMC. The manufacturing node difference is stark: 14 nm versus 4 nm, a reduction that enables the RX 9070 GRE to pack 53,900 million transistors onto a 357 mm² die, while the MI25 fits 12,500 million transistors onto a larger 495 mm² die. Transistor density tells the story clearly: the RX 9070 GRE reaches 151.0 million transistors per square millimeter, versus 25.3 million for the MI25.

Compute resources diverge significantly. The MI25 carries 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The RX 9070 GRE has fewer shading units at 3,072, fewer TMUs at 192, but more ROPs at 96. The RX 9070 GRE also adds 48 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the MI25, which has none. Neither GPU lists tensor cores.

Clock behaviour reflects the architectural leap. The MI25 runs at a 1400 MHz base clock and 1500 MHz boost clock. The RX 9070 GRE has a 1420 MHz base clock, a 2220 MHz game clock, and a 2790 MHz boost clock. The boost clock advantage of 1,290 MHz is enormous and directly feeds into the compute throughput difference.

Memory subsystems also differ in kind. The MI25 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 436.2 GB/s. The RX 9070 GRE uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, producing a comparable 432.0 GB/s. The MI25's memory clock is 852 MHz with 1704 Mbps effective, while the RX 9070 GRE runs at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective. Despite the interface width disadvantage, the RX 9070 GRE nearly matches the MI25's bandwidth thanks to much faster memory signalling.

Feature support reveals the generational gap. The MI25 reaches DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RX 9070 GRE supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 9070 GRE also provides display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a), while the MI25 has no display outputs at all, reflecting its compute-oriented data center role.

Where Each One Wins

The MI25 wins in memory capacity. Its 16 GB of HBM2 exceeds the RX 9070 GRE's 12 GB of GDDR6 by 4 GB, which matters for workloads that exceed the smaller frame buffer. The MI25 also holds a slight bandwidth edge at 436.2 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s, a marginal 4.2 GB/s difference that is unlikely to be decisive in most scenarios.

The MI25 also wins on aggregate percentile standing. Its 90th percentile among all GPUs compares to the RX 9070 GRE's 87th percentile. The MI25's average benchmark score of 68,562 is also higher than the RX 9070 GRE's 57,367, although this comparison is skewed by the different test sets each GPU has been subjected to.

The RX 9070 GRE wins decisively in raw compute throughput. Its FP32 rating of 34.28 TFLOPS is nearly triple the MI25's 12.29 TFLOPS. The FP16 comparison is similarly lopsided: the RX 9070 GRE delivers 34.28 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, while the MI25 provides 24.58 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio. For FP16 workloads where precision matters, the RX 9070 GRE's 1:1 rate means it sustains full throughput without the penalty the MI25's 2:1 implementation incurs.

Pixel and texture rates favour the RX 9070 GRE by wide margins. The RX 9070 GRE achieves 267.8 GPixel/s and 535.7 GTexel/s, versus the MI25's 96.00 GPixel/s and 384.0 GTexel/s. The pixel rate advantage is particularly pronounced at 171.8 GPixel/s, reflecting the RX 9070 GRE's higher ROP count and clock speed.

Power efficiency favours the newer part. The RX 9070 GRE has a 220 W TDP, while the MI25 draws 300 W. The RX 9070 GRE also suggests a 550 W power supply, compared to the MI25's 700 W recommendation. Both cards use dual-slot cooling and 2x 8-pin power connectors.

The RX 9070 GRE wins on interface generation with PCIe 5.0 x16, versus the MI25's PCIe 3.0 x16. The RX 9070 GRE also has a longer production life: it is marked as Active, while the MI25 is End-of-life. The RX 9070 GRE's launch MSRP is 549 USD.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The MI25 uses a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process; the RX 9070 GRE uses a 4 nm TSMC process. Transistor counts are 12,500 million versus 53,900 million, with die sizes of 495 mm² versus 357 mm². Transistor density improves from 25.3M per mm² to 151.0M per mm².

Clocks diverge sharply: the MI25 has a 1400 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost, while the RX 9070 GRE has a 1420 MHz base, 2220 MHz game, and 2790 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 852 MHz (1704 Mbps effective) for the MI25 and 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the RX 9070 GRE.

Memory configurations differ: the MI25 has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 436.2 GB/s bandwidth; the RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. Shading units number 4,096 versus 3,072, TMUs 256 versus 192, and ROPs 64 versus 96. The RX 9070 GRE adds 48 ray tracing cores; the MI25 has none.

Compute rates: FP32 is 12.29 TFLOPS versus 34.28 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 24.58 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 34.28 TFLOPS (1:1). Pixel rates are 96.00 GPixel/s versus 267.8 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 384.0 GTexel/s versus 535.7 GTexel/s.

Power and interface: TDP is 300 W versus 220 W, suggested PSU is 700 W versus 550 W, and bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs: none versus 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a. DirectX support is 12 (12_1) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2), and Vulkan is 1.3 versus 1.4. The MI25 dimensions are 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height; the RX 9070 GRE dimensions are not recorded. Production status is End-of-life versus Active, with release dates of 2017-06-26 and 2025-05-07 respectively.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 109,309, which is 37.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25's 68,562.

Q: How does the MI25 compare to its nearest rivals in aggregate scoring?

A: The MI25's average score of 68,562 places it 0.4% behind the Intel Arc A770, 0.6% behind the NVIDIA CMP 90HX, 1.9% behind the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200, and 2.0% behind the NVIDIA Quadro P6000.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The MI25 has 16 GB of HBM2, while the RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6, a difference of 4 GB in favour of the MI25.

Q: Does the RX 9070 GRE support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 9070 GRE has 48 ray tracing cores. The MI25 has no ray tracing cores.

Q: How do the FP32 compute ratings compare?

A: The RX 9070 GRE delivers 34.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the MI25 delivers 12.29 TFLOPS.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The MI25 is marked as End-of-life, while the RX 9070 GRE is marked as Active. The RX 9070 GRE's launch MSRP is 549 USD.