AMD Radeon RX 7600 vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark split between the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is decisive but not uniform. Out of ten recorded head-to-head tests, the RX 9070 XT claims nine victories, while the RX 7600 takes a single, striking win. That lone victory is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 7600 scores 88,051 against the RX 9070 XT's 17,428, a 405.2% advantage. This is a workload-specific anomaly that suggests compute-oriented OpenCL execution favors the older architecture in this particular test configuration, likely due to driver scheduling or test methodology rather than raw hardware capability.

Everywhere else, the RX 9070 XT dominates. The largest margin appears in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where the RX 9070 XT scores 7,260 versus 2,310, a 68.2% lead. This is a modern DirectX 12 workload, and the gap reflects the substantial generational leap in shading throughput, memory bandwidth, and ray tracing resources. The RX 9070 XT also wins PassMark G3D with 26,795 against 16,634, a 37.9% advantage, and PassMark GPU Compute with 15,864 versus 8,790, a 44.6% lead. Vulkan performance follows the same pattern: 65,879 versus 34,401, a 47.8% difference.

Legacy DirectX tests tell a similar story. In PassMark DX10, the RX 9070 XT scores 154 versus 84, up 45.5%. PassMark DX11 shows 292 versus 172, a 41.1% gap. PassMark DX9 delivers 353 versus 226, a 36% difference. Even the 2D-focused PassMark G2D test favors the newer card, 1,328 versus 984, a 25.9% margin. The smallest win for the RX 9070 XT is PassMark DX12 at 78 versus 58, a 25.6% lead.

For users prioritizing modern gaming, ray tracing, or high-resolution rendering, the RX 9070 XT is the clear choice. For OpenCL compute workloads that mirror the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 7600 shows an unexpected edge. That said, the overall benchmark average tells a different story: the RX 7600 averages 15,171 across all recorded tests while the RX 9070 XT averages 13,543. This inversion happens because the RX 7600's OpenCL outlier is so large that it inflates its average, while the RX 9070 XT's scores are more consistent but lower in that single test. The percentile ranks reflect this: the RX 7600 sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 9070 XT sits at the 55th.

FAQ

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

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT scores 7,260 versus 2,310 for the RX 7600, a 68.2% lead. This is the largest single benchmark gap in the head-to-head data.

Q: Why does the RX 7600 have a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RX 7600 averages 15,171 across all recorded tests, while the RX 9070 XT averages 13,543. The RX 7600's Geekbench OpenCL score of 88,051 is a massive outlier, 405.2% higher than the RX 9070 XT's 17,428, and this single result heavily skews the older card's average upward.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The RX 9070 XT leads in Geekbench Vulkan with 65,879 points against 34,401 for the RX 7600, a 47.8% advantage.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card in the database?

A: The RX 7600's closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM with an average score of 15,199, a 0.2% difference. The RX 9070 XT's closest rival is the AMD Radeon HD 7770M with an average score of 13,536, a 0.1% difference.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The RX 9070 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the RX 7600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is 644.6 GB/s for the RX 9070 XT versus 288.0 GB/s for the RX 7600.

Q: Are both cards currently in production?

A: Yes, both the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT have an Active production status according to the database.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most important comparison is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The RX 9070 XT scores 7,260, which is 68.2% ahead of the RX 7600's 2,310. This is a modern, demanding DirectX 12 workload, and the margin is the largest in the entire dataset. It indicates a fundamental throughput advantage for the newer architecture.

Geekbench Vulkan reinforces the pattern. The RX 9070 XT posts 65,879 points, a 47.8% improvement over the RX 7600's 34,401. Vulkan is widely used in modern game engines and emulation, so this gap has direct practical relevance.

PassMark G3D, a general 3D graphics benchmark, shows the RX 9070 XT at 26,795 versus 16,634, a 37.9% lead. PassMark GPU Compute similarly favors the newer card, 15,864 versus 8,790, a 44.6% margin. These two tests together suggest consistent superiority in both rasterization and compute-heavy workloads.

Legacy API tests follow the same direction but with varying margins. PassMark DX10 scores 154 versus 84, a 45.5% gap. PassMark DX11 scores 292 versus 172, a 41.1% gap. PassMark DX9 scores 353 versus 226, a 36% gap. Even the smallest RX 9070 XT win, PassMark DX12 at 78 versus 58, represents a 25.6% advantage.

The one exception is Geekbench OpenCL. Here, the RX 7600 scores 88,051, which is 405.2% higher than the RX 9070 XT's 17,428. This result is anomalous given the hardware specifications, and it stands as the only test where the older card wins. It is worth remembering this test heavily weights the RX 7600's average benchmark score and its percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The RX 7600 uses the Navi 33 chip, while the RX 9070 XT uses Navi 48. Process nodes differ: the RX 7600 is built on TSMC's 6 nm node, the RX 9070 XT on 4 nm. Transistor counts are 13,300 million for the RX 7600 versus 53,900 million for the RX 9070 XT. Die size jumps from 204 mm² to 357 mm², and transistor density from 65.2 million per mm² to 151.0 million per mm².

Clock speeds show a mixed picture. The RX 7600 has a higher base clock at 1720 MHz versus 1660 MHz, but the RX 9070 XT has a higher boost clock at 2970 MHz versus 2655 MHz. Game clock is 2250 MHz for the RX 7600 and 2400 MHz for the RX 9070 XT. Memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the RX 7600 and 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective) for the RX 9070 XT.

Memory configuration differs substantially. The RX 7600 offers 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 9070 XT offers 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. Compute resources scale accordingly: shading units go from 2,048 to 4,096, texture mapping units from 128 to 256, and ROPs from 64 to 128. Ray tracing cores double from 32 to 64.

Output and throughput metrics reflect the larger chip. Pixel rate rises from 169.9 GPixel/s to 380.2 GPixel/s, a more than doubling. Texture rate rises from 339.8 GTexel/s to 760.3 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 compute both scale from 21.75 TFLOPS to 48.66 TFLOPS, with both cards maintaining a 1:1 ratio.

Power and interface specifications also diverge. The RX 7600 has a TDP of 165 W, a single 8-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RX 9070 XT has a TDP of 304 W, two 8-pin connectors, and a suggested PSU of 700 W. The bus interface moves from PCIe 4.0 x8 to PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs upgrade from HDMI 2.1a and DisplayPort 2.1 to HDMI 2.1b and DisplayPort 2.1a. The RX 7600 measures 204 mm in length and 115 mm in height; the RX 9070 XT's dimensions are not recorded in the database.

Architecture Differences

The RX 7600 belongs to the Radeon RX 7000 series and the Navi III generation, built on RDNA 3.0 architecture with the codename Hotpink Bonefish. The RX 9070 XT belongs to the Radeon RX 9000 series and the Navi IV generation, built on RDNA 4.0 architecture. This generational jump from RDNA 3.0 to RDNA 4.0 is the central architectural distinction between the two cards.

The manufacturing process moved from TSMC's 6 nm node to its 4 nm node, enabling the RX 9070 XT to pack 53,900 million transistors into a 357 mm² die, compared to 13,300 million transistors in a 204 mm² die for the RX 7600. Transistor density nearly doubled, from 65.2 million per mm² to 151.0 million per mm². This density increase allows the RX 9070 XT to double the shading units, texture mapping units, ROPs, and ray tracing cores while also expanding memory capacity and bus width.

Both APIs remain identical: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Neither card features dedicated tensor cores in the database record. The RX 9070 XT's predecessor is listed as Navi III, which corresponds to the RX 7600's generation, while the RX 7600's predecessor is Navi II and its successor is Navi IV, which corresponds to the RX 9070 XT's generation. The RX 9070 XT has no recorded successor.

The RX 7600 was released on May 24, 2023, with a launch MSRP of 269 USD. The RX 9070 XT was released on March 5, 2025, with a launch MSRP of 599 USD. Both cards are dual-slot designs with Active production status. The architectural shift from RDNA 3.0 to RDNA 4.0, combined with the node shrink and resource doubling, explains the RX 9070 XT's dominance across nearly every benchmark, with the notable exception of the Geekbench OpenCL result where the RX 7600 retains a significant edge.