AMD Radeon RX 9070 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear split between these two GPUs, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 taking seven of the nine head-to-head wins while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile secures two. The margins tell a more nuanced story than the raw win count.

The largest single victory belongs to the AMD card in the Passmark DirectX 9 test, where it scores 343 against the NVIDIA's 214, a 60.3% advantage. This legacy API result suggests the RDNA 4.0 architecture retains strong performance in older rendering paths. The Passmark GPU Compute test shows an even more dramatic gap in percentage terms: the RX 9070 delivers 14737 versus 8279, a 78% lead. That compute gap is the biggest delta recorded in the entire comparison.

The Passmark DirectX 11 result also favors AMD decisively, 281 versus 192, a 46.4% edge. The 2D graphics test shows a 42.9% lead for the RX 9070, scoring 1280 against 896. In the main 3D graphics benchmark, Passmark G3D, AMD leads 25381 to 20355, a 24.7% advantage. The DirectX 10 test is closer, with AMD ahead 141 to 129, a 9.3% margin. The OpenCL benchmark shows AMD winning 131539 to 122238, a 7.6% lead.

The NVIDIA card's two wins are notable for their direction. In the Vulkan test, the RTX 5070 Mobile scores 116960 against the RX 9070's 58705, a staggering 49.8% deficit for AMD. This is the single largest gap in either direction, and it reverses the OpenCL result. The other NVIDIA win comes in Passmark DirectX 12, where it scores 93 versus 74, a 20.4% advantage.

The average benchmark scores in the database tell a different story from the head-to-head wins. The RTX 5070 Mobile has an average score of 29928, while the RX 9070 averages 23877. That places the NVIDIA card 25.3% higher on average despite losing most direct comparisons. This discrepancy stems from the Vulkan result, where the NVIDIA card's near-double score pulls its average upward, and the absence of a Steel Nomad DX12 score for the NVIDIA card in the head-to-head set.

The percentile rankings confirm the average score story. The RTX 5070 Mobile sits at the 75th percentile among all GPUs, while the RX 9070 lands at the 69th percentile. The nearest rivals for the NVIDIA card include the RTX 3070 Ti at 29945 (0.1% ahead) and the RTX 2080 Ti at 29783 (0.5% behind), indicating the mobile card performs in desktop-class territory. The RX 9070's nearest rivals cluster around its average: the GTX TITAN Z at 23736 (0.6% behind) and the RX 6800S at 24063 (0.8% ahead).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the Vulkan benchmark and by how much?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile wins the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 116960, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 scores 58705. The NVIDIA card leads by 49.8%, the largest margin in any head-to-head test.

Q: How do the two cards compare in compute workloads?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 leads in both compute-oriented tests. It scores 131539 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 122238 for the RTX 5070 Mobile, a 7.6% edge. In Passmark GPU Compute, AMD leads 14737 to 8279, a 78% advantage.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 29928, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 averages 23877. The NVIDIA card's average is higher by approximately 25.3%.

Q: Which GPU has a better overall percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile ranks at the 75th percentile among all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks at the 69th percentile.

Q: In which API does the AMD card show its strongest relative performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows its strongest relative performance in Passmark DirectX 9, where it scores 343 versus 214 for the NVIDIA card, a 60.3% lead. It also shows a 78% lead in Passmark GPU Compute.

Q: Does the AMD card win every DirectX test?

A: No. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 wins DirectX 9, 10, and 11 tests, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile wins the DirectX 12 test, scoring 93 against AMD's 74, a 20.4% margin.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different manufacturers, process nodes, and architectural generations. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 uses the Navi 48 chip built on RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile uses the GB206 chip on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a 5 nm process.

The transistor counts differ substantially. The AMD chip packs 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 151.0 million per mm². The NVIDIA chip contains 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die, with a density of 121.0 million per mm². The AMD die is nearly twice the physical size and carries more than twice the transistor count.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The RX 9070 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 5070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, providing 384.0 GB/s. The AMD card has double the memory capacity and 67.9% more bandwidth, though the NVIDIA card uses the newer GDDR7 standard.

The shader configurations reflect different design priorities. The RX 9070 has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster output units. The RTX 5070 Mobile has 4608 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. NVIDIA's card has 28.6% more shading units but 35.7% fewer TMUs and 62.5% fewer ROPs. For ray tracing, AMD uses 56 RT cores while NVIDIA uses 36 RT cores. NVIDIA also includes 144 tensor cores, a feature the AMD card does not list.

Clock speeds show a significant difference in approach. The RX 9070 runs at a base clock of 1330 MHz with a boost of 2520 MHz, while the RTX 5070 Mobile operates at 907 MHz base and 1425 MHz boost. The AMD card's boost clock is 76.8% higher. Memory clocks also differ: AMD's GDDR6 runs at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), while NVIDIA's GDDR7 runs at 1500 MHz (24 Gbps effective).

The resulting throughput figures favor AMD heavily. The RX 9070 delivers 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 564.5 GTexel/s texture rate, versus 68.40 GPixel/s and 205.2 GTexel/s for the NVIDIA card. FP32 compute reaches 36.13 TFLOPS on AMD versus 13.13 TFLOPS on NVIDIA, a 175% advantage. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Power characteristics could not differ more. The RX 9070 has a 220 W TDP, uses dual-slot cooling, requires two 8-pin power connectors, and needs a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX 5070 Mobile has a 50 W TDP, is an integrated graphics package (IGP), uses no power connectors, and lists no suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card consumes 77.3% less power.

The Verdict

The data supports different choices depending on the workload and platform constraints. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 dominates in compute-heavy and legacy API scenarios, with a 78% lead in Passmark GPU Compute and a 60.3% lead in DirectX 9. Its 24.7% advantage in Passmark G3D suggests stronger overall rasterization performance in that suite. The 16 GB memory capacity and higher bandwidth position it for memory-intensive tasks.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile wins decisively in Vulkan, where its 49.8% lead over AMD is the largest gap recorded. Its higher average benchmark score of 29928 versus 23877 and its 75th percentile ranking versus AMD's 69th indicate broader performance consistency across the database's weighted metrics. The DirectX 12 win suggests better optimization in modern API paths.

The power envelope is the defining difference. The RX 9070 requires a 220 W TDP, dual-slot cooling, and external power connectors; the RTX 5070 Mobile operates at 50 W with no connectors as an IGP solution. For desktop systems with adequate power delivery, the AMD card offers superior compute throughput and memory capacity. For portable devices where power draw is constrained, the NVIDIA card provides competitive average scores at a fraction of the power.

The transistor and die data indicate different design philosophies: AMD scales up with a large 357 mm² die and 53,900 million transistors, while NVIDIA compresses into a 181 mm² die with 21,900 million transistors. The NVIDIA card achieves its higher average score from a much smaller silicon footprint.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measured specification. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 uses the Navi 48 chip on RDNA 4.0 architecture, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile uses GB206 on Blackwell 2.0. The process node differs: 4 nm for AMD, 5 nm for NVIDIA, both from TSMC.

Transistor count: 53,900 million for AMD versus 21,900 million for NVIDIA. Die size: 357 mm² versus 181 mm². Transistor density: 151.0M per mm² versus 121.0M per mm².

Clock speeds: AMD runs at 1330 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost; NVIDIA runs at 907 MHz base and 1425 MHz boost. Memory clocks: AMD at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), NVIDIA at 1500 MHz (24 Gbps effective).

Memory: 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth for AMD; 8 GB GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus with 384.0 GB/s for NVIDIA.

Compute units: AMD has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, 128 ROPs, and 56 RT cores. NVIDIA has 4608 shading units, 144 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 36 RT cores, and 144 tensor cores.

Throughput: AMD delivers 322.6 GPixel/s and 564.5 GTexel/s; NVIDIA delivers 68.40 GPixel/s and 205.2 GTexel/s. FP32: 36.13 TFLOPS for AMD, 13.13 TFLOPS for NVIDIA.

Power: AMD has a 220 W TDP, dual-slot width, 2x 8-pin connectors, and a 550 W suggested PSU. NVIDIA has a 50 W TDP, IGP slot width, no connectors, and no suggested PSU.

The AMD card was released on 2025-03-05 with a launch MSRP of 549 USD. The NVIDIA card was released on 2025-04-14 with no launch MSRP recorded. Both use PCIe 5.0 x16 interfaces and support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. AMD lists display outputs as 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a; NVIDIA lists its outputs as portable device dependent.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 wins in compute-heavy workloads. The 78% lead in Passmark GPU Compute and the 7.6% lead in OpenCL indicate strong general-purpose compute performance. Its 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, more than double the NVIDIA card's 13.13 TFLOPS, supports this positioning. The 16 GB memory capacity and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth give it an edge for large datasets.

The AMD card also wins in legacy DirectX paths. The 60.3% lead in DirectX 9, the 46.4% lead in DirectX 11, and the 9.3% lead in DirectX 10 show backward compatibility strength. Its 24.7% lead in Passmark G3D and 42.9% lead in G2D round out a broad rasterization advantage in that suite.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile wins in Vulkan by a wide margin, 116960 versus 58705. This 49.8% lead suggests the Blackwell architecture's Vulkan implementation is substantially more efficient. The DirectX 12 win, 93 versus 74, gives NVIDIA the modern API edge.

The NVIDIA card's higher average score of 29928 and 75th percentile ranking indicate it performs more consistently across the full benchmark suite, despite losing most direct head-to-head tests. Its nearest rivals include the desktop RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 2080 Ti, showing it competes with higher-tier desktop cards.

The power draw difference creates a clear platform split. The RTX 5070 Mobile's 50 W TDP and IGP form factor suit portable devices with no discrete power connectors. The RX 9070's 220 W TDP, dual-slot cooler, and 2x 8-pin connectors require a desktop power supply rated at 550 W.

The AMD card's 4 nm process and 151.0M transistors per mm² density represent a more advanced manufacturing node, while NVIDIA's 5 nm process achieves its results with lower density and far less power. The RTX 5070 Mobile's 144 tensor cores, absent from the AMD card, may benefit AI-adjacent workloads, though the recorded benchmarks do not directly test tensor performance.