AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Comparison

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT are separated by nearly eight years of GPU architecture evolution, yet their average benchmark scores place them within 0.6% of each other. The RX Vega 64 manages an average benchmark score of 39,879, while the RX 9070 XT sits at 39,647, a difference of just 232 points. That near-parity in aggregate scoring, however, masks a generational chasm in raw capability, efficiency, and feature support that the individual benchmarks reveal with stark clarity.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single shared benchmark between these two cards tells a dramatic story of generational progress. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 9070 XT scores 7,260, while the RX Vega 64 manages only 1,669. That represents a 77% deficit for the older card, meaning the RX 9070 XT delivers approximately 4.35 times the performance in this modern DirectX 12 workload. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a complete overhaul of rendering capability, driven by the architectural leap from GCN 5.0 to RDNA 4.0.

The RX 9070 XT also demonstrates its breadth with a suite of benchmarks the RX Vega 64 simply does not have. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 9070 XT posts 184,026 points; in Geekbench OpenCL, it reaches 160,317. Passmark results for the RX 9070 XT show 26,795 in G3D, 15,864 in GPU compute, and 1,328 in G2D. These scores highlight not just raw compute but also sustained performance across different API environments, from legacy DirectX 9 (353 points) to modern DirectX 12 (78 points) and DirectX 11 (292 points).

The RX Vega 64 counters with its Geekbench Metal score of 78,088, a test the RX 9070 XT has no equivalent for in this dataset. This gives the older card a niche advantage in Apple's Metal API, though it is the only benchmark where it appears at all. In terms of overall wins, the RX 9070 XT takes the head-to-head 1–0, with the sole shared test going decisively in its favor.

When placed against the nearest rivals, both cards occupy nearly identical positions in the overall GPU hierarchy. The RX Vega 64 sits at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 9070 XT holds the 82nd percentile. The RX Vega 64's closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 575X, which scores 39,836, a delta of just 0.1%. The RX 9070 XT's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 575 at 39,703, a delta of -0.1%. The two cards are themselves rivals: the RX 9070 XT trails the RX Vega 64 by 0.6% in average score, a margin so thin it falls within typical run-to-run variance.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split: the RX Vega 64 wins on aggregate average score by a razor-thin 0.6%, but the RX 9070 XT wins the only directly comparable benchmark by a landslide 77%. This paradox resolves when you consider what each card is optimized for. The RX Vega 64, with its 2017 release date and GCN 5.0 architecture, was built for an era of DirectX 12 and Vulkan that has since evolved considerably. Its Metal performance of 78,088 suggests it remains viable in Apple-centric workflows, but its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1,669 indicates it struggles with modern rendering pipelines.

The RX 9070 XT, released in 2025 on RDNA 4.0, is the clear choice for anyone running contemporary games or compute workloads. Its 4.35x advantage in Steel Nomad is not an outlier; it reflects the fundamental improvements in pixel rate, texture rate, and raw FP32 throughput that the specification differences below confirm. The RX Vega 64's 98.94 GPixel/s pixel rate and 395.8 GTexel/s texture rate are dwarfed by the RX 9070 XT's 380.2 GPixel/s and 760.3 GTexel/s, respectively.

For users prioritizing raw compute in legacy APIs or Metal-specific environments, the RX Vega 64 remains a functional option, but it is end-of-life and lacks the ray tracing hardware and modern API support of its successor. The RX 9070 XT, with its active production status and 82nd percentile standing, is the more future-proof investment for gaming and general-purpose GPU workloads. The verdict is unambiguous: the RX 9070 XT is the superior card for virtually all modern applications, while the RX Vega 64's only claim to relevance is its marginal aggregate score lead and Metal compatibility.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 has an average benchmark score of 39,879, which is 0.6% higher than the RX 9070 XT's 39,647.

Q: How much faster is the RX 9070 XT in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RX 9070 XT scores 7,260 compared to the RX Vega 64's 1,669, making it 77% faster in that test.

Q: Does the RX Vega 64 support ray tracing?

A: No. The RX Vega 64 has no ray tracing cores listed, while the RX 9070 XT includes 64 ray tracing cores.

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

A: The RX Vega 64 has 8 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 9070 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card is more power-hungry?

A: The RX 9070 XT has a TDP of 304 W, which is 9 W higher than the RX Vega 64's 295 W, and it requires a 700 W power supply versus 600 W.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. The RX Vega 64 is end-of-life, while the RX 9070 XT is currently active in production.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge sharply on nearly every specification that matters for performance. The RX Vega 64 uses 8 GB of HBM2 memory, while the RX 9070 XT doubles that to 16 GB of GDDR6. Memory bandwidth favors the newer card at 644.6 GB/s versus 483.8 GB/s, despite the RX Vega 64's wider 2048-bit bus compared to the RX 9070 XT's 256-bit bus. The clock speeds tell a similar story: the RX 9070 XT boosts to 2970 MHz with a base of 1660 MHz and a game clock of 2400 MHz, while the RX Vega 64 boosts to just 1546 MHz from a 1247 MHz base.

Shader unit counts are identical at 4096, and TMUs match at 256, but the RX 9070 XT doubles the ROPs to 128 from the RX Vega 64's 64. This contributes to the massive pixel rate difference: 380.2 GPixel/s for the RX 9070 XT versus 98.94 GPixel/s for the RX Vega 64. Texture rate also more than doubles, from 395.8 GTexel/s to 760.3 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput jumps from 12.66 TFLOPS on the RX Vega 64 to 48.66 TFLOPS on the RX 9070 XT, and FP16 scales similarly from 25.33 TFLOPS to 97.32 TFLOPS.

The RX 9070 XT adds 64 ray tracing cores that the RX Vega 64 lacks entirely. Power requirements are close, with the RX 9070 XT drawing 304 W versus 295 W, and both use dual-slot coolers with 2x 8-pin power connectors. The RX 9070 XT recommends a 700 W PSU versus 600 W for the RX Vega 64. Bus interface upgrades from PCIe 3.0 x16 on the older card to PCIe 5.0 x16 on the newer one. Display outputs advance from HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a to HDMI 2.1b and DisplayPort 2.1a.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two GPUs is the root cause of their benchmark divergence. The RX Vega 64 is built on the Vega 10 chip using GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 12,500 million transistors into a 495 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.3 million per square millimeter. The RX 9070 XT uses the Navi 48 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, produced on TSMC's 4 nm process. It contains 53,900 million transistors in a smaller 357 mm² die, achieving a density of 151.0 million per square millimeter — nearly 6 times higher.

This density advantage translates directly into efficiency and capability. The RX 9070 XT's RDNA 4.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX Vega 64's GCN 5.0 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6, but Vulkan support advances from 1.3 on the RX Vega 64 to 1.4 on the RX 9070 XT. The RX 9070 XT also includes dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature absent from the RX Vega 64's design.

The RX Vega 64 belongs to the Vega (RX Vega) generation, with a release date of August 6, 2017, and a predecessor of Polaris and successor of Navi. The RX 9070 XT is part of the Navi IV (RX 9000) generation, released March 5, 2025, with a predecessor of Navi III and no successor yet. The RX Vega 64 launched with an MSRP of 499 USD, while the RX 9070 XT launched at 599 USD. The RX Vega 64 measures 280 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 40 mm in width; the RX 9070 XT's dimensions are not listed in the data. Taken together, these architectural differences explain why the RX 9070 XT achieves 4.35x the performance of the RX Vega 64 in modern workloads despite a modest 9 W increase in TDP.