AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT vs Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics Comparison

The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT occupy entirely different strata of the GPU landscape, and the benchmark data confirms this chasm. The Intel part is a low-power integrated solution from the Xe Graphics generation, while the AMD card is a current-generation, high-performance discrete offering from the Radeon RX 9000 series. While both are listed in the database, their comparison is less about a contest and more about illustrating the scale of performance evolution and market segmentation.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark score between the two is the Geekbench OpenCL test. In this test, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT scores 17,428, while the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics scores 14,315. The data shows the AMD card is 17.9% ahead in this compute-oriented workload. This is a significant margin, reflecting the substantial difference in raw compute resources, but it is notably this single test does not capture the full picture of gaming or graphics-specific performance.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT’s broader benchmark profile is far more extensive. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 65,879 is its highest single benchmark result, indicating a very strong graphics API performance. Its Passmark G3D score of 26,795 is also a dominant figure. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics, by contrast, has no such results in the data, only the single OpenCL score. This absence of data for the Intel part in other tests, such as Passmark’s suite or 3DMark’s Steel Nomad DX12 test, is itself a telling factor. The AMD card shows a score of 7,260 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, a modern, demanding workload that the Intel integrated graphics likely cannot handle.

The AMD card’s Passmark performance is heterogeneous. It scores 353 in the DirectX 9 test, 292 in DirectX 11, 154 in DirectX 10, and 78 in DirectX 12. These scores are not directly comparable to each other as they represent different API loads, but they show the card's capabilities across legacy and modern APIs. The Intel part, with no such data, cannot be assessed on these metrics. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT also posts a Passmark GPU Compute score of 15,864, which is higher than the Intel part's entire average benchmark score of 14,315.

The average benchmark score is a useful aggregate, but it can be misleading. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics has an average benchmark score of 14,315, which places it at the 56th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Vega 11 (with an average score of 14,352, showing a -0.3% delta for Intel), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (14,373, a -0.4% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14,385, a -0.5% delta). This means the Intel part is competitive with these older, higher-tier parts in this specific compute test.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has a lower average benchmark score of 13,543, despite its higher OpenCL score. This is because its average is dragged down by its very low Passmark scores in the DirectX tests. It sits at the 55th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are surprisingly older or lower-end parts: the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (13,536, a 0.1% delta for AMD), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13,515, a 0.2% delta), and the NVIDIA P106-090 (13,470, a 0.5% delta). This illustrates a critical point: the average score is heavily influenced by the test suite, and the Passmark DX9/10/11/12 results for the RX 9070 XT are anomalously low.

The head-to-head benchmark data shows the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT as the winner in the one test they share, with a 17.9% delta. This is the only direct comparison available. The wins are tallied as 0 for Intel and 1 for AMD. The sheer scale of the AMD card's other benchmark scores, however, suggests a dominance that the single OpenCL test understates. The Intel part's performance is consistent with its end-of-life status and its role as an integrated graphics processor.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics compare to the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT in the only benchmark they share?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT scores 17,428, which is 17.9% higher than the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics' score of 14,315. This is the only direct benchmark comparison available in the data.

Q: What is the most significant performance difference indicated by the benchmark scores?

A: The most significant difference is in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT scores 65,879. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics has no Vulkan benchmark score listed, suggesting it may not have been tested or is not capable of comparable performance in this API.

Q: Why is the average benchmark score for the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT lower than its OpenCL score?

A: The average score of 13,543 for the AMD card is an arithmetic mean of all its benchmark results, which includes very low Passmark scores in DirectX 10 (154), DirectX 11 (292), and DirectX 12 (78). These low scores significantly pull down the average, even though its OpenCL score is 17,428.

Q: Are these two GPUs comparable in terms of their overall performance percentile?

A: Surprisingly, yes. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics sits at the 56th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT sits at the 55th percentile. This is due to the AMD card's low Passmark scores affecting its average, which puts it in a similar percentile band despite having a higher peak score in the shared test.

Q: What does the data suggest about the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics' performance relative to its peers?

A: The Intel part's nearest rival by average score is the AMD Radeon Vega 11, with a delta of -0.3%. It is also within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11. This indicates the Intel part is competitive with these specific older GPUs in the OpenCL workload.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT have any benchmark results that are not available for the Intel part?

A: Yes, the AMD card has a wide range of results, including a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7,260, a Passmark G3D score of 26,795, a Passmark GPU Compute score of 15,864, and multiple Passmark DirectX scores. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics only has the Geekbench OpenCL result.

The Verdict

From the data, the choice is clear for any workload beyond the most basic compute tasks. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the superior performer. Its 17.9% advantage in the shared Geekbench OpenCL test is substantial, and its scores in other modern APIs like Vulkan (65,879) and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (7,260) are in an entirely different performance class. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics, with its single benchmark result and end-of-life production status, appears positioned for legacy systems or ultra-low-power applications where its 25 W TDP is a primary consideration.

The average benchmark score paints a misleading picture, placing both cards at nearly the same percentile. This is a statistical artifact caused by the AMD card's anomalously low Passmark DirectX scores. The data for the passmark_directx_12 test shows a score of 78, which is far below what its other results would suggest. This discrepancy is likely due to a testing issue or a driver quirk and should not be interpreted as a true reflection of the AMD card's gaming performance. A user should prioritize the specific benchmark results for their intended use case. For compute-heavy OpenCL tasks, the AMD card is 17.9% faster. For any graphics-intensive or modern API workload, the AMD card is the only viable option based on the available data.

Specification Differences

The specifications of the two GPUs highlight their divergent purposes. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a slot width of "IGP" and no display outputs, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is a dual-slot discrete card with 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a outputs. The Intel part uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, whereas the AMD card uses the newer PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. The memory subsystems are fundamentally different: the Intel part has 4 GB of LPDDR4X on a 128-bit bus, yielding 68.26 GB/s of bandwidth, while the AMD card has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 644.6 GB/s. The clock speeds also differ, with the Intel part boosting to 1650 MHz and the AMD part boosting to 2970 MHz. The Intel card’s memory clock is listed as 2133 MHz (4.3 Gbps effective), while the AMD card’s is 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective). The power requirements are drastically different, with a 25 W TDP for Intel and a 304 W TDP for AMD, along with a suggested PSU of 200 W versus 700 W. The AMD card also has a launch MSRP of 599 USD. The production statuses differ, with the Intel part being end-of-life and the AMD part being active. Their release dates are also far apart, with the Intel part released in 2020 and the AMD part in 2025.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between the two is vast. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics is built on Intel’s Generation 12.1 architecture, part of the Xe Graphics generation, using a 10 nm process at Intel’s foundry. Its die size is 95 mm². The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, part of the Navi IV (RX 9000) generation, and is fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. Its die size is 357 mm² and it contains 53,900 million transistors, with a transistor density of 151.0M / mm². The compute resources are scaled accordingly: the Intel part has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, while the AMD part has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The AMD card also includes 64 ray tracing cores, a feature the Intel part lacks. The AMD card’s FP32 performance is 48.66 TFLOPS, compared to the Intel part’s 2.534 TFLOPS. The FP16 performance also differs, with the AMD part achieving 48.66 TFLOPS (1:1) and the Intel part achieving 5.069 TFLOPS (2:1). The AMD card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Intel part supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The Intel part has a pixel rate of 39.60 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 79.20 GTexel/s, while the AMD card has a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s. The Intel part has no listed successor in its generation, while the AMD card’s predecessor is listed as Navi III. The Intel part’s successor is listed as Alchemist, while the AMD card has no successor listed.