AMD Radeon RX 9070 benchmarked in Call of Duty, could be a match for Nvidia’s RTX 4080 Super

Exciting News: AMD’s recent paper launch of the Radeon RX 9070 GPUs at CES left much to be desired in terms of details. However, an unauthorized benchmark for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 offers a glimpse into the performance of the base model 9070 graphics card. It is important to wait for comprehensive reviews and the official release of the cards before making any conclusions.

IGN had the opportunity to test AMD’s upcoming Radeon RX 9070 GPU in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, discreetly running benchmarks on a system equipped with the GPU at CES. While the results show similarities to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4080 Super, further comparisons in various games will provide a more conclusive assessment.

The RX 9070 achieved an average of 99fps in native 4K resolution in Black Ops 6’s benchmark tool using alpha drivers. For comparison, the RTX 4080 Super can reach around 129fps in 4K resolution using DLSS quality mode. This early data suggests promising results for AMD.

While detailed specifications for the RX 9000 series have not been revealed by AMD, their new naming convention indicates that these cards are positioned to compete with Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5070. Initial information suggests that the RTX 5070 may slightly outperform the current RTX 4070 Super.

If AMD’s competing product aligns with the 4080 Super, we could see a significant competition this year in the mid-range GPU sector. However, there are other factors to consider.

Firstly, Black Ops 6 favors AMD cards over other modern gaming titles. Secondly, the CES benchmark for the RX 9070 was conducted using AMD’s new Ryzen 9950X3D CPU, which has not been widely tested with Nvidia GPUs.

Furthermore, the game does not utilize ray tracing, so AMD’s claims of significant RT performance improvements remain unverified. Future reviews will also shed light on how AMD’s new AI-based FSR4 upscaling technology compares to Nvidia DLSS and Intel XeSS.

Pricing is another crucial detail yet to be disclosed for the RX 9070. With 16 GB of VRAM, it could potentially outperform Nvidia’s mid-range options, depending on how AMD responds to the RTX 5070’s aggressive price tag.

AMD has not confirmed release dates for the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, but has hinted at a Q1 2025 launch window. A leak from B&H suggests that pre-orders may open on January 23. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 are scheduled to ship on January 30, followed by the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti in February.