Thanks to all the leaks, I thought I knew what to expect with AMD’s upcoming RDNA 4. It turns out I may have been wrong on more than one account.
The latest leaks reveal that AMD’s upcoming best graphics card may not be called the RX 8800 XT, as most predicted, but will instead be referred to as RX 9070 XT. In addition, the first leaked benchmark of the GPU gives us a glimpse into the kind of performance we can expect, which could turn out to be a bit of a letdown.
First, let’s talk about the naming scheme for RDNA 4, because that one came as a surprise. Over the weekend, several leaks popped up, revealing that the presumed flagship of AMD’s next-gen lineup isn’t going to be the RX 8800 XT. VideoCardz spotted a Reddit ad by the official AMD account, which, coincidentally, appears to have leaked the official render for the GPU. In turn, frequent leaker Hoang Anh Phu responded, confirming that this GPU is indeed the RX 9070 XT. That’s not all.
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Confirmed, this is RX 9070 XT.
— Hoang Anh Phu (@AnhPhuH) December 23, 2024
A leaker on the Chiphell forum also said as much, as shared by HXL on X (Twitter). VideoCardz also cites an anonymous motherboard vendor as it claims that the RDNA 4 lineup is referred to as the Radeon 90-series. All of this adds up to a sudden change in naming scheme, as most sources believed that we’d be dealing with the RX 8000 series. Personally, I was especially excited about the RX 8800 XT, which by all accounts might actually be the RX 9070 XT.
👀 ⛴️👑 pic.twitter.com/TbvuyV0uLu
— All The Watts!! (@All_The_Watts) December 23, 2024
This brings me to the leaked benchmark, shared by All_The_Watts on X. This leaker, who has a good track record, also confirmed the new naming convention — but they also shared a Time Spy benchmark for the RX 9070 XT. This is a synthetic benchmark and not a great indicator of real-world GPU performance, but it helps us see how it stacks up against the competition.
The RX 9070 XT scored 22,894 points in the Time Spy test, which makes it a competitor to cards like the RX 7900 GRE and the RTX 4070 Ti. It’s considerably slower than the RX 7900 XT, though — by over 15%. Considering that many claimed AMD’s new flagship to be comparable to the RTX 4080, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment at this first score.
However, it’s important to remember that this is just one isolated benchmark, so it’s too early to say just how fast the rumored RX 9070 XT may turn out to be. I expect there’ll be more benchmarks leaking out in the lead-up to January 6, when AMD is said to announce RDNA 4 and put an end to all the rumors once and for all.
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