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

Something to look forward to: AMD's paper launch of Radeon RX 9070 GPUs at CES was disappointingly light on details. However, an unsanctioned benchmark for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 provides a brief glimpse into the performance of the vanilla 9070 graphics card model. Granted, we advise everyone to wait for detailed reviews and the cards' full release before drawing any kind of conclusion.

IGN got a chance to benchmark AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9070 GPU in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 by discreetly running the test on a system equipped with the GPU at the CES show floor. Although the results appear similar to Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4080 Super, like-for-like comparisons in more games will provide a clearer picture when time comes.

The RX 9070 averaged 99fps in native 4K in Black Ops 6's in-game benchmark tool using alpha drivers. For comparison, the RTX 4080 Super can reach roughly 129fps in 4K in DLSS quality mode, which upscales the game from 2560 x 1440 resolution. Based on early this data, the results look promising for Team Red.

Although AMD has not disclosed detailed specifications for the RX 9000 series, the company's new naming scheme suggests these cards are positioned to compete with Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5070. Preliminary information indicates that the RTX 5070 might slightly outperform the current RTX 4070 Super.

Although AMD has yet to disclose detailed specifications for the RX 9000 series, the company's new naming scheme implies they are positioned to compete with Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5070. Preliminary information indicates that the RTX 5070 might slightly outperform the current RTX 4070 Super.

If paper napkin math aligns AMD's competing product with the 4080 Super, a serious fight could ensue this year in the mid-range sector, where the most popular GPUs reside. However, other factors lurk in the background.

First, Black Ops 6 is kinder to AMD cards than other modern gaming titles. Second, the CES RX 9070 benchmark was conducted using AMD's new Ryzen 9950X3D CPU, which has not been widely tested alongside Nvidia GPUs.

Third, the game doesn't use ray tracing, so AMD's claims of substantial RT performance improvements remain untested. Upcoming reviews should also reveal how the company's new AI-based FSR4 upscaling technology compares to Nvidia DLSS and Intel XeSS. It is entirely possible that the upcoming Radeon GPUs will perform exceptionally well in rasterization against the RTX 50 series GPUs. However, Nvidia will likely maintain an advantage in upscaling support, particularly if DLSS 4's transition to transformer-based models enhances graphics quality, as some early previews suggest.

Pricing is probably the most crucial detail regarding the RX 9070 that has not been undisclosed either. With 16 GB of VRAM, it could gain an advantage over Nvidia's mid-range offerings, depending on how AMD counters the RTX 5070's aggressive $549 price tag.

AMD has also yet to confirm the release dates for the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, only committing to a Q1 2025 launch window. However, a leak from B&H suggests that pre-orders may open on January 23. Meanwhile, Nvidia's RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 are set to begin shipping on January 30, followed by the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti in February.