AMD RX 9070 XT 16 GB vs Nvidia RTX 5080 16 GB: Which is better for gaming?

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB and Nvidia RTX 5080 16 GB are among the most powerful GPUs you can buy in 2025. These cards are designed for high-resolution gaming with little to no compromises, and also command a premium investment.

AMD has improved its formula significantly this generation with better ray tracing, almost matching Nvidia in certain titles. FSR 4 also closes the gap with DLSS in terms of output image quality, with frame generation delivering considerable framerate gains.

This raises a question: Is spending $1,000 on the RTX 5080 16 GB worth it when you can get the RX 9070 XT at $600? Let's dissect the two cards and try to answer this question.

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The AMD RX 9070 XT 16 GB and the Nvidia RTX 5080 16 GB are high-end graphics cards for gaming

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is a mid-premium GPU designed for high-end gaming (Image via AMD)

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and Nvidia RTX 5080 share little in common, given they're based on wildly different architectures. Looking at the specs sheets won't give you much of an idea in terms of what to expect. Regardless, let's review the specs sheets before delving into performance gaps.

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Specs comparison

The 9070 XT is based on AMD's latest RDNA 4 technology. It packs the flagship Navi 48 XL graphics chip with 64 Compute Units. The 64 2nd-gen AI accelerators and 16 GB GDDR6 video memory result in a total of 48.7 TFLOPS of rendering potential.

The RTX 5080, on the other hand, is based on Nvidia's Blackwell architecture. It packs a whopping 10,752 CUDA cores and faster 16 GB GDDR7 video memory, resulting in 56.3 TFLOPS of rendering potential. That's 16% better than the 9070 XT.

Both cards are quite power hungry, with the 9070 XT being rated at 304W and the 5080 at 360W.

Here's a look at the hardware specs of the cards, side-by-side:

Specification	RX 9070 XT 16 GB	RTX 5080 16 GB
Architecture	RDNA 4 (Navi 48 XL)	Blackwell (GB203‑400)
Launch Date / MSRP	Released March 6 2025; MSRP $599	Released January 30 2025; MSRP $999
Compute Units / CUDA Cores	64 CUs = 4096 stream processors	10,752 CUDA cores
Memory Type & Size	16 GB GDDR6 (20 Gbps) on a 256‑bit bus → 640 GB/s bandwidth	16 GB GDDR7 (30 Gbps) on a 256‑bit bus → 960 GB/s bandwidth
Boost / Game Clocks	Boost up to ~2970 MHz; Game clock ~2400–2570 MHz depending on SKU	Base ~2295 MHz; Boost up to ~2617 MHz
Tensor / AI Accelerators	2nd‑gen AI accelerators; supports FSR‑4 upscaling	5th‑gen Tensor Cores with DLSS 4 and AI frame generation support
Ray Tracing / RT Cores	64 ray accelerators (RDNA 4 RT)	84 4th‑gen RT cores
Compute FP32 TFLOPS	~48.7 FP32 TFLOPS	~56.3 FP32 TFLOPS
PCIe Interface	PCIe 5.0 x16	PCIe 5.0 x16
Power Connectors / TDP	2× 8‑pin; TDP ~304 W	1× 12V‑2×6‑pin; TDP ~360 W; Recommended PSU ~850 W
Display Outputs	3× DisplayPort 2.1a, 1× HDMI 2.1b; max 8K output	3× DisplayPort 2.1b, 1× HDMI 2.1b; supports 8K @165 Hz / 4 displays
L2 / L3 Cache	8 MB L2 + 64 MB L3 cache	~10 MB L1, ~96 MB L2 cache

The launch MSRPs of the AMD and Nvidia cards are $599 and $999, respectively. However, you'll seldom find SKUs at these prices given the current supply constraints. Team Red has fared worse than Nvidia in terms of maintaining their prices, with new variants starting at $750 and up.

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Performance comparison

The RTX 5080 16 GB is a pricey and high-end 4K gaming GPU (Image via Nvidia)

Given the architectural differences between the two GPUs, gaming performance differs significantly between them. Provided below are framerates logged by either GPU in some of the latest titles. We have sourced these numbers from Testing Games.

	Nvidia RTX 5080 16 GB	AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (1440p)	101 FPS	69 FPS
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (4K)	63 FPS	46 FPS
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (1440p)	79 FPS	80 FPS
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (4K)	49 FPS	52 FPS
God of War: Ragnarok (1440p)	171 FPS	150 FPS
God of War: Ragnarok (4K)	108 FPS	86 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima (1440p)	122 FPS	123 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima (4K)	74 FPS	71 FPS
Silent Hill 2 (1440p)	102 FPS	81 FPS
Silent Hill 2 (4K)	88 FPS	67 FPS
Silent Hill 2 (RT+4K)	58 FPS	38 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p)	121 FPS	112 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT+1440p)	70 FPS	52 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (RT+4K)	67 FPS	42 FPS
Starfield (1440p)	103 FPS	105 FPS
Starfield (4K)	69 FPS	67 FPS
Forza Horizon 5 (1440p)	190 FPS	194 FPS
Forza Horizon 5 (4K)	135 FPS	137 FPS
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (1440p)	87 FPS	75 FPS
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (4K)	56 FPS	44 FPS

The RTX 5080 16 GB, being the pricier card, unsurprisingly comes out on top. The GPU is particularly stronger at 4K, and, on average, maintains an 18.6% lead on the RX 9070 XT.

That said, the AMD GPU holds its ground pretty well, often beating the much costlier Nvidia entry. In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Forza Horizon 5, we notice a 2-5% gain, which is pretty impressive for a GPU that costs about half as much. We also spot thin gains in Ghost of Tsushima and Starfield, games which have historically favored AMD hardware.

As is evident, the RTX 5080 excels in games that demand ray tracing, high resolutions, and advanced features like path tracing and mesh shaders. In terms of raw rasterization capabilities, the AMD GPU packs a punch.

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Final verdict

Given the 18.6% performance difference and the 40% gap in price, we recommend buying the AMD RX 9070 XT for most high-end gamers. It bundles enough rendering potential to handle most modern games, with ray tracing turned on. However, don't expect exceptionally strong ray tracing and upscaling performance at high resolutions like 4K.