XFX QuickSilver AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC Gaming Edition Review

Introduction

AMD has finally, officially announced their next generation RDNA4 architecture and the products that will be utilizing the Navi 48 chip. It has been a bit of a roller coaster for those waiting patiently for information and reviews to be released. Originally it was expected to be announced at CES at the beginning of 2025, then expected to be released near the end of January.

AMD decided to postpone launch for a variety of reasons, though speculation was rampant about what the actual motives were. Retailers and warehouses were shipped product to supposedly meet the January release date, but those cards had to be held back while AMD revised its schedule.

At the end of February, we were introduced officially to the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070. AMD gave the rundown on features on the brand new RDNA4 architecture. It is a massive shift from the previous generation of parts as AMD is including a dedicated ray tracing unit per CU as well as supporting a hardware matrix/ML/AI compute unit to accelerate those operations.

AMD also massively re-architected the Compute Units so they are around 40% faster than last generation. Last generation’s RX 7900 XTX featured 96 CUs and the new RX 9070 XT features 64, yet performs very closely to the older card in a wide variety of applications (and faster in some).

AMD is manufacturing these chips on TSMC’s N4P process, which is essentially the same as which NVIDIA is using for their RTX 5000 (Blackwell) chips. Power has gone down as compared to last gen, but between process node improvements and an improved design the clock speeds have risen rather dramatically.

The 7900 XTX had a boost clock of 2500 MHz at around a 355-watt TDP. The RX 9070 XT features a boost clock that nears 3000 MHz yet keeps the TDP at 304 watts.

The Radeon RX 9070 features 56 CUs, 56 ray accelerators, 112 AI accelerators, 3584 stream processors, and 128 ROPs. The base game clock is 2070 MHz with a boost clock up to 2520 MHz. The 16GB of memory is attached to a 256-bit bus running at 20 Gbps, giving an effective bandwidth of ~640 GB/sec.

The long and short of it is AMD has designed a generation of chips that may not exceed the previous gen in overall performance, but do provide the market with a very competitive part at a lower price and a lower power envelope. Those with a Radeon RX 7900 XTX do not have an upgrade path, but for those with older RX 6000 Series units, as well as anything under the RX 7800 XT, will see significant performance and feature changes that would make these cards desirable.

Consumers also waiting to upgrade their previous generation NVIDIA cards with the latest RTX 5000 Series may want to consider the AMD options as they provide a great amount of performance for less money.

The XFX QuickSilver Card

XFX used to be a solid NVIDIA partner, but due to factors that are not entirely known NVIDIA chose no longer to work with XFX. At that point the only option was to establish a partnership with AMD to continue to produce graphics cards. Since then XFX has been one of the premier partners that consistently design and manufacture high performance cards with excellent cooling properties. Their unique and robust designs from the RX 6000 and RX 7000 series made them a popular option for consumers.

The packaging that XFX uses is pretty iconic. The graphics design is very classy with bold red accents throughout. The cardboard/stock that is used has a nice feel to it as well as being relatively thick. XFX has an inner box made of even tougher cardboard and the card is surrounded by a thick layer of foam on all sides. The installation manual and quick access card is included, as well as warranty. XFX also throws in the rear expandable post to provide a further anti-sag mechanism that also takes some of the strain off of the PCI-E slot.

The XFX QuickSilver Radeon RX 9070 OC is the product that we are looking at today. The QuickSilver line is a step above what would be a reference design from AMD, but a step below their Mercury offering which are no-compromise units focused on extreme cooling, power delivery, and overclocking. This is not to say that the QuickSilver parts are slouches when it comes to these features. They too feature above average cooling and power delivery, but not at the same level as Mercury.

The card itself is a large unit with a massive aluminum cooler. It features three 100 mm fans (non-magnetic) and a three-slot design. The PCB is noticeably shorter than previous generations of cards and it utilizes 2 x 8 pin PCI-E power connectors. The cooler has an internal stiffening bar that is firmly attached to the back plate. This bar helps to prevent drooping when not supported at the rear of the card. There is also a metal plate on the back that also improves cooling as well as providing another stiffening component to help reduce droop. In the box XFX also includes an expandable support post that can be installed inside a variety of cases.

Display outputs include 3 x Display Port 2.1a and a single HDMI 2.1b. These should be able to drive any monitor on the market up to 8K resolutions. It is also a PCI-E 5.0 native device which should allow a theoretical bandwidth from CPU to GPU of around 128 GB/s. The official board power of this card is a relatively mundane 220 watts (as compared to 575 watts on the RTX 5090).

Aesthetically speaking the design builds upon previous generations of XFX parts, but it utilizes a plastic shroud as compared to the metal alloy-based units at the upper end of the performance spectrum with the RX 6000 series. This has made the design lighter, but also a bit less interesting visually. It does not have the extensive RGB lighting that the Mercury unit offers, but it does feature a rather tasteful XFX logo lit from behind with a white LED. There are also two removable plates on the plastic shroud that can be replaced at a later time with different colored units that can be ordered from XFX. The cooler also features a flow through portion on the rear of the card to improve cooling overall. Instead of air being diverted by the PCB, the flow through will allow the hot air to be expelled towards the CPU and out the back of the case.

It is still a very heavy card with some pretty dense cooling. Overall the build quality is very good with a robust power delivery system. XFX implements a 14 phase PWM delivery, a nickel plated copper cold plate, and five 6mm heat pipes. The fans are all dual ball bearing units rated to last around 70,000 hours. Thermal pads cover memory, VRMs, and other components. For the GPU XFX utilizes Honeywell PTM 7950.

For the last several generations, XFX products have impressed me by how well made they are and how they perform. This card looks to continue along that line, though I am less enthused about the overall shroud design choices. Taste is subjective, but when mounted in a case horizontally it does not create an eyesore for a computer build. The all-black motif and tasteful RGB element makes up for the “big, faceted piece of plastic” shroud.

The card is overclocked so as to allow a maximum boost of 2600 MHz as compared to the stock 2520 MHz. The memory speed remains at stock, though users can adjust both of these values with their favorite overclocking tool. AMD integrates some basic overclocking functionality with their latest drivers.

Test Setup and Methodology

I thought I would continue to use the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D for testing as that is still a very fast gaming CPU that should not be a limitation when running at 2560×1440 and 4K. It also gives users who are considering upgrading to this card from older platforms some data as to how it performs when running at PCI-E 4.0 speeds.

I also tested the cards in an enclosed case with consumer level airflow. While it is not nearly as easy swapping out cards, we do get a representative experience in terms of performance, sound, and thermals.

Test Platform:

• Ryzen 7 5800X3D
• ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X motherboard
• 32 GB GSkill DDR-4 3600
• 1TB WD SN850 Black Boot Drive
• 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro Data/Game Drive
• BeQuiet! 1200 Watt Dark Power Pro 11 Power Supply
• Corsair Obsidian 750D Case
• Windows 11 Pro 24H2
• NVIDIA 572.27 driver
• AMD 24.30.31.03 Press Driver Feb. 20, 2025

I tested a wide variety of cards that I had on hand that would provide a useful comparison to many parts out there (I do not currently have any of the RTX 5000 series):

• XFX Mercury Radeon RX 7900 XTX
• Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XT Hellhound
• XFX Speedster Quick Radeon RX 7700 XT
• Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4070
• EVGA GeForce RTX 3080
• ASUS Dual Series GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB)

No frame generation or other resolution scaling settings are used in testing. This is all raw performance from each of the cards.

Test Results

Unigine Superposition

Unigine provides a very useful series of benchmarks spanning multiple generations of products. Superposition is their latest which features a wide variety of settings that can push even the latest video card with shader and lighting heavy workloads. It does not feature raytracing, but the lighting still looks natural. Tests were done at the 1080p High default as well as a custom run at 2560×1440 with Extreme settings.

All of the cards handle the High setting with no problems. The RTX 3060 12GB is the lowest performing unit with the RX 9070 more than doubling its results. The RTX 4070 that retails at around $500 USD is still significantly slower than the RX 9070. At the Extreme setting that 9070 continues to perform very well and nearly matches the previous gen RX 7900 XT (which retails around $700 US).

3DMark

The grand-daddy of all 3D benchmarks. The latest iteration features a host of benchmarks that range from mobile parts up to the latest and greatest gaming PCs. I used the Speedway benchmark to focus on RT performance while the new Nomad benchmark is representative of the latest games that feature traditional shading as well as some RT features thrown in.

The RX 9070 thoroughly outclasses all of the NVIDIA parts and also takes the RX 7700 XT to the shed. It is faster than the RX 7900 XT, but cannot quite match the overall performance of the RX 7900 XTX. This is a serious jump up for AMD on the RT side with this new generation of product. Nomad has a similar scale of results which makes the RX 9070 the second fastest card in this test.

Forza Horizon 5

This visually impressive race title takes drivers throughout different parts of Mexico and features a wide gamut of weather effects. Ray tracing is baked in to a pretty significant degree and provides a robust and consistent experience for a wide variety of hardware options. Extreme settings with all RT enabled was used with the built in benchmark.

The 9070 is approaching 7900 XTX levels of performance in this title. It exceeds everything else in the test by a pretty significant margin, including the 7900 XT.

F1 2023

While not the latest version of the F1 games, it still supports all of the DXR features. Ultra/High settings were enabled, as well as all RT functions. The Brazil track in wet conditions was the benchmark used in game.

The results are very similar in pecking order as previous tests. The 9070 is faster than everything except the two 7900 cards.

Far Cry 6

It is odd to think that this title was released back in 2021, but it is not the sharpest looking engine anymore. It does possess a solid, built-in benchmark and supports high resolution textures and RT features that push video memory requirements past 8GB. Ultra settings with all RT functions enabled.

At 1440P the 9070 is the fastest card of the bunch. Once things go up to 4K resolution then we see the 7900 XTX take the top spot again. The 7900 XT comes in a close second to the 9070 with everything else falling well behind. The poor 3080 with 10 GB of memory takes a big hit when going to 4K resolution.

Watch Dogs: Legion

WDL is actually a year older than Far Cry 6, but has really stayed a bit more relevant in the quality of its overall graphics and RT implementation. At 4K resolution it is stressing even the latest cards. Ultra settings with all RT features enabled.

Even at 2560×1440 settings, all of the cards are struggling to get past 80 fps. The 3060 will not even hit 30 fps. The 9070 is again faster than everything else except the 7900 XTX. It still offers a nearly 40fps experience at these ultra settings at 4K resolution.

Monster Hunter: Wilds

This brand new benchmark on Steam is free for anyone to download and test. It is considered a cutting edge engine with advanced shader and RT effects. It also natively supports FSR/DLSS and frame generation on each of those platforms. Ultra preset enabled, all RT effects, and FG/scaling disabled.

We see a pretty consistent result here with the nearly $1000 RX 7900 XTX being the fastest of the bunch, but not by much. The 9070 is again faster than the rest of the cards presented.

Cyberpunk 2077

One of the most visually impressive games of this generation and an amazing world to wander around in. The game and engine have been upgraded multiple times since it has been released to support all of the latest and greatest rendering technologies. This is something this group has not been afraid to do since the original The Witcher was released all those years ago. Ultra/High settings were enabled with RT functionality. Frame gen and display scaling disabled.

The 9070 matches the 7900 XTX here, while everything else takes a back seat.

FSR and Frame Generation

I used Monster Hunter: Wilds to test out how FSR and FG improves performance. Settings were identical to the previous test, but FSR Quality and Frame Generation were enabled. The 4K resolution was chosen. The jump in performance was pretty significant. Going from an average of 49.51 FPS to 116.72 FPS made the game much smoother and enjoyable, especially when using a high Hz monitor.

These are of course not “true” frames, and a certain amount of latency is introduced – which can mostly be mitigated by enabled AMD’s Anti-Lag+ setting in the driver application.

Power

Power was measured at the wall. The entire system is measured, but we can see the effects the different cards have on that power usage.

Idle numbers are pretty consistent across the board. There are no real outliers there. Load numbers are a different thing altogether. The 9070 is not sipping power like the 3060. It is also not as efficient as the RTX 4070. When compared to the 7700 XT it is very close in power consumption, but performance is on another level altogether. It sticks around the 7900 XT in terms of performance, but consumes around 75 watts less. It sometimes matches the 7900 XTX, but is almost 200 watts less at the wall. This is a seriously impressive part from a perf/watt perspective.

Temperature

The temperature of each of these cards was taken during a run of 3D Mark Speedway. The test was run multiple times and on the last run the max temperature was recorded.

That poor EVGA RTX 3080 was pretty warm all around after this test. I have to let it cool before I take it out of the test rig. The 9070 never broke past 52C even under the most dire of circumstances. The fans never became loud, though in a couple of instances I did hear a slight uptick in noise overall from the machine.

Overclocking and Boost

I found a few interesting things about this particular card, and it mainly revolves around workloads. In regular use I never really saw it go over about 2550 MHz in stock configuration. Even though it is an overclocked model, there are enough safety features that will limit clockspeed in terms of power draw. Using the built-in overclocking features of the AMD driver I could expand upon that by a small amount. I pushed the power limit to 110% and started adjusting the dials.

No matter what I set the offset to, it never exceeded 2620 MHz core speed under load. Pushing the offset to 200 MHz only resulted in about a 100 MHz overclock. I was able to overclock the memory as well by 150 MHz without issue, but anything above that did not produce meaningful performance improvements.

So how did it perform with that overclocking? It gave me 2 extra fps in Speedway. It gave me 1.5 fps in Monster Hunter: Wilds.

Transformational overclocking performance.

Conclusion

I have had experience with XFX video cards now for decades. Some of the first cards were the NVIDIA 6000 series and I remember that interesting 7800 GT unit with the green plastic highlights on the cooling fan, shroud, and DVI ports. Or the 8800 GTX that was an absolute beast for years. There was a lul there for some years, but then I had the chance to review the Radeon RX 6800 XT from XFX and I really appreciated where they were as a company and a design firm. Truly one of my favorite cards for the past several years in terms of performance, aesthetics, cooling, and quality.

This latest card may not reach the impression of the 6800 XT, but it isn’t far off. The cooling and overall performance of the card is really impressive. Visually it will be a hit or miss for users. It took me a while to warm up to how it looks, but that is entirely secondary to how it actually performed. It is a fast card for the price, it has all the features that a user could want, and it has some headroom for overclocking if that is your thing.

XFX delivers the entire package with this release. It is a high quality part that performs above average from what I have seen with other options. It has a three year warranty which is becoming pretty common around the industry. It would honestly be one of my first choices if I were to buy a card in this class. I think AMD has a real winner with the 9070 series, and XFX has delivered a very solid entry into that category.