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AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, by PowerColor
AMD provided two graphics cards for this review, both from PowerColor and both with reference clocks. They're branded Reaper, a new family for PowerColor that presumably sits near the lower end of the product stack. These are triple-fan cards, but everything else says base model — no RGB lighting, no dual BIOS, no extras in the box. That's fine, as base MSRP cards usually don't have a lot of extras.
We're primarily focusing on the higher spec RX 9070 XT for this review, though we'll have all the performance data for both cards. It's again a matter of time constraints. Doing three full graphics card writeups in one week is just a bit too much. But we'll have plenty to say about the vanilla RX 9070 as well.
Both cards have the same physical dimensions: 292x111x41 mm. The fans are 88mm models with integrated rims that help improve airflow. But while the dimensions are the same, there are some differences between the two cards. Specifically, the 9070 XT card has a copper heat plate while the 9070 has an aluminum (or some silver metal) heat plate. There are likely other differences under the shrouds, as the 9070 XT will have to dissipate more heat.
PowerColor takes the traditional approach of including three DisplayPort 2.1a ports and a single HDMI 2.1b port. However, the specifications note that only two simultaneous DP2.1 connections can be active at the same time. Also, these are UHBR13.5 (54 Gbps) ports, rather than the full 80 Gbps maximum that DisplayPort 2.1a allows for.
The RX 9070 XT has a 304W TBP (Total Board Power), so it makes sense that it comes with dual 8-pin power connectors. Along with the 75W maximum power provided by the PCIe x16 slot — and yes, it's a PCIe 5.0 slot — that's up to 375W of power. The 9070 only has a 220W TBP, so technically it could even be run off a single 8-pin connector plus the power from the PCIe slot, but taking the safer route of providing a second 8-pin connection is appreciated.
Of course, being the old and reliable 8-pin connectors means there shouldn't be much risk of any meltdowns happening, and you can get away with using pre-ATX 3.0 power supplies. Either way, these are minimalist designs that should work well in general. Which brings us to the important part for anyone reading: the benchmarks.
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