AMD RX 9070 XT GDDR6 sources have a small effect on performance — testing reveals 1 - 2% delta

If you're in the market for a new AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, you may want to double-check your model's specs. A recent round of benchmarks from Chinese hardware tester 51972 (h/t Uniko's Hardware) found that models shipping with Samsung VRAM modules score on average 2% worse than their siblings with SK hynix VRAM modules.

51972, a large hardware channel on Bilibili, recently performed a full round of tests on nearly every commercially available 9070 XT in China, coming up with a gauntlet of 22 GPUs going head-to-head. While the testing suite did not include any gaming tests or other real-world performance indicators, each model with Samsung VRAM performed 1% to 2% worse on 3DMark's Speed Way benchmark than SK hynix models at matching memory speeds.

Even the fastest Samsung VRAM units achieve lower test scores than the slowest SK hynix units. 51972 claims that when asked for comment, AMD China responded that the difference was attributable to the difference between Samsung and SK hynix modules, ascribing it to "looser timings" on the Samsung VRAM.

51972 was able to corroborate these findings by testing the VRAM specifically in the Clamchowder cache benchmark tool, which revealed generally improved results and lower latency with SK hynix modules compared to the Samsung options. Although the Samsung modules were found to run slightly cooler in this testing, potentially resulting in enough upside to make the difference less than essential.

As previously mentioned, the testing process used by 51972 did not include real-world gaming benchmarks, making it more than likely that in the real world, the differences in latency between memory modules may not be noticeable.

AMD's RX 9070 XT received a 4.5 out of 5-star review in our in-house review, although we didn't test enough models to detect the same Samsung/SK hynix performance gulf. Not to mention, the 9070 XT is one of the most elusive new GPUs released in 2025, with any models of the card still unavailable anywhere for less than $150 over its $599 MSRP. Even 3 months after release, promises from AMD to refill stock at MSRP in the second quarter have not come to fruition.

However, if you are looking to hunt down 9070 XT deals, you may want to consider where your specific GPU's memory is sourced from somewhere on your list of priorities. SK hynix's better latency could mean the difference between 58 and 60 fps, if only in some oddly specific edge scenario.

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