ASUS TUF RX 9070 OC :
Architecture:
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 series graphics cards are built on the new AMD RDNA 4 architecture with new ray tracing and AI gas pedals as well as support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4, more traditionally called, AMD FSR 4. This should offer improvements in image quality over AMD FSR 3.1 upscaling.
AMD seems to have determined that $700 was the maximum price that gamers wishing to upgrade their configuration were willing to pay. This is a major factor that AMD has taken into account in order to offer these first two models in the AMD Radeon RTX 9070 series. The slide below shows where the RX 9070 series will be positioned in terms of price.
As far as prices are concerned, AMD is hitting hard, announcing the RX 9070 at $549 and the RX 9070 XT at $599. AMD France is quoting prices in euros from ????. It’s not hard to imagine the rivalry that’s about to set in against NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 ($549) and RTX 5070 Ti ($749).
ASUS TUF Gaming RX 9070 OC Edition:
As you can see from the photos below, the box of our copy of the TUF Gaming RX 9070 OC Edition is very much in the spirit of the ASUS series. The packaging is fairly compact, which is good news for the card’s size. While the box benefits from a touch of green when it comes to NVIDIA models, here we’re usually entitled to red, for AMD, but it’s more discreet on the front panel.
On the rear, ASUS highlights the PCB design, the cooling system and its GPU Tweak III overclocking software. The opening is on the side, where we find our graphics card perfectly protected in a foam block. The bundle includes a quick-installation guide and a vertical support to place in your case to hold your graphics card horizontally, which can also be used as a Phillips screwdriver.
This is a “custom” card, i.e. with a PCB and cooling system specific to AMD’s partner brand, i.e. ASUS. There will be no AMD reference board, as with the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT.
Cooling :
The TUF Gaming RX 9070 OC Edition boasts a cooling system consisting of three 100 mm fans. The design of this TUF model is visually very pleasing and features a few touches of RGB backlighting. The gray color of the aluminum casing will match any motherboard and any case. It’s simple and effective, just the way we like it.
Axial-tech fans rotate on double ball bearings, increasing the volume of air passing through the radiator. The result is higher temperatures and reduced noise pollution. The two side fans turn counter-clockwise. The aim is to minimize turbulence and maximize air dispersion through the radiator.
These fans have 11 blades and will remain at rest when the board is not in use, and vice versa. The central fan rotates in the opposite direction to the other two, to avoid turbulence. They become active again when the temperature requires it. As you can see, hot air escapes through the top edge of the board, through the bracket and also through the aluminum backplate, which is cut out at the end. In fact, the PCB is much shorter than the heat sink. The radiator ends at the PCB’s two power connectors.
As previously mentioned, the rear of the board is protected by an imposing grey backplate. Its role is to prevent the PCB from twisting, but it also plays a thermal dissipation role, with the presence of pads between it and the PCB. We’ll be able to judge the temperature of the latter during our tests. In terms of thickness, our sample occupies 3 slots with dimensions of 330 x 140 x 62.5 mm.
The card also features a dual BIOS: Pmode (performance) and Qmode (quiet). By default, Pmode is selected, and in our opinion, this is the best choice, even if the differences between the two BIOSes are virtually non-existent.
Connectors :
To power our board, and this is excellent news, ASUS retains two 8-pin power connectors. We also know that, as far as memory is concerned, AMD is using GDDR6 instead of GDDR6X for both boards, mainly because the latter consumes less power and is incidentally less expensive.
This TUF Gaming RX 9070 OC Edition boasts one PCIe 5.0 port, three DisplayPort 2.1a and one HDMI 2.1b.