Gigabyte's rendition of a premium Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card sports a beefy WINDFORCE cooler design that comes decked out with mesmerising RGB lighting effects, and comes with good thermal performance to boot.

On 6 March 2025, AMD launched its "RDNA 4" line-up of GPUs, namely the Radeon RX 9070 XT and the RX 9070. Packing significantly-improved ray tracing performance compared to its predecessors, the RX 9000 series marks AMD's shift away from the flagship GPU scene towards mainstream offerings in a bid to shore up its share of the global GPU market, and is intended to give NVIDIA's mid-range "Blackwell" series of GPUs (chiefly the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and 5070) a serious run for their money.

For this review, I'll be unboxing and testing a premium non-MSRP RX 9070 XT graphics card by Gigabyte - the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G. Featuring a hefty WINDFORCE cooler design that sports alternate-spinning triple "Hawk" fans, the use of server-grade thermal conductive gel and a large vapour chamber with copper heat pipes to keep temperatures at bay, the ELITE 16G is Gigabyte's flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card offering that also comes with a RGB-laden gamer-oriented aesthetic. Read on to see how this card performs with a small selection of gaming benchmark tests at the 1440p and 4K resolution, when paired with AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D gaming processor.

Summary of Specifications (GV-R9070XTAORUS E-16GD)

• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
• Memory: 16GB GDDR6 RAM (256-bit, 20 Gbps)
• Core Clocks:
  • Boost Clock: Up to 3100 MHz
  • Game Clock: Up to 2570 MHz
• Bus Type: PCIe 5.0 x16
• Outputs: 2x DisplayPort 2.1a, 2x HDMI 2.1b
• External Power Required: Yes, 3x 8-pin PCIe
• Recommended PSU Wattage: 850W and above
• Dimensions: 339mm x 136mm x 59mm
• Official Gigabyte product page: https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-R9070XTAORUS-E-16GD

Packaging & Accessories

As a product offering from Gigabyte's AORUS line-up, no surprises here that the outer sleeve sports a large AORUS eagle motif, with the rear of the sleeve giving the usual overview of features and specifications for this graphics card.

Removing the outer box sleeve reveals a black cardboard box that holds the graphics card and the accessories that Gigabyte's included:

• Quick start guide
• Graphics card holder setup guide
• Warranty registration card
• Graphics card holder
• AORUS case badge

Aesthetics & Physical Features

The AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G comes with a premium rendition of Gigabyte's WINDFORCE cooler design, where the fan shroud is made of plastic that is finished in different textures and colours for visual interest. The card is pretty sizeable, and features a triple alternate-spinning fan setup, where the card also comes with Gigabyte's new "Hawk" fan design that "reduces air resistance and noise levels". A new feature introduced with Gigabyte's Radeon RX 9000 series and GeForce RTX 5000 series of graphics card offerings is the use of server grade thermal conductive gel, as opposed to the usual thermal pads that are typically used as thermal interface material for a graphics card's VRAM and MOSFETs. Finally, Gigabyte also touts the use of a "large vapour chamber and composite copper heat pipe" to help keep temperatures at bay.

The graphics card comes with a metal backplate to ensure structural rigidity, where it also comes with ventilation slats, a feature Gigabyte calls "Screen Cooling" that helps with heat dissipation from the heat sink's fins.

In terms of dimensions, the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G measures in at 339mm x 136mm x 59mm.

Along the top edge of the graphics card, we get a toggle switch that allows end-users to switch between a "Performance" and "Silent" BIOS.

If you're no fan of NVIDIA's infamous 12VHPWR power connector, fret not, for AMD's opted to go with traditional 8-pin PCIe power connectors, where this card in particular requires three of them.

If you're a big fan of RGB lighting effects for your PC build, you'll be pleased to note that the AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G comes with no shortage of RGB lighting, where along the long edge, we get an illuminated "AORUS" logo that comes with what Gigabyte terms an "Overlay Design" - this creates a layered depth effect to spice up the card's appearance. We do also get another illuminated "AORUS" logo on the backplate of the graphics card.

The card's aesthetic pièce de résistance is arguably its RGB halo ring lighting effects, which can be customised from within the RGB Fusion section of the Gigabyte Control Center application in Windows. It's worth noting though, that the Gigabyte Control Center app does leave much to be desired at times, in large part due to the bugs that I've encountered when trying to synchronise the RGB lighting effects of the graphics card with the rest of the ARGB hardware found on my test bench PC; your mileage may vary in this regard.

In terms of display output ports, we get two DisplayPort 2.1a ports and two HDMI 2.1b ports.

GPU-Z Screenshot

Benchmarks & Test Setup

To get a sensing of the card's gaming performance, the following gaming benchmarks were run:

• Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool
• F1 23 in-game benchmark
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider in-game benchmark

The benchmark tests above were run at both the 1440p and 4K resolution. Upscaling technologies such as FSR as well as features like Frame Generation were also disabled for the test runs.

Test Setup

A test bench with the specifications as listed below was used:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (stock settings, PBO & Curve Optimiser disabled)
• CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB
• CPU Thermal Paste: Thermalright TF7
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X670E AORUS MASTER (F34b BIOS)
• Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) KingBank DDR5 Dark Heatsink UDIMM 6000MHz (DDR5 6000 CL28-35-35-76 1.45V)
• Storage: Lexar NM790 1TB NVMe SSD
• Graphics Card: Gigabyte AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G
• Case: Open-air test bench
• Monitor: Gigabyte M27U 27" LCD monitor (4K, 160Hz)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (24H2 with all latest drivers and updates installed, "Balanced" power profile)
• Graphics Driver: AMD Adrenalin 25.3.1
• Resizable BAR: Enabled

The test results shown below were taken from benchmark runs that did not have any screen capture software running in the background.

Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool

Starting with Black Myth Wukong's benchmark tool, we see that the test bench achieves a very playable average FPS of 86, with a minimum FPS of 63 and a maximum FPS of 102. These results were obtained on the "High" preset with ray tracing switched off, and Super Resolution set to "100" with TSR as the sampling mode. Frame Generation was also disabled for the duration of the benchmark.

Bumping the resolution up to 4K with the same graphics quality settings as the 1440p benchmark run, the test bench achieves an average FPS of 47, a minimum FPS of 41 and a maximum FPS of 53.

F1 23 In-game Benchmark

With F1 23's in-game benchmark tool, the test system achieves an average FPS of 328, a minimum FPS of 245 and a maximum FPS of 392 at 1440p. These results were obtained on the "High" detail preset with all forms of upscaling technologies (e.g. FSR) disabled and ray tracing disabled. Anisotropic Filtering was set to the "16X" setting.

Turning up the display resolution to 4K with the same graphics quality settings as the 1440p benchmark run, the test system achieves a very playable average FPS of 194, a minimum FPS of 153 and a maximum FPS of 235.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider In-game Benchmark

Concluding the benchmarks section of this review is Shadow of the Tomb Raider's built-in benchmark test, where on the 1440p resolution, the test system achieves an average FPS of 145. The results above were obtained on the "Highest" graphics preset with anti-aliasing set to the "SMAA4x" mode, Ray Tracing Shadow Quality set to "Off" and all forms of upscaling technologies disabled.

On the 4K resolution while retaining the same graphics settings as the 1440p test run, the test system achieves an average FPS of 77.

Power Consumption, Thermals & Acoustics

Power Consumption

Under Load (F1 23 In-game Benchmark, 1440p, High Detail Preset, TAA, 16X AF, FSR Off, Singapore Circuit, Two Laps)
• Avg. Total Board Power: 339.4W
• Min. Total Board Power: 312.5W
• Max. Total Board Power: 340.2W

Idle
• Avg. Total Board Power: 5.4W
• Min. Total Board Power: 5.2W
• Max. Total Board Power: 6.0W

The figures above were obtained from "Total Board Power (TBP)" readouts from HWiNFO64.

Thermals

Under Load (F1 23 In-game Benchmark, 1440p, High Detail Preset, TAA, 16X AF, FSR Off, Singapore Circuit, Two Laps)
• Avg. GPU Temperature: 55.5°C
• Min. GPU Temperature: 51.0°C
• Max. GPU Temperature: 57.0°C
• Avg. GPU Hot Spot Temperature: 87.7°C
• Min. GPU Hot Spot Temperature: 83.0°C
• Max. GPU Hot Spot Temperature: 89.0°C

Idle
• Avg. GPU Temperature: 41.8°C
• Min. GPU Temperature: 41.0°C
• Max. GPU Temperature: 43.0°C
• Avg. GPU Hot Spot Temperature: 45.0°C
• Min. GPU Hot Spot Temperature: 44.0°C
• Max. GPU Hot Spot Temperature: 47.0°C

The figures above were obtained from "GPU Temperature" & "GPU Hot Spot Temperature" readouts from HWiNFO64, and were obtained when on the default fan curve profile as configured from within AMD's Adrenalin control panel.

Ambient Temperature of Surroundings: ~28°C

While under gaming workloads with default fan curve settings, I found the Gigabyte AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G's fans to be pretty quiet, and it's great to note too that there was very minimal coil whine - I could only hear a faint hint of coil whine in the form of a low buzzing noise only when I had my ear right next to the graphics card.

That said, it's worth mentioning that when I initially setup the graphics card with my test bench, the fan curve that Windows defaulted to saw the ELITE 16G's fans run at 100% speed under the slightest hint of graphics workload, and boy were the fans LOUD on full speed. I only managed to tune things down by going into the AMD Adrenalin control panel, and toggling the fan curve to the stock default settings - it was only then where the card's fan acoustics performed as they should.

Conclusion & Pricing

In conclusion, the Gigabyte AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT ELITE 16G lives up to its premium placement in the pecking order of RX 9070 XT graphics cards, where it comes with a factory overclock, fancy RGB lighting effects and good thermal performance courtesy of its beefy WINDFORCE cooler design. With the RX 9070 XT GPU's performance (at least from the small sample of gaming benchmarks that I've run, in addition to performance reviews from other PC hardware media outlets), it's clearly targeted at end-users intending to game predominantly on the 1440p resolution. That said, it'll handle 4K gaming on modern titles with some graphics eye candy tuned down, or with the use of upscaling technology such as AMD's FSR.

Bearing in mind AMD's MSRP of US$599 for base model RX 9070 XT graphics cards, the Gigabyte AORUS Radeon RX 9070 XT is currently listed at Micro Center for a price of US$759.99 (which represents a US$160 premium over the base models' MSRPs), and it's out-of-stock as of the time of writing this article. A quick search on Amazon and Newegg also reveals that this card is not available to purchase yet from these two online retailers.

Whether or not the card represents great value will depend on the price that end-consumers pay, given the less-than-desirable state of the new GPU market where even retailers have been marking up prices beyond suggested retail pricing simply to capitalise on the fact that there are buyers out there who are capable and willing to pay such prices - one certainly hopes that this is but a temporary blip, and that the GPU market will soften and normalise in due course.

Get this graphics card from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bF57za (affiliate link)

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The graphics card featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from AMD Singapore.