When the RX 9070 launched, nearly all reviews focused on pricier, factory-overclocked 245 W versions. Cards with reference clocks are far less common. We’re examining one of them—the basic Sapphire Pulse RX 9070—with stock specs: a 2520 MHz boost and a reduced 220 W power limit. In practice, though, at reference clocks the card seems to ends up a little slower in tests than it should be.
The Radeon RX 9070 is a cut-down variant of the more powerful RX 9070 XT. Before we dive into testing the Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 model, a brief recap of the basic parameters of the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070. Together with the RX 9070, we already introduced them in detail at launch in articles dedicated to the RDNA4 architecture and to the specifications of both models, their features, and the new technologies they introduce.
The Radeon RX 9070 is the second most powerful model in the current generation of cards based on the RDNA4 architecture. It is built around the Navi48 chip.
The RX 9070 XT model uses a fully enabled chip with 64 CUs, 4096 stream processors, 128 rasterization units and 256 texture units. Compared to the fully featured RX 9070 XT, the Radeon RX 9070 is cut down at the chip level. The number of stream processors is reduced from 4096 to 3584, and the number of texture units drops from 256 to 224. Both models have 128 rasterization units.
The full Navi48 has 64 ray tracing compute cores and 128 tensor cores; on the RX 9070 their numbers are lowered to 112 and 56. Cache capacities remain the same for both models, as do the memory capacity, memory bus width and memory bandwidth—both models use 16 GB of GDDR6 running at 20.1 Gb/s, communicating with the chip over a 256-bit bus.
The differences also include chip clocks and power limits—the RX 9070 XT has a rated typical gaming clock of 2400 MHz and a boost clock up to 3970 MHz, while the RX 9070 has a rated typical gaming clock of 2070 MHz and a boost clock up to 2520 MHz. The power limit is set to 304 W for the higher-end model, and significantly lower at 220 W for the cheaper RX 9070.
Detailed specifications are in the table below.
The vast majority of RX 9070 models on the market, however, come with higher power limits and operating clocks. On HWCooling you could already see in testing the Sapphire Pure AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC and the Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC after launch. Both had their boost clocks raised from up to 2520 to up to 2700 MHz and their power limits increased to 245 W.
It is almost unbelievable how perfectly aligned the overclocked RX 9070 models from different manufacturers are, both in set chip clocks and in power limit values. It doesn’t look like coincidence; it rather seems that all of them are based on the same “OC” BIOS with clocks and power limits raised to these values.
Today we will look at one of the rarer models with reference parameters—the Sapphire Pulse RX 9070 GPU.
Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9070 GPU
(11349-03-20G)
The Pulse series models make up the lower part of Sapphire’s offer. The tested card has reference parameters—a rated gaming clock of 2070 MHz, a boost clock up to 2520 MHz, and memory also at the standard 20 Gbps. The power limit is at the reference 220 W, whereas the overclocked models with boost up to 2700 MHz typically have it raised to 245 W.
Compared to the two RX 9070 models I tested earlier, there is one difference in the memory that is likely significant—according to diagnostic data, it uses Samsung GDDR6 chips instead of Hynix. And this likely affects performance.
Beyond that, GPU-Z monitoring only shows the usual information found on other models. The fans are monitored and controlled through a single connector. The power limit can be set in the range of −30 to +10% (154 to 242 W).
The most detailed sensor readout for most cards is provided by the HWiNFO application. The list of sensors available for the tested card in the latest version of the application is shown in the image below.
On the back of the packaging, manufacturers typically highlight key features of the card, but Sapphire gives more space to AMD technologies common to all Radeons. You won’t learn much from the packaging about how this model differs from the competition or what features it offers.
On the product pages, however, Sapphire mentions the use of Honeywell PTM7950 TIM thermal pads, the Free Flow airflow-optimized heatsink, AeroCurve fan blades, composite heatpipes, and integrated cooling for removing heat from critical components—from the GPU as well as the memory and the power delivery (VRM). The card has a metal backplate and the structure is reinforced by a robust plastic shroud forming the cooler housing, designated FrameDefense. The shroud holds the fans with dual ball bearings. They also mention digital power delivery on a high-density 12-layer 2 oz Cu PCB with high-Tg laminate, and fuses for both power connectors.
The card is among the lighter models, and auxiliary power is provided by classic eight-pin connectors, so the accessories include only a simple installation guide.
We will take a closer look at the card’s design in the next chapter.
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– It is obvious that a big advantage of this card are its dimensions. This is never mentioned in the review.
– I always power-limit my GPU during gameplay as a way to optimize (1) fan noise, (2) case temperate, (3) adjust for summer vs. winter room temperature and (4) to lower the electricity bill.