01
Introduction
The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a popular mid-range graphics card recently released. Its performance rivals that of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, but at a significantly lower price, making it a top choice for many new PC builders and even users looking to upgrade older platforms.
This article compares the performance differences of the Radeon RX 9070 XT when operating under PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 modes, for the reference of interested readers.
02
Test Platform Configuration
Main specifications are as follows:
The processor is a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the motherboard is the ASRock X670E PG Lightning, memory is 32GB DDR5 6200MHz, the graphics card is the Radeon RX 9070 XT, the storage is an ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade 1TB SSD, and the operating system is Windows 10.
03
Game Testing (PCIe 3.0 or 5.0 on RX 9070 XT)
Seven games were tested, all using 1080P with maximum graphics settings. In the following image comparisons, the left represents the PCIe 3.0 platform and the right represents the PCIe 5.0 platform.
Game 1: Alan Wake 2
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 82, minimum instantaneous FPS was 62, frame time was 12.3ms, CPU usage was 24%, power consumption was 60W, temperature was 68°C, memory usage was 9.1GB, GPU usage was 100%, VRAM usage was 9.8GB, GPU power draw was 308W, and temperature was 60°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 84, minimum instantaneous FPS was 50, frame time was 10.7ms, CPU usage was 27%, power consumption was 63W, temperature was 66°C, memory usage was 11.4GB, GPU usage was 100%, VRAM usage was 13.1GB, GPU power draw was 301W, and temperature was 58°C.
The PCIe 5.0 platform had 3% higher CPU usage, 2.3GB more memory usage, equal GPU usage, 3.3GB more VRAM usage, 7W lower GPU power draw, and 2°C lower GPU temperature.
In terms of frame rate, the PCIe 5.0 platform had 2 FPS more on average but 12 FPS lower in minimum instantaneous FPS, with about 2ms lower frame time—only a slight advantage.
Game 2: God of War
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 130, minimum instantaneous FPS was 118, frame time was 7.9ms, CPU usage was 25%, power consumption was 63W, temperature was 67°C, memory usage was 15.5GB, GPU usage was 100%, VRAM usage was 8.9GB, GPU power draw was 305W, and temperature was 62°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 135, minimum instantaneous FPS was 120, frame time was 7.4ms, CPU usage was 32%, power consumption was 85W, temperature was 75°C, memory usage was 17.3GB, GPU usage was 99%, VRAM usage was 9.2GB, GPU power draw was 305W, and temperature was 60°C.
The PCIe 5.0 platform had 7% higher CPU usage, 1.8GB more memory usage, similar GPU usage, and 0.3GB more VRAM usage.
It had 5 FPS more in average FPS, 2 FPS more in minimum FPS, and nearly equal frame time—a very slight advantage.
Game 3: Cyberpunk 2077
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 79, minimum FPS was 69, frame time was 12.8ms, CPU usage was 27%, power was 62W, temperature 69°C, memory usage was 10.6GB, GPU usage 98%, VRAM usage 8.0GB, GPU power 303W, and temperature 61°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 79, minimum FPS 70, frame time 12.7ms, CPU usage 25%, power 65W, temperature 74°C, memory 10.5GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 7.7GB, GPU power 304W, and temperature 61°C.
The two platforms performed almost identically in terms of frame rates, power, and thermal stats.
Game 4: Assassin’s Creed Shadows
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 86, minimum FPS 74, frame time 10.2ms, CPU usage 22%, power 59W, temperature 69°C, memory 13.2GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 8.0GB, GPU power 304W, and temperature 62°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 87, minimum FPS 78, frame time 10.8ms, CPU usage 20%, power 61W, temperature 68°C, memory 12.9GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 7.5GB, GPU power 304W, and temperature 63°C.
Minimal differences in performance with nearly identical results across both platforms.
Game 5: Monster Hunter Wilds
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 76, minimum FPS 57, frame time 15.8ms, CPU usage 47%, power 74W, temperature 71°C, memory 18.4GB, GPU usage 97%, VRAM 13.1GB, GPU power 304W, and temperature 63°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 81, minimum FPS 67, frame time 13.4ms, CPU usage 32%, power 69W, temperature 71°C, memory 16.4GB, GPU usage 98%, VRAM 11.3GB, GPU power 302W, and temperature 60°C.
The PCIe 5.0 platform had noticeably better performance—5 FPS more on average, 10 FPS higher minimum FPS, and 2ms lower frame time.
Game 6: Silent Hill 2
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 69, minimum FPS 44, frame time 13.7ms, CPU usage 16%, power 55W, temperature 69°C, memory 10.4GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 11.0GB, GPU power 304W, and temperature 62°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 69, minimum FPS 43, frame time 13.8ms, CPU usage 16%, power 54W, temperature 65°C, memory 11.5GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 11.6GB, GPU power 309W, and temperature 59°C.
Both platforms had identical performance results overall.
Game 7: The Last of Us Part II
On the PCIe 3.0 platform: Average FPS was 85, minimum FPS 76, frame time 10.4ms, CPU usage 40%, power 66W, temperature 68°C, memory 14.8GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 10.7GB, GPU power 302W, and temperature 62°C.
On the PCIe 5.0 platform: Average FPS was 96, minimum FPS 85, frame time 9.5ms, CPU usage 41%, power 69W, temperature 63°C, memory 15.2GB, GPU usage 100%, VRAM 11.0GB, GPU power 304W, and temperature 60°C.
The PCIe 5.0 platform had a noticeable edge here—11 FPS higher average, 9 FPS higher minimum FPS, and 1ms lower frame time.
04
Conclusion
Overall, the PCIe 5.0 platform shows a slight performance edge in some games compared to PCIe 3.0, but the lead is generally very minor and can largely be ignored. It’s important to note that the results in this test are for reference only; actual differences may vary depending on specific combinations of CPU, memory, and motherboard.
Nonetheless, if the processor performance is adequate, users on older platforms upgrading to the Radeon RX 9070 XT should not be concerned—there are no performance bottlenecks, and there’s no need to overthink the PCIe version.
Related:
- RTX 5070 Ti vs 2070 SUPER: Game Test Results Revealed
- RX 7900 GRE vs RTX 5070: Gaming Showdown!
- RTX 5060 Ti Performance Test: 1080P vs 1440P vs 4K
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