ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Steel Legend OC specifications and in-depth review

ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Steel Legend OC

Manufacturer: ASRock

The ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Steel Legend OC is a desktop graphics card based on AMD's RDNA 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process and housing 53,900 million transistors. Designed with enthusiast builds in mind, it carries 16GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus, delivering a maximum memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s with an effective memory speed of 20,000 MHz. The card also features RGB lighting and supports up to four simultaneous displays.

On the performance side, the ASRock RX 9070 Steel Legend OC ships with a base GPU clock of 1,440 MHz and a boosted turbo frequency of 2,700 MHz, translating into 77.41 TFLOPS of floating-point throughput, a pixel rate of 345.6 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 604.8 GTexels/s. Its 3,584 shading units are paired with 224 TMUs and 128 ROPs. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 2.2, ray tracing, AMD FSR4, and AMD SAM, and connects via PCIe 5.0. Display output options include one HDMI 2.1b port and three DisplayPort outputs. With a TDP of 220W and dimensions of 298 mm by 131 mm, the card uses air cooling and draws no USB-C connectivity.

Pros
  • 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM across a 256-bit bus provides substantial memory capacity for demanding workloads
  • A maximum memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s supports high data throughput for GPU-intensive tasks
  • FSR4 upscaling and ray tracing are both supported, expanding rendering options for compatible applications
  • AMD SAM is included, enabling the CPU to access the full GPU memory pool directly
  • ECC memory support adds data integrity protection useful in compute-oriented scenarios
  • RGB lighting is built in, offering visual customization without requiring additional hardware
Cons
  • DLSS is not supported, limiting upscaling compatibility to AMD FSR4 only
  • XeSS (XMX) is not available, further narrowing upscaling technology options
  • No USB-C display output is present, which may limit connectivity with certain modern monitors
  • Water cooling is not supported, leaving thermal management entirely dependent on the air cooler
  • At 298 mm in length, the card may not fit in smaller or compact chassis builds
Who is this for?

This card is well-suited to users running demanding rendering and compute workloads that benefit from 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, 644.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth, and ECC memory support. Developers and enthusiasts working with ray tracing, FSR4-enabled applications, or multi-display setups of up to four screens will find the feature set practical and complete. The PCIe 5.0 interface and RDNA 4.0 architecture also make it a solid fit for systems built around modern high-throughput pipelines where bandwidth and compute precision matter.

Who is this NOT for?

Users who rely on DLSS or XeSS upscaling for their applications will find this card incompatible, as neither technology is supported. Those working in thermally constrained or compact environments may also face challenges, given the card's 298 mm length, 220W TDP, and air-only cooling with no water cooling option. Additionally, users who require USB-C display connectivity will need to look elsewhere, as no such output is available on this card.

Performance:

GPU clock speed 1440 MHz
GPU turbo 2700 MHz
pixel rate 345.6 GPixel/s
floating-point performance 77.41 TFLOPS
texture rate 604.8 GTexels/s
GPU memory speed 2518 MHz
shading units 3584
texture mapping units (TMUs) 224
render output units (ROPs) 128
Has Double Precision Floating Point (DPFP)

The Performance section of this card centers on a base GPU clock of 1,440 MHz that boosts up to a turbo frequency of 2,700 MHz, supporting a floating-point throughput of 77.41 TFLOPS alongside a pixel rate of 345.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 604.8 GTexels/s. These figures are backed by 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units, while the GPU memory itself operates at 2,518 MHz. The card also supports Double Precision Floating Point (DPFP), extending its compute capabilities beyond standard single-precision workloads.

Memory:

effective memory speed 20000 MHz
maximum memory bandwidth 644.6 GB/s
VRAM 16GB
GDDR version GDDR6
memory bus width 256-bit
Supports ECC memory

This card is equipped with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM running across a 256-bit memory bus, reaching an effective memory speed of 20,000 MHz and delivering a maximum memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. ECC memory support is also included, adding a layer of data integrity for workloads where memory accuracy is a priority.

Features:

DirectX version DirectX 12 Ultimate
OpenGL version 4.6
OpenCL version 2.2
Supports multi-display technology
supports ray tracing
Supports 3D
supports DLSS
has FSR4
has XeSS (XMX)
AMD SAM / Intel Resizable BAR AMD SAM
has LHR
has RGB lighting
supported displays 4

The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and OpenCL 2.2, covering a broad range of modern rendering and compute APIs. Ray tracing, stereoscopic 3D, and multi-display output across up to four screens are all supported, while AMD SAM is included for CPU-GPU memory access optimization. On the upscaling front, AMD FSR4 is available, though DLSS and XeSS (XMX) are not supported. The card does not carry LHR restrictions, and RGB lighting is present on the board itself.

Ports:

has an HDMI output
HDMI ports 1
HDMI version HDMI 2.1b
DisplayPort outputs 3
USB-C ports 0
DVI outputs 0
mini DisplayPort outputs 0

The card's output configuration consists of three DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI 2.1b port, providing four total display connections. There are no DVI, mini DisplayPort, or USB-C outputs present on this card.

General info:

GPU architecture RDNA 4.0
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 220W
PCI Express (PCIe) version 5
semiconductor size 5 nm
number of transistors 53900 million
Has air-water cooling
width 298 mm
height 131 mm

Built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and fabricated using a 5 nm process, the GPU integrates 53,900 million transistors and connects via a PCIe 5.0 interface. It carries a Thermal Design Power of 220W and relies on air cooling, with no water cooling option included. The card measures 298 mm in width and 131 mm in height.

Final Verdict

The ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Steel Legend OC presents a well-rounded specification sheet for users who prioritize memory capacity and compute throughput, anchored by its 16GB GDDR6 VRAM with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth and RDNA 4.0 architecture built on a 5 nm process. Ray tracing support, FSR4 upscaling, ECC memory, and a four-display output configuration round out a feature set geared toward both content-intensive and compute-adjacent workloads. Its limitations around upscaling compatibility and physical footprint mean it is best matched to systems and workflows where those constraints are not a deciding factor. Overall, it stands as a technically capable card for users whose needs align closely with its strengths in memory throughput and modern API support.

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