RX 9070 AV1 Encoding: Benchmark & Real-World Test 2026

Quick Answer

The Radeon RX 9070 handles AV1 encoding through AMD's second-gen VCN engine, delivering smoother 1440p60 streaming and noticeably smaller file sizes than H.264 at the same bitrate. In real-world OBS and DaVinci Resolve testing it holds steady frame pacing while gaming at high settings, which makes it a strong streaming-and-gaming combo card for SA creators on Twitch or Kick.

How AV1 Encoding Works On The RX 9070

AV1 is the royalty-free codec that Twitch, YouTube and Discord have all rolled out hardware support for. The RX 9070 uses AMD's updated VCN block, which adds dual encode pipes and proper B-frame support. That means at 6 Mbps the 9070 produces a clearly cleaner stream than the older RDNA 3 cards did at 8 Mbps on H.264. For local streamers fighting fluctuating fibre uplinks, that bitrate headroom is the whole point.

Real-World Benchmark Results

In a 1440p Cyberpunk 2077 run at high settings with simultaneous OBS AV1 recording at 50 Mbps, the 9070 dropped zero frames on the encode pipeline and held about 92 fps in-game on a Ryzen 7 7700 system. Switching to a Twitch-realistic 8 Mbps AV1 stream while playing Apex Legends at 1440p high pushed in-game fps to 168 with the encoder load sitting around 18 percent of GPU utilisation. Compared to running x264 medium on the CPU, total system frame variance dropped roughly in half, which on stream looks like cleaner motion during fights.

What This Means For SA Streamers And Editors

Telkom and Vumatel uplinks vary wildly across SA suburbs, so getting more visual quality out of every megabit matters. AV1 on the 9070 means a 1440p60 stream that looks like 1080p H.264 at the same bitrate. For editors, the dual-pipe encoder cuts export times on AV1 timelines in DaVinci Resolve by a meaningful margin versus older Radeon cards. Local pricing on the RX 9070 sits in a sweet spot for a creator-gamer build, and stock at Evetech ships nationwide with same-day Joburg, Cape Town and Durban dispatch on weekdays.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is AV1 on the RX 9070 better than NVENC AV1?

They're competitive. NVENC AV1 still has a slight edge in low-bitrate quality, but the 9070's dual encoder closes much of the gap and costs less per frame in SA pricing.

Do I need a special OBS version to use it?

You need OBS 30 or newer with the AMD AMF plugin updated. The "AV1" option appears in the encoder dropdown once your driver is on the latest 25.x branch.

Can the 9070 stream AV1 and game at 4K at the same time?

Yes, but expect a small fps hit at 4K ultra. Most SA streamers run 1440p source for that exact reason.