AMD Radeon AI R9700 aka RX 9070XT in the big workstation graphics card test – What are the benefits of double the memory when working?

1 - Introduction and technical data 2 - Test system and equipment 3 - Autodesk AutoCAD 4 - Autodesk Inventor Pro 5 - PTC Creo 6 - Dassault Systèmes Solidworks 7 - Autodesk Maya 8 - SPECviewperf 15 (2025) 9 - Adobe Photoshop 26.10 10 - Adobe After Effects 2025 11 - Adobe Premiere Pro 25.41 12 - KI Benchmarks (AI Vision, Image, Text) 13 - Rendering 14 - Temperatures, clock rate, fans, noise and power draw 15 - Summary and conclusion

Together with SolidWorks and Creo, Autodesk Inventor is one of the most important 3D CAD programs for mechanical engineering, product development and technical design. Its widespread use in engineering offices, manufacturing companies and educational institutions makes it a central testing ground for professional workstation GPUs. With the InvMark add-on, a specialized benchmark for Inventor Professional, typical parts of the workflow – from sketching and drawing to assembly handling and simulations – can be measured reproducibly. This makes InvMark a practical tool that not only measures pure graphics performance, but also CPU interaction, memory bandwidth and driver quality.

InvMark Total Score

In the overall result of the InvMark test, the Radeon AI R9700 is positioned in the lower midfield with 60156 points, just behind the RX 9070XT, which achieved 60675 points. However, both cards are well below the workstation models, in particular the Radeon Pro W7700 and W7800, which both score above 61000 points. The reason for this is the different degree of optimization of the drivers, as Inventor reacts strongly to certified workstation paths and less to raw computing power or memory size. The R9700 cannot exploit its advantage of generous VRAM here, as Inventor uses clearly defined memory structures that primarily benefit from latencies and driver stability. Compared to the older W7800, however, there is only a moderate gap, which indicates that RDNA 4 already has a good basic efficiency despite the consumer driver environment, which remains largely unproblematic, at least in everyday operation.

Single Threaded Performance (ST)

In terms of single-threaded performance, the R9700 ranks at the lower end of the test field and achieves 17156 points. The difference to the RX 9070XT is minimal, as it achieves 17214 points, which corresponds to the practically identical structure of the two cards. However, both models are clearly behind the workstation cards of the W7xxx series, which have a noticeable advantage. Inventor has historically used strongly single-threaded core functions, which is why ST performance is crucial for typical interactions such as sketching, dimensioning or moving individual features. The R9700 can therefore not stand out in this discipline and reveals the boundary between consumer-oriented and specialized workstation drivers. The W7800 is also only slightly ahead with 17348 points, which shows that the differences are less to be found on the architecture side and more on the driver side.

Multi Threaded Performance (MT)

In terms of multi-threaded performance, the R9700 achieves a result of 12291 points, which is close to the RX 9070XT (12364 points). The RDNA 4 card generation shows consistent behavior here, while the W7800 is almost exactly at the same level with 12270 points. In the MT area, Inventor benefits from parallel operations, for example with more complex redraws, render previews or internal calculations. As the different models hardly differ from each other in this discipline, it is once again confirmed that the influence of the GPU on this Inventor functionality is less than in other CAD programs. The results are homogeneous, and the R9700 consistently ranks in the expected performance group, with no clear advantages or disadvantages compared to the reference cards.

Graphics

In the graphics evaluation, the R9700 achieves a score of 1535 points and is thus slightly ahead of the RX 9070XT with 1527 points. However, both cards clearly fall behind the workstation models, which have advantages due to their certified paths and optimized vector graphics operations. The W7800 achieves 1568 points and shows how strongly the driver influences pure geometry processing. Inventor does not use typical gaming raster techniques, but specific CAD pipelines that are tailored to workstation certifications. Despite its modern architecture, the R9700 cannot completely close this gap, but in relation to its position in the overall market, it offers solid performance that is sufficient for demanding users, but has visibly less reserves than the W7xxx series.

Drawing

In drawing and 2D rendering, the R9700 is only just behind the RX 9070XT with 1665 points, which achieves 1666 points. This practically identical value once again shows that both cards show no differences in the Inventor-relevant 2D paths. The W7800 again shows a slight superiority with 1674 points, which can be attributed to the workstation drivers. In the 2D area, Inventor is traditionally CPU and driver-heavy, so that VRAM or GPU expansion hardly play a role. The R9700 performs as expected here and offers an inconspicuous but stable display speed without measurable artifacts or fluctuations.

Dynamic SIM

In dynamic simulations, the R9700 achieves 2154 points and is thus behind the RX 9070XT, which achieves 2132 points, but still behind the workstation cards, which consistently deliver higher values in this sub-area. The W7800 achieves 2228 points and benefits from optimized memory structures and validated simulation paths. Inventor partly uses GPU-accelerated workflows for dynamic calculations, but without the deep parallel optimization of other DCC applications. The results show that the R9700 can be used in this area, but does not offer the performance reserves of a dedicated workstation card. However, the differences are functionally minor and primarily relate to borderline areas of very large or nested models.

Assembly constraint

In the assembly constraint test, the R9700 achieves 1769 points and is thus visibly behind the workstation cards, but only just behind the RX 9070XT, which achieves 1763 points. This sub-area is one of the strongest driver disciplines in Inventor and is heavily dependent on validated workstation profiles. The W7800 achieves 1783 points and thus shows a small but consistent superiority. The RDNA-4 models deliver stable results, but without the final percentage points that characterize certified cards. In practice, the difference is usually only noticeable with extremely large assemblies; with standard sizes, the interaction remains smooth.

Assembly pattern

The R9700 achieves 1769 points in the pattern creation and shows almost identical behavior here as in the previous test. The RX 9070XT follows at the same level with 1763 points, while the W7800 is slightly ahead with 1783 points. This test section reacts particularly strongly to internal driver optimizations for repetition structures, which is why workstation cards have an accumulated advantage. The R9700 performs stable throughout and delivers a good usable performance that hardly leads to any limitations in the high-end user environment.

Interim conclusion

In the context of Inventor 2021, the Radeon AI R9700 shows consistent behavior throughout, which clearly separates it from the RX 9070XT, but without fully entering the performance sphere of the specialized workstation models. The differences to the RX 9070XT remain small and reflect the technical proximity of the two cards, while the advantage of the R9700 lies more in the higher memory configuration and the slightly better driver efficiency for CAD-related workloads. Compared to the Radeon Pro W7800, however, it is clear that certified drivers and special CAD optimizations are still relevant, especially in functions that depend heavily on validated workflows.

The R9700 delivers stable and practical Inventor performance, which should be sufficient for many users in a professional environment, but does not get the last three to five percent that a dedicated workstation card can offer. Overall, it positions itself as a powerful solution for mixed design environments that want to utilize GPU resources beyond pure 2D rendering, but do not necessarily need the full certification depth of the workstation models.