Woke up in the middle of the night and snagged a Sapphire 9070 XT Nitro+ (Nitro+). After diving into some research on overclocking, I discovered that tweaking the VCore can unlock most of the performance gains I was after. Once the VCore is dialed in, the next step is to boost the VRAM frequency.
Here’s what I ended up with:
– VCore: -160mV
– VRAM: 2800MHz
I left the core frequency offset untouched—it seemed to have little effect and could easily lead to instability if tampered with.
The results from 3DMark Time Spy were impressive:
– Graphics Score: 29,956 → 33,015
That’s an increase of 10.21%, putting this card ahead of the RTX 5080 running at stock settings. Not bad for a midnight tweak session!
Now, I’m eagerly waiting for enthusiasts to share unlocked power limit VBIOS files. This model is already gaining traction, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some manufacturers start producing custom water cooling blocks for it. However, once the power limits are unleashed, air cooling might struggle to keep up.
Even now, with the core temperature comfortably below 45 degrees (thanks to a slight bump in fan speed), both the hotspot and memory temperatures are flirting dangerously close to 80 degrees. That’s definitely something to keep an eye on once the power limits get pushed further [scratching head].
Just when I thought I could finally retire my custom water cooling setup, it seems like I might need to dust it off again. What a bummer [disappointed face] [disappointed face].
Madeline Kelley 
Natalia Kennedy 
Mia Garza
That’s impressive! I didn’t realize the 9070 XT had so much headroom for overclocking. Lowering the VCore really seems to make a difference in stability at higher clocks. I wonder how much further you could push the core if you fine-tuned it more.