(Originally published on Expreview WeChat Official Account)
When discussing anime-themed graphics cards, Yeston's Sakura series inevitably comes to mind. The brand pioneered anime-inspired GPU designs during the Radeon RX 6000 series, and its latest dual-themed lineup—alternating between Sakura series and Atlantis series—continues to strike a chord with anime enthusiasts. Today, we examine how Yeston's signature Sakura design philosophy evolves with AMD's RDNA 4 architecture in the Yeston Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC.
Specification
Design
The Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC commands attention with its substantial footprint, though its true marvel lies in meticulous craftsmanship. The shroud features a gradient of oceanic blues and sakura pinks enhanced by pearlescent metallic flakes. Despite its plastic construction, advanced multi-coat "chameleon" paint techniques create a premium ceramic-like finish.
The Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC shares design cues with its Sakura series predecessor, featuring dual ribbons that elegantly arc over the fans. This arrangement creates an eye-like silhouette, aligning with the central fan’s decorative emblem. Surrounding the middle fan, wave and sakura motifs add thematic flair, while the left and right fans also embrace marine-inspired designs.
Though the ribbons partially obscure the first and third fans, all three utilize identical 91mm designs with nine blades for balanced airflow.
The Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC features an open-side design, possibly drawing inspiration from seashell morphology. This architectural approach reveals a compact PCB extending only two-thirds of the card's total length，Yeston employing an elevated shroud design to create the illusion of increased vertical scale. Power delivery diverges between models: the RX 9070 utilizes dual 8-pin connectors, while its XT variant steps up to a triple 8-pin configuration.
The shroud's ribbon accents and "SAKURA" branding are integrated into unified ARGB lighting zones, delivering a default pure white breathing effect.Yeston added a 5V ARGB port at the back to sync the card's lights with your motherboard's RGB system.
The true showstopper is the backplate, showcasing an all-new Sakura Atlantis design. Embracing an "Atlantis" theme, Sakura now is portrayed as an idol singer with hair in oceanic hues and intricate mythical-style attire.
Moving beyond aesthetics, let's examine the backplate's functional elements. Beyond the ventilation cutouts on the right side, the two teardrop-shaped apertures on Sakura's left flank prove particularly intriguing: they precisely align with PCB-mounted tactile switches – one governing RGB lighting controls, the other facilitating BIOS selection (Standard/OC modes).
Internal Design
First, let's examine the cooling module. The Yeston Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC utilizes a copper baseplate paired with four 6mm heat pipes for its thermal solution.To align with the Atlantis theme, Yeston has updated the fragrance system to feature ocean-themed scents in this iteration，the subtle marine aroma enhances the unboxing experience.
Due to the reduction of one 8-pin power connector, the PCB of the Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 is shorter in length compared to the RX 9070 XT model. However, both GPUs maintain identical positioning for the GPU core and GDDR6 memory modules.
The PCB hosts SK Hynix's H56G42AS8DX014 GDDR6 modules and a 14-phase power delivery system (10+4 configuration) using MPS MP2868A PWM controllers and MP87993 DrMOS components.
The two switches above serve distinct functions: the silk-screened SW_BIOS controls BIOS selection, with the default STD (standard reference clock speeds) and the VAR position enabling the overclocking BIOS profile.the SW_LED switch manages RGB lighting functionality and remains in the "On" position by default.
Test Platform & Methodology
The following tests will primarily be conducted under the overclocking BIOS environment, while a subset of evaluations will be performed across both BIOS profiles (standard and overclocking) for comprehensive comparison.
Benchmarks
In 3DMark benchmarking, the performance delta between the two BIOS versions of Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC averages ~4%, demonstrating significant gains from the overclocking BIOS. Compared to the RX 7900 GRE, the RX 9070 Atlantis OC (OC BIOS) exhibits dominant advantages in DX12-based tests (Time Spy) and ray tracing benchmarks. Notably, it outperforms the RX 7900 GRE by ~40% in ray tracing-focused tests like Port Royal and Speed Way.
Game Testing
To demonstrate the peak performance of the Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC, all gaming benchmarks were conducted using the overclocking BIOS. The evaluation encompassed 11 titles, with 7 games tested without ray tracing (or lacking RT support) and 4 titles featuring ray tracing enabled. Testing parameters followed our standardized protocol: fullscreen mode at 100% render resolution with unlocked frame rates, maximum preset graphics quality, and ray tracing settings maximized where applicable. An exception was made for Cyberpunk 2077, where ray tracing was configured to the second-tier "Ray Tracing: Ultra" preset instead of the top "Overdrive" mode due to its extreme hardware requirements.
In 4K resolution testing，the Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC demonstrates significant performance gains over the RX 7900 GRE. In titles like Dying Light 2 and Assassin's Creed Mirage – where the RX 7900 GRE barely achieves smooth performance tiers – the Sakura Atlantis pushes frame rates to substantially higher levels. Demanding AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Monster Hunter: Wilds now approach 60 FPS thresholds, reaching fully playable levels when enabling FSR 3 Quality Mode. On average, the Sakura Atlantis delivers a 21% performance advantage over its predecessor.
RDNA 4's architectural enhancements shine brightest in ray tracing workloads, with the Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC achieving 30% higher average frame rates versus the RX 7900 GRE. However, maintaining playable FPS in fully ray-traced titles still necessitates FSR implementation.
At 2K resolution, the performance gap between the two GPUs narrows as anticipated due to reduced pixel processing demands. The Yeston Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC maintains a 19% average performance advantage over the RX 7900 GRE in conventional gaming scenarios, with this margin expanding to 29% in ray-traced titles.
Frame rate analysis reveals the RX 9070 consistently exceeds 100 FPS across diverse workloads: Forza Horizon 5 achieves 142 FPS, Cyberpunk 2077 reaches 121 FPS with FSR 3 Quality enabled, and even the fully ray-traced F1 24 delivers 116 FPS.
FSR 4 Performance Evaluation
The latest FSR 4 implementation fully leverages RDNA 4 architecture's 2nd-Gen AI Accelerators. Currently exclusive to RX 9000 series GPUs, this capability stems from their native FP8 precision support - a hardware feature absent in previous RDNA generations. Notably, FSR 4 activation requires manual enablement via AMD's driver control panel, allowing AI-based super-resolution upgrades for games originally implementing FSR 3.1.
In our tested three games, FSR 4 effectively addresses previous FSR weaknesses like edge blurring. While the AI accelerator's resource consumption causes slightly lower framerates than FSR 3 in some titles, the minor performance trade-off is well worth the significantly clearer image quality. 
FSR 4 makes the roof tiles appear clearer, with no blurring.
It can be noticed that the text appears sharper under FSR 4.
Thermal Performance Evaluation
Thermal testing of the Yeston Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC was conducted on an open-air test bench at 25°C ambient temperature. Idle temperatures were recorded after 10 minutes of system inactivity, while load temperatures were measured following a 10-minute 3DMark Speed Way Stress Test cycle, with data captured via GPU-Z.
Under the OC BIOS profile, the GPU sustained 66°C core temperature and 85°C hotspot under full load. Switching to the Standard BIOS reduced thermal output to 61°C core and 77°C hotspot – a measurable 5-8°C differential between operating modes, demonstrating exceptional thermal efficiency.Idle thermal data presented here exclusively reflects the OC BIOS profile due to negligible differences in idle clock states between both BIOS configurations, combined with the fact that passive fan operation during idle states renders ambient temperature the predominant factor in thermal dissipation efficiency.
Power Consumption Testing
The power consumption testing was conducted concurrently with thermal testing, albeit utilizing different hardware/software instrumentation. Power metrics were recorded via the PCAT suite. The Yeston Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC demonstrated an average full-load power draw of 237.7W under the overclocking BIOS profile and 213.5W under the standard BIOS. Idle power consumption remained nearly identical across both BIOS versions at 9.3-9.5W.
This evaluation introduces a new transient power analysis protocol. We employed a Tektronix MDO3054 oscilloscope paired with TCPA400 and TCP404XL current probes to measure μs-level transient power through the GPU's external power connectors. Similar to most graphics cards, the RX 9070 Atlantis OC primarily draws power via PCIe 8-pin auxiliary power connectors, with the PCIe slot itself contributing approximately 15W.
Under the overclocking BIOS, the card exhibited a peak input current of 40A (480W) and an average current of 19A (228W), yielding a peak-to-average power ratio of 210%. The standard BIOS configuration showed reduced figures: 32A (384W) peak current, 17A (204W) average current, and a 188% peak-to-average ratio. Per ATX 3.0 specifications, graphics cards require a minimum 250W power delivery capacity. With dual 8-pin connectors rated for 300W total and accounting for auxiliary system components (300-400W), we recommend pairing this GPU with an ATX 3.0-compliant power supply of 550W or higher.
Overclocking BIOS
Standard BIOS
Noise Testing
We concurrently logged GPU fan speeds via GPU-Z's Log to File functionality. The Yeston Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC exhibited minimal fan speed variance between BIOS profiles under full load: the Standard BIOS maintained 25% fan speed (~1,060 RPM), while the OC BIOS operated at 27% (~1,130 RPM). Corresponding noise levels measured 31.1 dBA (Standard) and 33 dBA (OC) – a difference imperceptible to human hearing in real-world usage scenarios.
Conclusion
From our initial RX 9070 launch review to this evaluation, the Sakura Atlantis RX 9070 OC demonstrates formidable gaming capabilities: it sustains progress in rasterization performance to maintain competitive advantages, while achieving a quantum leap in ray tracing capabilities compared to RDNA 3. Combined with FSR 4's simultaneous image quality and frame rate enhancements, this GPU arrives fully prepared to challenge NVIDIA's RTX 5070-class offerings.
To conclude our analysis of the RX 9070 Sakura Atlantis OC: As noted in the introduction, Yeston has courageously departed from its previous design lineage, opting instead for a complete thematic overhaul that reimagines "Sakura" with a fresh aesthetic identity. From the aerodynamic shroud contours to the Sakura Atlantis-themed backplate artwork and the integrated oceanic fragrance module, every design element reinforces the card's unmistakable visual distinctiveness. This cohesive execution of bold stylistic choices ensures the Sakura Atlantis Graphics Card retains its iconic appeal, poised to resonate profoundly with the anime-inspired gaming community.