I'm trying to upgrade my GPU and I'm weighing my options between the 5070 Ti and the 9070 XT. I currently have a Ryzen 5 5600X paired with a 3060 12GB and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Most of my gaming is focused on CS:GO and other competitive titles, and I'm looking to maintain a minimum of 260 FPS on my 260Hz monitor while playing CS2. Right now, I'm experiencing stuttering and noticeable FPS drops. I'm leaning towards the Nvidia option since I've heard pros prefer it, and I've also read that AMD might have stuttering issues in CS2. Any thoughts on which GPU would provide the best performance? Both are around $750, but the 5070 Ti is slightly more expensive.
5 Answers
Given that you lean towards Nvidia, I'd say go for the RTX 5070 Ti. While CS2 doesn't support frame generation, Nvidia's DLSS can still significantly boost performance, and that can give you the practical gaming experience you're after.
I recently upgraded from a 5600X to a 5700X3D, and I swapped my 3060 Ti for a 5070 Ti. If I had a choice and the 9070 XT was on sale, I might have gone that route. In your case, I’d suggest going for the 9070 with 16GB VRAM and saving up for a used 5700X3D or 5800X later on. It’s a solid upgrade without breaking the bank, but make sure to check whether reBAR is activated in your BIOS for better performance.
Either card is going to be overkill for your setup. Your 5600X will likely limit your framerates if you want stable performance. For a bit more than the 5070 Ti, you could upgrade to a 14600K with a DDR4 B760M motherboard, which would give you a big boost when paired with either GPU. If you’re not worried about future-proofing, even the 5060 Ti or 9060 XT could push you to max FPS on 1080p competitive settings.
I’m open to more demanding games down the road, so I’m fine with overkill. Just thinking about staying on this AM4 platform as long as possible before switching to AM6. I've got an 850W PSU that should handle it well.
If you're predominantly playing esports titles, both options might be overkill honestly. If ray tracing doesn't matter to you, I'd say go for the RX 9070 XT. But if you're into ray tracing and Nvidia's DLSS, then the 5070 Ti might be worth it. Just keep in mind that the 5070 Ti uses the newer power connector which has had its quirks, so watch out for that.
Honestly, if your goal is to keep CS2 lows above 260 FPS, the main bottleneck might be your 5600X CPU rather than the GPU. CS2 is pretty demanding on CPU and memory, and stuttering often relates to 1% lows instead of peak FPS. Before dropping $$$ on a new GPU, make sure XMP is enabled and your RAM is running at full speed. If it is, consider upgrading to a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D; that might smooth things out more than switching from the 3060. If you’re set on getting a GPU now, I'd recommend the 5070 Ti for better stability in competitive games due to Nvidia's consistency and less hassle overall.
That makes sense! I plan on maxing out this AM4 platform and will likely upgrade CPU later when I find a good deal. XMP is running perfectly, but I haven't seen many high-end Nvidia cards at reasonable prices around here, so I'd like to make the purchase soon. Appreciate it!
I’d love that upgrade, but in Sweden, they're pricier than I'd like. The cheapest I've seen is around $400 used.