I currently have an RTX 4070 paired with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and a 1440p 280Hz monitor. I've been playing more demanding single-player games recently, including Mafia: The Old Country, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, and Hogwarts Legacy. At native resolution with maximum settings, performance can be too low, and Hogwarts Legacy can still stutter with DLSS Quality enabled. I can buy an RTX 4080 for £750 and expect to sell my RTX 4070 for around £350, making the upgrade cost roughly £400. Is that a sensible upgrade, or should I keep the 4070 and adjust my settings?
4 Answers
For £400 after selling the 4070, the 4080 would be a noticeable performance upgrade, especially at 1440p with demanding settings and ray tracing. It still isn’t an essential upgrade, though. A lot of the difference between ultra and high settings is difficult to see during gameplay, while the performance cost can be huge. Try high settings with a few carefully chosen ultra options before upgrading.
Make sure the problem is actually low average FPS rather than stuttering. Hogwarts Legacy can stutter because of shader compilation and asset streaming, which a faster GPU may not completely fix. Try optimized settings, DLSS Quality or Balanced, and frame generation if you’re comfortable with it. Maxing out every option usually gives a small visual improvement for a large performance hit.
Your 7800X3D is more than fast enough, so the GPU is the limiting part at 1440p. If you want consistently higher FPS and plan to keep the card for several years, paying roughly £400 for a 4080 is reasonable. Just keep expectations realistic: it may improve normal FPS substantially, but it won’t necessarily eliminate game-engine or shader-related stutter.
A Radeon 9070 XT is another option in this general performance range and may offer better value depending on local prices. The RTX 4080 is the safer choice if ray tracing, DLSS, or better upscaling support matters to you. I’d compare the actual prices and game features, but I wouldn’t upgrade solely because every setting is currently on maximum.
The main issue is low FPS, although Hogwarts Legacy also becomes stuttery with DLSS Quality. I don’t want to spend around £1,300 on a newer flagship card when the 4080 would cost about £500 less.